Background of the Study

Human is the special creature in our planet that has reached a higher level of communication in which it is not only using it to satisfy their needs, but also to express their feeling, to share their thoughts, to discuss on problem solving, to deliver knowledge and soon. The evolution of human language is one of the most important and interesting evolutional events in the history of life in our planet.

Although human beings evolve language to satisfy their needs, to express feelings, to share thoughts and to deal on problems, to communicate effectively in this global world, the objective of teaching English language for the past many years are not in line with the above mentioned objectives.

For the past many years, traditional language teaching methods are mainly based on structural, are the dominant ones throughout the English language teaching in the world. According to Brown, in traditional grammar oriented class room “the focus is on the language itself, rather than on the information which is carried by the language. The teacher’s goal is to see it that students learn vocabulary and grammatical rule of the target language.” 

However, the significant role that English language plays in various sectors of human life (social, economic, academic settings) has initiated a great need for good communication skills of this language around the globe. In support of this idea, Richards [1], also stated, learners are interested in mastering English language and many employers also want their employees to have a good communication skill. As the demand was growing for English courses tailored to specific needs, new influential ideas began to emerge in the study of language. The study of language teaching shifted attention away from defining the formal features of language usage to discovering the ways in which language is actually used in a real life communication. His finding was that the language we speak and write varies considerably, and in a number of different ways, from one context to another.

Hence, the primacy of English language exerted a high pressure on the language teaching profession as English became subject to the wishes, needs and demands of people. Consequently, researchers brought a new thing in the area of language teaching. The change in the area of language teaching brings the new English language teaching approach, that is, ESP dating from 1960s to improve students’ communicative abilities in a real context. As a result, countries where English is taught as a foreign language have shifted their language teaching from general English to ESP by using ‘Tell me what you need English for and I will tell you the English that you need’ as the guiding principle of ESP [2]

The same is true in Ethiopia. In Ethiopia, there is a large demand for good English command as it gives a wide access to employment, open doors for local and international scholarship opportunities. As a result, in Ethiopia, English became a subject to the wish, needs and demands of the people other than language teachers in some of the educational institutions especially TVET colleges for millions of Ethiopians who are getting training in agricultural, technological, industrial, electrical, business, and construction faculties and in some departments of universities [3]. 

To make the trainees effective in communication in their area of specialization, the country adopt ESP courses and began to teach English based on the need and wishes of the learners by designing communicative based curriculum and syllabus dating from 2011. ESP teachers in Ethiopian TVET colleges are encouraged to design language course materials (CBLM) based on the competencies that TVET students should have in their work place setting. 

Whatever the country tried a lot to make the language teaching communicative based, the doubtful issue here is the teaching of Workplace communication course in TVET colleges. The practical implementation of Workplace Communication Course in TVET colleges needs a major concern. Workplace course classroom teachers at all levels of the TVET education system can witness their lived experiences about the present status of ‘Work Place Communication Course’ teaching in our country is characterized as if there is lack of engagement and non interactive and as not as per the objectives of language teaching for TVET students. It has been affected by various problems. The implementation of ‘workplace communication in East Gojjam zone TVET colleges is still remains a problem, yet, to be solved. So, for the practicality of ‘Workplace communication course’ in TVET colleges, different factors hindering the teaching of work place communication course in East Gojjam zone TVET colleges need to be considered.

Statement of the Problem 

To meet the need of language learners in TVET, consulting ESP is the master key. In support of this idea Hutchinson and waters stated, ‘Tell me what you need English for and I will tell you the English that you need’ became the guiding principle of ESP. This implies that ESP becoming the most widely used approach in language teaching in EFL context and has got a great emphasis throughout the TVET English language teaching. 

Teachers of many countries have been encouraged to adopt ESP to teach language for TVET students. Due to this, TVET colleges in Ethiopia also started teaching English aiming that their language teaching can opens all the doors of the lifelong learning and can make the TVET graduates actively participate in occupational contexts such as; make a presentation, negotiate a contract, write a report, interact with co-workers/superiors about the work place issue, participate in /leading meetings at international conferences, interact in interview reduce unemployment and improve the quality of living for TVET students.

