Enhancing EFL Learners’ Communication Skills in Real Life Situations, in Beninese Secondary Schools

Abstract

This article aims to raise EFL teachers’ awareness of the impact of authentic communication tasks in simulated real life contexts on the enhancement of EFL learners’ language skills in Beninese secondary schools. This study explores the language practice activities EFL teachers have their learners carry out and their effect on their communication skills. The data of this study have been collected through questionnaires administered to samples of EFL teachers and learners from six (6) secondary schools, and via class observations in some of these schools. The findings show that a great majority of EFL teachers in Beninese secondary schools mostly focus their language practice activities on grammar notions, lexical items, language functions, written text comprehension, role-playing dialogues, with less emphasis on authentic communication tasks. Thus, most of the respondent EFL learners fail to hold conversations in English in real life situations. To solve this problem, EFL teachers should be trained about different ways to simulate real world communication instances in their classes so as to engage their learners in real communication tasks.