communicative needs of the high schools in Addis Ababa
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Date
1990-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The purpose of this study is to identify the communicative
needs of the high schools in l\..{ldAibsaba with resnect to the
language skills and the language activities. The study requires
information about the importance of language skills and
language activities to the students, and the frequency rate
of performance of languaf,e activities by the students in the
course of their study.
To achieve this aim, questionnaires were distributed to
64 teac~ers and 150 students; and interviews were administered
to 10 teachers and 13 students.
The teacher questionnaire aimed at investigating the
important language skills and language activities. The
results indicated that:
- the macro-skills were important to the students in the
course of their study in t~e order Listening-Reading-
Writing and -Speaking;
- the listening activities were important in the order
listeninF, to explanations-discussions-instructions- and
note mak i ng ;
participating in discussions, asking questions, and answerin~
questions were the important speakin~ activities in that
order;
-of the reading activities, readings of textbooks, other
rel~ted materials, handouts, ~nd assignMents were important
in that sequence; and
- no t o maki ng , answer Lng ques t Lon s :Ln exaeri na t Lcn s and.
writin~ assign~ents ware the important writin~ activities.
Tho student qno st t onn aLre askcd t~.e studerrt s to rate
their activity performance in the course of their study.
The findings indicated that wh~t wer0 considered the most
important activities by teachers WG~e not, in most cases,
the ~ost frequent activities students performed.
Interviewing teachers and studcn t s , it was found t hat
the orders of i~)ortnnce and freq~ency of p8rformanc2 ~f the
language skills qnd the language activities revealed in the
questionnaires, 3XC0pt in few casas, ~ere not tho same.
Although the orders of importance and frequency of
perforrn~nce varied between the two instruments, it was
concluded that the l~nguage skills and the langua~e activities
are the COMmon comnun i catiV8 n0,)(150-; tho high schools: And
attempts were ma(e to interpreto the language activities
into gunby's micro-skills as resultant skills.
On the basis of the study, it is ~ainly recommended
that the language needs of le~rn0rs (that is, content) should be
.studied. This launguag.t:he study is only a part La I work to
deve Lop a course. And it is r-ecommended that textbooks should
include tho importqnt l~ngu~~e skills to en~ble the students to
perform the activities. Selection of t'lG language skills should
be made by taking what the students h~ve already known into
Lccount.
Description
Keywords
high schools