ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION, IMPLEMENTATION AND CHALLENGES OF TASK-BASE LANGUAGE TEACHING: SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS IN GAMO ZONE ETHIOPIA

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate English language teachers’ perception, implementation and challenges of task-based language teaching at secondary schools in Gamo Zone, Ethiopia. This research was mainly descriptive survey in design. Due to the low number of teachers, the study used a comprehensive sampling strategy to include all 165 English language teachers as subjects for the questionnaire. The study employed questionnaires, interviews, and classroom observations to collect data from the participants. Techniques for both quantitative and qualitative data analysis were applied. Six teachers were interviewed and observed. Questionnaires and observation were used to gather quantitative data, which were then subjected to quantitative analysis. Descriptive statistics (mean and standard deviations) were used by SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) version 22 to interpret data collected via questionnaires. The information gathered from observations was subjected to quantitative analysis. A yes/no structures were used to develop the observation checklist. Thus, yes/no binary data were quantitatively evaluated to determine frequencies. However, the qualitative information obtained from the interviews was analyzed using thematic analysis. The study's conclusions demonstrate that although the respondents understood task-based language instruction well and were curious about their opinions, the majority of teachers were not correctly incorporating task-based activities into their lesson plans. According to the study, the implementation of task-based language teaching in schools is severely impacted by a number of significant problems, including a shortage of language teaching materials, big class sizes, students' backgrounds, time limits, and inadequate training. The study concluded by advising English language instructors to give task based language instruction careful thought.