Memoire Online - An Evaluative Study of Communicative Competence in Conversational English among English Language Learners in the Literary Option: The Case of Rusizi and Nyamasheke Districts

An Evaluative Study of Communicative Competence in Conversational English among English Language Learners in the Literary Option:

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Education in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of a Bachelor's degree in French-English Education

DECLARATION

I, Valens NGABOYERA, hereby declare that, this dissertation is original and has never been presented in any university or other institution of higher education. It is my own research whereby other individuals' works were cited and references thereof provided.

I thus, declare that this work is mine under the supervision of Mr Emmanuel BATUNGWANAYO.

DEDICATION

the Almighty God,

my father Canisius KANIHUZI,

my mother Bélancile NYIRARANSABIMANA,

brothers and sisters, and

my friends and relatives,

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The completion of this work is not the result of my own effort only. It is also a result of the devotion of some other people to whom I address these acknowledgements. Many members of academic faculties and staff at NUR have given valuable assistance in the completion of this dissertation that it is regrettably impossible to express my gratitude to all of them individually. I would like to mention, in particular, my supervisor Emmanuel BATUNGWANAYO for his invaluable criticisms and advice which greatly contributed to bringing this paper to its present shape. In addition, I would like to thank all the teachers who gave me knowledge and made me what I am now.

My gratitude is also due to my parents, brothers, sisters and other family members who supported me morally and financially all along my studies. They did all they could for the sake of my welfare. God will reward them for that. I would like also to express my gratitude to the respondents whose contribution and help were invaluable to the completion of this work.

Moreover, I am very grateful to my classmates, especially Philothère NTAWIHA, Vénuste NGENDAHIMANA, Innocent NSEKEYUKUNZE and John NSENGUMUREMYI, for their moral and intellectual assistance. Last but far from least, my heartfelt thanks go to VUMILIA choir for their particular spiritual support during my academic life.

Many people contributed much to my studies and completion of this work; however, it is not possible to acknowledge each of them by name. May God remember their good deeds and bless them forever.

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2: The number of students and teachers of English who make the population 34

Table 3: The number of students who make the population according to their classes 35

Table 6: Students' feeling when speaking English out of the classroom setting 42

Table 10: The importance of using audio-visual equipment in E.L. teaching and learning 46

Table 11: The views of students about their teachers' emphasis on some of the four skills 47

Table 12: The views of teachers about their emphasis on some of the four skills 48

Table 14: Emphasis on either speaking or listening in E.L. teaching and learning 50

Table 15: Factors influencing teachers' choice of language skills to emphasise 50

ABSTRACT

Students, and especially students in developing countries, frequently remain deficient in the ability to actually use the language and to understand its use in normal communication. Therefore, the lack of communicative competence in conversational English among E.L. learners can cause a serious problem to the whole Rwandan society in general and particularly to the learners themselves. This study intends to illustrate the extent to which E.L. learners in the literary option are communicatively competent in conversational English and factors that influence that competence. To achieve this objective, three research questions and three hypotheses were used.

The population targeted by this study was made of 366 students and 4 teachers of English in the literary option in Rusizi and Nyamasheke. Using the purposive sampling and the random sampling techniques 73 and 4 teachers were selected as the sample of the study. Two research instruments: the questionnaire and the test were used in the collection of data. After testing the validity of instruments the questionnaire was administered by the researcher and he managed to control over the students who sat for the test to prevent them from cheating. Then, the quantitative method of data analysis was used.

It was found out that students are not communicatively competent in conversational English. This results in the fact that 100% of teachers say that their students are not interested in using E.L. in real-life communication, and that they feel shy when using English outside the classroom while 43.8% of students say that they prefer to be more accurate rather than fluent in their speech. It was also noticed that, despite students and teachers' awareness of a paramount importance of using audio-visual equipment in E.L. teaching and learning, teachers do not use some of these teaching aids that are available in their schools in E.L. teaching. For instance, 50% of teachers say that they use only radio in E.L. teaching. Then, it was found that oral language skills are given less emphasis.

This study has some implications to the development of oral skills for communicative purposes among E.L. learners. Since students are not interested in using English in real-life situations, they can not be communicatively competent. Then, since teachers do not use updated teaching aids, students would always find their E.L. learning boring. Therefore, to overcome this problem, learners, teachers and decision-makers need mainly to be aware of it.

CHAPTER ONE: GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1. Background of the Study

Language is the main tool of communication between the members of the society that uses it. DeSantis (1999, p.80) emphasises this saying that «The language is a structured system of signs, sounds, gestures, or marks that is used and understood to express ideas and feelings among people within a community, nation, geographic area or cultural tradition». It is the case of English Language, the one of four languages used in various needs of communication in Rwandan community. Those languages are Kinyarwanda, French, English and Swahili. On this, the NCS (2005) states that almost all the residents of the country (99.7%) could speak Kinyarwanda in 2002. French, English and Swahili were spoken only by 3.9%, 1.9% and 3% of the population respectively. Among these languages, three are taught from the Primary to the Tertiary level and they are used as Official Languages.

However, the use of Kinyarwanda in everyday life communication is still at a high rate even in the intellectual community. This is remarkable in many secondary schools where foreign languages seem to be used only in classrooms when dealing with courses designed in those languages. Briefly, the NCS (op cit.) says that the level of knowledge of foreign languages is far too low in Rwanda.

As far as English Language is concerned, it is remarkable that there are some people who are still considering it as a newly-introduced language in Rwanda. The reason of this may be that there is no long time since the English Language in Rwanda has been officially promoted after the 1994 Genocide and the RPF victory. This promotion was mainly due to the coming back of many Rwandan Refugees from English Language speaking countries. It is also due to the role of the English Language in the globalisation policy. The NCS (2005) emphasises this saying that, in this era of globalisation, fluency in foreign languages (especially the English Language) is vital for easier exchange of information among countries and for communication with other nationals.

In addition, when compared with other foreign languages spoken in Rwanda, English Language is not used by many people. Generally, English is only used in schools by some school authorities and outside the school by some businessmen from Anglophone countries. Furthermore, many of these English Language users in Rwanda do not use it in real communication but, only, in classes as a subject or a medium of instruction. Therefore, communicatively unable learners with a mastery of structures are frequent in Rwandan secondary schools, even in the Literary Option. This may be due to the fact that teachers focus on teaching only grammar and few other linguistic features of English language, neglecting oral language skills and their use in real communication.

According to Ashworth and Wakefield (2005, p.3), «A speaker of any language can create and comprehend a number of utterances that can cover a multitude of functions such as requesting, refusing, promising, warning, denying, agreeing, disagreeing, and expressing emotions». In the contrary, many Rwandan English Language Learners, especially those from the countryside, use English only when they are in classes and they have no other opportunity to express their everyday feelings in English but only in their mother tongue.

Consequently, this weakness in the use of English Language for communicative purposes can be observed to almost all categories and levels of learners. Unfortunately, it is the same case for many of the Literary Option learners whereas they are supposed to be more communicatively competent than those of professional and science option.

1.2. Statement of the Problem

According to DeSantis (1999, p.10), «The ability to use language efficiently and effectively requires years of practice and study». However, Brumfit and Johnson (1979, p.117) say that «Students, and especially students in developing countries, who have received several years of formal English teaching, frequently remain deficient in the ability to actually use the language and to understand its use, in normal communication, whether in the spoken or the written mode».

Therefore, if the researcher decided to conduct a research about an evaluation of communicative competence in conversational English among E.L. Learners in the Literary Option, it is not because English Language has little time to be taught and practiced in the whole secondary school program in general and in the Literary Option in particular. The problem is not even that teachers do not want to see their students using English Language efficiently and effectively, hence communicatively competent in conversational English.

The problem of the study with respect to the given topic is what lack of communicative competence in conversational English among E.L. Learners in the literary Option can cause to the whole Rwandan society in general and particularly to the learners themselves. For instance, it is known that the main objective of the language is to facilitate a good communication between members of the community using it. Hence, if an English Language Learner is studying without acquiring the communicative competence in that language, he will also go on studying that language without motivation. However, Littlewood (1981) says that the learners' motivation is found in the achievement of their ultimate objective of taking part in communication with others. In this way, the lack of motivation will lead to the learner's poor performance in E.L. tests.

Parents whose children are in the literary option can be much discouraged since they miss what they expected to be the product of their children. Similarly, the poor communicative competence, which may be generally due to little and poor use of E.L. in actual communication, can hinder the implementation of the bilingualism policy in Rwanda. Furthermore, Rwandan intellectuals missing E.L. communicative competence in conversational English can be limited on both international job market and studies in foreign countries especially in English speaking ones.

However, all these consequences: the lack of motivation among E.L. learners, the discouragement of E.L. learners' parents and the difficulty of implementing the bilingualism policy in Rwanda, can be faced if people are not aware of the problem of communicative competence in conversational English among E.L. Learners especially those of the Literary Option.

During the pedagogic internship it was noticed that many secondary school students were not able to express themselves in English Language for communicative purposes. This might be mainly due to the fact that their teachers did not put much emphasis on teaching oral skills to enhance students' conversational English in actual communication. Therefore, the researcher's interest was to conduct this research on the evaluative study of communicative competence in conversational English among English language learners in the literary option.

1.4. Significance of the Study

The benefits that are likely to accrue from this study are many, but to be more specific four categories of people might benefit much from it. Those are: learners, teachers, educational stakeholders and the common society of Rwanda.

Ø E.L. learners can benefit from the findings of the study in developing their English Language communicative skills. This is possible only if learners are aware of their weaknesses in E.L. use as a strong tool of communication. In addition, as a result of this study, learners can be taught in a more functional mode rather than in a traditional one. Therefore, they can be equipped with the capacity to become familiar with E.L. by using it for communicative purposes.

Ø Teachers can benefit from the findings of this study in that they can get aware of the problem of communicative competence among E.L. learners and then to find what to do in order to overcome that problem. Therefore, they can feel motivated and self confident since they may have their teaching objectives achieved.

Ø Educational stakeholders can be encouraged to put a great emphasis on the E.L. teaching for communicative purposes. Therefore, curriculum designers and the ministry of education can provide materials and equipments that enable a more communicative teaching and learning of E.L.

Ø Common society can benefit from study in that a great number of the Rwandan community can be able to use English Language in its everyday life communication. Therefore, interpersonal communication can move from that made among compatriots themselves towards the one they make with foreigners, especially in business issues. This can help much in promoting the national economy.

