A Thesis submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree "Licencié en Pédagogie Appliquée, Agregé de l'Enseignement Secondaire en Anglais".

Résumé,

The purpose of this study entitled "Difficulties Encountered in the Teaching and Learning of English inBurundi Public Basic Schools : the case of some 9th form classes selected in Ngozi province" is to investigate the difficulties that English teachers and learners face in Burundi public basic schools. The researcher was guided by the hypotheses focused on the qualification and competence of teachers, on the availability of instructional materials and on the motivation of both learners and teachers towards English. This study was carried out with 102 respondents that is, 13 English teachers and 89 learners of selected basic schools in Ngozi Province.

In doing the investigation, the researcher used two sets of questionnaires ; one for teachers another for learners and attempted to asses teachers' qualifications, the materials used to teach this language and learners' as well as teachers' attitudes and motivation towards this language.

On the whole, the findings have shown that students do not master and use English due chiefly to their short-term motivation. A great number of our respondents responded that they study English only for succeeding in tests or exams. In addition to this, findings show that the lack of professional teachers for this language in some schools, the shortage of adequate instructional materials that can yield good results, the lack of well equipped libraries and the lack of a favorable environment ; all contribute to the poor performance in English.