Teachers And Studens‟ Perception And Practice Of Vocabulary Instruction Using Context Clue Strategies

Abstract

This study investigates teachers' perception and practice of vocabulary instruction using context clues. The cause for the study was the researcher observation of the students’ frequent dependence on teachers and dictionary for the meaning of the unfamiliar words they encounter in EFL classes in Ethiopian government owned secondary school. The study was conducted at Ambo Bakelcha Bari Secondary School on grade nine students using descriptive survey research design. One hundred and twenty students from the total of 704(seven hundred and four) were selected on the basis of simple random sampling method and ten teachers based on available sampling method were made participants of the study. The data collecting tools employed were class room observation and questionnaire for both the students and teachers. The study found out that vocabulary is not given attention and context clue strategies which are used to figure out the meaning of unfamiliar words is not fully practiced by the teachers. Besides, the study found out that there is discrepancy between teachers' perception and practice. Though teachers believe that vocabularies are the core components of a language and have a strong desire for the development of their students' vocabulary, their practice did not approve that. Lack of the teachers' proper training in universities and the way the text book is prepared are identified as factors that contributed to the occurrence of the discrepancy between the belief and practice of theteachers.