CHALLENGES TEACHERS FACE IN TEACHING READING SKILLS: THE CASE OF FOUR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN WESTERN HARARGHE ZONE.

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to understand challenges teachers face in teaching reading skills of four secondary schools in West Hararghe Zone. In this research, descriptive survey research design was used with the mixed research method of qualitative and quantitative research approaches. Thus, all twenty EFL teachers for questioners and four for interview and class observation, one from each of four secondary schools were comprehensively taken as source of data. The data obtained were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively. As to the findings, the study illustrated that large class size, lack of resources, students’ poor background knowledge, lack of interest and motivation, lack of vocabularies, teachers’ unwillingness to support learners in reading skills were found as common challenges. Moreover, students’ lack of experience and lack of teachers training how to teach reading quickly and effectively were also among the difficulties. Finally, to bridge the gap between what the literatures transpires and what the survey has shown: Recommendations were put forwarded for EFL teachers and other stakeholders based on the findings of the study.