The Impacts of Conscious and Planned Instruction to Overcome Mother Tongue Interference in the Learning of English Language: The Results of Quasi Experimental Study

It is said that the student’s use of MT (interference) in second/foreign language learning has negative influence on their learning and achievement. For this reason, solution should be given to the problem of mother tongue interference in the learning of foreign language.  Hence, the main aim of this study was to experiment the impacts of conscious and planned instruction to overcome mother tongue interference in the learning of English language. To achieve the purpose of this study, quasi- experimental research design was used. For this particular study, Wolayita  Liqa and Wolayita  Soddo Preparatory Schools were selected. Then, students of grade 11B at wolayita Liqaand grade 11T at Wolayita Soddo Preparatory Schools were selected for the study.   Next, homeroom teachers of Grade 11B and11T both at Wolayita Liqa and Wolayita Soddo Preparatory Schools respectively were allowed to pick the rolled paper as lotto. Accordingly, the experimental and controlled groups were made. In this study, students in the experimental group were given conscious and planned instruction to check whether or not it is possible to overcome the interference of mother tongue in the learning of English as foreign language.  A total of 150 minutes instruction was conducted in the experimental class. After the instruction, the students in both groups were given the speaking test. Then the, results of both controlled and experimental group were compared and contrasted to see the group who performed better in the test.  The analysis of data shows that the pronunciation of students are in controlled group on the four sounds are not equal . When we compare the result of experimental and controlled group, the students in the experimental group pronounced  the words containing ‘B’ ,’P’ ‘F’ and ‘V’ sounds  more than the students in the controlled group. This implies that students of experimental group performed better than students of the controlled  group. This could be because of the intervention and the conscious and planned formal instruction provided to students in the experimental group. Thus, it is possible to overcome the interference through conscious instruction. It was found that the intervention had a positive effect on the MT interference in the learning of English speaking skill.  This was proved through the higher scores that the experimental group obtained in the post-test. Finally, recommendations were given based on the conclusions and findings of the study. Keywords: Conscious, English  Language, Interference, Learning, Mother Tongue,  planned instructio

An Investigation into Female Students’ Less Participation in English Language Class: Waja Kero Junior Primary School Grade 8 Students in Focus

The growing interest in gender issues, relationships, family constructs etc can be seen in academia and elsewhere. The power of literary texts, plays, films and dramas in the formation and perception of women’s images is immense. These perceptions change with time and ideology. Change in ideology, always mark a paradigm shift in the way we understand and interpret social, economic and political agendas. The introduction of Marxist ideology in a society is an example. Even though Education is most important to pursue the objective of women’s empowerment, gender imbalance that prevails at various levels of schooling has been a hampering factor. Besides enrollment, gender disparity manifests in areas of class participation and achievement in primary education institutions. In Ethiopia, even if through several interventions, the enrollment of female students at various levels of schooling has dramatically been increased, questions like in class participation and achievement remain unanswered. This piece of writing, while investigating the issues of representation vs. participation has an objective of assessing why female students’ participation in class is low compared to male counterparts. Applying feminist qualitative research, this study identified that shyness, language proficiency, family background, instructor’s affiliation to active students, environment, and lack of value attached to participation in class were having impacts on female students participation in class. In contrast, representation in class compared to male counterpart was not a decisive factor. And the researcher concludes that, unless otherwise interventions to enhance females’ education in Ethiopia further investigate the issues of in class participation and achievement, the so far efforts have been only tip of the iceberg especially at Waja Kero primary school in rural Ethiopia. Waka Kero primary classroom has been regarded as male public space. This has affected the academic achievement of female students, which in turn is likely to influence negatively their social, economic and political visibilities. As such, females’ participation in the classroom activities becomes an inviting topic to be explored. The current study, thereby, aimed to unveil the reasons of highly inhibited and highly exuberant female students in the classroom. In so doing, observations and interviews were carried out on students studying at the primary school of Waja Kero. The findings revealed that inhibition, depreciation of participation, devaluation of speech in mixed environment, and peers’ negative comments were the main factors hindering female students’ participation. Factors that have been rated as strong promoters of participation, however, were: positive perception of participation, modern thinking, well-rounded knowledge about the topic, the type of topic studied, accessible teachers, and learner-centered approach. Keywords: Wajakero, classroom participation, female students, factors, less participation DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-5-03 Publication date:March 31st 202

Train induced pore water pressure generation model: numerical comparison

In recent decades, the provisions of new challenges to railway track demanded for a better understanding of the track dynamic, especially to track geotechnical dynamics. For geotechnical problems the presence of water in the void of soils has influence on the behavior of the soil effects such as temporarily development of excess pore water pressure of the soil or even liquefaction and mud pumping can occur. To account these effects considering the soil as two-phase material would be helpful to better understand the saturated railway line failures. Hence, this paper describes the pore fluid analysis of fully saturated railway embankment response subjected to train induced vibrations using three-dimensional finite element package ABAQUS. The modelized 3D track consists of train loads, rail, pads, sleeper, sub-ballast, ballast, saturated sub-grade, saturated subsoil layer and semi-infinite bedrock. The water-saturated soil layers modeled as poroelastic and the infinite bed rock as elastic medium. To this end, the influence of relative density, hydraulic conductivity, un-drained Young’s modulus and depth of embankment on excess pore water pressure development are compressively studied. The predicated results show that hydraulic conductivity, un-drained Young’s modulus and depth of embankment have quite significant effect on the induced excess pore water pressure; while the influence of relative density is very small. The result also shows that positive excess pore water pressure mainly distributes on the soil and this will permit fine grain soils to flow out from interior to exterior region of the model. Hence, mud pumping and liquefaction is developed not in specific type of soil instead can be developed in any type of soil with low hydraulic conductivity, high depth of embankment and low un-drained Young’s modulus