1.5. Objectives of the Study

1.5.1. General Objective

This study intended to make an evaluation of the communicative competence in conversational English among English Language Learners in the Literary Option. This evaluation illustrated the extent to which those learners are communicatively competent in conversational English and factors that influence that competence.

1.5.2. Specific Objectives

Ø Determine the extent to which E.L. learners in the Literary Option emphasise on accuracy and fluency in their real-life communication

Ø Find out the extent to which the level of literacy in learners' families affects their communicative competence in conversational English.

Ø Find out the extent to which E.L. learner's residence area affects their communicative competence in conversational English.

Ø Find out the teaching aids that are used in schools to familiarize learners with English Language as a tool of communication.

Ø Determine how often teachers focus on skills enabling the development of oral communication.

1.6. Research Questions

1. To what extent do E.L. learners in the Literary Option put emphasis on accuracy and fluency in their real-life communication?

2. What are the teaching aids used in schools to develop oral communicative skills among E.L. learners?

1.7. Research Hypotheses

1. Sex is not a significant factor influencing E.L. learners' communicative competence in conversational English.

2. There is no significant difference of communicative competence in conversational English between E.L. learners from rural area and those from urban area.

3. There is no significant relationship between family literacy and E.L. Learners' communicative competence in conversational English.

1.8. The Scope of the Study

As far as the evaluation of the communicative competence in conversational English among E.L. learners is concerned, this study does not cover all types of communication because of certain reasons such as the shortage of time and money. Therefore, the study was not be concerned with written and oral communication; however, it was delimited to the evaluation of the communicative competence in conversational English. Since the conversational English involves mainly oral skills such as speaking and listening this study insisted on the development of speaking and listening language skills as basics of productive and receptive communication.

Furthermore, the research was conducted to all E.L. learners in the literary option. However, the study was concerned with schools located in districts of Rusizi and Nyamasheke in the Southern part of the Western Province of Rwanda.

This study was conducted in four schools located in Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts. As only schools with the literary option were concerned with the study, 366 students who are in that option and 4 teachers of English were taken as the population of the study. Using the purposive sampling and the random sampling techniques 73 and 4 teachers were selected as the sample of the study. Two research instruments: the questionnaire and the test were used in the collection of data. Then, after having the validity of instruments tested, the researcher administered the questionnaire and he controlled over the students who sat for the test to prevent them from cheating. As far as the method of data analysis is concerned, the quantitative method was used. Therefore, Epidata 3.1 and SPSS 11.5 are computer software that helped the researcher to analyse data through this method.

1.10. The Structure of the Work

This study covers five chapters. The first chapter deals with the general introduction including the background to the study, the statement of the problem, the choice of the topic, the significance of the study, the objectives of the study, the research questions, the research hypotheses, the scope of the study, the methodology and the present subchapter..

The second chapter is the literature review. It is an overview of various ideas from books which relate to the topic of this study. Therefore, it includes ideas relating to the evaluation of communicative competence in conversational English among E.L. learners in the literary option.

The third chapter is the research methodology. It comprises the design of the study, the area of the study, the population of the study, the sample and sampling techniques, the instruments of data collection, the validity of instruments, method of data collection, methods of data analysis and the limitations of the study.

The fourth chapter deals with data presentation, data analysis, and interpretation. Finally, the last chapter gives the general conclusion, recommendations and suggestions for further researches.

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. Introduction

The present study is about the evaluation of communicative competence in conversational English among English Language Learners in the literary option. It involves notions such as language, communication, communicative competence, the language learning and acquisition, and then, it involves instructional technologies in communicative language teaching. Since the above notions are almost repeated throughout the whole dissertation, this chapter enables readers to understand better what each of these issues is about.

2.2. Definition and Views on Language

2.2.1. Definition

As far as the term «language» is concerned, people can refer to it in different ways according to the context in which it is used. The language should be referred to as any means of communication between all beings such as animals, human beings, etc. There is also the programming language, which is used when designing computer programmes. However, the language concerned with this research is what International Student Edition (2002, p.798) defines as «A particular form of words and speech used to the people of a country area or a social group».

According to DeSantis (1999, p.80), «The language is a system of signs, sounds, gestures or marks that is used and understood to express ideas and feelings among people within a community, a nation, a geographical area or a cultural tradition». Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.112) added that «Language is a unified system of symbols that permits a sharing of meanings». Here, these symbols, which represent things, are words. (op cit)

It is noticed that these writers have different views on language but most of them turn around its main purpose of enabling communication between its users. Therefore, it is up to those users to master the language as a system. That is why Payne (2001) focuses not only on the mixture of its structures but also on the real message to be transmitted properly so that the language may accomplish its main role of ensuring the communication in real-life context.

2.2.2. The Importance of Language

DeSantis (1999) says that the language is the basis of the human communication. According to him it is a useful tool of communication because its words and words' patterns are used to exchange meanings between persons and even between generations; therefore it allows us to encounter our world in a meaningful way.

However, this importance can be remarkable only if the language is properly used. That is the reason why all language learners must be aware of the proper use of the language as a tool of communication.

Allen and McKerrow (1977), discussing about the qualities of effective language, say that the language essential qualities that contribute to speaking excellence are appropriateness, clarity and vividness.

Talking about appropriateness, they say that the language is appropriate when it is adapted to the speaker, the audience, and the occasion of speaking. Therefore, failure to adapt it to any of these concerns may interfere with effective communication.

They continue saying that, if the audience does not understand your message, it may be that your ideas lack clarity. They add that the achievement of clarity depend on the use of simple and specific expressions.

Vividness is that quality of style that renders ideas compelling and memorable. They say that the primary attributes of a vivid style are forcefulness and freshness. Here, forcefulness is concerned with attracting the audience's attention on the speaker's subject.

2.2.4. The Elements of Language

2.2.4.1. Sounds

According to DeSantis (1999, p.84), «The smallest functional unit of sound in a language is called a phoneme. In English language there are thirty-nine phonemes. Each phoneme is distinct from the other ones. For language to exist, a series of these distinct sounds must be produced by successive movement of the speech organs».

He adds that, «Most of us learn to speak a language before we learn to write it, and most of us are born with the physical mechanisms that enable us to make speech sounds. However, we do not all learn to produce the sounds in exactly the same way. Though using the same language, people of certain geographical regions or cultural groups may speak quite differently». (op cit., p.83)

He continues saying that «The International Phonetic alphabet (IPA) was devised as a consistent and universal system for transcribing the speech sounds of all languages. This is useful since the letters of our alphabet and our spelling system do not represent the sounds of our language». (op cit., p.84)

DeSantis defines the word as «The symbol that stands for the objects or concepts that it names». (op cit., p.106) He continues saying that a word can represent an object, as the word chair represents the actual piece of furniture, or it can represent an abstract concept, as freedom represents the intangible qualities of self-determination and civil and political liberty.

Words are agreed-upon sound combinations within a language community. For example, the sounds in the word help constitute a word because English speakers agree that they do. On the other hand, zelp, while consisting of common sounds in our language, is not a word because this combination of sounds does not an agreed-upon meaning. (op cit.)

2.2.4.3. Grammar

While DeSantis (op cit., p.106) defines grammar as «Rules that govern how words are put together to form phrases and sentences», Roberts (1972) defines «grammar» as the particular knowledge of how to assemble words in sentences and how to pronounce these sentences. Therefore, according to Roberts, saying that a person speaks English is to say that he has built into him a set of rules that enable him to produce, or generate, English sentences as he needs them. These rules enable him also to understand the sentences of another person speaking that language.

He divides grammar into three components. The syntactic component describes the parts of the sentence and the order in which they are arranged. The phonological component tells us how the sentence is pronounced. And then, the semantic component which tells us what the sentence means. (op cit.)

In addition, Leech and Svartvik (1975, p.23) say that «The grammar of spoken sentences is simpler and less strictly constructed than the grammar of written sentences». Therefore, since the modern society is in need of people who not only read English well but also speak it fluently, E.L. learners have to make any possible effort to increase their knowledge in oral language skills. (op cit.)

2.2.4.4. Meanings

Leech and Svartvik (1975) represent the different types of meaning in four circles or sections. In the first section, the meaning is referred to as a concept. Here we find the basic meaning categories like the number, the amount, the time, the manner, the degree, etc. which identify aspects of our experience of the world.

The second section represents logical communication where the basic meaning categories of the first section are used to make judgments about truth and falsehood, to give and elicit information about the world. It is the case of categories such as statements, questions and responses, affirmation and denial, etc.

The third section involves another aspect of communication: the attitudes and behaviour of the speaker and the hearer. This section involves such speech acts as commanding, suggesting, advising, threatening, promising, etc. Here the logical meaning, presented in the second section, is extended or even distorted to perform a different type of function. For example; a question, which is logically designed to elicit information on a particular point, is adapted pragmatically for the purpose of making an offer, making a suggestion, or expressing a strong feeling.

The fourth section comprises the organisational aspect of communication. The question here is about how to arrange thoughts and how to bind them together in order to communicate in most appropriate way. Here it is the textual or discourse aspect of communication because it concerns the composition of a whole text not just the way we construct a single sentence.

2.2.5. The Language Proficiency

2.2.5.1. Accuracy

Bailey (2005) says that accuracy refers to the ability to speak properly. That is, selecting correct words and expressions to convey the intended meaning. Similarly, Broughton et al (1980, p.23) say that «Accuracy is the use of words, phrases and sentences in appropriate contexts to convey the message they actually intended to convey.» For Richards et al (1985, p.108), «Accuracy refers to the ability to produce grammatical correct sentences».

Here, Bailey and Broughton et al insist on the appropriateness of the language used to the speaker's purpose. In addition Richards et al insist on the correctness of the language. Therefore, they all want to insist on the fact that a language learner should do his best to know correct words and structures to use in any communicational situation. Then, knowing these, he should also be able to use them correctly when speaking.

2.2.5.2. Fluency

For Bailey (2005) fluency is the capacity to speak fluidly, confidently and at a consistent rate with the norms of the relevant native speech community. Richards et al (1985, p.107) say that «Fluency is the features which give speech the qualities of being natural and normal, including the use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress, rate of speaking, and use of interjections and interruptions». They continue saying that «Fluency describes a level of proficiency in communication, which includes:

· The ability to speak with a good but not necessarily perfect command of intonation, vocabulary and grammar;

· The ability to produce continuous speech without causing comprehension difficulties or breakdown of communication». (op cit., p. 107-108)

Johnson and Morrow (1981, p.48) add that «The development of fluency implies that students must do many things which are not entirely predictable, which may well sound rather odd, but which will indicate that their natural language learning capabilities are being exercised and encouraged».

