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National Chapter Activities
Ethiopian Chapter Holds Its Forth National Workshop
The Fourth National Workshop of the Ethiopia Chapter of OSSREA was held on 6th and 7th June 2003 at the Ghion Hotel in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The theme of the Workshop was “Language, Culture and Development in Ethiopia: Challenges and Opportunities”. The Workshop was opened by Dr. Dejene Aredo, the Liaison Officer of the Ethiopia Chapter. Prof. Richard Pankhurst, a renowned historian, gave a keynote address on the same theme. The Workshop was organised in collaboration with the Institute of Language Studies, Addis Ababa University (AAU). Chapter members, OSSREA staff, teachers from various higher education institutions in Addis Ababa, and researchers invited from other organisations attended the Workshop.
The papers presented at the Workshop were the following:
1) “Challenges of cultural pluralism for the democratic development of Ethiopia,” by Dr. Habtamu Wondimu;
2) “Criteria for language choice in multilingual societies,” by Mr. Abera Degata;
3) “The use of Oromeffa in the higher domains and its implications,” by Mr. Bekale Seyoum;
4) “Language and society: Some points of women as reflected in Oromo,” by Mr. Kebede Wordofa;
5) “Need for cooperative education, training and information in local languages,” by Dr. G. Veerakumaran;
6) “Problems of translation (interpretation),” by Dr. Yonas Admasu;
7) “Amharic spelling reform,” by Dr. Amsalu Aklilu;
8) “The role of English in quality education in Ethiopia,” by Mr Yonas Adaye;
9) “English as a tool for quality education,” by Dr. Taye Regassa;
10) “Cultural content and foreign language acquisition,” by Dr. Baharal Islam; and
11) “Some variables affecting language test performance,” by Dr Teshome Demissie.
During the business session, the Liaison Officer presented a brief report on the activities undertaken by the Chapter. Following the discussion on the report, an election of the members of the National Executive Committee of the Chapter was held. Accordingly, the following were elected as members of the Committee:
1) Dr. Habtamu Wondimu (Dept. of Psychology, AAU) --- Liaison Officer
2) Dr. Merera Gudina (Dept of Pol. Science and Int. Relations, AAU) --- Member
3) Dr. Dejene Leta (Dept of Foreign Languages and Literature, AAU) --- Member
4) Dr. Seltene Seyoum (Unity University College) --- Member
5) Mrs. Guday Emire (Kotebe College of Teacher Education) --- Member.
The Workshop was closed with a vote of thanks given by Dr. G. Veerakumaran.