A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of " Licence en Langue et Littérature Anglaises"

RESUME

English language has gained a considerable linguistic power in the framework of languages competition all over the world. It is obviously seen that English is given an important place in Burundian educational system since it is taught from primary school to university. However, the English Language teaching or learning process in secondary schools is characterize by poor performance in that language especially in its oral form. The main interest in the present study is to assess the factors that inhibiting the pupils ' oral performance of English in 3rd form Arts of some selected secondary schools in Mwaro Province. This study was guided by three questions that were answered along my research :
- Is spoken English given enough time in classroom activities ?
- Do students speak fluently English language ?
- What are the factors that influence the learners "speaking performance ?

To find answers to those questions, a number of pupils and teachers are asked and also classroom observation is taken into account. The pupils and teachers answers made me to conclude that, apart from the time allotted to the speaking which is not sufficient, there are other factors that inhibit the third form Arts pupils oral performance in Mwaro Province such as parents socio-economic background, lack of materials, attitude towards English language, environment. This work is ended by formulating some recommendations.