Browsing by Author "Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)"

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    Classroom Interactional Implication in Teaching Oral Communication Through The Use of Tasks
    (Addis Ababa University, 2007-07) Gizachew, Meseret; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    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 neat 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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    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) Getu, Andargachew; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    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 Students' Preferences and Use 0f • Speaking Strategies with Particular Reference to Yekatit 66 and W Iro Kelemework Secondary Schools
    (Addis Ababa University, 2012-05) Alemu, Henok; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    The purpose of this study was identifying the extent of preferences and frequency of use of speaking s trategies of grade 10 students of Yekatit 66 and W/ro Kelemework Secodary Schools. Moreover, it attempted to find out if there are s ignificant differences between s tudents' extent of preferences and frequency of use of speaking s trategies and it also identified some of the major factors that inhibit learners from using their strategy p reference as frequ ently as possible. A descriptive survey method was used. From the total population of 1547 s tudents, 195 (98 male and 97 female) students, who were selected by using simple random sampling method, were involved in the study. In order to gather the necessary data, questionnaires, interview and classroom observations were employed. The questionnaires were used to gather data about the extent of preferences and the frequency of use of peaking s trategies by students and to identify the major factors that affect the use of sp eak ing strategies . The latter two tools were employed in order to triangulate the data gathered through the questionnaires. Accordingly, the following results have been found . The tudents showed high pref erences towards all speaking s trategies . HOYJe ver, students ' preferences towards indirect strategies were greater than the -direct one. In addition to this, none of the strategies were employed highly; rather students showed medium use towards all sp eaking s trategies (affective, meta cognitive, cOlnpensation, memory, cognitive and social s trategies). A nother important result was that there was a difference between students ' extent of pref erence and ji-equency of use of strategies. This means, stude nts ' attempt to use speaking strategies in relation to their extent of preferences. were very weak. The major factors that inhibited students strategy use were iack of awareness of s trategies. absence of conducive school environment, lack of EFL teachers help in teaching the strategies,. the influence of culture, fear of making mistake, fear of students laughter and lack of experience of using strategies . Thus, it is recommended, that all concerned bodies (teachers, school principals, students, etc.) should play a significant role in every way possible in order to make students use speaking strategies as frequently as possible.
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    Perceptual Learning Styles: An Investigative Study On First Year Students at A. A. U.
    (Addis Ababa University, 2001-05) Tesfamichael, Samuel; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    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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    Risk -Taking in Oral Production of Somali and Non-Somali Students (Comparative Study)
    (Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Abebe, Ambelu; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    This study aimed to find out the risk taking nature of Somali and non-Somali students in their oral production (a comparative study). Therefore, an attempt was made to find out whether there was a risk-taking difference between them and the main cause of their current level of risk-taking difference. The subjects of the study were six Somali and six non-Somali students at Jijiga preparatory school. Individual, pair and group speaking tasks were designed and administered to know whether or not there is a risk-taking difference between them. Video and audio recordings were also used for additional information. Besides, a 16 item questionnaire and an interview with seven questions were used to know the main cause of their level of risk-taking difference. The results of the findings show that there is a risk-taking difference between Somali and non Somali students. The Somalis were found to be higher risk-takers than the non-Somalis. The cause of their risk-taking difference is attributable to be their family and cultural backgrounds. Finally, based on the findings, recommendations were given.
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    Teachers' and Students' Perceptions of Effective Grammar Teaching: Comparison of Ideas
    (Addis Ababa University, 2011-05) Adem, Habtamu; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    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.