PRACTICE OF VOCABULARY TEACHING AND LEARNING STRATEGIES IN EFL CLASSES OF HALABA KULITO SECONDARY SCHOOL: GRADE 9 STUDENTS AND TEACHERS IN FOCUS

ABSTRACT The purpose of this research was to assess the practice of vocabulary teaching and learning methods in Halaba Kulito secondary school in grade 9 English classes’ students and teachers in focus and identify the major factors that might hamper the implementation of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies in English language classes. To this end, the study employed descriptive survey, design which involves both qualitative and quantitative methods. Accordingly Halaba Kulito secondary school was selected through availability sampling. Then, 6 English teachers were taken purposefully for the classroom observation, for the interview, and for the questionnaire. Thus, qualitative data was analyzed qualitatively and then descriptive statistics using frequencies and percentages were employed in analyzing the quantitative data respectively. The results of the study revealed that the teachers were not capable enough on the knowledge and the theoretical orientations of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies use in EL classes. In addition, it was found that the teachers lacked skills on the implementation of different types of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies in EL classes according to their suitability. Furthermore, the study revealed that they rarely used these strategies during vocabulary teaching. Generally, the uses of vocabulary teaching and learning strategies were not given sufficient attention at the School Thus; the study indicated that the English language teachers didn’t use different vocabulary teaching and learning strategies in EL classes. Finally, based on the findings, the researcher recommended that creating meaningful vocabulary teaching and learning strategies opportunities through different vocabulary teaching and learning strategies should be used widely in the school. Finally, recommendations were drawn based on the above findings.