EXPLORING ORAL COMMUNICATION STRATEGIES UTILIZED IN ENGLISH CLASSROOM: THE CASE OF WOLAYTTA ZONE DAMOTE SORE WOREDA GUNUNO SECONDARY SCHOOL GRADE NINE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN FOCUS BY

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore oral communication strategies utilized in Wolaytta zone Damote Sore Woreda Gununo secondary school Grade nine English teachers. The descriptive case design is used to explore oral communication strategies utilized in English classroom, to investigate communication strategies in terms of types and number of communication strategies. To achieve the objective of the study, seven English teachers’ classroom practices were observed and audio recorded. The data was transcribed and strategies were identified and analyzed on the basis of Faerch and Kasper (1983) classification model. The study revealed that teachers utilized fourteen types of communication strategies classified under achievement and reduction strategies. such as: repetitions, using fillers ,asking for clarification , language switch, literal translation, write on black board, read from text book, exemplification, reading aloud ,paraphrase, word coinage , foreignzing , message abandonment and message reduction. From these strategies, language switch, using fillers and repetition are the most frequently utilized communication strategies by all teachers in delivering their lesson. From fourteen types of communication strategies utilized by sample teachers, achievement strategy account for 97.64% and reduction strategies account for 2.36%. In addition to this, the study indicates that sample teachers utilized fourteen types of communication strategies at the frequency of 791 times and types and number of communication strategies vary across lessons teachers deliver.