From Policy to Classroom Practice: A Review of Communicative Strategies for Teaching Speaking and Writing Skills in Secondary Schools

Abstract: The 2023 English Language Syllabus for Ordinary Secondary Education in Tanzania places communicative approach, learner participation, and the purposeful use of English at the centre of instruction. This integrative review examines two questions: whether communicative strategies are used effectively when teaching speaking and writing, and which constraints inhibit their use. It combines a close policy reading of the 2023 syllabus with a transparent synthesis of peer-reviewed Tanzanian research and the historical baseline supplied by Sila's (2003) dissertation. Searches covered ERIC, Google Scholar, Scopus-indexed publisher platforms, and reference chaining, with emphasis on studies published from 2020 to August 2026 and on evidence generated after the syllabus reform. Findings show partial rather than full enactment. Teachers employ question-and-answer exchanges, oral presentations, discussions, demonstrations, role play, dictation, modelling, and collaborative writing. These strategies are effective when they create purposeful interaction, distribute speaking turns, connect oral rehearsal with writing, and include feedback and revision. In many classrooms, however, communication remains teacher-controlled: responses are brief, participation is concentrated among confident learners, and writing often ends with transcription or a single corrected product. Persistent constraints include large classes, limited materials, weak learner foundations in English, restricted exposure beyond school, time and workload pressure, teachers' uneven pedagogical knowledge, code-switching dilemmas, examination washback, and insufficient classroom-embedded professional learning. It is argued that reform should be evaluated through learners' actual opportunities to produce extended spoken and written English, not merely through the presence of communicative terminology in plans. It recommends task-focused professional development, large-class participation routines, communicative writing cycles and aligned assessment.