Although French learners studying at BTS level at the National School of Dairy Industry and Biotechnologies (ENILBio) in Poligny have studied English as a second language for several years, they often have difficulty not only understanding it, but more importantly speaking it. As a teacher, it is a problem I am faced with daily and to which I haven’t been able to find explanations or solutions.The aim of this research is to explore the reasons that explain why students often feel embarrassed when they have to speak the language in and outside school, and to question their own practices and representations. This work aims at understanding why BTS students don’t speak English – or speak it little or badly – by linking their experiences with the language, their representations and their actual speaking skills.This research emphasizes what students have to say about this subject through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews in French. The gathered qualitative and quantitative results are analysed in relation to a speaking task which was carried out by student volunteers.The institutional context plays a crucial part in the fact that students speak English (or not) in and outside school, but the links between the representations of the English language, the students’ representations of themselves as language learners and their exposure to the language remain unclear.What are the prospects to help BTS learners to improve their speaking skills? This research tries to open new ways to answer this question.