Perception of EFL Among Stalk Holders: Four Selected Government Primary Schools of Wolaita and Dawro Zone in Focus, SNNPR, South West Ethiopia

Abstract

In a global society, politics, culture and economics are closely interdependent and higher level education has a responsibility to cultivate and equip professionals with the skills to meet the international competitive environment. English is everywhere in Ethiopia’s everyday life, as opposed to indigenous languages, which are mostly hidden. The diffusion of English makes its learning mandatory to aspire to a better social and economic life. Nevertheless, this contextual ‘imposition’ highly influences perceptions and attitudes we have towards English language. This may also create a strong barrier to the whole language learning process. The aims of this study were (1) to identify how stockholders perceive English as a Foreign Language/English as a Second Language (EFL/ESL) teaching learning processes (2) to examine the roles that stockholders play at the required levels at schools, and (3) to investigate factors that contribute to the perception of stockholders in EFL/ESL teaching-learning processes. For this purpose, 267 students were selected from 40 sections and filled the questionnaire. To get 267 students, seven top achieving students were chosen from 40 sections. Moreover, 16 English teachers, 32 parent-teacher association members, 24 school principals, 16 education officials, 16 supervisors and 40 focus group discussants were selected using availability sampling from four schools. Closed- ended and open- ended questionnaire, video-recording, focus group discussions, and semi-structured interviews were used for data gathering, and the data gathered through these tools was analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Based on student surveys in four schools, this paper accented positive perceptions and attitudes towards English language learning, and highlighted the past and the effects of linguistic imperialism. However, based on the evidences found onteaching and learning, teaching English in four schools has been unsatisfactory. The findings further revealed that students, parents, teachers, supervisors, educational experts, and school principals have a positive attitude and perception to English language learning, but they reported that there were factors that impede students’ English language learning and the teachers’ classroom pedagogy. The data in this study also showed that well-designed teacher preparation is important as the component of ongoing learning and development, and can be a powerful vehicle for preparing teachersto implement new curriculum and innovative teaching methods. In short, this work opened the discussion on how these attitudes could be managed in the classroom, and offered possible directions for future research in intercultural language learning.