Teachers’ Help of Students to Use English in Selected Secondary Schools at Nekemte, Ethiopia

Abstract

Article InformationThe objective of this study was to explore subject area teachers" help of students to use the Target Language (TL) in classrooms. For the investigation, a mixed-method research approach was used under the umbrella of pragmatic paradigm of research design. Four Grade Nine History and Geography teachers were purposively selected for the study from two secondary schools in Nekemte town. The data were collected through interview and classroom observations. The data from the interview and the lesson transcripts were analysed by using content analysis of the transcripts. The results indicated that teachers played the dominant role in using students" mother tongue and the TL. The data from the lesson transcripts showed that History teachers and Geography teachers hardly showed efforts to promote students" use of the TL. From the findings, it was concluded that subject area teachers need to be aware of the additional responsibilities of promoting students" language skills and thus work in collaboration with English teachers in this regard.