In the contrary, the practical implementation of ‘workplace communication course’ in East Gojjam zone ATEVT colleges is by far different from the intended objectives of language teaching for TVET students. Language teaching in East Gojjam zone TVET colleges this time seems like to be the fable of the dog and the shadow, “Beware that you do not lose the substance by grasping at the shadow”. 

Despite its shift from the general English towards ESP and include different reforms in its educational system dating from 2008, it seems difficult for TVET workplace communication teachers to teach language for a specific discipline in East Gojjam zone TVET colleges. The language teaching in these colleges is not in line with the course objectives. There is no any visible improvement on students’ communication and motivation to learn language as well as teachers’ ways of language teaching in the stated colleges.

As the researcher can realized in his stay at Mertule Mariam ATVET college as a teacher of English in the old curriculum and workplace communication course in the new curriculum of TVET as well as a student in Mertule Mariam ATVET college in ICT and system support service department and from the informal talk with current TVET workplace communication course teachers, most of the workplace communication course teachers in these colleges were observed when they apply an exterior language teaching in a workplace communication classroom. They were also observed when they do not use communicative activities like dialogue, role play, jigsaw activities, games and other work related activities in their teaching as well as in their assessment which are much more important for the realization of the course. Students in East Gojjam Zone TVET College were also observed when they hardly communicate with their peers, teachers, stake holders, on the work place issues for whom they are trained for. Hence, the researcher thought that factors affecting the teaching of workplace communication should be studied.

From an educational perspective, different scholars have said a lot about ESP. According to Yalden, teaching English for a specific discipline is difficult due to the very fact that people achieve various activities through language. These activities require different aspects of language. The teacher, thus, will have to focus on some parts of the language which the students need most for their specific purposes. Little Wood also stated that the role of language learning is to extend the range of communication where the focus is on meaning.

There were also local studies conducted in TVET regarding English language teaching. But, they were conducted before TVET made a reform in their educational curriculum when a general English text book for grade 11 and 12^th were also given to TVET students. Therefore, most of the past researchers focus area was in relation with identifying the language need of the TVET students to prepare an ESP course for the trainees. For example, Tagel Elias [4] conducted a research on an investigation in to English language course need of electricity students of Dilla TVET College. Mohammed Sied [5], on the other hand, conducted a research on discovering the English language needs of learners the case of Ethiopian Police College. Furthermore, Gashaw Shewangizaw [6] studied the English language need analysis of 10+ 3 Tank Mechanics trainees for Major General Mulugeta Buli TVET College. All these researches were conducted from the assumption the course book which was used to teach TVET students was not prepared based on the learners language need as they are a trainees for the better work of tomorrow.

However, this research is different from the aforementioned researches in language classroom context and in concept. Conceptually, while TVET`s past researches were conducted in relation with identifying the language needs of TVET students to prepare an ESP course for the trainees, the current study was conducted in relation with investigating factors affecting the teaching of ‘workplace communication’ course in TVET colleges. Contextually, the former researches were conducted in a general English classroom setting, whereas the current study was conducted in an ESP setting of TVET language classroom. 

Therefore, this study is confined to investigate specifically factors that affect the teaching of the ‘workplace communication course’ at East Gojjam Zone TVET college ESP classroom settings that aims to bridge a gap.

General Objective 

The main objective of the study was to reflect teacher and student related factors that affect the teaching of Workplace Communication Course’ in East Gojjam Zone ATVET Colleges.

Research Questions

 In order to investigate the factors that affect the implementation of CLT, the researcher suggested the following questions to be answered in the study:

• What perception do the “workplace communication course” teachers hold about ESP

• How teachers influence the teaching of workplace communication course in TVET Colleges

• How TVET students influence the teaching of workplace communication course in TVET Colleges

