ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPLEMENTATION OF COOPERATIVE LEARNING STRATEGIES IN READING LESSON AT THREE KERSA WOREDA SECONDARY SCHOOLS, GRADE 10 IN FOCUS

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to assess how cooperative learning strategies were implemented in English classroom of reading lesson. The study was carried out in three selected Kersa Woreda Secondary Schools with special reference to grade 10 students. To achieve this purpose, a descriptive survey design was employed. Six English teachers and 132 students were selected by using purposive and simple random sampling techniques. Overall, a total of 138 respondents participated in the study. In order to achieve the objectives, the study employed three data gathering tools: questionnaire, interview and classroom observation. Questionnaire was employed to explore how teachers and students implemented cooperative learning strategies as well as to identify the role of teachers and students in the implementation of cooperative learning strategies in reading lesson. Interview was used to find out causes for the problems that affect the implementation of cooperative learning strategy in reading classroom. Furthermore, classroom observation was employed to identify how teachers and students were implementing cooperative learning strategy during reading section. Data collected using close-ended questionnaire was analyzed quantitatively. Whereas, data from interview and class room observation were analyzed qualitatively. The results of the study revealed that, most of the teachers had positive attitudes towards the implementation of cooperative learning strategy to improve the students’ proficiency in reading skill; they implement it rarely in the classroom. In addition to this, they were not capable of teaching the students in small groups, pair works, role plays etc. in the same manner, teachers were not carrying their role well in facilitating, motivating and encouraging, allocate sufficient time for the students and did not create opportunities for them to enable the work cooperatively. The major challenges which were identified in this study: challenges related to students, challenges related to the teachers, challenges related to the classroom condition and facilities. To sum up, in the process of teaching learning, it is teacher’s duty to prefer the important teaching techniques which help the learners to improve their proficiency of reading skill in reading activities. Therefore, the teacher should prefer her / his teaching strategy which is learner-led and should allocate sufficient time for the activities to be done