2.3. Definition and Views on Communication

2.3.1. Definition

In our everyday life humans, like most of other divine creatures, need the others to solve various problems encountered. Therefore, there is always a need of communication between them. Here, several scholars have much to say about communication.

Revell (1979, p.1) defines communication as «An exchange, between people, of knowledge, of information, of ideas, of opinions, of feelings». Similarly, for Richards et al (1985, p.48) «Communication is an exchange of information, ideas, etc, between two or more persons». Then, Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.6) say, «Communication is the deliberate or accidental transfer of meaning.» They also present the following model to illustrate the communication process.

2.3.2. Essential Components of Communication

A number of authors tried to provide a classification of essential components of communication. Their classifications are similar for some components and a bit different for the others. Those writers are mainly Gamble and Gamble (2002), DeSantis (1999) and Payne (2001). According to Gamble and Gamble (2002), there are seven essentials of communication namely: people, message, channels, noise, context, feedback, and effect.

2.3.2.1. People

Gamble and Gamble (2002) say that the human communication involves people, and those people are referred to as senders, persons who encode messages and receivers who decode messages during every communication event.

According to DeSantis (1999), the communication is made between two sides, the source and the receiver. For him the source, which is the creator of the message, performs four roles: determining the meaning of what is to be communicated, encoding the meaning into the message, sending the message, and perceiving and reacting to a listener's response to the message. However, the receiver decodes the messages by analysing and interpreting them. Then, the receiver has to store and recall the message, and finally, to respond to the source, message, channel, environment, and noise.

Payne (2001) has also classified this component of communication as composed of two elements namely, the sender that he considers as the initiators of the communication and the receiver which he considers as the target of the communication.

2.3.2.2. Message

According to Gamble and Gamble (2002), the message is referred to as the content of a communication act. That is what you talk about, the words you use, the sounds you make, the way you gesture, and your facial expression during any communication act.

For Payne (2001, p.8), «The message is whatever the sender communicates to the receiver». DeSantis (1999, p.18) adds that «A message is a stimulus produced by the source. It comprises, words, grammar, organization of thoughts, physical appearance, body movement, aspects of the person's personality and self-concept, and the personal style»

2.3.2.3. Channel

Gamble and Gamble (2002) say that the channel is the medium with and through which we send and receive messages. The channel may be verbal and nonverbal. Therefore, we are multichannel communicators because all our senses can be used as channels of message transmission.

Likewise, Payne (2001, p.8) defines the `channel' as «The mean used to transmit the message from sender to receiver». DeSantis (1999, p.19) adds that «The channel is the route by which messages flow between sources and receivers. The usual communication channels are light waves and sound waves, which allow us to see and hear one another».

Similarly to Gamble and Gamble who say that the channel may be verbal and non-verbal, DeSantis (op cit.) says that smelling, touching and tasting are also channels through which we receive messages.

2.3.2.4. Noise

Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.9) say that «The noise is anything that interferes with or distorts one's ability to send or receive messages». This is can be the case for a language learner when he misses proper language to use for a given situation.

The noise, as an essential of communication, is what Payne (2001) calls «interference». He says that interference is anything which blocks or hinders the reception of the message or the feedback. He adds that the interference can possibly arise from the context, the sender, the receiver or the channel.

Similarly to Payne, DeSantis (1999) refers to the noise as interference. That is anything that changes the meaning of an intended message. He adds that the interference can be external and physical and/or internal and psychological. Therefore, DeSantis continues saying that «A person who speaks in aloud voice to get someone's attention may create both physical and psychological interference. If the receiver perceives the loudness as anger, the loud voice creates not only a distraction from attending but also a distortion of interpretation». (op cit., p.19)

2.3.2.5. Context

According to Gamble and Gamble (2002) the context is referred to as the setting in which communication takes place. This setting may be natural or so unnatural that it can affect communicators, causing them to alter their posture, their manner of speaking, attire or means of interacting.

Payne (2001), talking about context, says that all communication occurs in a specific time and space. He adds that there are social and psychological aspects of context. Therefore, this has as synonyms, situation, environment, occasion or setting.

For DeSantis (1999, p.21), «The context is the broad circumstances or situation in which communication occurs.(...) The number of people, the type of communication, and the situation in which the communication occurs all lend themselves to the context. Each context affects what we say and how we say it».

2.3.2.6. Feedback

For Gamble and Gamble (2002), the feedback is referred to as information returned to a message source. This can be positive feedback when it is concerned with a behaviour enhancing a response, or negative feedback when it is concerned with a response that extinguishes behaviour in progress. The feedback can also be internal or external.

Payne (2001, p.8) defines feedback as «The response the sender gets from the receiver». Similarly, DeSantis (1999) says that the feedback is the response to a message that a receiver sends back to a source. This enables a sender to determine whether the message has been received and understood as intended.

2.3.2.7. Effect

Gamble and Gamble (2002) say that the effect, during the communication process, is the communication outcome. This means that communication has always some effects on communicators. The effect can be emotional, physical, cognitive or any combination of the three.

Therefore, a communicator should always take into account the effect of the communication he is involved in. Hence, he must avoid everything that may affect negatively the outcome of his communication. One of what he must avoid is the bad use of language.

2.3.3. Types of Communication

DeSantis (1999) says that types of communication are usually distinguished by, the number of people involved in it, the purpose of communication, and the degree of formality in which it occurs. Therefore, when considering the number of people involved in a communication action, he classifies these types into four, namely: intrapersonal, interpersonal, small group and team, and public communication. Here, the small group and team communication is taken as a subcomponent of interpersonal communication. Written communication and oral communication are also added to these types as the manner of communication is taken into account.

2.3.3.1. Intrapersonal Communication

According to DeSantis (1999), intrapersonal communication is the process of understanding information within oneself because we communicate with ourselves before communicating with others. He adds, «Intrapersonal communication includes diverse internal activities such as thinking, problem solving, conflict resolution, planning, emotion, stress, evaluation, and relationship development. (...) Intrapersonal communication may occur without the presence of any other type of communication, but all other types of communication cannot occur without it. ». (op cit., p.22)

Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.9) say, «During the intrapersonal communication, you think about, talk with, learn about, reason with, and evaluate yourself». Similarly, Payne (2001) says that intrapersonal communication is the meaning we create within ourselves. Therefore, he adds that before communicating with others, we create within ourselves the meaning that we want to transfer with our message.

2.3.3.2. Interpersonal Communication

DeSantis (1999, p.23) defines the interpersonal communication as «The informal exchange of information between two or more people». This type of communication is similar to the intrapersonal communication in that it also help, to share information, solve problems, resolve conflicts, understand our perception of self and of others, and establish relationship with others.

Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.9) say that «When you engage in interpersonal communication, you interact with another, learn about him or her and act in ways that help sustain or terminate your relationship». In addition, for Payne (2001), the interpersonal communication occurs in contexts where two or more people actively participate in exchanging messages. It is the case of a conversation, a small group discussion, and an interview. He adds that, in this type of communication, the largest group must be made of ten to fourteen people.

2.3.3.3. Public Communication

Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.9) say, «Through public communication you inform and persuade the members of an audience to hold certain attitudes, values, or beliefs; so that they will think, believe, or act in a particular way. On the other hand you can also function as a member of an audience in which case another person will do the same for you.»

Similarly, Payne (2001) talks about person-to-group communication and called it «a public speaking». He says that, in this type of communication, one person, the speaker, addresses the audience not as different and multiple individuals but as one receiver.

2.3.3.4. Oral Communication

Payne (2001) says that oral communication is a very important part of everyday life. It is important because as one makes communication decisions, he is building his personal and professional future. He says that the value of effective oral communication is immediately evident considering what it can mean to someone. Therefore, he provides three domains in which the oral communication is helpful.

First, he states the personal importance. The oral communication takes someone from silence or isolation which is the worst punishment in some societies. He adds that communication is the foundations for friendship, love and our personal happiness.

Second, he discusses the professional importance saying that effective oral communication is usually the basis of our job to be done better. Therefore, communication can help us realise our career and financial goal, as the better the job, the more likely it is to be financially rewarded.

Third, talking about the social importance, Payne says that effective oral communication is part of our drive toward improving our society. In fact, according to Payne, oral communication is so important that the Constitution's First Amendment in the USA guaranteed freedom of speech.

2.3.3.5. Written Communication

Contrary to the oral communication, which is done using oral and aural means, the written communication is done using different forms of written texts. Therefore, still trying to compare the characteristics of oral communication and written communication, Reid (1985) says that in speaking, you may use intonation, facial expression and body movement in addition to your words to help you express your ideas, hence help you communicate. However, when you are expressing your ideas in written form, these elements of communication are not available to you. Therefore, in this case the punctuation can be resorted to in order to cover that gap.

Unfortunately, many English as Second Language students are not equipped with sufficient language skills to use in written communication. Therefore, Reid (op cit.) states three problems encountered by ESL student writers. Firstly, they have grammatical errors that interfere with communication. Secondly, they have difficult to find ways to communicate- fully and successfully- their ideas. Thirdly, they have problems related to their cultural backgrounds in that different cultures have different ways of presenting written materials.

The most important form of written materials which is used in communication is the letter. Talking on this, Reid gives the example of some uses of a letter in written communication. He says, «In less formal situations, a personal letter or not is used. Some uses of the personal letter are: as invitations, to say thanks, to express congratulations (for an award, a graduation, a baby, etc.), to show sympathy (for a death, illness, or accident).» (op cit., p.13) It is to be mentioned that some of these situations in which a personal letter can be used, are also found in oral communication.

2.3.4. Types of Communicative Activities

In communicative language learning, classroom activities must be done in a communicative way. Therefore, Littlewood (1981) distinguishes two types of communicative activity to be performed by communicative language learners. Those are the functional communication activities and the social interaction activities.

2.3.4.1. Functional Communication Activities

For Littlewood (op cit.), the classroom needs communicative activities that emphasise the functional aspect of communication. Therefore, for example, when learners have a problem to solve, or information to exchange, they can use whatever language they have at their disposal. That is, the main purpose of the activity is that learners should use the language they know to get meanings across as effectively as possible.

