The Teaching of Speaking Skills Via Plasma TV Instruction: the Case of Addis Ababa Preparatory Schools

Educational technology has evolved and become more central to teaching and learning nowadays. There is a growing recognition of its potential value in establishing and supporting a foreign language teaching environment. This study addresses the teaching of speaking skills via plasma TV. To generate data for the study, sixteen televised speaking lessons were observed, two hundred students filled a questionnaire, and four teachers of the observed sections were interviewed. The results of the study revealed that the pace of the plasma teacher mismatched with the students? pace of learning. The roles of classroom teachers during the telecasted scenario were also minimal. And both the plasma and the classroom teachers took most of the students? speaking time. Moreover, the time given in the plasma program and the amount of speaking activities were not adequate to generate oral discussions. Hence, students? participation in the broadcasted speaking lessons was low. What is more, the classroom conditions (immense number of students and improper seats) were not suitable to perform speaking activities. Based on these results, conclusions were drawn, and recommendations were made.