A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree "Licencié en Pédagogie Appliquée, Agrégé de l'Enseignement Secondaire en Anglais".

Résumé,

The present study evaluated the connected speech features or phenomenon present in the language of the upper level students of the Modern Arts section in Bujumbura City and Cibitokr Province. In fact, the research revealed that the poorer the knowledge and understanding of conncected speech, the poorer the comprehension of messages ; speaking and listening are affected by the degree / level of correctness in sound production and recognition.

Another point is that the research assessed the amount of connected speech they can recognise and understand from stretches.
Moreover, the study was concerned with the influence of the connected speech aspects in understanding and working out messages in English. Furthermore, though students have speaking and listening skills in their curriculum, the performances are still low, especially in the countryside.

The fact is that in the countryside, students stand little chances to get accustomed to listning and speaking English, appart from when they are in their English classes ; and the materials helping students to train themselves to listening are not as many as in town. Consequently, the research provided some strategies and techniques to promote the understanding of connected speech. Il goes without saying that the findings and recommendations shall be useful and be taken into consideration by techers, learners, parents, scholl administration and programme designers.