Research Design 

The main objective of the study was to investigate teacher and student related factors that affect the practical teaching of workplace communication course teachers at TVET College. For the successful completion of the study, descriptive survey study design was used. It was because, to emphasize the contextual analysis of limited number of events or conditions, a descriptive research design helps to identify conditions or relationships that exist; practices that prevail; believes, point of views, attitudes that are held ;processes that are going on, effects that are being felt; or tends that are developing. Besides, the researcher employed mixed research methods. This was because; mixed approach enables the researcher to draw on all possibilities [7]. It provides a broader perspective to the study as the qualitative data helps to describe aspects that the quantitative data cannot address. However, qualitative approach was chiefly employed in this study as it helps the researcher gain more substantial picture of the reality and a more understanding of the issue in a natural way. Thus, data about factors affecting the teaching of workplace communication course were collected both qualitatively and quantitatively, through open ended and close ended questions and semi structured interviews where by quantitative data collection and analysis is undertaken first, followed by qualitative data collection and analysis (See appendix B and C).

Research Setting 

The study was conducted in four government TVET colleges at East Gojjam Administrative Zone in Amhara National Regional State. Namely; they are Mertule Mariam ATVET College, Motta TVET College, Debrework ATVET Colleges and Bichena TVET College. The colleges were also selected in view of the fact that its proximity to the researchers address and researcher good acquaintance with some of the teachers working in some of the colleges. As a result, the researcher had a free and frequent communication with them. 

Sources of Data

 It would be fine if the data is going to be gathered from different concerned bodies and written resources. But, to make the study manageable and other constraints like time and budget, data for the study was collected from four government TVET college ESP teachers, college academic vice deans and the course CBLM.

Samples and Sampling Techniques

TVET Colleges: There are 8 TVET colleges in East Gojjam Administrative Zone in Amhara region. Even if it creates a sampling error, based on the researchers acquaintance with some of the teachers working in the college, the proximity of the college from the researcher’s address only four (50%) colleges were selected purposely. 

College Academic Vice Deans

 In each college there are one main dean and two vice deans. Those two vice deans are to manage the academic area and to manage the extension and technological areas. From those two deans from each college, only the academic vice deans from each college were selected purposefully because of their direct relation with the teaching learning process. As a result, the numbers of sample deans were four.

Instructors

Based on the information gained from each college the total numbers of teachers who taught and is teaching workplace communication at the time of this research were 54. As the number of workplace communication course teachers in the selected ATVET College were few and can easily be managed, all the ESP teachers were selected purposely in order to include a large sample size from the population. 

Data Gathering Instruments

The major instruments used in the study were Questionnaire and interview.

Questionnaire 

Questionnaire is one of the widely used research tools to elicit information about certain conditions and practices, especially to collect data on different phenomenon which is not easily observed such as attitudes and self - concepts [8]. Besides, it can be used to obtain background information about the research subject [9]. So, the researcher used both close ended and open ended items. They were prepared for teachers to explore to what extent the aforementioned factors in the questionnaire affect the practical teaching of workplace communication course in TVET colleges. The questionnaire had two parts. The first part contained the personal information and other details about teacher respondents like name of the college they work, age, field of study, year of experience in teaching, gender, qualification, status of the college they work. There were four open ended and three close ended questions in the first part of the questionnaire. 

The second part contained items pertaining to factors that affect the practical teaching of workplace communication course in TVET colleges. In the second parts of the questionnaire, items were prepared in the way that it can be answered both in a close ended and open ended manner. The questions under this part of the questionnaire were focused in two major categories that are, teachers` influence in the implementation of workplace communication course and students` influence in the implementation of workplace communication course in TVET colleges. 

Interview

The other technique that the researcher employed in gathering data was personal or individual interview. It was hoped to dig up appropriate information from the respondents. Rodger clearly emphasizes the importance of interview as it is the most flexible means of obtaining information since face to face lends itself easily to questioning in greater depth and detail which is not possible through questionnaire. In the study, semi structured interviews were used to strengthen the information gained from the questionnaire. The interview questions were prepared only for academic vice deans. Unlike the questionnaire, the interview questions were presented in deans` vernacular language, Amharic to avoid the communication break down during the interview.

