Journal of Ethiopian Studies

Introduction

Binyam Sisay Mendisu — 2024-08-02

Ethiopia presents one of the most fascinating and complex language education and language-in-education situations in Africa with its bold attempt to implement close to 48 languages in formal education at various levels and formats. While some of the major languages, such as Amharic and Afan Oromo are used from early years to postgraduate education, others, such as Aari, are only recently introduced into formal education and are taught as a subject only in primary education. Some of these languages have been written languages for many years and pride of extensive literary resources, while others have only recently been converted into written form and introduced into formal education, resulting in scarce written resources. The language issue in early years' education has direct implications for the quality of education. However, it has not been adequately investigated in a way that addresses the multifaceted and interdisciplinary nature of the topic. Interdisciplinary research and a closer examination of how these complex factors related to literacy and language education impact the quality of early years' education in Ethiopia are scarce. This special issue of the Journal of Ethiopian Studies presents original research and findings on the context of selected Ethiopian languages and their implementation in early literacy and education, including Sidaamu Afoo, Gofa, Koorete, Af Somali, Amharic, and Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL).

Examining Teachers’ Practice of Phonological Awareness (PA) in Early Grades: A Qualitative Study of Koorete Language Classes, Southern Ethiopia

Samuel Zinabu Haile — 2024-08-02

The purpose of this study was to examine the practice of Koorete language
teachers in teaching phonological awareness in the early grades of Ethiopian
public primary schools. The study was conducted at selected primary schools
in the Koore zone in the southern region of Ethiopia. For this purpose, a
qualitative research design inspired by case studies was used. An attempt was
made to answer basic research questions: a) To what extent do primary school
teachers practice the key components of phonological awareness in the
teaching of Koorete language? b) To what extent do primary school teachers
plan or prepare to teach the components of phonological awareness? Data
were collected from four Koorete language teachers from four purposively
selected primary schools through classroom observation and semi-structured
interviews supported by video and audio recordings. The collected data were
carefully transcribed, translated, coded, and then analyzed using a thematic
approach. It has been noted that early-grade Koorete language teachers do not
integrate and practice the key components of phonological awareness in their
daily lessons. The teachers also have a knowledge gap in teaching the key
components of phonological awareness, as revealed from classroom
observation. Furthermore, there was an apparent lack of explicit and
systematic lesson planning for teaching phonological awareness in the early
grades. Therefore, it is recommended that teacher training programs include a
major component in which language teachers are properly trained on how to
teach phonological awareness in a systematic way. Besides, explicit in-service
training needs to be given to Koorete language teachers on new ways and
approaches of teaching reading in the early grades.

Phonological Awareness Instructional Practices and Challenges for Implementation in Ethiopian Primary School: A Case Study of Goffa Language Grade One

Zerihun Haliso Atsero — 2024-08-02

This article delves into the classroom instructional practices of teachers and
the challenges they face in teaching phonological awareness. Employing a
qualitative research approach within a case study design and drawing upon the
sociocultural learning theory as a theoretical framework, the study involved
four teachers, one school director, and one college instructor as participants.
Data collection utilized observations and interviews, with deductive analysis
methods including descriptive and narrative approaches. The findings
underscore that teachers commonly utilize phonological awareness instruction
techniques such as sound identification, syllable segmentation, phoneme
manipulation, phoneme blending, onset-rime awareness, and rhyming.
However, these strategies often fall short in addressing the diverse needs of
students. Additionally, teachers predominantly rely on traditional methods
such as sound and phoneme naming, counting, pointing, and repetition, rather
than more interactive instructional approaches like demonstration, scaffolding,
and modeling of sound and letter teaching methods. These instructional
practices are compounded by various challenges, including low teacher
phonological knowledge, lack of positive attitude and motivation, inadequate
educational resources, and limited parental and community involvement.
Addressing these challenges necessitates ongoing professional support to
enhance teachers' phonological knowledge and capacities in essential
instructional approaches. Moreover, stakeholders must foster conducive
learning environments equipped with diverse educational resources to
facilitate more effective phonological awareness instruction. Furthermore,
broader studies are imperative to grasp the constraints and possibilities of
phonological awareness instruction, ultimately enhancing children's reading
abilities.

Causal Correlations of Letter Naming and Number Identification with Numeracy and Literacy: Evidence from Af Somali Medium of Instruction Schools, Ethiopia

Abraha Asfaw — 2024-08-02

Letter and number identifications are foundational components of literacy and
numeracy development. This study hypothesized that letter naming and
number identification have important implications for numeracy and literacy
learning, respectively. Accordingly, the study employed a correlational design
on a sample of 229 grades 2 and 3 children selected from six primary (two
refugee and four host community) schools in Kebribeyah and Awbare refugee
areas. Data analyzed using Pearson r showed correlational indices ranging
from .40 (between number identification and literacy) to .47 (between letter
naming and numeracy). The values computed on the relationship between
letter naming and number identification as well as between literacy and
numeracy indicated a similar relationship, i.e., r=.43. In terms of shared
variances, further analysis showed shared variances that amounted to 16%,
22.10%, and 18.50% respectively. Generally, the results suggested limited
predictive powers for practical purposes. Besides, linear regressions carried
out taking sex and types of community yielded statistically significant
contributions of type of community, favoring refugee context, on letter naming
and literacy learning only. Hence, further large-scale studies are suggested to
validate the findings and draw curriculum, pedagogical, and teacher
development implications.

