THE NEEDS-PRACTICE-SYLLABUS GAPS IN TVET COLLEGE ENGLISH COURSES FOR LEVEL THREE TRAINEES OF DATABASE ADMINISTRATION AT CHERCHER TVET COLLEGE IN CHIRO, WEST HARARGHE ZONE

Abstract

The aim of the study was to assessThe Needs-Practice-Syllabus Gaps in TVET College English Courses For Level Three Trainees of Database Administration at Chercher TVET College in Chiro, West Hararghe Zone. This was because TVET college trainees poor English language skills was assumed to result mainly from the absence of appropriate trainers whose professions were in English and teaching strategies. Thus, the researcher examined how English courses were given and how the gap was created among the needs of the trainees towards the English courses, the syllabus and trainers’ practice. To do this, the data were collected through questionnaire, classroom observation and interview. Questionnaire was held with 38 randomly selected trainees, 2 purposively selected trainers and a coordinator. Classroom observation was conducted to observe whether there was a gap among the needs of the trainees, trainers’ practice and the course’s syllabus. Interview was also held with 15 trainees, 2 trainers and a coordinator and it was used to provide supporting information for the data gathered through questionnaire and classroom observation. Furthermore, document analysis was used as an instrument of data collection to gather relevant information to the study. Accordingly, the results indicated that trainers did not give due attention to the English courses so that they did not train trainees these courses properly considering the courses would not be appeared on the certification of competency exams and lack of knowledge on the language skills they have. Furthermore, the trainers do not motivate trainees to do activities in the class. Rather, they rushed to finish the course within a few days without considering the time given for the course. Therefore, the trainees were demotivated so that their language skills were poor and they fell on the CoC exam not only for the English courses question, but also for other courses exam due to lack of language to understand the questions. Generally, based on the findings, it was recommended that trainers should be given trainings to enable them develop the English language skills or trainer who have the language skills should be assigned.