Strategies’ related challenges of vocabulary learning in the context of communicative language teaching method: grade ten at seka secondary school in focus

This study addresses the issues of strategies related challenges of vocabulary teaching and learning in the context of CLTA. To this end, identifying strategies related challenges of vocabulary teaching and learning was taken as a general objective of the study. To achieve it, identifying students’ vocabulary learning strategies, disclosing students’ vocabulary learning strategies related challenges, revealing teachers’ vocabulary teaching strategies and pinpointing their vocabulary teaching strategies related challenges were designed as specific objectives. The study was conducted at Seka Secondary School by taking 221 students and seven teachers. In collecting data, questionnaire, interview and class room observation were used as instruments. The instruments’ validity and reliability were proved by pilot study. The data gathered via the aforementioned instruments were qualitatively and quantitatively analyzed. At the end of the analysis, students were found work individually, in small and large group as well, request their teacher, use an English-L1 dictionary, ask their classmates, use the new words in conversation and the new words according to their part of speech. Regarding vocabulary learning strategies related challenges, difficulty in finding the meaning of unfamiliar words from the context, discouragement’s when they don’t immediately understand what word means, words that they would normally understand in writing, but when they heard them in a stream of speech, they found it difficult to tell when one words finishes and other begins, difficult to recognize vocabulary the words they know because of the way they are pronounced and unfamiliar words like jargon, idioms difficult to be inferred were identified . Consequently, teachers are recommended to use various vocabulary teaching strategies while they are teaching new words to make the students effective in their vocabulary learning.