A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree "Licencié en Langue et Littérature Anglaises"

Language is an important means of communication used by human beings. When they communicate through a certain language, they aim at exposing their thougts, their feelings or their views. They want to make themselves understoof by other people who speak that language or to understand them when they are speaking. The formal mastery of a language requires full development of the four language skills namely listening, speaking, writing, and reading. Nowadays, many Burundian learners of English can speak, write, and read English However, a few of them have mastered it to the point of using it fluently. Even Burundian students in the Department of English Language and Literature at University level who normally are expected to be professional users of English in speaking, reading,writing, and listening fail to use it fluently in their language production. The research under study revealed that it is because students do not have sufficient opportunities to speak English. They live in a linguistic environment where they have no occasions of practicing English outside classes given the fact that there is no English speaking community in Burundi. Moreover, Kirundi and French languages come first in the students' minds when they are exressing themselves in English withot forgetting that materials used for teaching the speaking skill are lacking in the Department of English Language and Literature at the University of Burundi.