Browsing by Author "Berhanu Bogale"

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    Classroom Interactional Implication in Teaching Oral Communication Through The Use of Tasks
    (Addis Ababa University, 2007-07) Meseret Gizachew ; Berhanu Bogale
    The purpose of this study was to find out whether the teaching of speaking through the use of tasks facilitates interaction in the classroom. To do this, goals, contents as input, activities, roles (roles of teachers and students) and setting (condition of classroom set up and satellite television led instruction) were the variables selected. To achieve the aim, three different instruments were used: classroom observation, questionnaires and interview. In addition, the classrooms, students and teachers were used as sources of data. Concerning the sampling techniques, all teachers who taught in grade 9 were selected using comprehensive sampling. In addition, after listing down the name of sections handled by these teachers, 1 from the five lists written under each teacher was selected using a lottery system. Furthermore, 35 students were randomly selected from every section. These randomly selected students and a ll the 5 teachers were asked to fill in the questionnaires. Out of 5 teachers, 2 were randomly selected for observation. Those observed were also interviewed. After analyzing and discussing the data collected through the above instruments, the results of the investigation were obtained. According to the results, the explicitness of goals, the familiarity of contents to the students, the potential of goals and contents in reflecting learners' needs and interests, the authenticity, flexibility, purposefulness and communicative (interactive) nature of activities could facilitate oral interactions. On the other hand, insufficient information provision of the input data, inappropriate difficulty level of activities, ineffective teachers in acting according to the principles of communicative language teaching, lack of students' initiative and willingness to interact with each other, heavy and combined desks found in nea rows, shortage of time given for interaction and the speed of television teacher's speech could make oral interactions difficult in the classroom. Based on the above findings, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were given.
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    EFL Teachers’ Beliefs and Instructional Role in Applying Reading Strategies: A Case Study of Edget Chora Secondary School, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
    (Addis Ababa University, 2025-05-24) Solomon Woldetensay; Berhanu Bogale
    This qualitative case study explores the beliefs held by secondary school EFL teachers regarding reading strategies and their instructional role in implementing these strategies across the pre-, while-, and post-reading phases of reading comprehension lessons.The research was carried out at Edget Chora Secondary School in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, using a case study design. Six experienced EFL teachers were chosen through a convenience sampling technique.Data were gathered using multiple tools, including classroom observations (field notes and reflective journals), individual interviews, and focus group discussions.The reading comprehension lesson observation framework was also served as an evaluation rubric. The data were thematically analyzed using NVivo 10 software. The results indicate that although teachers generally have positive beliefs about the instructional importance of reading strategies, their implementation in the classroom is inconsistent. Teachers perceive pre- and post-reading strategies as time-consuming and instructionally demanding, resulting in a greater focus on while-reading strategies. Furthermore, a notable disparity was found between teachers‟ stated beliefs and their practical application of reading strategies. Even though they acknowledged the benefits of research-based reading comprehension strategies, the majority of teachers did not consistently incorporate them across all three reading phases, thereby limiting their potential effectiveness in enhancing students' reading comprehension skills. The study concludes that aligning the target secondary school EFL teachers‟ beliefs with their instructional practices requires structured training. The study suggests focused teacher training initiatives, revisions to the curriculum, and further research into the instructional role of EFL teachers in improving students' reading comprehension abilities. These recommendations aim to close the gap between teachers' beliefs and practices, ultimately helping students develop into strategic and independent readers.
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    Investigating Learners' Spelling Errors in their Compositions: Persistency and Frequency (With Particular Reference to Yekatit 12 Preparatory School Grade 12 Students)
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Andargachew Get; Berhanu Bogale
    The major purpose of the study was investigating students' spelling errors in compositions they produced. To reach this goal instruments such as composition writing; multiple choice test, which contain three misspelled and a correctly spelt word, having 30 questions were designed; and checklist for relative coverage of spelling lessons of grade 12 text book were prepared. The subjects of the study were Yekatit 12 Preparatory School grade 12 students and teachers. From 658, i.e. 14 classes, total population 235, i.e. 5 classes, were taken using purposive sampling. Then, systematic random sampling technique was employed to choose 70, i.e. 29.7%, samples from 235 students. The selected samples were taken to two classrooms, i.e. 35 in each, and invited to write the composition. On the next day the test was administered to the students. Following the test, 15 students from the samples and four English language teachers were interviewed. The errors obtained in the composition and the test were subjected to five major categories, i.e. Addition, Omission, Substitution, Transposition, and Semantically Di.fJerent Words. To analyze and interpret the data both• quantitative and qualitative methods were applied In a similar vein analyzed data revealed that 1937, i.e. J3.5%, spelling errors were found from 14,357 total number of words observed in the compositions; and from the total number of 1033 errors in the test, an individual student, on average, committed14.8 errors from the 30 multiple choice questions. Of the error types Omission and Substitution took the lions share. Particularly Vowels are found to be the deficits of students. However, it doesn't mean that the rest error types have insignificant role in blocking readers from what the students intended to convey. Rather, semantically di.fJerent words used in the learners' compositions, especially homonyms, ; were found the most problematic parts of the error types at grade 12 level. In conclusion, spelling seems the most neglected skill which both students and teachers give little attention. Accordingly, to help students develop their spelling skill much has to be done by both teachers and students. Teachers have to get the courage and motive to design teaching materials and assist their students. Students, on the other hand, should try to use their own effort to improve their spelling skill so as to communicate effectively through writing. It should also be noted that integrated teaching of pronunciation and spelling has contribution for students' spelling improvement.
