English Language Teachers’ Level of Instructional Behavior at Selected Secondary Schools

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the level of instructional control among English language teachers in selected secondary schools in Gamo Zone, Ethiopia. The study adopted an analytical survey research design to address the study objective. A census was used to select 62 English language teachers as participants. A validated five-point Likert scale questionnaire was employed to collect quantitative data. Statistical analyses, including one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Games-Howell post hoc analysis, were conducted to determine the level of instructional control among teachers. Additionally, a one-sample t-test was conducted to compare differences between the observed and expected mean values at both scale and subscale levels. The effect size was also utilized to describe the magnitude of instructional control. The findings of the study revealed that English language teachers predominantly employed strong teacher control, followed by marginalized shared and loose control. These results suggest that teachers primarily relied on teacher-centered direct instruction which may potentially lead to achievement gaps among students. Based on these findings, the study recommends that the Gamo Zone Education Department organize on-the-job training for English language teachers on instructional control to empower them to implement varied instructional control types as required thereby promoting a more balanced and inclusive instructional environment.

Keywords: Instructional control; Loose control; Shared control; Strong control; Student-centered; Teacher-centered