Efl Teachers’ and Students’ Attitude towards and Practices Of Cooperative Learning Strategies and Its Challenges in Relation To Speaking Skills: Grade 10 Students at Hidassie Secondary School in Focus

Abstract

The objective of this study was to assess EFL teachers’ and students’ attitudes towards and practices of cooperative learning strategies and its challenges in relation to speaking skills Grade 10 students at Hidassie Secondary School in focus. To this end, a descriptive research design was used. The total population of the study was two hundred students and two teachers. The samples were determined by using a simple random sampling technique for students and a availability sampling technique for EFL teachers. Instruments employed in this study included a questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and classroom observation. Quantitative and qualitative method of data analyses were employed to triangulate the data. The quantitative data was analyzed with SPSS (version 26) in descriptive statistics such as frequency, percentage, mean, and standard deviation. Data gathered from interviews and classroom observation was described qualitatively. The findings indicated that both the teachers and students have positive attitudes towards cooperative learning strategies in relation to speaking skills. However, the teachers and the students did not practice Cooperative Learning adequately due to lack of clear guideline, shortage of time, lack of training on Cooperative Learning, and etc. so, based on the above findings, the researcher recommended that the EFL teachers of Hidassie Secondary School have to get clear guideline and training on CL. Both the EFL teachers and studentsof the School have to give due attention to improve the practices of Cooperative Learning in EFL speaking classes.