This means that language learning activities should be done in their real context so that language learners may not be disgusted thinking that the language they are learning can not satisfy any of their real communication needs.

2.3.4.2. Social Interaction Activities

Littlewood (op cit, p.20) says that «The competent speaker chooses language which is not only functionally effective, but is also appropriate to the social situation he is in». For him, learners still aim at conveying the meaning effectively paying greater attention to the social context in which the interaction takes place. Therefore, their success is measured in terms of acceptability, or in terms of producing the language which is appropriate to specific kinds of social situation. (op cit.)

This implies that a competent communicative language learner is the one who is able to relate the classroom activities to the social interactions he is often involved in. This is so because the society is the main application field of a language. Therefore, every language user must relate his language to the norms of his society.

2.3.5. Essential Processes in Learning to Communicate

Rivers (1983) presents schematically the following division of essential processes in learning to communicate.

For Rivers, the ability to communicate, to interact verbally, presumes some knowledge (cognition) both in the perception of units, categories, and functions and in the internalizing of the rules relating to them. (It is a process of abstraction). He adds that students learn to produce language sequences, which means that they learn through doing. Then, to use the skill he has already got, the learner must interact with other language users. Therefore, through interaction he expresses himself and shows his ability to receive the message from his interlocutor, and this enhances motivation to communicate. (op cit)

2.3.6 Language-based Barriers to Communication

DeSantis (1999, p.92) says that «Although it takes little physical effort to say something to someone, it does take mental effort to ensure that what we say conveys our intended meaning. Even if we create what we think is the perfect message, the possibility always exists that the receiver will misinterpret the message or find it ambiguous».

Therefore, he adds that «Misunderstandings occurs for numerous physical, mental, and cultural reasons. Ineffective use of language is one reason. Among the most common language based barriers to effective communication are bypassing, indiscrimination, and polarisation» (op cit., p.93)

Here, the bypassing is defined as a misunderstanding between a sender and a receiver when what is meant by the speaker differs from what is heard and understood by the listener. The indiscrimination is a form of perceptual set in which a person chooses to ignore differences and changes in events, things and people. The author gives an example of the statement «Students cheat in school» which may be interpreted to include all students instead of some students. Then, the polarisation is the tendency to view things in terms of extremes- rich or poor, beautiful or ugly, good or bad, etc.- even though most things exists somewhere in between. Therefore, if the structure «either-or», as an aspect of language, is used to take such extreme positions, the language used can cause polarisation and then hinder the effectiveness of communication. (op cit.)

2.4. Definition and Views on Communicative Competence

2.4.1. Definition of the Communicative Competence

According to Richards, Platt and Platt (1992, p.65) quoted in Kilfoil and Walt (1997, p.12), the communicative competence is «The ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences, but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom». Kilfoil and Walt add that communicative competence goes beyond the formal language taught in the classroom and it includes sociolinguistic rules. Therefore, a language learner has to know the culture of the target language group and has to be able to function socially as well as linguistically. In this way, he can know what the first-language speaker would regard as impolite or rude, what type of question to ask or not, how to get angry in the target language and how to reproach without being rude. (op cit.)

Hymes quoted in Rivers (1983, p.14) defines the communicative competence as «What a speaker needs to know to communicate effectively in culturally significant settings». Similarly, DeSantis (1999, p.25), quoting O'Hair, Friedrich, Wiemann and Wiemann, say that «Communication competencies are skills and understanding that enable communication partners to exchange messages appropriately and effectively» Then, Hymes (1972), cited in Gikwerere (2005, p.8), says that «Communicative competence is used to refer to the knowledge of sociolinguistic rules, or the appropriateness of an utterance, in addition to knowledge of grammar rules».

Littlewood (1981) provides four broad domains of skill which make up a person's communicative competence, and which must be recognised in foreign language teaching. These skills are presented from the speaker's perspectives as follows:

- The learner must distinguish between the forms that he has mastered as part of his linguistic competence and the communicative functions that they perform.

- The learner must develop skills and strategies for using language to communicate meanings as effectively as possible in concrete situations.

Munby (1978, p.11) says, «Above all, communicative competence relates an ideal speech situation in the same way that linguistic competence relates to the abstract system of linguistic rules». Therefore, he defines the communicative competence as «The ideal speaker's mastery of the dialogue-constitutive universals, irrespective of the actual restrictions under empirical conditions». (op cit., p.11)

In a nutshell, the communicative competence refers to the speaker or a writer's choice of the language to use according to the social, spatial, and chronological environment in which he is. Therefore, Revell (1979, p.5) says that «Theories of communicative competence imply that teachers must do more than just supply learners with a number of language structures to manipulate». Therefore, Rivers (1972, p.72) says, «Teachers must demonstrate how language items are used, and in what situations they are appropriate».

2.4.2. Components of the Communicative Competence

2.4.2.1. Grammatical Competence

Kilfoil and Walt (1997, p.13) define the grammatical competence as «Correct application of rules of grammar but not explicit knowledge of grammatical rules». According to them it is also referred to as linguistic competence. Besides, Canale and Swain (1980) say that it deals with features and rules of language vocabulary, word formation, and pronunciation, sentence formation to understand and express accurately the literal meaning of utterances.

Richards and Schmidt (1983, p.7) say that «Such competence focuses directly on the knowledge and skill required to understand and express accurately the literal meaning of utterances; as such, grammatical competence will be an important concern for any second language programme» For them, the grammatical competence is concerned with features and rules of language such as vocabulary, word formation, sentence formation, pronunciation, spelling and linguistic semantics. (op cit.)

2.4.2.2. Sociolinguistic Competence

For Canale and Swain (1978), sociolinguistic competence includes socio-cultural rules of use and rules of discourse. It requires appropriateness in understanding and producing utterances in different sociolinguistic contexts. For Kilfoil and Walt (1997, p.13), it is «The appropriate use of the language, for example, formal language for formal occasions».

This competence seems to be very important in actual communication. However, Richards and Schmidt (1983) say that there is a tendency in many second language programmes to treat it as less important than grammatical competence. However, they say, this tendency is odd because it ignores the fact that the sociolinguistic competence is crucial in interpreting utterances for their social meaning.

2.4.2.3. Discourse Competence

Richards and Schmidt (1983, p.9) say that «This type of competence concerns the mastery of how to combine grammatical forms and meanings to achieve a unified spoken or written text in different genres». Then, Canale and Swain (1978) continue saying that it deals with cohesion in form and coherence in meaning.

On one side, Richards and Schmidt say that cohesion deals with how utterances are linked structurally and facilitates interpretation of a text. On the other side, they say that coherence refers to the relationships among the different meanings in a text, where these meanings may be literal meanings, communicative functions, and attitudes. (Op cit)

2.4.2.4. Strategic Competence

For them, Richards and Schmidt (1983, p.10), «The strategic competence is the mastery of verbal and non-verbal communication». They add that it has two main roles: to compensate for breakdowns in communication and enhance the effectiveness of communication. (op cit.) Kilfoil and Walt (1997, p.13) add that it is «The ability to make one's meaning clear in a variety of ways».

2.5. Language Acquisition and Language Learning

2.5.1. Definition and Views on Language Acquisition

Wilkins (1974), states that the language acquisition is enormously done between the age of about twelve months and five years. Within this period, a child may well be in contact with language for most his waiting hours. Through this contact he takes different forms of the language used around him. But, however, there is also a language a child himself produces.

According to the author, a child is not aware of the way in which the rules of a language operate. Therefore, he is not even aware of mistakes he makes unless there may be some process of feedback from adults for example. Similarly, the success of a child's attempt at communication may be ensured to him in various ways. There may be obvious signs of approval from other people, or verbal reaction between them or toward the child. For example if the stimulus to the child's utterance is the desire to have a drink, he knows that the form of his utterance has proved acceptable if the drink is provided. (op cit.)

In a word, the language acquisition is a long process through which a child, at his early age, acquires a language by relating his innate linguistic capacity to the features of the language being used in the community he grows in. This capacity for acquiring language is what Littlewood (1984) describes using the term `Language Acquisition Device' often shortened to LAD.

2.5.2. Definition and Views on Language Learning

Littlewood says that «In second language learning as in every other of human learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres».. (op cit., p.53)

Then, talking about factors of language learning motivation, Littlewood focuses on two aspects which are important for second language learning. Those are the communicative need for a second language and the attitudes towards the second language community.

In addition to the learner's motivation, Littlewood says that another important influence on the learner's proficiency is the quality of the learning opportunities offered by the environment. On this, he says that the learner should have access to situations where the language is used as a natural means of communication. Therefore, he adds that more fortunate learners may avoid anxiety when using the second language, by establishing friendly contacts in that language environment. (op cit.)

Johnson and Morrow (1981, p.48) add that «In most situations, learning will be effective provided that there is extensive exposure to the target language and plenty of opportunities for the learner to use it». Similarly, Littlewood (1984, p.91) says that «Communicative interaction provides an opportunity for creative construction to take place in response to the language input. From the skill-learning perspective which is more familiar in teaching, it provides opportunities for whole-task practice. In either case, communicative interaction provides a situation in which internal process can create and integrate knowledge, outside the control of the teacher and the consciousness of the learner». Therefore, «Learners also need opportunities for communicative use, so that they can integrate separate structures into a creative system for expressing meaning» (op cit., p.91)

Finally, talking about the functions of language, Haycraft (1978, p.18-19), Funocchiaro and Brumfit (1984) and Els et al (1984), quoted by Gahutu (1998), provide a list of some functions of language that follow: introducing, apologising, declining an offer, agreeing and disagreeing, refusing, inviting, thanking, congratulating, etc. Therefore, «It is important to teach our learners what they can do with the language structures they are learning. This can motivate them and stimulate their interest». (op cit., p.51)

Byrne (1976) says that oral communication is a two-way process between speaker and listener involving the productive skills with speaking and receptive skills with understanding or listening. Therefore, speaking and listening are discussed as oral language skills.

2.5.3.1. Speaking

According to Ur (2002), speaking seems intuitively the most important of all the four language skills. That is, people who know a language are referred to as «speakers» of that language and many of most foreign language learners are primarily interested in learning to speak.

1. Learners talk a lot. As much as possible of the period of time allotted to the activity is in fact occupied by learner talk. This may seem obvious, but often most time is taken up with teacher talk or pauses.

