Browsing by Author "Demissie, Elizabeth"

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    Alternative Media Political Messages in Addis Ababa (2005-2010): Content Analysis
    (Addis Ababa University, 2010-09) Demissie, Elizabeth; Arsano, Yacob (PhD)
    Complete understanding of political communication entail looking at the context in which it is functioning. Considering contextual factors like culture, politics, economy, technology and history are very important to have a proper analysis. In countries like Ethiopia, cultural and historical factors have made alternative media consumption for political communication superior. This peculiar characteristic also comes out of the dominance of the oral tradition and the relative weakness of formal media institutions. Therefore, scholars suggest looking at the alternative media spheres to have a complete picture and understanding of the political atmosphere. In view of that, this research has attempted to analyze the contents of alternative media political messages that have been communicated in Addis Ababa from 2005 to 2010, which address local political issues. To deal with this, the study employed qualitative content analysis research techniques. The data were collected through interviews and participant observations from different public areas. The collected messages were examined and categorized based on the themes, nature, forms, sources and the network and channels they employed to communicate in detail following narrative analysis method. According to the findings of the study, election and governance are widely discussed political agendas in the alternative media sphere of Addis Ababa since 2005. Human rights, mainstream media and political parties are also among the important concerns of the public in the arena. Most stories discussed the failure in the current political system primarily. In messages which address elections, criticized the 2005 and 2010 elections as undemocratic. In addition, support and opposition for political parties are among the overriding pre and post election messages. The absence of good governance is the point of most governance stories. Regarding political parties, opposition and support for parties’ political agendas and their leaders are in focus. The human rights stories pose violation against human life and lack of freedom of expression as a major failure in the political system. Similarly, the mainstream media, ETV, is criticized for its failure to serve the public and pursue truth on the political issues. These stories disseminated information, critiques, commentaries, and politically challenging and mobilizing messages within ‘secret’ and established networks mostly with anonymous sources. Thus, the sources of most messages are not commonly locatable. On the other hand, the channels utilized vary from traditional words-of-mouth communication to new technologies like mobile phone. They appear in narratives as humorous tales, folk poems and popular songs incorporated Menezuma (Zakir), praise and curse verses (mirikatina ergeman), verses in graffiti and couplets. Generally, the media’s discussions are about perceived and/or real failures of the current political system. Thus it can inform about the panorama of what has gone wrong in the city's political arena. From these the government and different political actors can gain valuable information about a certain part of the society’s perceptions on different political affairs of the time.
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    ‘Sign Language’ use as Medium of Instruction: The Case of Grade One and Two at Mekanissa School for the Deaf
    (Addis Ababa University, 2011-06) Demissie, Elizabeth; Bogale, Birhanu (PhD)
    Literatures show sign language is a fully fledged language that can be employed effectively to teach the contents of a curriculum as spoken language. Though the use of sign language in education makes sense educationally, linguistically and psychologically there are many grievances in the practices. In many parts of the world, sign language is seldom used in formal education. On the other hand, when signing is employed, it is either in the form of contact sign language or an artificially constructed manual in which sign codes for a spoken language, mostly. In view of that, this research has attempted to examine sign language use as medium of instruction in primary classes of Mekanissa School for the Deaf. To deal with this, the study employed a case study research technique. The data collected through 20 classroom observations, individual interviews with 7 teachers, 10 students, 10 parents and 3 officials as well as several document analyses. Those data were examined and presented based on their themes in detail following narrative analysis method to achieve the purposes. According to the findings of the study, the Deaf communication approach dominantly employed in primary classes of Mekanissa School for the Deaf is SimCom which is considered as best method by the teachers. Signed Amharic (Manual Codes for Amharic) is the principal MOI, while written and spoken Amharic served in few classroom activities. Unfortunately, the natural EthSL rarely employed as it is in many countries in the world. On the other hand, both the teachers and the students exhibited incompetency to make use of the signed language in the classes besides their unconvinced attitude to utilize the natural sign language as capable instrument of education. The classrooms and their facilities also found to be unsuitable to sign medium. The challenges that hinder the effective utilization identified as they are related to improper proficiency of the teachers, students and the language itself, negative attitude of the users, poor classroom facilitation, material unavailability and lack of clear policies. On the contrary the manualist philosophy the school advocates and sign language training programs of the school appeared to be opportunities for further improvements. Generally, using sign language as MOI has several drawbacks in the cases. However, considering its benefit for Deaf learners, the research suggested to persist on using it along with conducting researches to improve the drawbacks in the practices.