WHY TO TEACH ENGLISH IN ALGERIAN PUBLIC MIDDLE AND SECONDARY EDUCATION? LEARN A LANGUAGE VS SCORE IN OFFICIAL EXAMS: (BEM, BAC) The Case of Fourth Year students in Mealem Larbi Middle School Hammamet Tébessa and Third Year students in Chrait Lazher Secondary School Hammamet Tébessa

Abstract

Nowadays learning a second language has become a necessity. English language for instance is one of the most learnt languages in the world.This study is trying to investigate both middle and secondary school students’ main purposes behind learning English language and see if it is learnt as most as it should be for the sole purpose of achieving a good ability to speak it even outside the educational institutions or as most people think just like other subject courses to score well in it in Middle school exam and Baccalaureate exam.The study was conducted at Meaalem Larbi Middle School and Chrait Lazher Secondary School in Hammamet, Tebessa with the participation of 35middle school learners and 38 secondary school learners. Thus, a sample of 73 learners responded to structured questionnaires.The obtained results highlighted a range of factors that have directly or indirectly affected the natural occurrence of tendency of learners to the aim of scoring well at exams as the main goal of the whole four or three years of study in addition to the absence of any oral test in those official exams.In fact, learners negative attitudes towards the target language learning for the sake of learning the language itself and mastering it, the so many subjects to study, the impossibility of using English outside school, and the low profile given to English. The already mentioned factors have minimized learners invested efforts and have consequently prevented them from thinking about English beyond scoring at official exams. In this sense, this study has certain implications that might be applied and some beneficial recommendations for further research.