2. Participation is even: Classroom discussion is not dominated by a minority of talkative participants: all get chance to speak, and contributions are fairly evenly distributed

3. Motivation is high: Learners are eager to speak: because they are interested in the topic and have something new to speak about it, or because they want to contribute to achieving a task objective.

4. Language is of an acceptable level: Learners express themselves in utterances that are relevant, easily comprehensible to each other, and of an acceptable level of language accuracy. (op cit., p.120)

In addition to these characteristics of successful speaking, he provides also a list of four problems related to speaking activities:

Unlike reading, writing and listening activities, speaking requires some degree of real-time exposure to an audience. Learners are often inhibited about trying to say things in a foreign language in the classroom: worried about making mistakes, fearful of criticism or losing face, or simply shy of the attention that their speech attract.

Even if they are not inhibited, you often hear learners complain that they cannot think of anything to say: they have no motive to express themselves beyond the guilty feeling that they should be speaking.

Only one participant can talk at a time if he or she is to be heard, and in large group this means each one will have only very little talk time. This problem is compounded with the tendency of dome learners to dominate, while others speak very little or not at all.

In classes where all or a number of the learners share the same mother tongue, they may tend to use it : because it is easier, because it feels unnatural to speak to another in a foreign language, and because they feel less «exposed» if they are speaking their mother tongue. If they are talking in small groups it can be quite difficult to get some classes -particularly the less disciplined or motivated ones- to keep to the target language. (op cit., p.121)

Kennedy and Rod (1984) state some skills resulted from speaking, namely: group discussion skills, social skills, and occupational skills. For the discussion skills Johns and Johns (1977) cited by Kennedy and Rod (op cit., p.114) say that non-native English learners have the following difficulties:

2.5.3.2. Listening

According to Gamble and Gamble (2002, p.193), «Listening is a deliberate process through which we seek to understand and retain aural stimuli. Unlike hearing, listening depends on a complex set of skills that must be acquired». They also propose a scale that illustrates the listening levels-energy.

Ur (2002, p.105) says that «The objective of listening comprehension in the classroom is that students should learn to function successfully in real-life listening situations». Therefore, he provides a list of listening situations which follows:

LISTENING SITUATIONS

Interview

Instructions

Loudspeaker announcement

Radio news

Committee meeting

Shopping

(c) Cambridge University Press 1996

Theatre show

Telephone chat

Lesson, lecture

Conversation, gossip

Watching television

Story-telling

Ur (2002) states five characteristics of real-life listening situations namely, the informal spoken discourse; listener expectation and purpose; looking as well as listening; ongoing, purposeful listener response; and speaker attention. Littlewood (1981) says that listening is often called a passive skill but it demands active involvement from the hearer. In addition, Abbott et al (1981) say that, despite their own experience in learning foreign languages, many people seem to think that listening is fairly easy and certainly much easier than speaking or writing. This assumption that listening, contrary to other skills, is easy may be the basis on which many teachers don't put much emphasis on teaching listening; however, ignoring the listening in language teaching activities is also to ignore that it works complementarily with other skills in oral communication process.

2.6. Instructional Technologies in Communicative Language Teaching

Having heard someone speaking of instructional technologies in language teaching, what comes first in mind is the equipment and materials used to achieve some of the language teaching objectives. Here, the equipment is referred to as the hardware which is needed either to display or to store various types of auditory and/or visual information that can be used in the language teaching.

For Lonergan (1984, p.118), «The term `hardware' is used to refer to the machinery itself: the video recorder, the television set, and so on». Then, materials are referred to as the software designed for language teaching purposes and which are made active or productive when used with appropriate equipment. That is why Lonergan (op cit., p.118) says,

«The software is what is needed to make the hardware function. In the case of video recorder, the software is the video tape».

2.6.1. Audio Cassettes and Cassette Player

Locatis and Atkinson (1984) say that audio media such as radio, record player and tape recorder are available in most households and many people have sophisticated audio equipment in their homes. However, the potential of audio media as an educational tool is too seldom realised.

Talking of audiocassette, also called audiotape, Locatis and Atkinson (op cit.) say that the audiotape is a narrow plastic ribbon that is shiny on one side and dull on the other. The dull side contains a layer of magnetic iron oxide particles and the sound is placed on the tape by magnetising those particles. These particles can also be read by the tape recorder/player and sent through an amplifier and speaker to create sound. In addition, they say that the audiotapes can be erased, recorded, and replayed several times without any loss of quality.

As far as language teaching is concerned, the teacher can use the audiotape with a tape recorder and/or tape player in teaching listening. To do this, he can play recorded texts published for language teaching purposes. He can also record his own text; either from natural voice or from a live radio programme broadcast by native speakers. On this, Locatis and Atkinson (op cit., p.210) say that «Learners can participate in locally produced programmes or can use those that are available from other sources. Locally produced programmes can be done by classroom instructors or learners with little or no prior experience».

2.6.2. CDs and CD player

Locatis and Atkinson (op cit., p.202) define the CD as «A small one-sided disc upon which digitally coded sound has been placed». They add that the digital player, which should be compared to a CD player, reads the coded sound by use of laser beam.

It is to be mentioned that CDs are in the area of advanced technology and they can be used in various ways. They can be used to display either audio messages or audio-visual ones, with all these depending on the way materials were recorded on the CD and on the compatibility of the playing equipment used. Therefore, in language teaching, CDs should be used in place of audio tapes and video.

2.6.3. Video Cassettes and Video Player

Lonergan (1984) says that recording on videotape is an electronic process which is done only with a magnetic tape. But, after recording, this magnetic tape becomes a material which can be used in language teaching according to its content. Therefore, films made for language teaching have the obvious merit of being planned and produced for a language-learning audience. Hence, it can be produced as a good language teaching material.

Lonergan continues, distinguishing five categories of video tapes than can be used in language teaching. This distinction is made according to the content of films or how they are recorded. Those are:

Thus, the language teachers should use any of these video materials which may be available at school or which they can make themselves. They can also refer to some great broadcasting institutions aiming at teaching English language for example and which may provide them with some of these materials.

It is of a great communicative value to use video films in language teaching. Therefore, Lonergan (op cit.) says that with video player, the combination of sound and vision is dynamic, immediate, and accessible. Therefore, the communication can be shown in a context, and various features of communicative language can be perceived easily by the learner.

However, he adds that, for many teachers, working with video recorders and cameras is a new experience. Therefore, teachers should do their best to be confident in handling and using the video equipment in language teaching.

Unfortunately, video, especially when used at home has got such strong connotations of entertainment that many learners, when watching video language teaching materials, expect that they are entertaining.

2.6.4. Computer

Computer is the most important pieces of equipment of all instructional technologies in that it can accomplish almost all tasks that should accomplished by other audio and/or video teaching aids. Therefore, computer can be used in various areas of language teaching process such as listening comprehension, speaking, writing, vocabulary, and phonetics. Talking about computer and teaching phonetics, for example, Leech and Candlin (1984), cited in Muvandimwe (2005, p.20), gives reasons for using computer in phonetics teaching:

Ø First, the subject can be taught more effectively with a computer than without;

Ø Second, it is actually jolly good fun, and makes teaching more enjoyable and more interesting than it was before;

Ø Innovation and increased efficiency are essential if phonetics is to maintain its position in linguistics and language teaching.

In addition, they argue that it is no doubt that Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) is the lure which has attracted the ELT professions to the computer for it processes information quickly. (op cit.) Furthermore, Muvandimwe (op cit., p.10) citing Merril (1986) says that «Some programs on computer are designed to aid students in their use of subject matter». Therefore, schools, especially those concerned much with language teaching, should manage to bring some of computer programs designed for teaching and learning language.

The third chapter of this study describes the methods, and procedures used by the researcher throughout the study. As it is said by Baily in Ndikubwimana (2005), there are different methods of collecting data and they differ from one to another. Therefore, the chapter discussed the design of the study, area of the study, population of the study, sample and sampling techniques, instruments of data collection, validity of the instrument, method of data collection, method of data analysis, and limitations of the study.

Hutton (1990, p.8) cited in Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (2001, p.77) says that «Survey research... is the method of collecting information by asking a set of pre-formulated questions in predetermined sequence in a structured questionnaire to a sample of individuals drawn so as to be representative of a defined population».

Then, Rosier (1988, p.107) cited in Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (op cit., p.77), says that «Survey research in education involves the collection of information from members of a group of students, teachers, or other persons associated with educational process, and the analysis of this information illuminates important educational issues»

Therefore, this research was a survey study since it is concerned with the exploration of the extent to which English language learners, in secondary schools' letters option, are communicatively competent and the factors that influence their competence in communicative English language.

To achieve the objectives of this study the researcher decided to conduct the research in secondary schools having the letters option. However, the study was not done on all those schools in Rwanda, but in those located in Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts. These districts are located in the Southern West of Rwanda and they have four schools with letters option namely. Those are: Collège de NKANKA, E.S.TYAZO, E.S.RANGIRO, and G.S.KARENGERA. The table below shows these schools and their locations.

Names of schools	District	Sector
Collège de NKANKA	Rusizi	Nkanka
E.S.RANGIRO	Nyamasheke	Rangiro
E.S.TYAZO	Nyamasheke	Kanjongo
G.S.KARENGERA	Nyamasheke	Kirimbi

The population of the study is composed of all students and teachers of English in the literary option of the schools located in Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts. The schools in respect with this study have 366 students who are in the literary option and 4 teachers of English. The table below shows the number of students and teachers of English in the schools concerned with this study.

Table 2: The number of students and teachers of English who make the population

Names of schools	Number of students	Number of teachers of English	Total population
Collège de NKANKA	95	1	96
E.S.RANGIRO	40	1	41
E.S.TYAZO	103	1	104
G.S.KARENGERA	128	1	129
TOTAL	366	4	370

The table below shows the number of students, in the literary option of schools concerned with the study, according to their respective classes.

Table 3: The number of students who make the population according to their classes

Classes Schools	4^th Form	5^th Form	6^th Form	TOTAL
Collège de NKANKA	57	38	-	95
E.S.RANGIRO	14	26	-	40
E.S.TYAZO	22	37	44	103
G.S.KARENGERA	40	38	50	128
TOTAL	133	139	94	366

According to Manheim and Richards (1991, p.92) the sample is «Any sub-group of the population which is identified for analysis». Similarly, as it was not possible to use the whole population, what should be done to find more valid information, the researcher resorted to the sampling technique in order to find a small part that can represent the population.

