Abstract:
The purpose of the study was to assess the practices of communicative grammar teaching in grade 10
English classroom in secondary schools of Digaluna Tijo woreda. To this end, a descriptive survey
research design was employed to achieve the research objective. 9 EFL teachers and 168 students were
selected using convenience and simple random sampling techniques respectively. The data were
collected through three instruments: questionnaire, interview and classroom observations. The data
gathered through questionnaire and interviews were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively and
triangulated with the classroom observation data. The results of the study indicated that the teachers are
not teaching grammar communicatively. Teachers still teach grammar following structural approach
which has been criticized as traditional, teacher centered and focus on accuracy or grammatical
correctness. Furthermore, the study identified the major barriers of communicative grammar teaching
like poor speaking background, large class size, unsuitability of seats, vocabulary knowledge, mother
tongue use, lack of practicing speaking and teaching methodology. Finally, on the basis of the key
findings, it was recommended that teachers should use different techniques of grammar teaching to help
the learners learn according to their learning preference. They should also integrate the grammar items
with the language skills. Besides, the regional, zonal and woreda education offices need to deal with the
problem of large class size
