This article investigates, in the motivational perspective, factors preventing students to develop effective communicative performances and their influence on students’ motivation. The participants were 58 sophomore EFL students from Marien Ngouabi University and 11 lecturers. Qualitative and interpretative research techniques involving classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, and questionnaires were employed to collect relative data. The findings of the study indicate that teaching strategies used by teachers and the social context in which the target language is taught are not conducive to an effective EFL language learning process and do not sustain students’ motivation. To reverse the situation, the present paper suggests a series of language teaching strategies and principles adaptable to the teaching of foreign languages.