As far as sample and sampling techniques are concerned, the first and important thing to do is to determine the sample size to use. Therefore, Boll and Gall (1971) cited in Kalu (2005) say that in order to determine the sample size, the sample is 20% for the population up to 1,000, 10% for 5,000, and 5% for 10,000.

Therefore, referring to the model of Boll and Gall's sample size, the reseacher decided to take 20% of 366 students that are in the literary option of schools concerned with this study. That is to say that, 73 students is the sample to be selected from all students. For the teachers of English in the literary option, they were all selected because there is almost one teacher in each school only. This shows that the whole sample size is supposed to be made of 77 persons including students and teachers.

Talking about the sample and the sampling techniques used in this research, one can first mention the class of 5^thform which was selected through judgemental or purposive sampling technique. This technique consists of giving to a given subject more chance to be selected because of its special characteristics which can enable the researcher to reach his objectives more easily. Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (2001) say that the purposive sampling is a handpicking of supposedly typical or interesting cases. Therefore, at this level all 139 students of the 5^th forms were selected because this is the only class whose students are mature enough and which can be found in all schools concerned with the study.

Secondly, the simple random sampling technique was used in order to select 73 students from all 139 students of the 5^th forms. As this number is equal to approximately 53% of all students of the 5^th forms, the researcher decided to take this ratio for all students in every class. Therefore, 20 students were selected at College de NKANKA, 14 students at E.S.RANGIRO, 19 students at E.S.TYAZO, and 20 students at G.S.KARENGERA. The sampling technique used here consists of giving equal chance to all members of a group to be selected. Therefore, to do this, students' class numbers were written on pieces of paper, and then mixed in a container from which they were picked one by one until the desired number of students for the sample was selected.

Thirdly, using the judgemental/ purposeful sampling technique once again, one teacher of English was selected in each school. This technique was used because there is only one teacher of English who teaches in the literary option in each school. That is to say that 4 teachers were used in this study.

The table below shows the sample used in each school. That is to say the number of students and teachers selected in each school.

Schools	Number of students		Number of teachers	Total sample
Schools	5^th form students	Sample	Number of teachers	Total sample
Collège de NKANKA	38	20	1	21
E.S.RANGIRO	26	14	1	15
E.S.TYAZO	37	19	1	20
G.S.KARENGERA	38	20	1	21
TOTAL	139	73	4	77

In order to collect data used in this research, the questionnaire and the test were used as the research instruments.

As says Kalu (2005), the questionnaire is an instrument of data collection which elicits responses from respondents of the research through a series of questions or statements put together with specific aim in mind. He adds that a questionnaire can be structured/closed or unstructured/open-ended.

Therefore, the researcher decided to use a structured questionnaire which consists of restricting the respondent to respond to questions in the manner and extent required. This type of questionnaire was used to avoid long-sentence responses from respondents which could impede the analysis of collected data.

The test was used in this research to measure the extent to which students of the literary option are aware of how language can be properly used in friendly communication. Therefore, the test consisted of matching each element of one column to its corresponding element in the other column. The first column was made of a series of phrases that are often used in friendly communication, and the second column was made of a series of communicative situations in which these phrases are used. Then, all students who were used as respondents of the questionnaire sat also for this test.

According to Kalu (2005) validity is the appropriateness of an instrument in measuring what it is intended to measure. Therefore, in order to determine the validity of the instruments used, the researcher asked one English teacher at University to check whether the question items of the questionnaire and those of the test were really designed in accordance to the research questions and hypotheses.

Then, three students taken from the researcher's class fellows were asked to respond to the questionnaire and to do the test so that they may help him foretell problems that would hinder real respondents from providing necessary information. Finally, comments provided by these validators were used to make the final version of these research instruments.

Talking about the collection of data, Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (2001, p.179) say that «Face-to-face surveys may get a better response rate, but are more time consuming for the researcher». However, despite the shortage of time, the researcher decided to administer the questionnaire himself. This was helpful because whenever respondents had difficulties in comprehension of the question items I was ready to help them.

This method was not much used for teachers because they were supposed to have fewer difficulties to understand the questionnaire than students. In addition they should feel bothered by controlling over them like students. Therefore, they responded to the questionnaire freely.

As far as the test is concerned, the teacher who would be teaching at the time of giving the test was used to supervise the class. This was done to avoid any attempt of cheating among students, what might have corrupted the originality of the information drown from that test.

All students, already selected, were given the same time to respond to the questionnaire and to do the test; therefore, the researcher collected copies of those who had already finished up to the time that was fixed. Therefore, out of 77 copies of questionnaire that were given to students and teachers, 77 copies were collected. It is equal to 100% of all copies distributed. Then, out of 73 copies of test that were given to students, 73 copies were collected. They are equal to 100% of all test copies distributed.

In this research, the quantitative method of data analysis was used because both the questionnaire and the test used as instruments of data collection could easily provide necessary information in numbers. After collecting data, computer softwares designed for data analysis were used. These are the Epidata 3.1 and SPSS 11.5, and they are suggested by Blaxter, Hughes, and Tight (2001) as good softwares for quantitative analysis of data. To have this done, data were, first, entered in Epidata 3.1 which could directly save them and organise them in form of table. Then, they were exported in SPSS where they were analysed. Through this analysis, tables of frequency and mean were provided in accordance to each question item of the questionnaire or from the results obtained by different students in the test they did.

Ø The students were ashamed of showing their weakness in using English for communicative purposes thinking that their schools would be badly evaluated by higher authorities. Having noticed that, the researcher tried to ensure them that the information they provided would be confidential and that he was not doing an enquiry.

Ø The schools in which the research was conducted were located on a very wide geographical area and it was very difficult to reach them. This caused the researcher to arrive in some schools so late that he used to meet some teachers at their homes and to meet students in evening studying time.

Ø Many Students thought that responding to the questionnaire and doing the test were tasks which they would be paid for. Therefore, the researcher managed to explain them that the indirect benefit they would get from the completion of this study is greater and more durable than the direct one.

This chapter deals with the presentation of data, the analysis and the interpretation of findings. It presents the data from respondents collected through questionnaires and the test. The questionnaires targeted respectively students and English Teachers in the literary option whereas the test targeted students only. Therefore, some of tables illustrate findings from both teachers and students while others illustrate those from students only. Then, all the headings and subheadings that make this chapter are structured according to the questionnaire items and the distribution of results from the test among different groups of student who have sat for it.

Answers from respondents were used to, both, answer to the research questions and test the hypotheses of the research. For the sake of clarity and simplicity, it is to be mentioned that percentages were presented in the tables as they were exactly calculated but, for decimal numbers, only one decimal was presented while the following ones were rounded up. For instance, instead of writing 16.43836 % and 60.27397%, they were rounded and, therefore, 16.4 % and 60.3 % respectively were written.

4.2. Teachers and Students' Views on E.L. Learners' Use of English in Real-life Communication

As far as the students' use of English in real-life communication is concerned, the researcher focused on investigating the following points: the extent to which students are interested in using English in real-life communication, how they feel when speaking English outside the classroom and what they consider more important; either accuracy, fluency or the mixture of the both when they are speaking.

4.2.1. Students' Interest in Using English Language in Real-life Communication

To be communicatively competent, E.L. learner should be sufficiently interested in using English in his everyday-life communication. Therefore, the following table illustrates the extent to which E.L. learners are found interested in using English to communicate.

Answers	Students		Teachers
Answers	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Always	12	16.4	-	-
Often	13	17.8	-	-
Sometimes	42	57.5	4	100
Rarely	5	6.9	-	-
Never	1	1.4	-	-
Total	73	100	4	4

The table 5 reveals that a small percentage of 16.4% of students is always interested in using English in real-life communication and only 17.8% of the students use it often. However, a great percentage of 57.5% represents a number of students who are sometimes interested in using English in real-life communication; then, 6.9% and 1.4% represent a number of students who are rarely and never respectively interested. On the other side, a hundred percent of teachers agreed that students are sometimes interested in using English in real-life communication.

From these findings it is noticed that students are poorly interested in using English in real-life communication. However, Littlewood (1984, p.53) says that, «In second language learning as in every other of human learning, motivation is the crucial force which determines whether a learner embarks on a task at all, how much energy he devotes to it, and how long he perseveres». Therefore, it is to be mentioned that this students' poor interest in using English in real-life communication should be caused by these students' lack of motivation in using foreign languages in general and English in particular.

The feeling of a language learner when he is speaking that language has a great relationship with his communicative competence. Therefore, the following table shows how E.L. learners feel when using English in their oral communication. That is, whether they feel proud or shy when speaking English.

Table 6: Students' feeling when speaking English out of the classroom setting

Answers	Students		Teachers
	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
They feel proud	44	60.3	-	-
They feel shy	29	39.7	4	100
Total	73	100	4	100

As it is shown in table 6, 60.3% of students said that they feel proud when speaking English out of classroom setting while 39.7% represent the number of students who are shy. On the other side, a hundred percent of teachers confirmed that students feel shy when they are speaking English out side of classroom. This contradiction between students and teachers' answers should be due to the fact that some students did not want to reveal their weakness especially thinking that their schools would be negatively criticized thereafter.

Then, relying much on the teachers' assertion, one can say that students are generally shy when using English outside the classroom. This observation relates to `problems with speaking activities' stated by Ur (2002). These problems are the following: inhibition, nothing to say, low or uneven participation, and the mother tongue use. This means that, if an E.L. learner finds himself inhibited, dominated by the use of his mother tongue, etc. in the classroom, it would always be difficult for him to use this language outside the classroom where he encounters different people he is not familiar with.

4.2.3. Students' Choice between Accuracy and Fluency when They Are Speaking in English.

As say Richards, Platt and Platt (1992, p.65) cited in Kilfoil and Walt (1997, p.12), the communicative competence is «The ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also, to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom». Therefore, to be communicatively competent, a language learner needs to be both accurate and fluent when he is speaking. The following table shows what students prefer from accuracy, fluency and the mixture of accuracy and fluency.

Answers	Students		Teachers
Answers	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Accuracy	32	43.8	4	100
Fluency	10	13.7	-	-
Both accuracy and fluency	31	42.5	-	-
Total	73	100	4	100

The table 7 above presented shows that 43.8% of students prefer to be more accurate than fluent in their speech. However, a small percentage of 13.7 represent the number of students who prefer to be more fluent than accurate in their speech. Then, 42.5% of students said that both accuracy and fluency are the main goals in their speech. On the other side, a hundred percent of teachers said that all students consider much more accuracy than fluency when they speak. The fact that there is a small number of students who regard fluency as an element of great importance in their speech allows the researcher to confirm that students' communicative competence in conversational English is low. This point of view goes hand in hand with that of Richards et al (1985, p.107) who say that «Fluency is the features which give speech the qualities of being natural and normal, including the use of pausing, rhythm, intonation, stress, rate of speaking, and use of interjections and interruptions».

