| Abstract: | Effective teaching is the collaborative effort of both teachers and students.
Teachers are expected to engage their students in teaching and learning
process to make them active in the classroom. This is because the
implementation of innovative methods requires teachers to focus on the
classroom teaching and learning process than the product. Accordingly, the
main objective of this study was to investigate the practice and challenges of
innovative methods in Asella and Jimma teachers‘ education colleges. In
order to achieve this objective, four basic research questions related to
knowledge and attitude of the respondents on innovative methods, practice of
innovative methods and factors affecting the practice of innovative methods
were formulated. The study focused on 3rd year English majoring students
and their respective English teachers of the selected colleges as the
participants of the study. The total population of students and their English
teachers were 84 and 12 respectively. Accordingly, all the students and the
teachers were included in the study. In order to collect data from the samples,
three instruments namely questionnaire, classroom observation and FGD
were used. The collected data were analyzed using percentage and mean
value. The result of the study showed that the magnitude of practicing
innovative methods in the class was low. The strategies of innovative
methods were employed only sometimes. This shows that the teachers tend
to use traditional method of teaching. The major factors affecting the practice
of innovative methods in the classroom were identified as shortage of time,
large class size, shortage of students‘ modules and the way the modules were
designed and teachers‘ tendency to use traditional method of teaching. In
order to alleviate (minimize) the hampering factors and to promote the
practice of the innovative methods, some possible solutions were
recommended on the basis of the major findings of the study.
Key words: Innovative methods, practice, challenges, magnitude, effective
teaching |
