This study was carried out to explore the nature of initiative language used by Grade TenrnEngli sh teachers and the implication it had for students' practice opportunities in thernclassroom. Specifically, it was meant to investigate the kinds of eliciting and informativernacts Grade Ten English teachers gave and the extent to which these affected students tornpractice the language; and to find out what turn allocation and feedback behaviors theyrnused with the initi ative acts.rnTwo Engli sh teachers and their sixty students they were teaching were the subjects of thernstudy. The subjects were taken from one of the govenm1ent high schools in Addis Ababa.rnTranscriptions of audio-taped lessons were the main data used in the study. Data obtainedrnfrom students' questionnaire responses, teacher interviews and notes taken fromrnclassroom observations were also used to supplement the main data.rnThe results of the study showed that teachers ' initiative acts had a great role on studentsrnto practice controlled and discrete language items. In add ition to this, students had onlyrnthe chance to provide responses, which were very short and predetermined, so licited byrnthe teachers. They did not get opportunities to practice the language items in contexts torndiscover how the language items or elements work. Therefore, teachers' initiativernutterances did not motivate students to use the language for communication. As far asrnteachers' turn allocation behavior was concerned, no consistent behavior was found. Therngrammar teacher, for example, had general solicit turn allocation behavior while thernspeaking teacher had personal solicit turn allocation behavior. Finally the finding showedrnthat teachers used their initiative acts more frequently for the purpose of evaluativernfeedback behavior than discoursal feedback behavior.rnTherefore, it was concluded that the traditional method of language teaching, which isrnexcessively governed by Initiation (I) by the teacher, followed by a Response (R) from arnpupil and then followed by the Feedback (F) to the pupil 's response (IRF), is still anrninfluential approach in the school. On the basis of the study, the implementation of arnbalanced activi ties approach, which cmmot be a continuation of the current traditionalrnapproach nor should it be a strong form of a communicative approach is recommended.