This study was mainly intended to assess the attitudes, perceptions and practices ofrnteaching speaking skills at secondary schools in order to find out the classroom factorsrnthat may account on the quality and effectiveness of students' participation in speakingrnactivities.rnPertaining to the study, the attitudes and perceptions of students and teachers towardsrnthe relevance of the speaking skills' practices, the methodology used, the role of students'rnpersonality factors ,and the pertinence of the speaking activities were examined by thernquestionnaires and interviews, designed and employed for these purposes .Moreover,rnclassroom observation checklist wa.f" used in observing the actual speaking classroomrnpractices in the light of attentions given to purpose, supports, motivations and speakingrninputs which allowed the researcher closely examined the classroom factors in relationrnwith how they used (either in enhancing or inhibiting) to that of the quality andrneffectiveness of students' participauon. Textbook evaluation checklists were alsornemployed as to evaluate the presence of the required elements and components in tilernspeaking tasks to determine the appropriateness of the tasks or activities for the intendedrnstudents' participation.rnThe findings of the study indicate that the importance of teaching speaking skills isrnundermined and teachers are not fully committed to teach. As seen in the results drawnrnfrom teachers' altitudes and perceptions towards the relevance of teaching speaking,rnusing the method properly, and identifying and offering help for students with personalityrnproblems, the majority of them expressed as practising to speak in English is consideredrnas the least important for their students, besides they think their students are notrninterested in any speaking lesson presented in pairs/group modes. Moreover, the resultsrnfrom the classroom practices affirm that teachers almost totally failed to providernpurpose, relevant speaking inputs like for example, strategies, traine with basic skillsrnneeded by students to function as group/pair, support and motivate their students in mostrncases. The findings, therefore, suggest that by neglecting the relevance of teachingrnspeaking and rendering their roles as sources of information, facilitators, participantsrn,councilors etc they not only undermine the importance of teaching speaking skills butrnIXrnalso fail to meet the syllabus' intention in teaching speaking skills. By this the teachers'rnattitude towards the importance of tea' 'hing speaking as one part of the language as wellrnas their perceptions towards the method and their communicative roles are not positive,rnseen in the light of literature.rnSimilarly, the findings also indicate tha: practising to speak English is not prior to thernmajority students. Students view practising to speak in group/pair as well as the speakingrnactivities they are supposed to work in group as they are irrelevant. The amount ofrnmotivation, support, assistances they have received in the class is also unsatisfactory.rnMoreover, the study shows that the inappropriateness of the speaking activities Inrneliciting students' oral participation is one of the major factors that hamper pair/grouornwork in the classroom. Generally, th: findings suggested that factors related to teacher:rnattitudes, and perceptions towards the importance of teaching speaking as part of thernlanguage pedagogy, being communicative teacher and the relevance of implementingrngroup modes, likely to attribute to students' lack of purposes, motivation, orclrncommunicative competences, cooperative skills, and positive awareness regarding oralrnparticipation, and group/pair works. Therefore, the study recommended that effortsrnshould be made by teachers to provide their students with purpose, the requiredrnstrategies, support , motivation as well as able to create awareness regarding thernrelevance of participation and cooperative learning a long with the necessary skill: s Jrnthat students' participation in the speaking activities would show encouragingrnchange. Besides, the study also recommends the necessity of changing attitude ardrnperception on the part of the teachers.