The purpose of this study is to explore English language teaching in English as a foreign language context. It examines teaching practices in Burkina Faso and seeks to understand the extent to which those practices promote or inhibit the development of oral skills. As a French speaking country, Burkina Faso implements compulsory English language teaching in middle and secondary schools. Yet, it seems that students are unable to hold a basic conversation after seven years of taking English classes. The purpose of the study is then to identify the instructional practices that hinder the development of learners’ communicative abilities. The data collection approach was qualitative using classroom observations and interviews. The method of data analysis was inductive using thematic units of analysis. The findings suggest that teaching activities are not diversified, speaking activities are rare and teaching methods are teacher-centered with little active collaboration between teachers and their learners and between learners themselves.
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