One of the primary purposes of learning foreign languages, particularly English, is the ability to communicate effectively with other users of the target language. Role-playing, one of the communicative teaching methods, is believed to develop learners’ speaking competence and help them learn the language in an authentic context. Therefore, the main purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between the role-play teaching method and students’ speaking competence. The current study uses two semi-structured interviews. One is designed for teachers teaching the 9th-grade level. The other is designed for a class at the 9th-grade level with 30 students. The findings show that role-play activities participate in developing students’ speaking skills.

Due to a variety of reasons, reading has always been a significant problem for the majority of Moroccan high school pupils. This skill reflects the various interactions and operations that the reader’s eyes and brain engage in in order to understand what they read. Teachers continue to place more emphasis on teaching vocabulary, idioms, syntax, and sentence structure than on helping pupils develop their reading comprehension. Due to the traditional reading teaching, it is difficult for teachers to cultivate students’ interest in reading (Yang, 2019). Teachers rarely take into account the importance of prior knowledge as one of the main issues with comprehension training at different competence levels. To make it more clear, Moroccan high school teachers do not provide their EFL readers with prior instructions or clear strategies to enable them to comprehend the reading material in the textbooks used. The paper highlights the importance of prior knowledge in teaching reading comprehension in order to come up with a successful classroom full of enjoyable and accurate comprehension. It is the role of the teacher to help their students become better readers by teaching them how to activate and use their prior knowledge.

Motivation is considered the heart of the learning process that is affected by many factors, among which there is gender. Therefore, the researcher conducted a quantitative research method to investigate the relationship between gender and motivation sub-themes while using problem-based learning. Nine female students and eleven male students of the second baccalaureate level participated in the current research through using the convenience sampling technique. The quasi-experimental research design, a quantitative research method, is used to conduct this study to analyze cause-effect relationships between the variables being studied. Then, the participants were given a five-point Likert scale questionnaire to fill in. The SPSS software was used to analyze data. The findings demonstrated that there was a positive relationship between gender and students’ achievement and motivation sub-themes.

In the context of education, culture is considered the heart of our beliefs and practices; it has an effect on how we think, behave, perceive and communicate, all of which affect how we teach and learn. That is, cultural differences produce different beliefs and practices in the field of teaching, which affects students’ motivation either positively or negatively. This study examined the impact of culture on teaching in the Moroccan context, how it shapes teachers’ practices in the classroom, and the extent to which this affects students’ motivation. 26 high school students and 10 high school teachers participated in this survey. Data was collected using a questionnaire research method for both students and teachers. The results revealed that students put the blame on their teachers and teaching methods for the lack of motivation, whereas teachers still use the traditional teaching methods in the classrooms.