Abstract:
The purpose of this study was investigating motivational techniques employed by teachers in
promoting students' speaking practice in teaching speaking. The investigation was based on the
students' perception of motivational techniques teachers use in teaching speaking skill. From
the total of 424 students, the study was conducted on a sample of 100(49 male and 51 female)
systematically selected grade eleven students of Mo/ale and Wegere preparatory school in
North Shewa. To collect the required data, students' questionnaires and interview were
employed The responses were analyzed through descriptive (qualitative and quantitative)
analysis using frequency/ percentage.
The findings indicated that majority (91 %) of the students were interested to express the result
of their pair/group discussion. Similarly, about half (52%) of the students perceived that their
teachers often avoid face threatening acts towards them. They also believed that motivation for
speaking could be achieved by teachers who are perceived by them. On the contrary, teachers
never gave emphasis on comparing/ contrasting students' group competition. Besides, teachers
didn't play; their effective roles to generate students' self-confidence. As a result, students
couldn't speak in front of their classmates or with people around them. Moreover, unable to
encourage students to improve their speaking practice outside the classroom and develop and
apply self-motivating strategies were other drawbacks of teachers .
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With regarding to teachers' support of additional speaking activities, majority of the students
believed that they were neither supplemented nor interested with speaking activities teachers
deliver in the speaking classroom. The consequences of insufficient motivational techniques
teachers used resulted in the weak practice of students in speaking skill.
Therefore, the researcher recommends that great effort should be made in supporting students'
reaction to speaking activities they use and make connection with topics students enjoy
speaking based on their preferences. Besides, conducting research helps to enrich pedagogical
support of teachers. As a result, the current motivational techniques could be employed
