EFL Teachers’ Use of Cooperative Language Learning Method to Promote Students’ Speaking Skills: East Wallaga Zone, Hinde High School in Focus
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.20372/star.v8i3.05Keywords:
use, cooperative, language learning, methodAbstract
The aim of this study was to investigate EFL teachers’ use of the cooperative language learning method to promote speaking skills. To this end, a descriptive research design was used in this study, and the subjects of the study were six EFL teachers of two different grade levels and 51 students of the same grade level. A mixed-method research approach was used to collect the data. For this purpose, questionnaires, classroom observations, and textbook analysis tools for data collection were employed. The quantitative data were analysed through frequency and percentage distributions, and the qualitative data were analysed thematically. The results of the quantitative data were triangulated with the qualitative data and analysed based on their categories. The findings of the study revealed that EFL teachers had a conceptual awareness of the advantages of the CLL method in enhancing students’ spoken language proficiency through interaction with each other. However, regarding its use, the finding depicted that English language teachers’ level of awareness could not match the practical materialization. In other words, it's been found that there is little use of the techniques of CLL since many of the elements of CLL are not yet put into practice. The commonly revealed factors for the low use of CLL principles were rushing to cover the contents of the course, teachers’ incompetence in CLL principles, students’ unwillingness to cooperate with each other, and teachers’ communicative language incompetence. As a result, EFL teachers are recommended to use English for communicative purposes rather than focusing on language form. Accordingly, it is also suggested by the researchers that EFL teachers have to work hard to improve their interactive teaching skills and to create greater opportunities for students through cooperative work in line with CLL principles. Therefore, in order to cope with the challenges stated in ELT using the cooperative method, various in-service training programmes and continuous professional development should be in place for EFL teachers.
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