Alemu Hailu Anshu (PhD) (Associate Professor)Baye Ashebir Anteneh2025-05-022025-05-022025-03https://etd.aau.edu.et/handle/123456789/5389The study aimed to investigate the curriculum implementation approaches of ELT instructors, utilizing the frameworks of fidelity, (mutual) adaptation, and enactment, each rooted in positivism, post-positivism, and constructivism philosophical paradigms. In addition, the study explored the motives that influenced instructors to follow a particular approach over the other. It also examined instructors’ fidelity of implementation using the adherence and exposure dimensions of the fidelity measurement. To meet the purpose, using more than a single approach was imperative. As a result, the study used a case-study mixed-methods design (CS-MM) that integrated the qualitative and quantitative approaches. However, the study treated the case study as the parent study and the mixed method as supportive data. The study also employed a concurrent data collection strategy in which one method did not wait the completion of the data collection using another method. The qualitative and quantitative data were merged in the data analysis stage of the study. The study employed purposive, random, and proportional-stage sampling to obtain participants and respondents involved in it. Interviews, observations and post-observation interviews were used to collect data from ELT instructors, and questionnaires were used to collect data from student respondents. The qualitative data were analyzed after employing open coding, axial coding, and selective coding in categorizing the data based on themes. Moreover, descriptive statistics (percentages, mean, aggregate mean, and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (one-sample t-test) were employed in the analysis of the quantitative data. The data gathered from both instructors and students revealed that ELT instructors adhered to the fidelity approach to curriculum implementation, albeit the use of the skipping strategy disrupted their fidelity. Instructors followed the order or sequence of activities unit by unit, page by page and activity by activity except in areas where instructors skipped activities. Hence, instructors followed predictable procedures even if they knew the activities did not suit the context. Student-related, institutional (environmental), and instructor or personal motives all play significant roles in influencing ELT instructors’ curriculum implementation approaches though participants gave weight to institutional motives. Furthermore, the study revealed instructors’ fidelity of implementation fell at a medium adherence score that came as a result of skipping, not as a result of using other adaptation strategies. Furthermore, the study also demonstrated that students were not adequately exposed, particularly in the areas of writing and listening. Therefore, it is reasonable to conclude that ELT instructors often adhere to the VII prescribed curriculum contents, which in turn restricts them from fulfilling their professional roles and using their professional judgments in classroom curriculum development. Therefore, it would be crucial to provide in-service training to instructors and work towards reducing institutional impediments. This in turn would enable ELT instructors to use the approaches in a balanced manner, thereby meeting student needs without neglecting the needs of the institution.en-USELT instructorsThesis