Before the interview, the researcher informed the participants about the purpose of the interview. The participants reviewed the questions briefly before the interview was conducted and then they were interviewed. It was deliberately done to maximize the reliability of the data obtained through questionnaire and document analysis. The interview were videotaped with the approval of the participants, then transcribed and analyzed properly. Participants were ensured that they had all the rights not to answer any questions that they feel uncomfortable. The interviewees response were carefully noted by the researcher for the purpose of interpretation and analysis of data students interview and questionnaire.

Data Collection Procedure

The data collection process was arranged and carried out as per the college permission and an absolute willingness of the participants. No matter how, the procedure was; to collect the data from the deans the interview, first the researcher informed the participants about the purpose of the interview. The participants reviewed the questions briefly before the interview was conducted and then they were interviewed. It was deliberately done to maximize the reliability of the data obtained through questionnaire and document analysis. 

The interview were videotaped with the approval of the participants, then transcribed and analyzed properly. Participants were ensured that they had all the rights not to answer any questions that they feel uncomfortable. The interviewees responses were carefully noted by the researcher for the purpose of interpretation and analysis of data.

The data from the teachers’ questionnaire were prepared and categorized in different categories to identify the factors that affect the practical teaching of ‘workplace communication Course. Then, the researcher give an orientation on the issues implied on the questioners what each questions were to meant before the teacher respondents started answering the questions and finally the researcher collected the question papers from each respondents.

Methods of Data Analysis 

To analyze the data, the researcher read all the information’s gained from the questionnaire, and interview. Data were discussed by organizing, categorizing, and summarizing the response. 

Analysis of the questionnaire involved interpreting data gained from participants of the study. The personal information of respondents was analyzed by reporting the number of people falling in different response categories. In addition it was discussed in both a quantitative and a qualitative description. 

The questionnaire was analyzed through the themes and categories raised by the questions regarding the factors that affect the practices of workplace communication course in TVETs language teaching. It was analyzed based on the variables prompted by the questions such as; the attitude of teachers, teacher related causes, and students related causes were presented in a chart in a form of percentage using the existed number of sample population of the study under the different response category followed by a brief qualitative description below.

In analyzing the interview data, the raw data gained from the interview were recorded, then read and reread to have a complete understanding of the responses. It was simply analyzed by frequent listening to the video recording. Then, it was analyzed qualitatively. However, attempts were made to compare and contrast pieces of information gathered through questionnaire. 

Analysis of questionnaires data

How ESP Teachers Influence the Teaching of Workplace Communication Courses in TVET Colleges?: Under this category the ESP teachers and academic vice deans were asked issues on how the ESP teachers influence the teaching of workplace communication course in TVET colleges. They were asked issues like: what their speaking ability seems like, if they had a language teaching training, their attitude towards English and English for specific purpose in particular, the parity of their major area of specialization and the “workplace Communication Course”, and their experience in Language CBLM development.

Deficiency in Spoken English

Regarding to this question, 75.90% of teachers reported their own deficiency in spoken English is a major challenge constraining them in giving the course practically. They justified that they are not English language professional teachers rather they are qualified in agriculture and vocational areas. They further stated that they have a deficiency in spoken English. 

The data gained from deans’ interview highly support it. The deans in the interview witnessed that most of the teachers in their colleges were TVET graduates. They reported that those teachers were exposed for English language teaching during their high school education and passed their college language education by being taught in the way that the current TVET students learn language by non English professionals. Regarding to this question, one of the interviewee stated as follows,

It is well known that most of the teachers in our TVET College were TEVT graduates. They do not get further English language training after they complete their high school education. In addition they are trained in agriculture and vocational areas. Therefore, it is possible to suggest that there is a misconception on ESP language teaching. So, it is suspected that there is a deficiency in teachers` spoken English and there is no doubt it strongly affect the language teaching. (Source D1)

On the other hand, 22.20% of respondent, all of them were a university degree holder and learned English as a common course in their university education, thought that deficiency in spoken English is a manageable problem. They explained that this time is a time of modernization. So, one can enhance his speaking skill using different technologies. From this one can deduce that most teachers have deficiency in spoken English that can highly influence them to offer the course practically.