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    Investigating Learners' Spelling Errors in Their Compositions: Persistency and Frequency with Particular Reference to Yekatit 12 Preparatory School Grade 12 Students
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Andargachew Getu ; Berhanu Bogale
    The major purpose of the study was investigating students' spelling errors in compositions they produced. To reach this goal instruments such as composition writing; multiple choice test, which contain three misspelled and a correctly spelt word, having 30 questions were designed; and checklistfor relative coverage of spelling lessons of grade 12 text book were prepared. The subjects of the study were Yekatit 12 Preparatory School grade 12 students and teachers. From 658, i.e. 14 classes, total population 235, i.e. 5 classes, were taken using purposive sampling. Then, systematic random sampling technique was employed to choose 70, i.e. 29.7%, samples from 235 students. The selected samples were taken to two classrooms, i.e. 35 in each, and invited to write the composition. On the next day the test was administered to the students. Following the test, 15 students from the samples and four English language teachers were interviewed. The errors obtained in the composition and the test were subjected to five major categories, i.e.• Addition, Omission, Substitution, Transposition, and Semantically Different Words. To analyze and interpret the data both"quantitative and qualitative methods were applied In a similar vein analyzed data revealed that 1937, i.e. 13.5%, spelling errors were found from 14,357 total number of words observed in the compositions; and from the total number of 1033 errors in the test, an individual student, on average, committed14.8 errors from the 30 multiple choice questions. Of the error types Omission and Substitution took the lions share. Particularly Vowels arefound to be the deficits of students. However, it doesn't mean that the rest error types have insignificant role in blocking readersfrom what the students intended to convey. Rather, semantically different words used in the learners' compositions, especially homonyms,/ were found the most problematic parts of the error types at grade 12 level. In conclusion, spelling seems the most neglected skill which both students and teachers give little attention. Accordingly, to help students develop their spelling skill much has to be done by both teachers and students. Teachers have to get the courage and motive to design teaching materials and assist their students. Students, on the other hand, should try to use their own effort to improve their spelling skill so as to communicate effectively through writing. It should also be noted that integrated teaching of pronunciation and spelling has contribution for students' spelling improvement.
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    Perceptual Learning Styles: An Investigative Study On First Year Students at A. A. U.
    (Addis Ababa University, 2001-05) Samuel Tesfamichael ; Berhanu Bogale
    Perceptual learning style preferences are gaining importance of late (Reid 1987, 1995).The instructional impli cations of learning styles are far reaching (Ehrman, 1996). This study aimed at investi gating the perceptual learning style preferences favored by freshman students at Addis Ababa University. Accordingly, two different types of questiOlmaires ~ one developed by Reid (1987) and the other by Diaz Maggioli (1996) ~were di stributed to and collected from 390 students. There were 215 students from the social science stream: 115 males and 100 females; and 175 students from the natural science stream: 105 males and 70 females. Interview questions were adapted from Ehrman and Christensen (1 994), and the results were used as crutches to support the scores obtained from the questionnaires. It was found that the majority of the students from both streams showed strong preferences toward visual, kinesthetic, and individual learning styles. In addition, tactile and auditory learning styles were considered only as minor preferences by the majority of the students from both streams. Moreover, most of the students from both streams showed a negative learning preference toward group learning. Finally, the female students in both streams were found to be significantly more inclined toward the auditory and group learning styles than their male counterparts. On the other hand, the male students in both streams were found to be significantly more inclined toward kinesthetic, tactile, and individual learning than their female counterparts. Based on these findings instructional implications were drawn and recommendations forwarded.
