Abstract:
The purpose of this study was assessing the practices and challenges of vocabulary teaching
strategies in EFL classes. The participants of the study were three grade twelve EFL teachers
and 100 students at Addis Zemen preparatory school. The school was selected by convenience
sampling whereas the teachers by comprehensive sampling besides, students were selected by
systematic random sampling technique. The researcher employed descriptive research design in
order to gather the required information, to achieve the stated objectives and answer the
research questions. To collect valuable and relevant data questionnaires, interview and
classroom observations were used. The semi-structured data transcribed and transformed into
textual data form. The data obtained from questionnaires were tabulated and analyzed using
descriptive statistics while interview and observation checklist were analyzed qualitatively. The
results of the study revealed that the EFL teachers didn’t properly practice various vocabulary
strategies in their classes. Furthermore, vocabulary teaching strategies were not as much
practiced frequently as expected in the classroom. Besides English language teachers’ faced
challenges in practicing vocabulary teaching strategies. The challenges were categorized into
related themes: teachers, students and school related challenges. Finally, it is recommended that
teachers should be given trainings on the strategies of vocabulary teaching, students should give
attention on the practice of vocabulary strategies and the school should provide the availability
of prepared materials for its effective.
