An Assessement Of Grade Eleven English Language Teachers’ Challenges In Implementing Cooperative Learning: Ayer Tena Secondary And Preparatory School In Focus

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess grade eleven English language teachers‟ classroom challenges in implementing cooperative learning strategy in improving students‟ language skills. The study was conducted in one of the government schools in Addis Ababa. The participants of this study were English language teachers and students of grade eleven in the year 2014/15. Comprehensive sampling techniques for teachers‟ questionnaire and simple random sampling for students‟ questionnaire and interview of both the participants were employed. To conduct the study, both quantitative and qualitative research designs were employed. To gather relevant and reliable data the questionnaire, interview and classroom observations were used as data gathering tools. The questionnaires were administered to all grade 11 English language teachers and to sample of 165 students of grade 11 who participated in the study. On the other hand, 10 teachers and 10 students who participated on the study were interviewed and 5 sections were selected for 5 successive class each using an observation checklist. The data collected from questionnaires were analyzed and interpreted quantitatively using percentage and frequency in the table forms and the result of interviews, open-ended questionnaires, and classroom observations were analyzed and reported qualitatively. The results of the study revealed that the participants of the study have positive understanding about the potential benefits of CLS in the teaching learning process. In spite of this, they were not found implementing CLS effectively and their involvement in implementing it was very low and inconsistent. Besides, there are challenges that minimize the active involvement of the teachers and students in implementing the strategy effectively. Among these lack of practical training about its practical implementations on the side of both teachers and students were the major ones. Moreover, teachers‟ and students‟ awareness, lack of authentic materials, lack of students interest in learning the language cooperatively and large number of students, inconvenient seats, lack of students discipline and shortage of time, lack of teachers‟ dedication, and teachers‟ exposure to traditional teaching strategies were additional impediments that were likely to hinder effective implementation of CLS. Finally, necessary conclusion and recommendation were drawn based the research findings and relevant recommendations were forwarded.