4.3. Availability of Language Teaching Aids in Schools and the Use of these Latter to Develop Oral Communicative Skills among E.L. Learners

Talking about the language teaching aids, the researcher wanted to know the extent to which schools access on audio-visual equipment, how schools use this equipment and the extent to which teachers and students judge audio-visual equipment important in E.L. teaching.

All secondary schools do not possess or access on audio-visual equipment equally. Therefore, the table below shows the extent to which schools own the equipment such as radio, video player, CD player and computer.

Answer «Yes» frequency Equipment	Students		Teachers
Answer «Yes» frequency Equipment	Number of respondents	%	Number of respondents	%
Radio	56	76.7	4	100
Video player	55	75.3	3	75
CD player	37	50.7	-	-
Computer	58	79.5	3	75

A glance at the above table shows that 76.7 % of students and 100% of English teachers agreed that their schools own radio cassette player. In addition 75.3% of the students and 75% of teachers confirmed that video player is available in their schools. Then, only 50.7% of students said that CD player can be found in their schools. Moreover, 79.5% of students and 75% of teachers stated that their schools own computers. However, no English teacher agreed that CD player is available in his school. The reasons for this may be that they are not interested in using such equipment, hence they cannot know whether they are available or not.

In this light, it is clear that all schools own sufficient audio-visual teaching aids. This sufficient ownership of the teaching aids should result in students' sufficient practice of English language for communicative purposes. These findings go hand in hand with the idea of Locatis and Atkinson (1984) who say that audio media such as radio, record player and tape recorder are available in most households and many people have sophisticated audio equipment in their homes. However, the potential of audio media as an educational tool is too seldom realised. Therefore, it is worth knowing whether the available equipment is used for language teaching purposes.

As all schools do not access on audio-visual equipment, all schools that have that access do not use this equipment in language teaching purposes. Therefore, the table below shows the extent to which schools use audio-visual equipment in language teaching purposes. .

Answer «Yes» frequency Equipment	Students		Teachers
Answer «Yes» frequency Equipment	Number of respondents	%	Number of respondents	%
Radio	37	50.7	2	50
Video player	8	11	-	-
CD player	6	8.2	-	-
Computer	16	21.9	-	-

The above table shows that 50.7% of students and 50% of English teachers said that radio is used for English language teaching purposes. 11% of students asserted that video player is really used. Then, only 8.2% of students said that CD player is used. Moreover, 21.9% of students responded that computer is sometimes used for E.L. teaching purposes.

No English teacher said that Video player, CD player and computer are used for E.L. teaching purpose while some students responded `yes'. The reason for this may be that students use this equipment outside English class in their spare time for example or in other courses. However, this poor use of audio-visual equipment in language teaching is very dangerous in development of students' communicative competence in conversational English. This is not far from the writings of Lonergan (1984) saying that with video player, the combination of sounds and vision is dynamic, immediate and accessible. Therefore, the communication can be shown in a context and various features of communicative language can be perceived easily by the learner. Then, it is to wonder whether both teachers and students are aware of the importance of using audio-visual equipment in language teaching.

4.3.3. Importance of Using Audio-visual Equipment in E.L. Teaching and Learning

Students and teachers do not have the same view on the importance of using audio-visual equipment in English teaching and learning process. The following table shows the level at which students and teachers agree that using audio-visual equipment in E.L. teaching is important.

Table 10: The importance of using audio-visual equipment in E.L. teaching and learning

Answers	Students		Teachers
Answers	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Strongly Agree	32	43.8	4	100
Agree	25	34.3	-	-
Disagree	13	17.8	-	-
Strongly Disagree	3	4.1	-	-
Total	73	100	4	100

From the result of this table, it is clearly shown that 43.8% of students and 100% of English teachers strongly agreed that audio-visual equipment is of a paramount importance in E.L. teaching/ learning process. Only 34.3% of students agreed with this assertion. Conversely, 17.8% of students disagreed and only 4.1% of students strongly disagreed that audio-visual equipment is important in E.L. teaching/learning process.

Therefore, it is to be mentioned that both students and E.L. teachers are aware of the importance of using audio-visual equipment in E.L. teaching/learning process. It means that the poor use of this equipment is due to others factors but not to the fact that they ignore the importance of this.

As far as the E.L. teachers focus on oral skills is concerned, the researcher wanted to know, the rank given to oral language skills comparatively to other language skills, how much time teachers prepare and teach the lesson on oral skills, and then which oral skill is insisted on.

4.4.1. Writing, Reading, Speaking and Listening Skills as They Are Emphasised on by E.L. Teachers

Writing, reading, speaking and listening are known as four traditional language skills and all language learners are supposed to have sufficient knowledge on each of these skills. However, some language teachers do not take these skills at the equal footing in their teaching activity. Therefore, two tables below show respectively students and teachers' views on the extent to which E.L. teachers emphasise on these skills differently.

Table 11: The views of students about their teachers' emphasis on some of the four skills

Skills Frequency	Writing		Reading		Speaking		Listening
Skills Frequency	Respondents	%	Respondents	%	Respondents	%	Respondents	%
Always	17	23.3	17	23.3	7	9.6	-	-
Often	24	32.9	17	23.3	13	17.8	9	12.3
Sometimes	25	34.2	24	32.9	30	41.1	3	4.1
Rarely	4	5.5	13	17.8	16	21.9	47	64.4
Never	3	4.1	2	2.7	7	9.6	14	19.2
Total	73	100	73	100	73	100	73	100

The table above shows that 23.3% of respondents agreed that their teachers always emphasise writing skill in E.L. teaching process. 32.9% said that writing is often emphasised, 34.2% confirmed that it is sometimes emphasised. However, 5.5% said that writing is rarely emphasised while 4.1% responded that writing is never emphasised. As far as reading is concerned, 23.3% of respondents agreed that reading is always emphasised by their teachers. The same percentage said that reading is often emphasised. In the same way 32.9% confirmed that reading is sometimes emphasised. Conversely, 17.8% said that it is rarely emphasised and only 2.7% said that reading is never emphasised in E.L. teaching/learning process.

Concerning speaking skill, 9.6% of respondents said that speaking is always emphasised and 17.8% confirmed that it is often emphasised. A great percentage of 41.1% confirmed that it is sometimes emphasised in their language learning. On the contrary, 21.9% responded that speaking is rarely emphasised and 9.6% answered that speaking is never emphasised in E.L. teaching/learning process. For the listening skill, 12.3% said that it is often emphasised and 4.1% said that it is sometimes emphasised in their language learning. Conversely, a great percentage of 64.4% of respondents confirmed that listening is rarely emphasised and 19.2% said that it is never emphasised.

Table 12: The views of teachers about their emphasis on some of the four skills

Skills Frequency	Writing		Reading		Speaking		Listening
Skills Frequency	Respondents	%	Respondents	%	Respondents	%	Respondents	%
Always	2	50	1	25	-	-	-	-
Often	1	25	1	25	-	-	-	-
Sometimes	1	25	2	50	3	75	-	-
Rarely	-	-	-	-	1	25	4	100
Never	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	4	100	4	100	4	100	4	100

From the results of this table 50% of respondents agreed that they always emphasise writing skill in E.L. teaching process. 25% said that writing is often emphasised, 25% confirmed that it is sometimes emphasised. As far as reading is concerned, 25% of respondents agreed that reading is always emphasised. The same percentage said that reading is often emphasised. In the same way 50% confirmed that reading is sometimes emphasised.

Concerning speaking skill, a great percentage of 75% confirmed that it is sometimes emphasised in their language teaching. On the contrary, 25% responded that speaking is rarely emphasised. As far as listening skill is concerned, 100% of E.L. teachers said that it is rarely emphasised in their language teaching process.

From the findings in table 11 and table 12, it is clear that the most emphasised skills are writing and reading while speaking and listening are neglected. This implies that students' communicative competence in conversational English cannot be well developed.

The researcher wanted to know the extent to which the lesson on oral skills is prepared and taught by E.L. teachers. Therefore, the following table shows the time during which E.L. learners have the lesson on oral skills.

Answers	Students		Teachers
Answers	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Always	7	9.6	-	-
Often	8	11	-	-
Sometimes	25	34.2	2	50
Rarely	22	30.1	2	50
Never	11	15.1	-	-
Total	73	100	4	100

The above table reveals that 9.6% of students confirmed that they have always a lesson on oral skills. 11% said that they have such lesson is often given. In the same way, a great percentage of students and teachers said that the lesson on oral skills is sometimes given. That is 34.2% for students and 50% for teachers. Nevertheless, 30.1% of students and 50% of English teachers answered that the lesson on oral skills is rarely planned. 15.1% remaining students said that a lesson on oral skills is never given.

In fact, taking into consideration the importance of oral skills in developing students' communicative competence, insufficient frequency of planning a lesson on oral skills may result in serious problem to the development of communicative competence in conversational English. This is not in disparity with the findings of Ur (2002) who says that speaking seems intuitively the most important of all the four skills. That is, people who know a language are referred to as `speakers' of that language.

4.4.3. Emphasis on either Speaking or Listening in E.L. Teaching and Learning

A language teacher may be interested in developing his students' oral skills but have difficulty to balance the emphasis to be given to each of these skills. That is why the table below is used to show the emphasis on either speaking or listening in E.L. teaching and learning process.

Table 14: Emphasis on either speaking or listening in E.L. teaching and learning

Respondents Answers	Students		Teachers
Respondents Answers	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)	Number of respondents	Percentage (%)
Speaking	41	56.1	4	100
listening	21	28.8	-	-
None of them	11	15.1	-	-
Total	73	100	4	100

The above table shows that 56.1% of students and 100% of teachers said that speaking is emphasized. 28.8% of students agreed that listening is more emphasised than speaking. Contrary to this, 15.1% of students said that none of both speaking and listening is emphasized in E.L. teaching/learning process.

