Browsing by Author "Demissie, Teshome (PhD)"
Item An Assessment of the Relevance of the Business English Course at Addis Ababa Commercial College to the Needs of Employing Organizations(Addis Ababa University, 2001-07) Mogues, Solomon; Demissie, Teshome (PhD)The aim of this research was to study the relevance of the Business English course at Addis Ababa Commercial College to the needs of employing organizations. Prior to the actual study on Business English (LBC 201 ), a general survey was conducted of equivalent Business English courses offered by five private colleges in Addis Ababa to see the importance given to such a course. Before selecting the Commercial Bank of Ethiopia (CBE) for the main study a similar pilot study was also conducted on three other employing organizations: two banks and one soft drinks factory.The course obj ective, syllabus, textbook contents, test samples, as well as the grades and grade point averages (GPAs) were analyzed first in order to describe and assess the Business English course for present situation analysis. The target needs of the employed graduates were then specified in terms of the most frequent specific communicative and professional skills and the most common language activities under the major macro-skills.Data were then gathered on these variables using questionnaires for graduate employees, and semi-structured interviews for branch managers, supervisors and section heads of the CBE.The findings from the analyzed data reveal that there is a gap between required language skills and actual skill level of graduates. The findings gave importance to verbal communicative skills, letter and report writing skills, the ability to use word processor and other office modems. Viewed vis-a-vis these and other several findings that are presented in chapter four and five, the Business English course (LBC 201) largely fails to meet the stakeholders' needs. A Business English course, integrating different professional and communicative kills that best suit the target situation, is therefore recommended. A skills-based approach with varying emphasis on the currently required communicative skills is believed to bridge tbe gap and create a match between the required standard and the skill level ofthe graduates.Item Evaluation of implementation of the paradigm shift in EFL teacher education in Ethiopia,(Addis Ababa University, 2009-06) Teka, Mulugeta; Demissie, Teshome (PhD)In this study attempts were made to the extent to which EFL teacher education program me participants' hold a shared set 0 f beliefs a bout t he new E FL teacher education operation and practices, and to explore factors that affect the proper implementation of the EFL teacher education program-me practices in six university based EFL teacher education p aerogrammes in Ethiopia in light of a constructionist paradigm by using both closed ended survey questionnaires involving 382 respondents (265 student teachers, 55 in instructors and 62 cooperating teachers) and an open ended, discovery oriented qualitative method involving individual and group interviews, observations and document analyses in one of the six program me as a case study. In order to evaluate the implementation of the EFL teacher education program-me, a conceptual framework was designed to gather and analyses data examining four broad areas: assumptions, goals, tasks, and roles, which are considered essential for critical regulation of an EFL teacher education program me within the context. Therefore, criteria were conceptualized within a constructionist perspective of teacher education and scales were developed to identify degrees of presence of the required attributes for assessing each area in the quantitative part of this study and essential questions were set to explore the required attributes for assessing each area in the qualitative part of this study. The survey results showed that though the program me participants perceived the goa ls of the EFL teacher education program me positively, they held different levels of beliefs about basic assumptions and principles of constructionist pedagogy as well as about the goals of the EFL teacher education program me, proved to be statistically significant through a one-way ANOV A. As regards the tasks in the school-based component of the program me, the survey results revealed., however, the practical activities (such as practicum support system, reflective dialogues, and portfolio construction and action research experiences) were found inadequate. The survey results also showed that the roles of university supervisors in practicum were rated below the expected mean value and those of the cooperating teachers were rated still far lower, which signifies their diminished roles in the programme as co-educators. However, the qualitative data di sproved the participants' claimed beliefs about the basic assumptions and theoretical bases underlying constructi vi st pedagogy as the actual programme practices were found inconsistent with the espoused beliefs. Numerous things such as the absence of training for cooperating teachers and the absence of activities like reflective dialogues, portfolios and action research seminars to promote the student teachers' reflective habits, skills and attitude in the practical courses indicated that the program me was being implemented in an environment that did not support all the means to the end. The qualitative data supported the survey findings by showing that the tasks in the practicum courses have problems in terms of transparency, consistency, integration of theory and practice, and organization, and confirming that the non-existent roles of cooperating teachers and the same unchanged traditional roles of the university supervisors in the new practicum setting. This study concluded that major conceptual and contextual factors (such as class size, the lower academic achievements of the student teachers and wrong assumptions of the context during the reform introduction) have affected the implementation of the program me.