Challenges in teaching and learning vocabulary via communicative language teaching method: with reference to saint michael international youth academy focus on grade 10 students in Addis Ababa: Ethiopia

The purpose of this study was to assess challenges in teaching and learning Vocabulary using Communicative Language Teaching Method in Saint Michael International Youth Academy. To collect the necessary data for the study, semi-structured interview, questionnaire and observation were used. The interview was used for three teachers and ten students while the questionnaire was utilized for eighty students and classroom observation were employed three times. Data collected through questionnaire was quantitatively analyzed while responses obtained from interview was described and discussed qualitatively. In addition, data obtained via classroom observation were tallied and converted into numbers and described quantitatively. From the analysis of data, difficulty of inferring the meaning of jargon words and idiomatic expressions; unsure of contextually guessed meaning of words; unable to recognize the pronunciation of some words were found as challenges of students in learning vocabulary from communicative language teaching orientation. Regarding teaching vocabulary, unable to create context for jargon words and mispronouncing words were found as challenges. Based on the findings, enhancing word power; encouraging students to guess and use vocabulary in any type of communication; activating the passive vocabularies was recommended.