Browsing by Author "Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)"

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    Ethiopian Learners' Pronunciation Difficulties and Intelligibility of Their Spoken English: Speakers of Amharic as A Native Language in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2012-06) Gashaw, Anegagregn; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    The study diagnosed difficulties of English pronunciation that Amhoric native learners might be experiencing from the influence of their native language and exposed the global impact of these difficulties in global communication contexts. To this end, the study employed three distinct but related approaches: 1} phonological contrast; 2} phonological error analysis; and 3} intelligibility test. Contrastive analysis being the frame of reference for this study, phonological contrast both at the levels of segmental and suprasegmental was initially conducted between Amharic and English; and those areas which are lacking in Amharic were identified and predicted as potential problem areas. The speech perception test that investigated the subjects' detection and recognition of foreign items showed that contrastive-origin problem areas still restrict university students' successful perception of English pronunciation. The result also showed that not all novel sounds presented equal amount of perception difficUlty for the subjects with weak forms, sentence stress, and intonation being the most difficUlt areas. The production test identified segmental level pronunciation tendencies for Amharic native participants in their sample speeches elicited from reading aloud texts. Global error measures showed that the subjects' speech production is largely restricted by Ll characteristics, with vowels presenting more systematic problems than consonants. Mispronounced phonemes were further evaluated for two additional criteria depending on their frequency and functional importance in the target language. As a result, not all mispronunciations should be given equal priority for the Amharic speaker subjects. Accordingly, some errors were given precedence in the final inventory as 'high priority' (HP) problems while others were scaled down as 'optional alternative' (OA) and 'low priority' (LP). The intelligibility test measured the extent that Amharic native learners were understandable in their speeches to native English speakers living in Addis Ababa. Based on correct word transcription scores, it was possible to conclude that overall intelligibility measures university level subjects gained was not encouraging. Native speakers' familiarity with the way Ethiopians pronounce English seems more detrimental factor than the subjects' pronunciation goodness. Findings of this study support the focus on the role that native language plays in English pronunciation, the importance of balancing perceptual as well as productive skills, and the need for developing Ll-based and empirically informed syllabus than using generic and intuitively based approach. Recommendations are made for future research to extend the current study to a number of other dimensions.
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    Ethiopian Learners’ Pronunciation Difficulties and Intelligibility of their Spoken English: Speakers of Amharic as a Native Language in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2012-06) Gashaw, Anegagregn; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    The study diagnosed difficulties of English pronunciation that Amharic native learners might be experiencing from the influence of their native language and exposed the global impact of these difficulties in global communication contexts. To this end, the study employed three distinct but related approaches: 1) phonological contrast; 2) phonological error analysis; and 3) intelligibility test. Contrastive analysis being the frame of reference for this study, phonological contrast both at the levels of segmental and suprasegmental was initially conducted between Amharic and English; and those areas which are lacking in Amharic were identified and predicted as potential problem areas. The speech perception test that investigated the subjects’ detection and recognition of foreign items showed that contrastive-origin problem areas still restrict university students’ successful perception of English pronunciation. The result also showed that not all novel sounds presented equal amount of perception difficulty for the subjects with weak forms, sentence stress, and intonation being the most difficult areas. The production test identified segmental level pronunciation tendencies for Amharic native participants in their sample speeches elicited from reading aloud texts. Global error measures showed that the subjects’ speech production is largely restricted by L1 characteristics, with vowels presenting more systematic problems than consonants. Mispronounced phonemes were further evaluated for two additional criteria depending on their frequency and functional importance in the target language. As a result, not all mispronunciations should be given equal priority for the Amharic speaker subjects. Accordingly, some errors were given precedence in the final inventory as ‘high priority’ (HP) problems while others were scaled down as ‘optional alternative’ (OA) and ‘low priority’ (LP). The intelligibility test measured the extent that Amharic native learners were understandable in their speeches to native English speakers living in Addis Ababa. Based on correct word transcription scores, it was possible to conclude that overall intelligibility measures university level subjects gained was not encouraging. Native speakers’ familiarity with the way Ethiopians pronounce English seems more detrimental factor than the subjects’ pronunciation goodness. Findings of this study support the focus on the role that native language plays in English pronunciation, the importance of balancing perceptual as well as productive skills, and the need for developing L1-based and empirically informed syllabus than using generic and intuitively based approach. Recommendations are made for future research to extend the current study to a number of other dimensions.
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    A Needs Assessment of ESP to Adult English Language Learners: Sandford International School Adults’ Evening EFL Classes in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2015-06) Molla, Teshager; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    The purpose of the study was to assess the needs of ESP to adult EFL learners; in focusing the Sandford International School’s adult EFL evening program. Teaching EFL to adult learners in the evening class program has been started since three decades ago at Sandford School. Headway English course has been taught from Elementary to Upper-Intermediate levels to adult learners who joined the program to learn and use the language for different purposes. To achieve the objective, questionnaires, interview and evaluating the Headway English course book and dropout records were used as the main sources of the research. Adult learners’ questionnaire was distributed to eighty-five students of which thirty-six returned the paper. All the sixteen EFL teachers have also filled in and returned the questionnaire. Five adult learners participated in the interview. Among the many issues that were discussed in this research were the learners’ purpose of learning the language, their perceived importance of skills, their wants and lacks, the emphasized skills, etc,. In addition, the general course materials used and the skills focused were assessed to determine their suitability to the English needs of the adult EFL learners. Descriptive statistics (tables and bar charts) were employed in interpreting and analyzing the quantitative data while content analysis was applied to narrate the qualitative data. The results indicated that the perceived importance of English language skills by the learners is mismatched with what is being taught at Sandford EFL classes. Secondly, the English language skills the adult learners want to improve on and the skills that are given emphasis on actual teaching and learning practice are completely different. Moreover, the study identified the adult EFL learners were not satisfied enough in meeting their English language needs. As a result, the study reveals that there is a need for English courses with an ESP orientation in order to be able to meet the specific needs of the adult learners; (Intermediate and Upper- Intermediate levels) who believed their expectations were not met at all at Sandford International School evening class program.
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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) Derash, mesfin; Bogale, Berhanu (PhD)
    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.