The study aimed at comparing English teaching methods in public and private secondary schools of urban areas of district Peshawar. Ten (10) educational institutions for girls were purposively selected on the basis of number of candidates for Secondary School Certificate examination from the whole urban areas of district Peshawar for the data collection. Two questionnaires, one for teachers and the other for students were developed. Questionnaires were distributed among 40 teachers and 200 students of sampled high/higher secondary schools in order to collect data. The data show that Direct Method of teaching English is used in private secondary schools where as in public secondary schools Grammar Translation Method is used. The overall academic as well as English language performance is better in private secondary schools as compared to public secondary schools. This better performance of private schools may be partly due to difference in teaching methods. The study suggests that improvement in the method of teaching will enhance the capability of the students and in turn will increase the level of achievement in S.S.C examinations.