Assessment of Plasmodium Species Infection and Proper Utilization of Insecticide Treated Mosquito Nets in Merawi Town and Its Surroundings, Northwest Ethiopia

The study was conducted to assess the prevalence of Plasmodium species infection and proper use of insecticide treated mosquito nets in Merawi town and its surroundings, West Gojjam from October 2010 to January 2011. The study consisted of a total of 403 selected subjects. Both thick and thin films were prepared from the study subjects, and stained by using 10% Giemsa solution and examined under a microscope for parasite species identification. Questionnaires were used to get information about insecticide treated mosquito net utilization. The overall prevalence of Plasmodium was 32.3% in which the prevalence of P. falciparum was higher (52.3%) than P. vivax (37.7%). Pregnant women were highly infected by a mixed infection of P. falciparum and P. vivax (38.5%) than non-pregnant women (30.8%). There was an association (p<0.05) between Plasmodium species infection and residence, sex, and age of the study subjects. Children below 5 years were highly infected by P. falciparum and P. vivax with prevalence of 29.4% and 20.6%, respectively. Despite the possession of insecticide treated mosquito nets, there was a gap in coverage and utilization. Educational status, age, and occupation of study participants were associated with utilization pattern of insecticide treated mosquito nets. Keywords: Insecticide treated mosquito net, Plasmodium, prevalence, proper utilization, Merawi

The Impacts of Conscious and Planned Instruction to Overcome Mother Tongue Interference in the Learning of English Language: The Results of Quasi Experimental Study

It is said that the student’s of use MT (interference) in second/foreign language learning has negative influence on their learning and achievement. For this reason, solution should be given to the problem of mother tongue interference in the learning of foreign language.  Hence, the main aim of this study was to experiment the impacts of conscious and planned instruction to overcome mother tongue interference in the learning of English language. To achieve the purpose of this study, quasi- experimental research design was used. For this particular study, Wolayita  Liqa and Wolayita  Soddo Preparatory Schools were selected. Then, students of grade 11B at wolayita Liqaand grade 11T at Wolayita Soddo Preparatory Schools were selected for the study.   Next, homeroom teachers of Grade 11B and11T both at Wolayita Liqa and Wolayita Soddo Preparatory Schools respectively were allowed to pick the rolled paper as lotto. Accordingly, the experimental and controlled groups were made. In this study, students in the experimental group were given conscious and planned instruction to check whether or not it is possible to overcome the interference mother lounge in the learning of English as foreign language.  A total of 150 minutes instruction was conducted in the experimental class. After the instruction, the students in both groups were given the speaking test. Then the, results of both controlled and experimental group were compared and contrasted to see the group who performed better in the test.  The analysis of data shows that the pronunciation of students are in controlled group on the four sounds are not equal . When we compare the result of experimental and controlled group, the students in the experimental group pronounced  the words containing ‘B’ ,’P’ ‘F’ and ‘V’ sounds  more than the students in the controlled group. This implies that students of experimental group performed better than students of the controlled  group. This could be because of the intervention and the conscious and planned formal instruction provided to students in the experimental group. Thus, it is possible to overcome the interference through conscious instruction. It was found that the intervention had a positive effect on the MT interference in the learning of English speaking skill.  This was proved through the higher scores that the experimental group obtained in the post-test. Finally, recommendations were given based on the conclusions and findings of the study. Keywords: Conscious, English  Language, Interference, Learning, Mother Tongue, planned instructio

The spatial pattern of the Ethiopian population

This study deals essentially with the pattern of distribution of Ethiopian population as a phenomenon resulting from centuries of dynamic changes in accordance with changes in historical and economic realities and in environmental possibilities. Thus, the dissertation seeks to link past events with and considers them as determinants of present rural and urban population pattern and the spatial aspects of ethnic, religious and linguistic groups and of types of activity. Ethnic complexity, the very peculiar altitudinal pattern of settlements, under-urbanization, urban primacy and the hierarchy of towns, economic and social backwardness, diverse environmental conditions and uneven resource distribution that in turn influence the spatial pattern of population distribution constitute the main topics of analysis. Although owing to the absence of genuine information on past events and up-to-date population data, this work may lack demographic profundity, it is an initial statement that will hopefully throw much light on the geography of the Ethiopian population. Moreover, it will serve as an indicator of other possible approaches to studying the spatial and other aspects of Ethiopian population

