A Comparative Study On Teaching Speaking Skills At Private And Public Secondary Schools In Modjo Town

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to compare the practice of teaching speaking skills in the case of School of Excellence (private) and Kunche Deka Bora (Public) Secondary Schools in Modjo town. The study required the researcher to use descriptive design and it was carried out on grade 9th students in both schools. Three data collecting tools were used. First, questionnaire was used to collect information from 100 students out of 500 students of which 40 students were from the private school and 60 students from the public school using simple random technique. Besides, 3 EFL teachers and 2 English department heads were interviewed using census sampling (using the entire population). Furthermore, 3 better English speaking students in each school were interviewed purposively. In addition, 3 parents in each school were interviewed in both schools randomly on their regular meeting. Moreover, two classroom observations in each school were made in simple random technique. Following this, qualitative data was analyzed thematically and quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 soft ware to compare means and to make conclusive results in both schools (descriptive statics and t-test were used). Based on this, the study revealed that the private school has relatively better performance in teaching speaking skills to promote students’ speaking proficiency. In addition, there was statically significant difference in all communicative activities set to compare the two schools on enhancing students’ speaking skill. Finally, to enhance students’ speaking skill further, the researcher suggested that students should be exposed to group work, pair work, acting model speeches and problem solving activities. Added to this, EFL teachers should be inspired about how their students could use English outside the classroom. To this end, the researcher forwarded that by increasing opportunities for students to speak in the classroom, teachers could help build students’ confidence in promoting their speaking proficiency.