This paper investigates difficulties that teachers encounter in teaching oral English in higher education in the English as a foreign language (EFL) context. Open-ended question surveys and semi-structured interviews were used to elicit data. There were 331 EFL teachers from 44 universities in 22 cities across China that responded to the survey questions. Thirty teachers were interviewed. The findings showed that apart from external constraints such as large class sizes and a lack of teaching resources, EFL teachers are frustrated by their low self-efficacy with regard to oral English proficiency and inadequate pedagogical knowledge. Most teachers expressed eagerness to receive training in how to design and implement effective tasks to motivate students' engagement in oral English activities. The implications of these concerns for teacher education are highlighted in the call for training programmes that strengthen teachers' knowledge base for effective oral English instruction in the EFL context. (Contains 1 table.)