Lack of Training in ESP

As shown in figure 8 the participants coincide in their response to the question in the questionnaire regarding the opportunities they had training/retraining in ESP. 98.1 % of the teachers thought it as a major challenge. They reported that no on job language training was given for them to teach the workplace communication course rather they are assigned to teach regardless of their course specialization.

In favor of the above idea, almost all the participant deans in interview also explained it as it was a chronic problem that hinders the teaching learning of workplace communication course in TVET. They explained that teachers are assigned to teach the course regardless of their profession as well as with no language training on how to teach language course. This shows that lack of pre-service and in service training creates a major problem in the utilization of practical teaching in workplace communication courses classrooms. In response to this question one of the interviewee explained:

It is a big question for us also. No language teaching training is given to the workplace communication teachers. We raised the issue in different conferences either the course should be given by professional teachers or the language teaching training should be given to the workplace communication course. It is because TVETs` current language teaching policy is an integrated approach. This means that agricultural teachers and vocational teachers who are employed in teaching profession at TVET have a responsibility to teach the language course workplace communication regardless of their course specialization. (Source D1).

Misconception about ESP

The majority of the teachers confirmed that misconceptions about ESP were truly obstacle for them to make use of appropriate methodology as well as communicative activities in their class. The result of teachers` response regarding this question indicates that 

While 1(1.9%) of the respondents believed that misleading notions about ESP served only as a manageable problem, the rest 53(98 %) of teachers indicated that their misconceptions about ESP was a serious barrier to make the course teaching practical successfully in TVET. They noticed that their awareness in language in general and their awareness about ESP in particular was not that much satisfactory because of the reason that they are not qualified in teaching profession in general. Similarly, the response obtained from the interview also shows that teachers have a misconception in English language in general and ESP in particular.

Mismatch between Teachers major area of Specialization and the Workplace Communication Course they Offer

The workplace communication teachers were also asked if the mismatch between the course they graduate and the workplace communication course is an obstacle to implement CLT in English class room. It was surprise that the entire teacher respondents pointed out there is a disparity between the course they specialize and the course workplace communication. Surprisingly, one of the teacher respondents explained in the open ended questionnaire explained the following. “As to me the disparity in my course specialization and the course workplace communication is the major problem that hinders my classroom teaching.” He answered the question by asking a question “how someone who is qualified in physics can teach language?” similar result were obtained from the deans` interview. It shows that work place communication teachers in TVET are not language graduate teachers. So, this can affect the language classroom teaching.

This can lead to the conclusion the mismatch between teachers’ major area course specialization and the workplace communication course is one of the decisive factors that affect the teaching of workplace communication course.

Lack of Experience in CBLM Development

As it is indicated in the above graph, all the teachers confirmed that, their little experience in CBLM development creates a burden to develop an appropriate course material for the workplace communication. They explained it is difficult to prepare a CBLM which prepare the trainees for a certain area of specialization and a CBLM which can achieve the over goals of the course curriculum without being professional in the area. Similarly, deans in their response also stated that teachers lack experience in developing language teaching materials. The improper preparations of activities in the sample course CBLMs can also show there is a limitation on teachers to prepare language teaching materials. 

Moreover, the following extract from the sample CBLMs can show teachers` limitation in language CBLM preparation.

Attitude towards English and English Language Teaching 

Here, workplace communication course teachers themselves and deans were asked about ESP teachers’ attitude towards English teaching in general and teaching English for specific purpose in particular. In response to this question the researcher gained two contradict responses from the teachers’ questionnaire. As it can be seen in the result of this study, On the one hand, 57.4 % of teachers explained in the questionnaire that they have a good attitude about English language as well as English teaching though they are not English language teachers. On the other hand, 42.6% of respondents pointed out it was because of English that they could not promote to the preparatory and university education. They explained that they do not have a good attitude towards English teaching and it has its own influence in the course teaching.

The data gained from the deans’ interview also coincide with respondents whose attitude is negative towards English language teaching. As to this question, all of the deans replied that there was a resistance to offer the course by the teachers. They reported that teachers were not interested to offer the course. Teachers raised a question the course does not belong to us. The right language professional should offer the course. If not, TVET have to give us training on how to teach language. From the discussions in the interview and questionnaire one can understand that this factor affects the classroom teaching of Workplace communication course in TVET colleges. 

