Abstract:
he main concern of this study was to explore practices and challenges of cooperative learning on
students’ speaking skill at grade nine. In this study, descriptive research design was used. To this end,
one secondary school in Dabatworeda was purposefully selected to be the settings of the study; and all
the 5 English language teachers who taught English at grade nine in the schools along with 88 students
of grade nine in the schools were the subjects of the study. To collect the necessary data for the study,
two sets of questionnaires (one for the teachers and another for the students) were employed as the main
data collecting tools. Besides, classroom observations and interview were employed as supporting
instruments so as to triangulate the findings of the questionnaires. Then, the collected data were
analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods of data analysis but the quantitative data was
analyzed because more of the questions were prepared by open ended and numerical data. The study
revealed that the teachers usually support students in cooperative learning; they organize students and
encourage them when they were learning speaking skill and they encourage cooperative learning. On
the other hand, it was found that the students lacked practical skills of practicing cooperative learning
in speaking skill classrooms. Many of the students lack language proficiency (many of the teachers
reported that the students are weak at English language). Many of the students use Amharic during
group or pair discussion.Some of the teachers reported that they are careless for their work as the
students do not have interest and motivation to learn. This also directly or indirectly hampered
cooperative learning on students speaking skill in classrooms. Sothe students need to be aware of the
merits of cooperative learning to their speaking skill; so that they become motivated and thereby
actively play their roles in speaking skill learning process. Thus, it is good if the teachers inform the
students the advantages of cooperative learning on students speaking skill
