A Survey of French Language Teacher Practices in Developing Speaking Skill among Secondary School Students

Developing the speaking skills in foreign language learning is of global interest to foreign language teachers who are continually faced with the challenge of getting their learners to communicate effectively in the target language orally. This is so because speaking is the primary and most evident manifestation of language learning. This study seeks to investigate the practices of French teachers in developing the speaking skill of their students, since it has been observed by the researcher that the teacher and students are more comfortable attempting the use of the other skills of listening, reading and writing in the secondary school classroom. One research question and four hypotheses guide the study which uses a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study is ninety-nine French teachers in public and private schools situated in Edo State, Nigeria while the sample is fifty teachers randomly selected from the population. The instrument for data collection is a questionnaire which seeks information on whether French teachers develop the speaking skill of students. Data are analyzed using percentages, t-test and ANOVA. Results show that only a few French teachers teach the speaking skill irrespective of their gender, academic qualification, years of teaching experience and the schools in which they teach, whether public or private. It is recommended among others that the relevant bodies should organize refresher courses for the French language teachers in order to reinforce their teaching of all language skills especially the speaking skill.