A Study On Secondary School Students’ Efl Classroom Disruptive Behaviors And Teachers’ Management Of The Behaviors:Engibi Bedele Secondary School In Focus.

Abstract

This study was conducted to explore different types of students’ EFL classroom disruptive behavior at Engibi Bedele Secondary school and how teachers respond to those behaviours. The study tried to answer the kinds of EFL classrooms disruptive behaviours existed in the study area and their possible causes. Furthermore attempts were made to identify the categories of more disruptive behaviours and how EFL teachers respond to those behaviours. A descriptive case study was employed to achieve this research goal. Three English language teachers and one hundred and seventy six students from grade nine and ten were considered to be the subjects of the study. Questionnaire with a set of both closed and open-ended items were used to secure relevant data from the students. In addition, a semi-structured interview was designed to elicit pertinent information from the class monitors and focused group discussion was made with three EFL teachers. Finally, the fourth instrument used for data collection was classroom observation. During classroom observation, semi-structured observation checklists were used to collect data while the teachers were teaching in the actual classroom. The data collected through the questionnaire were analyzed with descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) and mean. But those data gathered through the interview, focused group discussion and classroom observations were qualitatively analyzed. All the data secured from different sources were collated in the discussions to arrive at conclusions regarding the major EFL classroom disruptive behaviours, category of more disruptive students, causes for the disruptive behaviours and practices of teachers coping mechanisms with the EFL classroom disruptive behaviour of students. The results of the study generally suggested that most of the frequently observed disruptive behaviors of students are those that disrupt the learning teaching process and EFL teachers did not use a particular systematic approach in dealing with the disruptive behaviour of students in their classrooms and often ignored these behaviours. In addition, categories of more disruptive students were identified through the study. Furthermore, the students’ indifference to learning, negative attitude to English language learning, lack of student- teacher rapport, absence of classroom ground rules and guidance and counselling service, parents’ little follow up, the loose school rules were found to be the major causes for the behaviour of students reflected in the classroom. Finally, Recommendations were forwarded to alleviate the problems.