This cannot help in developing communicative competence because the latter involves the development of both proactive and receptive skills. In this light, emphasizing speaking which is one of the productive skills, and ignoring or neglecting listening which is one of receptive skills, is a serious problem in language learning for communicative purposes. In this way, these findings derive support from Byrne (1976) who states that oral communication is a two way process between speaker and listener involving the productive skills of speaking and receptive skills of understanding

4.4.4. Factors Influencing Teachers in Deciding which Skills to Insist on when Teaching English Language

Having remarked that some language skills are given much emphasis while others are neglected, the researcher wanted to know the factors influencing teachers in deciding which skills to insist on when teaching English. He used the table below to show the extent to which teachers agree that each of these factors affects the teachers' decision on the skills to give much emphasis in the language teaching process.

Table 15: Factors influencing teachers' choice of language skills to emphasise

Teachers' answers Factors	Strongly Agree		Agree		Disagree		Strongly Disagree
	F	%	F	%	F	%	F	%
Instructional aids	1	25	3	75	-	-	-	-
National exams	4	100	-	-	-	-	-	-
Formation in E.L. Teaching	-	-	-	-	4	100	-	-

As it is presented in table 15, 25% of teachers strongly agreed that the availability of instructional aids for language skills development, is a a factor influencing their choice of skills to emphasise. Then, a great percentage of 75% agree with this assertion. 100% of respondents strongly agreed that the construction of English national exams is the factor influencing their decision on which skills to insist on when teaching. Conversely, 100% of these teachers disagreed with the assertion that their choice of the language skills to insist on, is influenced by having got formation in E.L. teaching or not.

From these findings, it is to be confirmed that the way English national exams are constructed is the main factor influencing the teachers' choice of the skills which they put emphasis on. The second factor is the availability of instructional aids. That is, having seen that that writing and reading are skills that are given much emphasis in E.L. teaching and learning, English national exams are prepared to measure only students' communicative competence in writing and reading skills. Then, it may be that instructional aids that are available in schools are not put on E.L. teachers' disposal so that they may be used to develop students' communicative competence in oral skills and, then, in conversational English . If teachers are still deciding what to teach in accordance with what are likely to be the main concern of the national exam and if they do not use modern instructional aids effectively, students will always be unable to use English language in real-life communication.

4.5. The Ability of Students in Using E.L. in Friendly Communication Situations

Littlewood (1984) says that the learner should have access to situations where the language is used as a natural means of communication. Therefore, according to him, more fortunate learners may avoid anxiety when using the second language, by establishing friendly contacts in that language environment. Based on this the reseacher designed a test intending to know whether E.L. learners are able to use different functions of the language to establish a friendly communication in English.

The following table shows the mean and the standard deviation calculated from the students' marks in the test. Then, these marks are used to illustrate the students' ability to use E.L. in everyday-life communication considering different categories in which they are; that is, the category of sex, that of residence area, and the one based on students' family level of literacy.`

Marks obtained by students out of 20 (x)	Number of students who obtained each mark (f)	fx
1	4	4
2	4	8
3	7	21
4	7	28
5	9	45
6	15	90
7	7	49
8	4	32
9	6	54
10	6	60
12	3	36
16	1	16
Total	N = 73	Ófx = 443
Mean ()	= = = 6.1

The table 16 shows the mean calculated from the students' results is 6.1. Knowing that the test has been done out of 20, the calculated mean is very low. This implies that these students do not use English language in real-life communicational context such as in friendly communication. It is worth to mention that this poor communicative competence is due to various factors; but to be clear and concise, the researcher wanted to find out different factors which might influence the students' ability to use English in situations related to friendly communication. These factors are the following: sex, students' residence area and their family literacy.

4.5.1. Sex and Students' Ability to Use E.L. in Their Everyday-life Communication

The table below shows the mean and the standard deviation calculated from marks obtained respectively by female and male students who sat for the test.

The table 16 reveals that the mean calculated from 21 female students' results is 6.8. On the contrary, the mean calculated from 52 male students' results is 5.8. From these findings, it is to be mentioned that neither female nor male students are communicatively competent in conversational English because none of these groups got the mean of 10 out of 20. However, a significant difference exists between the mean of female students and that of male students who sat for the test.

Even though there is no clear reason for this difference between girls and boys' results in the test, one can try to guess the reason: It may be that a great number of boys who did the test do not like to use English when conversing with their friends. They may have difficult to find particular words or phrases to use appropriately to a given situation or context. This is so because boys like freedom more than girls. Boys may like to speak paying less attention on the appropriateness of their speech. Therefore, the researcher has the reason to reject the first hypothesis saying that «Sex is not a significant factor influencing E.L. learners' communicative competence in conversational English».

4.5.2. Students' Residence Area and Their Ability to Use E.L. in their Everyday-life Communication

The following table shows the mean and the standard deviation calculated from marks obtained respectively by students from rural residence area and those from urban residence area.

The above table shows that the mean calculated from the results of 43 students from rural areas, is 6. However, the mean calculated from the results of 30 students from urban areas, is 6. A glance at these findings allows the researcher to say that there is no significant difference between students from rural areas and those from urban areas in using English in real-life communication. This assertion is proved by the fact that none of these two groups got 10 out of 20.

This poor communicative competence between both students from urban areas and those from rural areas is a serious problem which may be due to the fact that all of them find it easier to communicate through the mother tongue that to use English. However, students from urban areas should be more communicative competence in conversational English than counterparts because they have some facilities that should enable them to overcome this problem. For example, those facilities are: they frequently encounter people who do not use Kinyarwanda to communicate, they have sufficient access on radio, television and video in their homes, and they can use these series of equipment for language learning; many of them may have also learning evening programmes where they speak English their home tutors. Hence, relying on these findings, the second hypothesis is retained. It says that «There is no significant difference of communicative competence in conversational English between E.L. learners from rural area and those from urban area».

4.5.3. Students' Family Literacy and their Ability to Use E.L. in Their Everyday-life Communication

The following table shows the mean and the standard deviation calculated from marks obtained by students from families with different levels of literacy.

The level of students' family literacy	N	Mean
At least one family member attended university/ institution of higher education	29	7.3
At least one family member finished the secondary school	52	6.5
All family members finished the primary only	23	4.5

The above table shows that 29 students whose families have at least one person who attended university or any other educational institution, got the mean of 7.3. Then, 52 students whose families have at least one person who finished the secondary school have the mean of 6.5. Finally, 23 students from families where all other members finished the primary school only, have the mean of 4.5.

From these results, it is worth to mention that the level of literacy in students' families is an important factor that influences students' communicative competence in conversational English. That is why the third hypothesis i rejected. It says that «There is no significant relationship between family literacy and E.L. learners' communicative competence in conversational English».

The fourth chapter, which is the core of this study, is concerned with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of research data. Through this chapter the emphasis was put on checking whether E.L. learners are communicatively competent in conversational English.

In this regard, the researcher wanted to check the extent to which learners use English in real-life communication. He wanted also to show the impact of teachers' use of teaching aids on the learners' communicative competence in conversational English.

Then, he tried to exhibit the language skills that are given much emphasis by teachers and some of the factors that influence them in choosing skills to insist on. Finally, it was noticed that E.L. learners do not generally use E.L. in friendly communication whatever is the group of sex they belong to, their residence area and the level of their family literacy.

CHAPTER FIVE: GENERAL CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FURTHER STUDIES.

The preceding chapter has dealt with the presentation, analysis and interpretation of the data obtained from students and English teachers in schools with the literary option in Rusizi and Nyamasheke districts. Then, this chapter is going to deal with conclusion, recommendations and suggestions for future researches.

The main goal of this work was to evaluate the communicative competence in conversational English among English Language Learners in the Literary Option. To have this goal reached, two instruments for data collection: the questionnaire and the test were resorted to. As far as data analysis is concerned, specific software such as EPIDATA and SPSS designed for data analysis have been used based on the responses provided by the research informants, that is, by both students and English teachers.

Through the respondents' answers this study revealed that students are not interested in using E.L. in real-life communication. The reason for this may be that students have no motivation in using foreign languages in general and English in particular. This relates also to the fact that many students feel shy when using English outside the classroom. All these imply that many students have poor communicative competence in conversational English which is also due to their choice of accuracy by ignoring fluency which is, instead, an important component of an effective oral communication.

In addition, from the findings of this study, it was noticed that all schools own audio-visual teaching aids but teachers do not resort to them for E.L. teaching purposes. However, both students and teachers are aware of a paramount importance of using audio-visual equipment in E.L. teaching/learning in order to develop communicative competence in conversational English.

Furthermore, it was found that writing and reading are the most emphasised skills in E.L. teaching/learning process while speaking and listening are neglected. This may be caused by the way English national exams are constructed; that is, these exams have nothing to do with students' competence in oral skills. Then, teachers are not familiar with language teaching aids designed for oral skills development.

Finally, students' poor communicative competence is shown by their failing marks in the test on their ability to use English in friendly communication. Then, it was found that sex and students residence area are not significant factors to students' communicative competence. However, the level of literacy in students' families influences significantly the students' communicative competence in conversational English.

After having drawn the conclusion of this study's findings, it is worth making some recommendations to different educational stakeholders in order to help secondary school students in general and particularly those of the literary option; improve their communicative competence in conversational English in case the made recommendations are taken into account. In this light, the following recommendations are addressed to the Ministry of Education, the National Curriculum Development Centre (NCDC), the National Examination Council (NEC), school leaders and E.L. teachers.

Ø Provide schools with updated materials that can be used to enhance conversational English among E.L. learners.

Ø Provide E.L. teachers with in-service trainings on how to improve their students' communicative competence in conversational English.

Ø Collaborate with the National Examination Council to introduce oral skills in English national exams.

Ø Explain to students the importance of using foreign languages in general and particularly English for communicative needs.

Ø Oblige teachers and students to use foreign languages including English, both in the classroom and outside the classroom.

Ø Integrate in school activities some out-of-classroom activities enabling students to be involved in actual communication using English Language.

Ø Use audio-visual equipment available in their schools for communicative language teaching purposes.

Ø Initiate students' English clubs in which students can find the opportunity to use E.L. in meaningful context.

As this work is not exhaustive, future studies would be concerned with the following areas:

Ø Using audio-visual language teaching equipment to improve E.L. learners' communicative competence in conversational English.

Ø The impact of students' socio-economic background on their communicative competence in conversational English.

Ø Investigating the role of the NCDC into the improvement of E.L. learners' communicative competence in conversational English.

Ø Factors impeding secondary school E.L. teachers to develop students' communicative competence in conversational English.

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