A Study On The Perception And Practices Of Teaching Communicative Grammar: Secondary School Teachers In Focus

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to examine EFL teachers' perception about and practices in teaching communicative grammar with reference to six Government Secondary Schools situated in towns of Special Zone of Oromia Surrounding Finfinne The participants of the study were thirty EFL teachers who taught in grade 9 in the academic year of 2016/17. The research design was descriptive paradigm involving a mixed methodology: both quantitative and qualitative. In order to achieve the research objectives, therefore, the study used both quantitative and qualitative data gathering tools: questionnaire, classroom observation, and focus group discussion. The questionnaires were administered for 30 EFL teachers. Moreover, for convenience, six classroom observation and a focus group discussion comprising six of the participants were held. As such, frequency, percentage, and mean scores were used to analyze the quantitative data. The data collected through classroom observation and focus group discussion were described qualitatively and analyzed using protocols of content analysis. The overall findings this study revealed that, irrespective of EFL teachers’ high perception of CGT (average mean 3.72), communicative grammar teaching was not being successfully implemented. The findings included: students’ lack of opportunities to practice language items in meaningful situations, the teachers’ reluctance to employ various tasks as well as adapting the textbook based on students’ background knowledge, lack of enough training for the teachers, shortage of class time and large class size, and students’ mother tongue interference. Besides, fear, frustration, lack of motivation, state of being passive, negative peer attitude towards those who try to make practice in the target language from the side of the students were identified as the potential impeding pitfalls. So, proper classroom observation system should be arranged in the schools to guide the teachers on the right time and proper language development program for teachers should also be arranged so that the students can get better language exposure. Providing additional professional training and supplementary materials that boost teachers’ teaching performance so as to have a matched perception with actual classroom practices is also necessary