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    The Practice of Teaching Reading in English at First Cycle Primary Schools: Grade Four in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2008-07) mesfin Derash ; Berhanu Bogale
    The main objective of this study is to find out how students learn to read English and teachers teach reading skill in government primary schools especially in grade four. It is also to investigate students English reading ability in the grade level mentioned. To gather information on the above main objectives various instruments have been used. These are: classroom observation, teachers’ questionnaire, teachers’ and students’ focus group discussions, teachers’ and students’ interviews and a reading comprehension test. The data were categorized and descriptively analyzed. As a result, the findings depicted that inappropriate reading techniques and procedures were used in the mentioned grade level. Teachers were observed using the traditional way of teaching reading which is dominated by reading aloud. There has been little or no time given for silent reading. Techniques of reading such as pre- and post- reading were not used at all. The consequence of wrong reading practices used has resulted in the weak performances of the students in their reading ability. To that end, this research paper provides recommendation that could bring about a change in the practice of teaching and learning reading in the grade level studied so that current techniques and procedures of teaching reading could be employed.
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    Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Effective Grammar Teaching: Comparison of Ideas
    (Addis Ababa University, 2011-05) Habtamu Adem; Berhanu Bogale
    The disagreement among language teaching methods and the ill-defined guidelines on how to approach grammar has made grammar the subject of controversy (Ellis 1994). Teachers, therefore, are confused and have created their own personal approaches to grammar teaching. Their personal approaches mainly are deri1.!ed from their perceptions of grammar and grammar teaching (Borg 1999). Their perceptions inturn determine whether and how grammar should be taught (Rohani 2010). This study, therefore, explores and compares teachers' and students ' perceptions of effective grammar teaching. Three fundamental research questions are answered in this investigation. These are a} how do teachers perceive effective grammar teaching? b} how do students perceive . effective grammar teaching? And c} how do teachers perceive effective grammar teaching compared with students (or the other way round)? To answer these fundamental questions, descriptive survey study is employed. For this study, 13% (53 students) from the total population of 417 are randomly selected while all English teachers directly participated. Questionnaire is used as instrument of data collection. The questionnaire consisted of 22 restricted and 2 open-ended item are distributed to both teachers and students. Once data is gathered, descriptive statistics and description methods are employed to analyze it. T-test is also used to compare their perceptions and to uniierstand how much the difference is significant. The study finally finds that teachers perceive implicit approach as effective while students' perceptions go to explicit approach. The finding reveals the existence of significant difference in teachers' and students' perceptions of effective grammar teaching. In other words, teachers think they teach grammar best implicitly but students thinlc teachers best teach them grammar explicitly. The existence of mismatch in any aspect is a serious problem which can negatively affect teachers' teaching and students' learning (Nunan 1987 cited in Tolc 2010). Therefore, to better understand and solve the problem teachers and students may participate in an ongoing discussion. Further research also should be conducted on how they formulate their perceptions and the impact their perceptions have on their teaching and learning practices. Finally, possible ways should be explored to bridge the gap in teachers' and students ' perceptions.
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    Verbal Participation in Group Work: A Case Study of First Year Students at Addis Ababa University
    (Addis Ababa University, 2000-06) Berhanu Bogale ; Keith Johnson
    This study is an attempt to gain insight into the verbal participation behaviour of first year students at Addis Ababa University, as they take part in group discussion in College English classes. The main aims are to investigate the extent to which students differ in terms of verbal participation in group discussion, to explore the factors that account for the differences, students' perceptions of low and high participators, and whether students change their participation behaviour (increasing or decreasing in participation) and, if so the factors responsible for the change. Thus a longitudinal dimension has been used in which students' views and behaviours are seen developmentally. The main subjects of the study were 35 first year students at AAU Also 108 students took part in filling in a questionnaire. Data on verbal participation in group discussion were gathered by means of audio and video recordings and different types of questionnaires (self-ratings, group member ratings, classmate ratings, and instructor's ratings). Based on their participation level 18 students were selected for in-depth individual and focus group interviews. Analysis of the data indicated that there was a huge difference among students in terms of their verbal participation in group discussion: some were extremely silent (17.1 %), and others were very high participators (17. 1%), some times to the point of almost IV totally dominating other group members. Then students' (especially the silents' and the talkers') views of the factors that accounted for the difference in participation were discussed. It was also found out that by the end of the academic year or in the second semester some high participators became silent; and some very silent students became active participants. Students' perceptions of the silents and the talkers has also been presented and discussed. The thesis concludes by considering the implications of the findings for increased or more equitable verbal participation among students in group discussion and the need for research into internal and external variables affecting participation.