An Assessment Of The Most Commonly Used Vocabulary Teaching Strategies In EFL Classroom: The Case Of Grade Nine English Teachers At Ambo Secondary School

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to assess the most commonly used teachers‟ vocabulary teaching strategies in EFL classes at Ambo secondary school of grade nine. The study employed descriptive survey study design, which involves both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Accordingly, Ambo Secondary School was selected purposely. Four English teachers who teach grade 9 were selected via available sampling techniques for the interview, and for classroom observation. In addition, the data were collected through questionnaires from 100 students randomly selected. Thus, descriptive statistics using frequencies and percentages were employed in analyzing the quantitative data and the qualitative data were analyzed qualitatively and narrated in terms of words. The results of the study revealed that the teachers rarely practice vocabulary teaching strategies during vocabulary instruction, low concern and practices on the implementation of different types of vocabulary teaching strategies in EFL classes. Additionally, it was found that using dictionaries, context clues and direct translation were the most commonly used vocabulary teaching strategies by the teachers. Moreover, the findings show that factors that hinder teachers‟ practice of vocabulary teaching strategies include teachers‟ related factors (lack of in-service training on vocabulary teaching strategies and prefer old trends instead of Communicative Language teaching). Students‟ related factors include students‟ reluctance in participating in vocabulary lessons, and constraints of vocabulary teaching material. In short, the practices of vocabulary teaching strategies were not given sufficient attention by English teachers at Ambo Secondary School. Thus, English teachers of Ambo Secondary School of grade nine are recommended to design and should use different vocabulary teaching strategies that help their students to develop their English vocabulary