A thesis submetted in partial fullfilment of the requirements for the award of the degree "Licence en Pédagogie Appliquée, Agrégé de l'Enseignement Secondaire en Angalais.

Résumé,

This work under the topic "Difficulties Encountered in Teaching English Reading Comprehension in Secondary Schools in Ngozi municipality" sought to find out the difficulties that hamper the teaching and learning of the reading comprehension in English.

Two major tools were used to collectthe data : the students' and the teachers' questionnaire, and the classroom observation. The research hypotheses were : (1) teachers dace many problems white teaching readint comprehension among which the lack of instructional materials, large classes and backgound knowledge of learners, (2) pupils encounter problems while learning reading comprehension due essentially to the lack of reading materials, lack of time to do exercises and practice, low level in English, (3) socio-cultural environment where English is not spoken such as the lack of parents' interest and poor reading environment can hinder the pupils' competences in English in general and in reading comprehension in particular : A total number of 77 students and 4 teachers were involved as sampled population in this study. After analyzing the data from the questionnaires and the classroom observation, the hypothese above were confirmed as the results showed that the lack of enough time allotted to the teaching/learning of the reading comprehension, large classes, the lack of sufficient instructional materials, students' low level, the absence of a favorable environment and the lack of parents' interest are among the problems that hinder the teaching/learning of the reading comprehension at the upper level of secondary schools in Ngozi municipality.