ANALYZING WHAT PERMANENT ACADEMIC CLASSROOM ACTIVITY OF ENGLISH TEACHERS TELL US ABOUT THEIR PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT NEEDS: PRIMARY SCHOOLS IN FOCUS

Melkamu Kisi,Tamene Kitila,Mekuria Zewdie

doi:10.29121/ijetmr.v9.i2.2022.1057

Abstract

The present study analyses what permanent academic classroom activity tells us about the professional development need of English language teachers in primary Schools. Teacher classroom observation was used as data gathering tools for the study. As a result, four English language teachers were involved in the study. The study was conducted in selected primary schools in North Showa Zone of Orimia Regional State. The four teachers involved in the study were observed three times. The results of the study reveal that teachers lack English language proficiency. Their classroom English lacked quality to use the target language. So, they needed to develop their English language proficiency. The result of the study further showed that the teachers needed to develop their pedagogic skills. The pedagogic skills the English language teachers needed to develop were lesson opening, lesson running and lesson ending strategies. Similarly, the teachers needed professional development on the areas of language use and transitioning and questioning strategies. Based on the finding of the study, it was suggested that English language teachers in primary schools needed to get further professional development program that addresses their linguistic knowledge and skills need areas so that the teachers improve their proficiency in the target language and enhance their skills in teaching

Highlights

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the concept and practice of ongoing structured lifelong learning of professionals in the teachers’ development needs Minae and David (2017). their finding indicates that CPD is a necessity for teachers to fully engage with their development
They state that English teachers choose professional development activities relevant to their development need for development so that they discover new opportunities, develop their linguistic knowledge and the pedagogic skills
According to them, when English their professional development needs are considered, they would increase their overall understanding of the target language in genuine interactive situations

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) is the concept and practice of ongoing structured lifelong learning of professionals in the teachers’ development needs Minae and David (2017). their finding indicates that CPD is a necessity for teachers to fully engage with their development. A study on teacher induction and the CPD in Ethiopia by Tadele (2013) shows teachers need professional development program to enhance their classroom practices Supporting this finding, Desta et al (2013) point out that school based CPD is used to enhance teachers’ knowledge of the subject and skills in teaching. Informal communication and observations the researcher had with primary school English language teachers indicates that the teachers find it difficult to do lessons well in the textbook in use (Grades 5-8) That means they lack linguistic knowledge and the pedagogic skills they are required to have in order to teach English in primary students. This observation has given rise to the need to study the classroom practices of primary school English teachers

THE PARTICIPANTS OF THE STUDY

THE DATA COLLECTION

ANALYSIS OF CLASSROOM OBSERVATION DATA

TEACHER LESSON OPENING

THE NATURE OF THE TEACHERS’ LESSON RUNNING

THE NATURE OF THE TEACHERS’ LESSON ENDING