Early-Grades’ Vocabulary Instruction and Nation’s (2013) Word Learning Framework: the Theory’s Realities and Instructional Contents in the Grade One Amharic Textbooks

Nigist Gedife — 2024-08-02

This study aimed to investigate the vocabulary knowledge components4
delivered in grade one Amharic textbooks in light of Nation‘s (2013) word
knowledge framework. It targeted to address two main objectives: firstly, to
reveal the Nation’s (2013) word knowledge components existing in the grade
one Amharic vocabulary instruction with reference to the student book and the
teacher’s guide. Secondly, it aims to examine the framework’s theoretical
suggestions in terms of the vocabulary contents appeared in the selected
instructional materials. The study employed a qualitative document analysis
method. Data was collected using a checklist adapted from Nation’s (2013)
word awareness components’ framework. The results reveal that (a) the
textbook consists of more vocabulary knowledge components’ activities than
the teacher’s guide; (b) meaning is given more coverage, followed by form,
where the component of use is found to be the least attention. The most
impressive finding is that some sub-components of Nation’s framework, such
as word part (under the component of form), and grammatical function (under
the component of use) do not appear as parts of the contents of the selected
instructional materials. On the other hand, word formation is found to bean
aspect delivered in the materials, which is not a part of Nation’s word
knowledge framework. Therefore, this study substantiates that vocabulary
instruction contents in early grades might go beyond the theoretical
suggestions of the Nation’s (2013) word learning framework, and the
framework might not be fully addressing issues related to the early grades’
vocabulary instruction, so it might need to include more elements to be a word
learning framework for all grade levels.

The Influence of Orthography in Early Grade Letter Knowledge among Sidaama School Children

Samrawit Bekele — 2024-08-02

Though the use of similar scripts in two or more language curricula is
common in Ethiopia, the literature on orthographic influences on reading
ability development is thin so far. The purpose of this study was, therefore, to
examine the facilitating or hindering effects of orthography in letter name
identification and letter-sound correspondence tasks in Sidaama and English
languages that use Latin-based script. Data were collected from randomly
selected grade 2 students in two Hawassa city administration schools using a
survey. The descriptive statistical analysis technique on the reading tests
showed greater accuracy of children when reading letters and sounds in
Sidaama (transparent orthography) than in English, which is characterized by
a deep orthographic system. Confusion was observed in both languages across
the two tasks where children mixed up letters with sounds, especially when
they tried to distinguish between identical letters and sounds in both
languages. Such influence comes because the two languages share a common
script, though their orthographic consistency differs by language, which has
important implications for classroom instruction and curriculum organization.

Defects on Children’s Amharic Story-Books in Ethiopia: A Critical Evaluation

Bayleyegn Tasew — 2024-08-02

Conducting research on the qualities of children’s literature on a continuous
basis can serve as supportive reading materials for children’s literacy
development in the country. But, unfortunately, there is no research work on
this critical issue in Ethiopia. Therefore, the productive competence of the
books for the development of knowledge and language acquisition skills in
children still remains little known among policymakers, implementers,
scholars, and those concerned. The main purpose of this study is thus to
explicate the productiveness of children’s storybooks written in Amharic in
the last four decades using the major literary criteria in reflection on the
fundamental concept of “children’s realities,” including ‘age-stage, proposed
by scholars from different but most closely related fields of study in the social
sciences and humanities. Data are collected based on critical reviews done on
28 randomly selected children’s story/folklore books.

Predicaments in Employing Ethiopian Sign Language as Mother Tongue of Deaf Children

Elizabeth Demissie — 2024-08-02

This study aimed to investigate the use of Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL) as a mother tongue in the education of deaf children while also revealing some of the challenges encountered in this field. The study utilized qualitative methods, such as observations, document analysis, and interviews with school staff and government officials. The findings highlighted that EthSL is not yet acknowledged and accepted as a full language of education like other Ethiopian languages. Lack of curriculum, textbooks, trained teachers, allotted periods, and other necessary inputs are some of the manifestations of its exclusion. The study also revealed that the dominant inclusive education approach was not tailored to the specific sociolinguistic needs of deaf students. Consequently, the Linguistic Human Rights (LHR) for Mother Tongue (MT) education of deaf children in schools is neither promoted nor protected. These results suggest a critical need to reevaluate current policies and practices.