Primary School Teachers' Perceived Difficulties in Implementing Innovative EL T Methodologies in the Ethiopian Context

Abstract

curricular innovations in English Language Teaching (ELT) made
by the adoption of communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) contexsts have generally been difficult. A case
study of 20 Addis Ababa Region primary school English Teachers'
perceived difficulties in implementing CL T reveals that the difficulties have
their sources in the difference between the underlying educational theories
of Ethiopia and those of Western countries where CL T developed. The
results suggest that, to implement CL T, Ethiopia as an EFL country will
need to change its fundamental approach to education, and the
implementation of CL T should be grounded on the country's EFL realities.
Hence it should establish its own contingent of language education
researchers in order to develop English teaching theories and
methodologies appropriate to its context. The language education
researchers, as change agents, should study teachers' perceptions of an
innovation. How teachers as the implementers and end users of an
innovation perceive its feasibility is a crucial factor in the ultimate success or
failure of that innovation.