Abstract:
This study attempts to examine the role of the speaking activities introduced in first year
secondary school coursebook ‘At the Crossroads’ in the development of English speaking
skill. It aims at discovering the extent to which these activities meet the teachers’
expectations and the learners’ needs. In order to accomplish this aim, we relied on two
questionnaires, which have been submitted to teachers and learners to assemble the
required data about their views towards the coursebook speaking activities. The results
obtained reveal that the coursebook speaking activities are suitable to develop the learners’
speaking skill, however, due to some factors; they are difficult to be implemented
adequately. According to the findings, the coursebook speaking activities neither meet the
teachers’ expectations nor the learners’ needs because, they are not interesting, they are
either too easy or too difficult and do not suit the learners’ levels. Moreover, the speaking
activities are not enough; there is dominance of reading and writing activities in the
coursebook. Finally, the speaking activities are not suitable to the Algerian classroom and
context; learners need definitely more opportunities to practice the speaking ski
