A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Award of the degree" Licencié en pédagogie Appliquée, Agrégé d' Enseignement Secondaire en Anglais"

Résumé,

The present study aims at exploring problems encountered in the teaching and learning of the English speaking skill in Burundi Basic Schools in general and Ninth Form in particular. In this study, 80 Ninth Form pupils and 8 English teachers from 8 Basic Schools in Nyanza-lac commune were randomly selected to answer two sets of questionnaires. Those questionnaires were completed by classroom observations.

The data help the researcher validate three hypotheses which are : (1) Most of the problems encountered by Ninth Form English teachers in the teaching of the English speaking skills are : qualifications, lack of adequate speaking teaching materials, and mixture of languages in English classes. (2) Most of the problems encountered by Ninth Form learners in the learning of the English Speaking skills are : use of mother tongue in English classes, limited time allotted to the speaking skills, lack of self-confidence. (3) There are many activities to promote the teaching and learning of the English speaking skills in Ninth Form such as pair and group work, games, discussions in pairs or groups, and drama. It was found that the main problems teachers and learners encounter in the teaching and learning of the English speaking skill are the lack of qualified teachers and appropriate English speaking skill teaching materials, mixture of languages in English classes, lack of self-confidence, and limited time allotted to the English speaking skill teaching and learning.