EFL Teachers’ Perceptions, Practices and Challenges of Testing Oral Communication Skills: Dawuro Zone General Secondary Schools in Focus

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to assess EFL teachers' perceptions, practices and challenges of testing oral communication skills: in Dawuro zone secondary schools. There are 47 government secondary schools in Dawuro zone. Because of large number of schools, the researcher sampled 19 senior secondary schools through simple random sampling technique. In 19 senior secondary schools there are 108 EFL teachers. The study has employed a descriptive research design that combines both quantitative and qualitative methods. There are 108 EFL teachers in sampled senior secondary schools and they were sampled through comprehensive sampling techniques because they are limited in number. Questionnaire was used major data collection tools and interview and classroom observation checklists were minor tools. Questionnaire was distributed to 100 teachers. Observation and interview were conducted with eight teachers. Interview was supported audio records. Qualitative and quantitative data analyses were employed to enrich and validate the data. Qualitative data was analyzed thematically. The quantitative data were analyzed with SPSS V20 in descriptive statics containing frequency, percentage and mean. The result revealed that teachers have a favorable perception of oral communication skills test. There was a better practice of testing oral communication skills. The relationship between perception and practice was positive. The result also revealed few challenges that teachers face to test oral communication skills such as students lack time to cover the test, students prefer to use their mother tongue and lack of teaching aids like tape recorders, cassettes and radio-program. Based on the findings the researcher recommended that Ministry of Education, regional, and woreda education bureau should provide teaching aids like tape recorders, cassettes and radio-program to promote EFL language oral communication skills. Students should develop positive awareness towards oral communication skills in EFL classroom. Students should use the target language in EFL classroom instead of mother tongue. Students should regularly practice oral communication skills tasks such as dialogue, interview and oral questionnaires his/her friends inside and outside of classroom.