Practice And Challenges That English Teachers Face In Teaching Reading Comprehension With Reference To Three Preparatory Schools, Oromia Region, Bale Zone: Grade 12 In Focus

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate the practice and challenges that English teachers face in teaching reading comprehension. The study was conducted at three selected Preparatory schools in Bale Zone, namely, BatuTerara, Robe and Gassera Preparatory schools in Grade 12, with a population of six teachers and forty eight students. A total of six teachers and thirty nine students were responded to the questionnaire, four classes were observed and four teachers and nine students were interviewed to collect the required data for this study. The teacher‟s and student‟s opinions towards teaching and learning reading comprehension were identified. The results of this study indicated that there were some challenges that are not suited for teachers of English not to implement the techniques given in the teacher‟s guide. Individual, pair work and group work activities were not being implemented as it is designed in the teacher‟s guide. The result of Grade 12 teacher‟s guide and student‟s textbook analysis revealed that although the activities designed in their text book is to help students practice the reading strategies while learning reading comprehension, this is not implemented both by teachers and learners of Grade 12 students in the selected schools due to various reasons. Shortage of instructional materials, size of the materials, teacher‟s and student‟s opinions towards learning reading comprehension, lack of reading habit, number of activities in each reading passages were found to be some of the challenges that teachers face in teaching reading comprehension in the selected preparatory schools.