SUBJECT AREA TEACHERS’ ATTITUDE TOWARDS USING ENGLISH LANGUAGE AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION AT ADDIS ZEMEN AND YIFAG SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR GRADES 9 & 10IN FOCUS.

Abstract

The principal aim of this study was to assess subject area teachers‟ attitude towards using English language as a medium of instruction at Addis Zemen and Yifag Secondary Schools in Libo Kemkem district. The specific objectives of this study were: to investigate the beliefs of teachers towards using English as a medium of instruction, to explore what teachers liking or disliking towards using EMI and to assess how teachers behaving towards using EMI in the classrooms. In this study, a descriptive research design was employed through quantitative and qualitative approaches. From the total populations of 130 subject area teachers, 98 teachers were selected randomly for the purpose of questionnaire and 5 teachers were purposively selected for the purpose of observation and interview. Hence, the data were collected through questionnaires, classroom observations and interview. The quantitative data were analyzed through descriptive statistics (frequency and percentage) whereas the qualitative was interpreted in words. The results of the questionnaires implied that however the majority of subject area teachers have positive beliefs, closely relative numbers of subject area teachers have negative beliefs towards using EMI. Regarding to subject area teachers‟ liking/disliking towards using EMI was unsatisfactory (have negative affections). Likely, teachers‟ behaving towards using English language as a medium of instruction, most teachers did not apply (not behaving) English language as a medium of instruction during delivery. In triangulations, the results of classroom observation showed that most subject area teachers had negative attitudes towards using English as a medium of instruction. On the other hand, the results of interviews indicated that most subject area teachers had positive attitudes towards using English as a medium of instruction. The overall findings revealed that most subject area teachers‟ did not have appropriate attitudes towards using English language as a medium of instruction. It is fact that English language is still the medium of instruction at secondary school levels; therefore, the measures need to be taken to improve the attitudes of subject area teachers‟ use of English language as a medium ofinstruction in their study sites.