Early Grade Children Procedural and Conceptual Knowledge in Number Pattern Concept at Halaba

Having an adequate knowledge and skill in mathematics at early grade level is basic for children in their daily life activities and future life successes. Assessing procedural and conceptual knowledge of children can help us to check whether they are getting the required knowledge and skill at the respective grade level because learning mathematics involves both conceptual and procedural knowledge (JICA, 2012). Number pattern is one of the fundamental skill in numeracy that early grade children have to learn and their performance in strategic and effective counting is basic for their future success in arithmetic (Gersten, Clarke, Haymond, & Jordan, 2011). This study examined early grade children procedural and conceptual knowledge level in number pattern, and the association between children’s procedural and conceptual knowledge. The subjects of this study were 24 grade 2 & 3 students in Halaba Kulito primary School at Halaba Zone. The results of this study revealed that early grade children procedural knowledge is average (56.7%) and their conceptual knowledge level is poor (44.4%), and females’ knowledge in both concept and procedure is lower than their male counterpart, 44.2 vs 69.2 & 34.72 vs 55.56. In addition, the finding underlined the significant association between procedural knowledge and conceptual knowledge, and children who score higher in conceptual knowledge items had superior score in procedural knowledge items than the converse. Considering these results as a base line, further studies are required, especially, on quality of early grade mathematics curriculum and its implementation, and the contributing factors of children low performance in learning mathematics, with special focus on female students at early grade levels. Keywords: Procedural knowledge, Conceptual Knowledge, Mathematics, Number pattern, Performance DOI: 10.7176/DCS/10-12-01 Publication date: December 31st 202

Determinants of Youth (Un)Employment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Informed by the Macro-Micro approach (Steiber, & Haas, 20122 ), the paper aims to examine the major determinants of youth (Un)employment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from a gender perspective. The study primarily uses quantitative data from the 2014 urban unemployment and employment survey conducted by the Ethiopian Central Statistical Authority. The study employs descriptive statistics and Multinomial logit model to analyse the quantitative data. Qualitative data generated using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions with selected youth in the City were also used to substantiate the quantitative results. Findings of the study reveal that different levels of factors- structural factors, household level factors, and individual level factors such as gender, migration status, educational status, and disability and marital status- significantly affect youth employment status. In general, the study calls for the importance of adopting a holistic approach that gives due emphasis to socio-cultural and institutional aspects to enhance economic productivity of the youth

Ethiopian Early Grade Mathematics Curriculum Organization

Early grade education is basic and necessary for preparing students for their future education and life. Therefore, paying attention for early grade mathematics education has a multidirectional contribution to the quality of education in a country. This study investigated Ethiopian early grade mathematics curriculum organization in relation to its responsiveness to children learning progression. In this study a qualitative research approach was employed. 4 early grade mathematics teachers participated in evaluating the early grade mathematics curriculum (minimum learning competency (MLC) document, syllabus, and flowchart document). In addition, two educational experts at the regional education bureau and the Ministry of Education (MoE) participated in the study. The data were collected through interview and document analysis by using content analysis protocol developed by adapting the national guideline for preparing and evaluating teaching-learning materials (Taye, 2011), mathematics content analysis (Aggarwal, 2009; Hashmi, Hussain, & Shoaib, 2018), and learning progression responsive curriculum (Bristow & Patrick, 2014; Council, 2007; Duschl, Maeng, & Sezen, 2011; Popham, 2007; Sáez, Lai, & Tindal, 2013; Simon, 1995; Wilson & Bertenthal, 2005). The study revealed that there are considerable gaps in the early grade mathematics curriculum in relation to responding to children learning progression at the level. The study recommends special focus to be given for children learning progression and alignment of curricular materials when developing early grade mathematics curriculum. The study further suggested developing a learning progression document, based on research evidence that can be used as a guide for the textbook and other curricular materials development. Keywords: Curriculum organization, Early grade mathematics, Learning progression DOI: 10.7176/JEP/12-25-03 Publication date:September 30th 202

Development of Community-Based Ecotourism, A Case of Choke Mountain and Its Environs, Ethiopia: Challenges and Opportunities

Naturally, culturally and historically, Choke Mountain has potential tourism attractions which are perfect to develop community-based ecotourism. However, these potentials were not exploited. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate challenges and opportunities for developing Community-based ecotourism. To achieve the intended objectives, mixed research approach was employed. Data were collected via extensive review of literature, questionnaire, interview, and field observation. In the study, 64 Samples were selected purposively from Culture and Tourism office at regional, zonal and woreda level and 10 samples were taken from Agriculture and Rural Development at Zonal and Woreda level. The collected data were systematically organized, described, verified, analyzed, and interpreted accordingly. The findings of the research showed that low level of awareness, poor conservation activities, less co-ordination and partnership effort of stakeholders, population growth were the major challenges. On the other hand, diversified tourism potentials, special attention of different governmental and non-governmental agencies, cooperatives and private organizations, and accessibility of the historic routes were the major prospects to develop community-based ecotourism in Choke Mountain and its surroundings. Keywords: Choke Mountain, Challenges, Community- Based Ecotourism and Opportunitie