Students Influence in the Teaching of Workplace Communication Course in TVET Colleges

Here the teachers were asked what their students’ English background and their motivation seems like in a “Workplace Communication Course” classroom. 

Low English Proficiency 

As it is indicated in the above graph, 100% of the questionnaire respondents identified that low English proficiency as a characteristic problem in their English teaching. They stated that students in TVET come with insufficient background in English because they are the students who are unable to join preparatory and higher institutions due to low academic achievement. In addition they explained that they are the trainees who come to gain a certain vocation or job. 

The dean’s interview report also indicated that trainees in TVET are students who are unable to join higher institutions due to low academic proficiency or other exceptional individuals who want to be the owner of a certain vocation. One of the respondents in the interview explained the students’ English proficiency as follows.

Since TVET is an institution to train students who need a certain vocation and students who are unable to join higher institutions due to low academic achievement, most of the students’ English proficiency is low. In addition most of the students were passive while learning common courses like work place communication. Therefore, I can say that students have a deficiency in spoken English, and it affects the classroom teaching of the course. (source D3)

Therefore it is possible to say that students’ low English proficiency is one of the prominent factors which affect the teaching learning process of workplace communication class room.

Passive Style of Learning

The whole respondents confirmed this as another serious problem. They replied that Students do not want to work and find information by themselves. They instead wait for what their teacher will provide. Even during class work, most of them want to copy what the cleaver classmates have done. The other reason they explained why students are being passive during workplace communication class room was students’ expectation about the course. They said that the students expect the course as a common course which does not have value for them. As a result of this they are not eager to learn this course likewise they attend their major courses.

Figure 1: Communication Skills True or False Questions

The data yields from the deans’ interview also highly support this. Deans in their interview explained that TVET students did not give attention for the supportive courses like workplace communication. They stated that students’ attention is all in all towards their major courses as they have a COC assessment. Therefore, students` passive style of learning can be the major factor that affects the classroom teaching of workplace communication course.

Resistance to Participate in Communicative Class Activities

As to this question, all the teacher respondents gave their words students’ resistance to participate in classroom activities was the most crucial factor of all factors that affect their classroom teaching. They responded that due to low back ground in English most students used their mother tongue while doing communicative activities. They were waiting for what their teacher will provide.

This chapter summarizes the study, draws conclusion and makes recommendations.

Summary 

As noted earlier in the introductory section of this research work, the purpose of the study was to investigate factors that affect the teaching of workplace communication course in East Gojjam Zone ATVET colleges. In addition, the study has been designed to specifically address the six basic questions outlined in chapter one. In order to reach at the overall purposes of the study and deal with the six basic questions, therefore, three types of data gathering instruments i.e questionnaire, interview and document analysis were used. After completing an interaction with the participant teachers and College deans, the data were gathered through the aforementioned instruments and organized, categorized and discussed both quantitatively and qualitatively in chapter four. The data were obtained from purposely selected workplace communication teachers, college academic vice deans and randomly selected course CBLM. In order to create a holistic picture of qualitative data, the researcher integrated and discussed all the data jointly under key successive topics of the study.

The findings of the study discovered that the teaching of an EOP course “ workplace communication” in East Gojjam zone ATVET Colleges were confront with several challenges. The findings of the study indicated that the teaching of workplace communication course did not implemented as per the objectives of teaching language for TVET students due to various challenges of the MOE, the institution (college), the teachers and the students. 

The study realized that TVET current language teaching policy, absence of language teachers from TVET system, shortage of giving on job ESP language teaching training, absence of nationwide developed CBLM for the course, teachers misconception about ESP, teachers and students deficiency in spoken English, lack of time, teachers heavy work load, lack of supervision during the classroom interaction, and students resistance to participate in classroom communicative activities were the major factors that hinder the teaching of workplace communication course in TVET. Moreover, the study discovered that the workplace communication CBLM activities were not prepared based on the common features of communicative activities. 

Conclusions 

From data presentation and discussion, the following conclusions have been made.

