Teaching english in pre-schools: Practices and challenges in Debre Birhan City Administration

This study was carried out with the purpose of appraising the current practices and challenges of teaching pre-school English in Debre Birhan City Administration. One hundred and twelve facilitators and thirty-three principals selected through comprehensive sampling and teaching materials through available and simple random sampling were involved in the study. The required data were collected using English lessons observations, teaching materials analysis, questionnaire, interview and lessons analysis. Responses obtained from the observation and questionnaires were analyzed quantitatively. Mainly, the results secured from English teaching materials, interviews, and lessons analysis were analyzed qualitatively. In the instruction of ECCE English, contentious points were also identified. The results indicated that about 66.98% of the facilitators were not trained to teach in pre-schools. The schools used unrecognized teaching materials with dissimilar contents and activities. The nature of assessment employed in the schools inclined to be continuous testing than continuous assessment. Oral literacy which promotes authentic communication was found to be minimal. ‘The look say’ method was emphasized when ‘the phonemic awareness’ method was underestimated. Although the children were good at reciting letters, they were in difficulties in blending sounds. The methodologies employed encouraged discrete language use devoid of contexts. Despite these, there were many favorable conditions like using English songs in the classrooms, supplying resources to English classes and reciting English alphabets. The children were also observed being good at forming letters and patterns. Based on the drawbacks identified, recommendations were forwarded.