Bahir Dar Journal of Education

Supporting learning through context, interaction, assessment, and institutional support

2026-09-30T02:55:22+00:00

This editorial reflects on five studies that examine educational quality across preschool, primary, secondary, and university settings in Ethiopia and Cambodia. Despite their diverse contexts and methodologies, the studies converge on the importance of interconnected pedagogical, cultural, interpersonal, and institutional conditions for meaningful learning. The first study identifies multilevel barriers to developmentally appropriate preschool assessment, while the second demonstrates the positive effects of a dynamic assessment on primary students’ reading comprehension and self-efficacy. A third study shows that integrating indigenous knowledge into ecology instruction enhances grade 8 students’ engagement, highlighting the value of culturally responsive pedagogy. The fourth examines directive speech acts in an Amharic classroom, emphasizing language as a mechanism for organizing interaction and participation. The final study links university students’ research motivation to institutional support, academic environment, faculty mentorship, and research skills. Collectively, the studies underscore that effective education requires supportive systems, responsive teaching, meaningful interaction, and context-sensitive practice.

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2026-09-30T20:41:06+00:00

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Challenges in assessment: Why pre-primary teachers struggle to assess the developmental needs of preschoolers in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia?

2026-02-26T13:02:21+00:00

This study explored the challenges school teachers faced in assessing children’s learning and developmental needs. The study employed a multiple case study design and used purposive sampling to select 18 preschool teachers in Addis Ababa. Data were collected using semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis. Thematic analysis was employed to analyze the qualitative data. The findings revealed that preschool teachers' implementation of developmentally appropriate assessment was constrained by interconnected barriers at multi-levels. At the individual level, teachers demonstrated limited pedagogical knowledge, inadequate preschool qualifications, and a narrow understanding of holistic development. School level challenges included insufficient resources, limited professional development opportunities, limited classroom environments, overcrowded classrooms, and heavy workloads. Family- and community-related barriers involved unrealistic parental expectations and minimal engagement in assessment practices. System-level constraints included weak leadership support, inadequate technical assistance, and the absence of effective coaching and supervision. Collectively, these challenges undermined teachers' ability to monitor and support children's developmental progress. The study recommends continuous professional development, mentoring, and coaching in developmentally appropriate assessment alongside improving institutional support and family engagement to enhance assessment practices and promote young children’s holistic learning and development.

Effects of indigenous knowledge-based teaching on grade 8 students' engagement in learning ecology in Injibara middle schools, Ethiopia

2025-11-11T10:30:16+00:00

This study examined the effects of integrating indigenous knowledge (IK) into ecology instruction on grade eight students’ engagement in Injibara town, Ethiopia. A non-equivalent pretest-posttest quasi-experimental design with a mixed-methods approach was employed. The participants were 89 students, with 43 assigned to an experimental group receiving IK-based instruction and 46 to a control group taught using conventional methods. Data were collected using a 25-item Ecology Engagement Questionnaire (EEQ) and classroom observations. Content validity of the questionnaire was established through expert review, and the internal consistency reliability was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha (α = 0.81). Quantitative data were analysed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), whereas qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The results indicated that students who were exposed to IK-based instruction demonstrated significantly higher levels of engagement than those in the control group. No statistically significant interaction effects were found between instructional approach and gender, indicating that the effectiveness of IK-based instruction was comparable for both male and female students and therefore pedagogically gender-inclusive. Qualitative findings supported the quantitative results. These findings suggest that integrating indigenous knowledge into biology instruction enhances student engagement, supports culturally responsive pedagogy, and contributes to more effective and contextually grounded science education in Injibara primary and middle schools.

Exploring directive speech acts in tenth-grade Amharic classroom interactions

2025-11-18T13:43:09+00:00

This study investigated the use of directive speech acts in classroom interactions between a tenth-grade Amharic teacher and students at Debre Berhan General Secondary School. Based on Speech Act Theory and Searle’s (2013) classification of directives, the study examined how these speech acts assisted communication and supported teaching and learning. A qualitative case study design was used, and data were gathered through video recordings and classroom observations over three classroom sessions. The recorded interactions were transcribed and analyzed through qualitative content analysis to identify the types and functions of directive speech acts. The results showed that there were 452 conversational turns containing 1,058 utterances, of which 308 (29.11%) were directive speech acts, mainly produced by the teacher (97.07%). The study identified many types of directives, including commanding, questioning, suggesting, warning, permitting, and inviting, with commanding and questioning being the most frequent. The study emphasizes the significant role of directive speech acts in handling classroom interactions and improving instructional effectiveness. The findings imply that being more aware of how language is used can enhance teacher-student communication, engagement, and learning outcomes for students. Future empirical studies may explore directive speech acts across different subjects, grade levels, or multilingual classrooms.

Effects of Dynamic Assessment on Amharic Reading Comprehension and Self-Efficacy

2026-07-08T06:22:28+00:00

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of dynamic assessment (DA) on Amharic reading comprehension and reading self-efficacy. A quasi-experimental design with a pre-test and post-test control group was employed to examine the effects of DA on these variables. The study involved 88 fourth-grade students from two classrooms at Bahir Dar Iwuket Fana Primary School. These participants engaged in research-designed lessons for six weeks (12 class periods). In the reading comprehension lessons, students in the intervention group were taught using a dynamic assessment approach, while students in the control group followed the standard grade-level curriculum. To assess the study participants' reading comprehension and reading self-efficacy before and after the intervention, reading test and written questionnaire were administered. The collected data were analyzed using chi-square, independent ANOVA, and structural equation model. The result revealed that teaching reading using dynamic assessment had a direct positive effect on students' reading comprehension (β = .393, p < .001) and reading self-efficacy (β = .432, p < .001). Therefore, the findings suggest that integrating dynamic assessment into Amharic language reading comprehension instruction in regular education can significantly enhance the quality in reading comprehension.

Factors influencing research motivation among university students: The roles of institutional support, academic environment, faculty mentorship, and research skills

2026-07-08T10:17:11+00:00

This study examined the influence of institutional support, academic environment, faculty mentorship, and research skills on students' research motivation, both individually and collectively, within a private university in Cambodia. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was employed. Data were collected from 215 undergraduate students using a questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale. Simple and multiple linear regression analyses were conducted to test five hypotheses. All four predictors were statistically significant in the simple regression analysis (p < .001). Academic environment (R² = .634, β = 0.796) and faculty mentorship (R² = .631, β = 0.794) explained the most variance, followed by research skills (R² = .592, β = 0.770) and institutional support (R² = .424, β = 0.651). The multiple regression model was significant, F(4, 225) = 154.22, p < .001, explaining 74.6% of the variance (R² = .746). When controlling for all predictors, research skills (β = 0.309, p < .001), faculty mentorship (β = 0.293, p < .001), and academic environment (β = 0.245, p < .001) made significant unique contributions. The present study contributes to the literature by offering a framework that explains students' research motivation by integrating institutional support, academic environment, faculty mentorship, and research skills.