PERCEPTION OF NATURAL SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS TEACHERS ON THE ROLE OF ENGLISH AS A MEDIUM OF INSTRUCTION IN TWO SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN WEST ARSI ZONE: GRADE 11 IN FOCUS

Abstract

This study aims to explore teachers‟ perception on the role of English as a medium of instruction in teaching and learning in Natural Science and Mathematics classroom the case of grade 11 at two secondary schools. Therefore, researcher used descriptive survey design in this study and simple random sampling technique was employed to select students and all the target subject teachers were included in the study from the total population found in two selected high schools. .As a result, using the three ways of data gathering tools (observation, questionnaire and interview)and analyzed using descriptive narration and descriptive statics, the finding yield that teachers and students have good attitude towards the use of English as a medium of instruction though their language proficiency is low. Due to this, students have low participation in the class, less comprehension of subject content and not good at grasping of subject question. The targeted teachers use mother tongue to overcome the problem. Consequently, students can‟t understand and haven‟t good performance when they learn Mathes and Natural Science in English. This implies that both teachers and students need improvement on their English proficiency. In addition, teachers of natural science and mathematics should do with English teachers to minimize the problem of language proficiency of Natural Science and Mathes teachers and students.