• The non availability of language teachers in TVET colleges is the most influential factor that affects the practice workplace communication course in ESP class room. TVET made the course to be offered by an individual which is not qualified in language area. Where ever there is no right man at the right place, there will be considerable challenge in the practice of the teaching learning process

• There is no any clearly designed language teaching policy in TVET which benefits the objectives of language teaching for TVET students. TVET aims to give the English course by integrating it with the agricultural and vocational fields by agriculture and vocation course teachers. In other words, any employed teacher in TVET has a responsibility to teach an English course (workplace communication).This clearly indicated that the current language teaching policy is not properly designed to achieve the objectives of teaching language for TVET students. As a result, ESP teachers in TVET were overloaded. In addition to emergency meetings and other responsibilities the teachers have in the college, giving the responsibility to teach language and to prepare a language teaching CBLM for agriculture and vocational field teachers regardless of teachers profession without giving any training in how to teach language and how to develop a language teaching learning material were a clear depiction of teachers’ workload to teach the course

• As most of the teachers who teach the course workplace communication are TVET graduates, they do not have the opportunity to learn language after they complete their high school education. As a result, most of the teachers have a deficiency in spoken English and have no awareness about language teaching in general and ESP language teaching in particular

• Students in TVET were the one who are unable to join preparatory and higher institutions due to low academic achievement. Due to that, Students did not want to work and find information by themselves. They instead waited for what their teacher will provide. Even during class work, most of them wanted to copy what the cleaver classmates have done. Not only that they were also being passive during workplace communication class room. They thought the course as a common course which does not have value for them. As a result of this they were not eager to learn this course like they attend their major courses. Moreover, students were resisted when they are invited to participate in communicative class activities. They used their mother tongue while doing communicative activities otherwise; they were waiting for what their teacher will provide

Though TVET used a modularization system of education which best suits to teach ESP using different inputs such as: problem solving activities, dramas, lead discussions and etc without any interference of any other subject, the allotted time to equip the trainees with the needed standard language was not enough.

Recommendations

Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are of real importance:

• MOE should assign a professional language teacher for the course work place communication in TVET. Otherwise, massive on – job ESP language teaching training should be provided for the current ATVET college ‘Work place Communication’ teachers

• TVET should design an appropriate language teaching policy which benefits the objectives of language teaching for TVET students. TVET wants to give the English course by integrating it with the agricultural and vocational fields by agriculture and vocation course teachers. In other words any employed teacher in TVET has a responsibility to teach an English course (workplace communication). This clearly indicated that the current language teaching policy is not properly designed to achieve the objectives of teaching language for TVET students. Instead, TVET should come across other alternatives for the realization of the course. Therefore, the teaching of work place communication course is either given by English professional teachers or by the combination of language teachers with major course teachers 

• MOE especially TVET bureau, should minimize the overload of workplace communication course teachers by preparing a nationwide CBLM for the course and by keeping away the teachers from the giant responsibility of teaching language for which they are also strange. In addition, TVET colleges should also minimize teachers` extra responsibilities to give time for the preparation to teach the course

• TVET bureau should also enhance the current ESP teachers’ awareness about ESP teaching and their motivation to teach the course by giving in – service language teaching training and by delivering a language teaching CBLM as most of the teachers who teach the course workplace communication are TVET graduates, and have no the opportunity to learn language after the completion of their high school education 

• Appropriate classroom supervision in a work place communication course teaching should be held by any concerned educational experts from different sectors such as MOE, TVET bureau, and college administrators to pass productive decisions for the refinement of classroom teaching of workplace communication course

• The curriculum as well as the CBLM for the course work place communication course should be prepared by the language experts. Otherwise; a language CBLM preparation training should be given to the current ‘Workplace Communication Course Teachers’. In addition, a work place communication course CBLM should be developed nationally so as to give a nationwide knowledge for all trainees throughout the TVET colleges

• Syllabus designers for the course workplace communication should consider the basic elements of Competency based learning in each learning outcome or unit

TVET bureau as well as TVET colleges should enhance Students motivation to learn Language by informing the necessity of the course for the students’ future career and by giving COC assessment likewise major courses.

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