Analysis of Written and Oral Expression Difficulties Among Learners in Secondary Schools in the Public Schools of the Prefecture of Kozah (Togo)

This study explores the difficulties of written and oral expression among secondary school learners in the public schools of the prefecture of Kozah in northern Togo, with the aim of highlighting the imbalance between linguistic, sociolinguistics and pragmatics skills of learners in French as a second language learning situations. In order to achieve this objective, an approach focused on communicative competence has been adopted. The data collection focused on semi- structured interviews, observation of teaching sequences and analysis of written and oral productions of students. The results demonstrated that there is a scarcity of interactions in French outside the school setting. In addition, teaching practices that are not very focused on expression, the lack of appropriate resources, and emotional blockages hinder the development of language autonomy. These combined factors delay the development of learners' communicational competences. In addition, the analysis revealed that the sometimes, transmissive pedagogical approach does not promote spontaneous expression or linguistic creativity. The result is a low appropriation of linguistic tools and an excessive dependence on prescriptive models. These findings have significant implications in the process of acquiring learners' written and oral skills. This study presents a redesign of didactic devices for the benefit of an action-oriented pedagogy that values authentic production and interaction in class, in accordance with the principles of the Skills-based Approach, highlighting the urgency to rethink pedagogical practices in order to create more authentic, interactive and differentiated learning situations.