Teachers’ Practice of Teaching Advanced Speech: The Case of Debre Markos University, Ethiopia

Abstract

Different studies have disclosed that most university students in Ethiopia lack communicative competence, and hence they cannot communicate effectively in English. This is caused by a number of factors, the major ones having to do with the curriculum, the process of teaching and learning, or the methods used in the assessment. This inquiry was made to look into the practice of teaching the Advanced Speech course. Forty-three students and six teachers were included in the study. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and classroom observation. The data revealed that most of the teachers were assigned to teach the Advanced Speech course against their will. Moreover, the student class size and seating arrangement were not appropriate for spoken courses. Teachers were not creating a conducive environment for the students to use the target language in real-life communication. The teachers’ main role was giving lectures; they were not supervising and guiding the students. Activities used to teach advanced speech were dull and pitched at the wrong level. This implies that teachers’ teaching practices were not effective to improve the students’ skill.