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,

This work assessed the teaching of the English Speaking Skill in Mixed-Ability Learners at Hope Africa University where students from different English backgrounds have to follow an English course at the beginning of a new academic year to enable them to follow either French or an English Lecturer.

The study is based on the following research questions :
1) Do the Students' educational background influence the performance of the speaking skill ?
2) How good do teachers handle a mixed-ability class ?
3) What can be done to solve the problems met by mixed-ability learners ? To get answers to these questions, the researcher resorted to the following research tools. First, he visited mixed-ability classes at Hope Africa University to watch for himself the challenges of teaching the English speaking skill to students from different English backgrounds.

Next, a questionnaire was distributed to those students in mixed-ability situation. Third a questionnaire was also distributed to the instructors. By the end of the analysis, it was realized that students' backgrounds are far different to the point that they cannot be brought to the same level, unless teachers adopt new innovative teaching approaches. At times, teachers need to regroup their students according to their English backgrounds in order to be able to address their specific needs. The collected data also came up with certain innovative solutions to develop speaking skills at HAU such as initiating certain activities and services held in English. A number of very helpful recommendations were also addressed to university leaders, teachers and students to improve the learning conditions in these mixed-ability classes.