Assessing the Practice of Communicative Approach in Teaching Vocabulary the Case of Grade Nine Teachersi In Addis Ababa

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Date

2011-10

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Addis Ababa Universiy

Abstract

Th is study was carried out to exp lore the practice of communicative approach in teaching vocabulary among grade nine English language teachers of 8 schools in Addis Ababa. In line with the major purpose, it also aimed at investi gating teachers' perception of CLT principl es, classroom vocabulary instruction and activities. Major obstac les that affected the implementation ofCLT during vocabulary instruction were also assessed. To do this, 8 schools and 5 teachers from each school were selected using random sampling to fill in the questionnaire. Then, 8 teachers were purposely chosen for the focus group di scuss ion and all teachers were selected for classroom observation Descriptive statistics using frequ encies and percentages were employed in analyzing the quantitative data and qualitative description was used to analyze the focus group di scussion. The findin gs of the study revealed that the majority of teachers perceived that much of r the CL T principles are appropriate to teach vocabulary communicatively. However, in relation to classroom instruction of vocabulary, they believed that they spent much of their time in presenting the meaning and form of words. A great deal remained to be done to change the prin ciples into communicative activities to relate the presentation of form and meanings of separate words to class room activities and authentic contexts. As the obstacles to implement vocabulary lessons in CLT, it was found out that teachers were highly depending on the lecture method. They also depend on dictionary definition of many words at time for the sake of finali zing the portion. Finally, based on the findings, the researcher recommended that creating mean ingful learning opportunities through English club and Engli sh day in the school and, 'use, of authentic writing and listening acti vities out of the school is very important for learners. In addi tion, department heads and school admini strators should follow up teachers not on ly for the coverage of portions but also how better each skill are taught

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The Practice of Communicative Approach in Teaching Vocabulary

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