A Survey of Primary School English Language Teachers’ Language Competency in Ethiopia

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to assess English language teachers’ English language
competency. The teachers were teaching from grades 1 - 4 in six regions and one city
administration of Ethiopia. A sample of 490 English teachers from 245 schools (two
from each school) was selected. Data were collected using English language teachers’
competency assessment (ENTCA) tool (measuring reading comprehension, writing,
listening comprehension, and speaking). The major findings indicate that the overall
performance of English teachers was relatively low, with an average percent-correct
score of 40. Expressed in terms of performance levels, averaged across all ENTCA
components, 52% of teachers performed at an insufficient level, 24% performed at a
minimally acceptable level, 21% performed at a proficient level, and 3% performed
at an advanced level. The targeted performance levels were proficient and above; the
current percentage of teachers performing at these combined levels (24%) left a lot
of room for improvement. Writing and speaking were the English performance skills
that suffered the most among these grades 1-4 English teachers in public schools. The
overall average percent-correct score for these two components was 20 and about
80% of teachers performed at this insufficient level. The least challenging English
performance was listening comprehension, with an average percent-correct score of 63
and only 8% of teachers performing at the insufficient level. Hence, it was concluded
that the majority of teachers were below the expected level of competency in English
language skills and the expressive aspects of English language competency (writing
and speaking) were even at critically low levels and, thus, require interventions for
improvement.