From Perception and Knowledge to Classroom Practice: Teaching Listening Comprehension to Setswana Speakers of English in Junior Schools in Botswana

Abstract

The study investigated whether teachers’ knowledge and positive perception of listening contribute to its teaching in junior secondary schools in Botswana. Using an observation schedule, data were collected from four schools in the Gaborone, Botswana, area. The main finding of the study is that knowledge of listening does not translate into good classroom practice. Among other things, the teachers neither taught listening communicatively nor followed the necessary stages in its teaching—pre-, while, and postlistening. This mismatch between knowledge and perception on the one hand and classroom practice on the other needs to be addressed in order for listening to be taught effectively in Botswana’s junior secondary schools.