A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the degree of "Licence en langue et littérature Anglaises"

As student at the secondary level in Burundi were not able to properly communicate in English,a new curriculum was designed under a new system "Ecole Fondamentale" with the aim of enabling students to develop an increased communicate competence.This new curriculum however failed to meet its goal.This study departs from the assumption that the problem could lie in the material used,the time allocated to and the methodology of teaching grammar and tenses in particular.
To verify this assumption,these three elements of teaching and learning were assessed by carrying out a research in six schools,with a sample of 146 students randomly selected. A questionnaire addressed to both teachers and students were distributed,accompanied by class observations allowing douuble-checking the reliability of the collectes data with the factual observations.
The methodological study leads to the following finding.Firstly,regarding materials,it was found that schools do not dispose of authentic materials complying with the curriculum.Teachers also solely rely on the prescribed grammar books,without using every materials to provide more examples or practice of the taught subjects.
Secondary,regarding time allocation,it was conclud that a large proportion of the class time is spent on general reading comprehension,without allocating sufficient time to the understanding and mastering of grammar rules.Lastly,this study finds that the methodology of teaching grammar focuses mostly on solving exercises instead of regular interaction on communication with the teacher,thereby not stimulating the development of communicative competence.
The aim of this study is to raise awareness amongst teachers and all the stakeholders of Burundi education on the low performance of students in the field of communication.