The objectives of this study were to examine the EFL supervisors’ written feedback focus, and language functions at selected public universities in Ethiopia. To address the objectives of the study, qualitative and quantitative approaches with concurrent mixed methods design was adopted. 55 supervisees were randomly selected out of 205 for the questionnaire survey. Besides, four supervisors were selected for interviews. Moreover, feedback comments on five theses drafts were utilized as data sources. To decide the language functions and feedback foci, frequency counts and percentages were used. Nonetheless, content analysis was used to analyze the interview data. The results showed that thesis supervisors used the directive feedback language function most prevailingly over the expressive function. Besides, the result indicated there was no balance of praise, criticism, and suggestions in the provision of feedback comments. The supervisors largely focused on content knowledge, followed by genre knowledge, and then linguistic accuracy and appropriateness (forms), respectively. Based on the results, supervisors were recommended to write their feedback comments in helpful and constructive ways based on the needs and preferences of their supervisees for the development of writing skills.

This study aimed to investigate the beliefs and practices of group work assessment of secondary school teachers. For this reason, 213 teachers were selected randomly for a questionnaire survey. In addition, two teachers and five students were selected for interviews and focus group discussions at each site, respectively. A one-sample t-test was applied to analyze the data acquired through the questionnaire while the Pearson product-moment correlation was used to examine the relationship between the beliefs and practices of group work assessment. The data obtained through interviews and focus group discussion (FGD), were analyzed through thematic verbal descriptions. The findings showed favorable teachers’ beliefs towards group work assessment. On the contrary, teachers’ assessment practices were partial with focus on group product, with diminutive or no assessment of group process and individual contribution. Hence, Ethiopian Bureaus should conduct on- job training for teachers on the assessment of group work.

Cooperative Learning (CL) has been encouraged in Ethiopia’s secondary schools as an important strategy to facilitate effective student learning. However, the effectiveness of CL hinges, among other factors, on appropriate assessment of students’ group work. Challenges faced by teachers and students in implementing assessment of group work have remained an obstacle to the effective use of CL. The aim of this study was therefore to examine what Ethiopian secondary school teachers and students, respectively, consider to be problems and obstacles in the way of efficiently implementing student the cooperative group work assessment. Accordingly, 213 teachers and 212 students were randomly selected for a questionnaire survey. In addition, two teachers and five students were also interviewed and a focus group discussion (FGD) was carried out in each of the five schools selected for data gathering. The data acquired through the questionnaire was analyzed through one-sample t-test while the data obtained through interviews and FGD were analyzed through qualitative verbal descriptions. The findings indicate the main challenges from the point of view of the teachers to be their inadequate training on the assessment of group work process and individual contributions; uncertainty on what should be assessed, and heavy workloads. From the students’ perspective, the main challenges were inadequate teacher support and follow up and equal reward for unequal contribution by members to group work.

Assessment is the central point of educational progress; it is the assistant to teachers during and after teaching and learning. One of the assessment genres, assessment for learning is referred to gathering information during teaching and learning, to determine students’ success in learning. The study aims to determine the understanding of assessment for learning strategies and challenges may face in Amharic language teachers.  The participants selected from all levels of general education (1-12 grades), through cluster random sampling, were 180 Amharic language teachers for a questionnaire survey. In addition, twelve (12) teachers and four (4) teachers were selected through cluster random sampling respectively for an interview and informal conversation. The data acquired through the closed-ended questionnaire was analyzed by a one-sample t-test, while the data obtained through an open-ended questionnaire; interviews and informal conversations were analyzed in qualitative verbal description. The results are presented in two ways; the data from the close-ended questionnaire shows that Amharic language teachers are practice assessment for learning strategies in the classrooms, which is statistically significant (P < 0.01). On the other hand, the data from the open-ended questionnaire shows most Amharic language teachers’ reliance is on the old form of assessment and their awareness assessment for learning strategies is limited. In addition, the challenges, based on the practice of assessment for learning strategies in faced in the language classrooms; lack of transparency, lack of knowledge and experience, school administrative problems, lack of training, and reliance on assessment preference are faced. Based on the findings, the study concludes with recommendations that can be implemented to develop assessment for learning strategies in the language classrooms; to minimize the challenges faced by Amharic language teachers in Ethiopian general education (1-12) schools.

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