An Exploration of Teachers' Beliefs and Practices of Alternative Assessments to Improve Learners' Speaking Skills: Public High School Teachers In and Around Jimma Town in Focus

The main purpose of this study was to examine what EFL teachers' beliefs and practices of alternative assessments look like in developing students' speaking skills in some government high schools in Jimma Zone. Besides, it studied the most challenging factors on the practices of the teachers as it is known that assessing speaking skills obviously underpass these challenges. To carry out the current research, the researcher designed descriptive survey study. Frequency, percentage, mean values and standard deviation were employed to obtain the main findings. The result showed that EFL teachers have strong beliefs about using alternative assessments but hardly implemented for they were using test-based (traditional) assessment in oral classes. It was also investigated that teachers' practices were highly challenged by large classes, teaching loads and learners' background respectively. Therefore, it was recommended that all concerned bodies and the teachers themselves have to strive to alleviate the investigated problems.