Voices in ELT: Exploring Tunisian EFL Teachers' Attitudes Towards English Language Skills Development

This paper highlights the pivotal role of teachers' attitudes in shaping skills development in English language classrooms. It offers valuable insights into how Tunisian EFL teachers’ perspectives regarding the importance and classification of the four language skills influence language learning, the assessment process, and the development of the learners’ communicative competence in English. The analysis of quantitative data gathered through a questionnaire administered to 150 Tunisian EFL teachers shows that teachers strongly emphasise speaking as the most important skill while listening receives less attention in their English lessons or the English language textbooks in use. The findings, also, reveal some discrepancies in teachers' attitudes towards the hierarchical classification of the four language skills in order of importance, as well as discrepancies between the perceived importance of the four language skills in the language learning process and their sequencing in order of importance in the English textbook in use. The paper highlights the need to reconsider the importance placed on listening in the Tunisian EFL context, underscores the urgent need to reevaluate language skills development in Tunisian EFL classrooms, and suggests the adoption of a more balanced approach that gives equal importance to the four language skills. By addressing these issues, the paper offers valuable insights into developing Tunisian EFL learners' language skills, promoting their communicative competence, and ultimately improving teaching and learning practices in Tunisian EFL classrooms.