This research explores the speaking’s cognitive learning strategies used by ELESP students Batch 2022 at Lambung Mangkurat University to enhance their speaking fluency. The study is motivated by the observation that many EFL learners, especially in the Indonesian context, struggle with speaking due to psychological barriers, limited exposure to English, and lack of practice. As speaking is a complex skill requiring real-time processing and expression, this study aims to investigate how cognitive strategies support students in improving their spoken English performance.

This study employed a descriptive qualitative approach. Data were collected through questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Four students were selected based on their questionnaire responses, adapted from Alfarisy (2022). The questionnaire results were used to identify students with high usage of cognitive strategies. To provide rich, in-depth insights, interviews were conducted to explore how students apply cognitive speaking strategies in practice. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify patterns and common themes related to strategy use.

The findings show that high-usage students consistently apply various speaking cognitive strategies to support their fluency. Nine main strategies were identified, adapted from Alfarisy’s (2022) adaptation of Oxford’s SILL: repeating, formally practicing with sound systems, recombining, practicing naturalistically, using resources for receiving and sending messages, recognizing and using formulas and patterns, reasoning deductively, translating, and transferring. The results confirm that frequent and varied use of these strategies plays a significant role in enhancing students’ speaking fluency.