An Investigation Of Teachers’ Practices Of Teaching Listening And Factors Associated With It: The Case Of Grade 9 Jimma Town Secondary Schools

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate teachers’ practice of teaching listening and the associated factors in secondary schools of Jimma Town. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study and the sample was comprehensively selected using allEnglish teachersof grade nine. The data were collected through questionnaires, observation and interviews from twelve secondary schools. Analysis of data was done using frequency and percentages. Based on the data analysis, it was found out that fewer activities were done in the three listening phases.The teachers’stated perceptions in questionnaire werepartly reflected in their real classroom practices. At the pre-listening stage,the activities done by most of the teachers were defining new vocabulary and copying questions to be answered while listening, whereas at while listening phase, the dominant activities done by the teachers were supporting students with note taking and listening for the main idea of listening text.At post listening stage, the teachers somewhat carried out activities like giving summary writing activities, asking comprehension questions and giving corrections.Encouraging students to exchange their ideas about the text with other students in group or in pair was not important, but most of them employed in the actual classroom. The teachers’ poor awareness of listening strategies, students’ poor background of listening and lack of the listening materials were the stated factors for poor practices of listening lesson. The results revealed that the stated listening activities were not practiced fully bymostof the teachers. Therefore, teachers need to be able to get training, change their attitude, plan and prepare for the particular listening tasks to improve the current practices of teaching listening.