1.2 Purpose of the Study
Motivating students to learn for real-life just means to value
speaking in our schools. Speaking is not valued as it should be in the teaching
and evaluation of English teaching/learning in Beninese schools. In fact,
teachers nearly take into account this skill in their language classes. Even
when they teach it, the amount of time they allot to it and the quality of the
work have much to be desired. In schools, during the listening activities,
which are only when the teacher is reading a text or when he is speaking,
students are only offered opportunities to listen to the teacher.
Pupils, who are taught English in such conditions, experience
problems when they meet native speakers of English. In fact they see native
speakers way of speaking totally different from their teachers' way. In order
to give pupils opportunities to experience natives' pronunciation which is the
authentic one, and therefore to improve their listening comprehension, I have
suggested the use of `' games, English language immersion, a year abroad in an
English speaking country etc...». Teachers in so doing, will motivate
their students and will create more interactive and more exceptional learning
condition.
Another purpose of my study is to show positive reinforcement
tactics which can foster leaners to take an active part in the classroom
speaking tasks. Precisely here, emphasis will be put on motivation which
involves learners in discovering a sense of self-effort in their language
acquisition. Consequently, learners exchange through this means will encourage
their speaking skills.
In addition, my study projects to help teachers of English
become aware of pre-communicative tasks in the English classroom. In other
words, focus must not only be on grammar and lexicon of English, but also on
how the language is used to communicate meaning through dialogues and simple
interactive activities. For that objective, time allocated to conversation may
be diminished so as to give learners opportunities to interact and to be
successful in their conversation.
5
1.3 Research Questions
The goal of this research work is to find answers to these
questions:
1- What are the strategies known by English teachers that can
help their learners to master oral practice in English ?
2- How can the teacher use the proposed strategies to
facilitate effective speaking skills of intermediate students?
3- How far can learners benefit from the proposed
strategies?
1.4 Significance of the study
The educational system nowadays is old-fashioned, inefficient
and inappropriate to the actual need of our society. The significance of this
study, lies in the fact that the results of my investigation give useful
suggestions on how best the syllabi, the curricula, and the methodology can be
reviewed in order to improve the teaching and learning of English as foreign
language. It also provides the individuals and the educational authorities with
useful information about recent research work in the same area. This work may
also help future researchers.
In Benin, young students are able after six years of French
study, to speak it. But as far as English language is concerned, learners are
unable of speaking it even after seven years of study. English language is the
dominant language of medicine, trade, advertisement, technology etc... Most
valuable books are written or translated into English. In fact the Beninese
English teachers' teaching materials are very often the English textbooks, a
piece of chalk, a duster and a blackboard. They scarcely teach speaking skill
in their classroom and the few time they do, the merely read the books for the
pupils to listen. Most of the time English teachers in Benin are non-native
speakers and thus speak English variously. Lessons are not based on the
students need. Thereby, pupils at school are taught many `'English»,
depending on how many teachers they have had.
6
Students are shaken, and consequently at the end of their
studies they are not trained enough to be able to hold a conversation in
English language.
A study on `'using motivational activities to promote oral
communication in EFL language classes in Benin» can be an important
contribution, not only in the sillabi and curricula but also in the methodology
used to teach foreign languages in Benin, namely English. First, my study will
make learners and teachers aware of strategies which can help learners master
lexical syntactic and phonological knowledge in oral practice. Teachers of
English will be supplied with a certain organization of communicative
activities. This organization will permit to learners to interact or to take an
active part in English language learning. Teacher who most of the time imparts
knowledge, must also become the organizer of the language tasks, the informant
and the motivator, decentralizing his/her role and guiding his or her learners
to gain a good knowledge of English.
| 
