Browsing by Author "Feda Negesse"

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    Lexical Changes in the Central Dialect of Oromo
    (Addis Ababa University, 2025-12-01) Bekele Buko; Feda Negesse
    The study aimslexical changes in the central dialect of Oromo in North Shawa with four specific objectives: identifying lexical changes, exploring their causes, analyzing the frequency of changes across semantic domains, and determining the most impacted semantic domains. The study investigates language change principles using the modern Interdisciplinary Integration Model of language change, Cognitive Linguistics Theory, Lexical Gap Theory, Sociolinguistic Models and Halliday's Functional Theory.A mixed research design was employed, utilizing purposive and snowball sampling methods. Data were collected through interviews and elicitation, and analyzed using a combination of qualitative and quantitative methods. The study identified four primary forms of lexical change: neologism, semantic change, borrowing, and lexical loss. Notably, there is a significant loss in plant and animal related terms, with native words being replaced by scientific and technological terms, especially among the younger generation. Lexical borrowing introduced numerous new words from foreign and Ethiopian languages, primarily Amharic and English, due to linguistic contact. The study also identified linguistic and non-linguistic factors influencing lexical change in the central dialect of Oromo. Changes in words significantly impact technology, education, politics, cloth and style, and traditional material semantic domains largely due to technological advancements. The study reveals that the most prominent change is the introduction of new words (neologisms), followed by the loss of native words. Interestingly, there are no new words in the color category, and no words have been lost in body parts, technology, and education. These findings indicate that lexical changes vary significantly depending on the semantic domain. The study suggests recognizing lexical items as part of societal heritage and advocating for their preservation through cultural dictionaries, history lessons, and publications. It also proposes emphasizing the importance of mass media in disseminating new terminology and promoting collaboration between journalists and the Institute of Oromo Studies (IOS) to enhance the use of the native words in media. Furthermore, the study calls for elders to pass down native vocabulary through storytelling and encourages the younger generation to prioritize the use of native terms over borrowed words.
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    The Organization of Group Work in Spoken English II Classes: Adama and Jimma Teachers Colleges in Focus
    (Addis Ababa University, 2002-06) Feda Negesse ; Tamene Kitila
    This study was conducted to explore the organization of group tasks in teaching Spoken English II at Adama and Jimma Teachers Colleges. A descriptive case study was employed to achieve this research goal. Two English language instructors and one hundred and six students from both colleges were considered to be the subjects of the study. Questionnaire with a set of both closed and open-ended items were used to secure relevant data from the students. In addition, a semi-structured interview was designed to elicit pertinent information from the instructors. Finally, the third instrument used for data collection was classroom observation. During classroom observation, semi-structured observation checklists were used to collect data while the instructors were teaching Spoken English II to the students. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed with descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and chi-square test. But those data gathered through the interview and classroom observations were qualitatively analyzed. All the data secured from different sources were collated in the discussions to arrive at conclusions regarding the instructors' practices of group task organization. The results of the study generally suggest that the instructors did not properly organize group tasks, which were designed for teaching Spoken English II. Consequently, group tasks seemed to suffer from different problems created at various stages of organization. The tasks did not appear to provide the students with helpful learning atmosphere in order to practice speaking and develop their oral skills. Recommendations were forwarded to alleviate the problems.