Describe situations in which using spoken English has caused you some problems. Maybe the person you were talking to didn't understand, got the wrong message, or might even have been offended by what you said (even if that wasn't your intention). Analyze the situation and explain why communication broke down. You will need to reflect on your performance in light of what the literature says about the pitfalls of learning to speak English as a second language. People live in the world of communication. According to the Oxford Dictionary of Current English (Moore, 1997), communication is defined as “The activity or process of expressing ideas and feelings or providing information to people”. The meaning of communication can be found in the context of human existence as a social being. As a human being manages his life in the course of interaction among other members of the entire society, communication is inevitable. Communication occurs through the medium of language and comes in two different forms: written and spoken (Brown & Yule, 1983: 1-10). The importance of spoken performance of a language is becoming increasingly more important than the ability to perform written language. This is because the ability to speak a language reflects a person's personality, self-image, knowledge of the world, ability to reason, ability to express thoughts in real time (Luoma, 2004: ix). Nowadays, due to the global trend towards internationalization, the ability to communicate in English is needed as an essential skill. Whenever international exchange occurs, it involves the use of spoken English. However, it is not always an easy task for people who use English as a second language to be able to speak at the level of a native speaker. They must understand the sound system of English perfectly, have almost instant access to the correct vocabulary and be able to put words together intelligibly without hesitation. Furthermore, they must also perceive what is said to them and must be able to respond appropriately to acquire friendly relationships or to achieve their communication goals (Luoma, 2004: ix). Therefore, native English speakers encounter these barriers and are prone to making mistakes frequently. In relation to this topic, this essay argues that there are socio-cultural factors as well as linguistic factors that influence non-native speakers' communication in English. Provides analysis of several situations in which the use of spoken English has generated miscommunication problems compared to the author's personal experience.