Factors Affecting English Language Teaching in Public Schools in Ecuador

Abstract

The 2016 Ecuadorian curriculum mandates students must graduate high school with an intermediate or B1 in English. However, it has been found there are factors that aid and/or impede EFL and ELT in the Ecuadorian context. For this reason, the researchers conducted exploratory qualitative research practices such as observations in public schools and round table discussions with EFL public school teachers. For this research, the authors asked the following research question: what are the factors that affect ELT and EFL in the country of Ecuador? To answer this question, the overall aim of this paper is to identify the factors that impede and aid EFL teaching and learning in the country of Ecuador. The round table discussions were transcribed and put through maxQDA qualitative analysis software to retrieve various codes and revealed the factors impeding and aiding ELT in Ecuador. They were then grouped into 5 categories, which are pedagogy related factors, use of Spanish, perceptions and status of ELT, infrastructure and educational policies. These show the various positive and negative factors, which affect language learning and teaching in the country. The above factors are the findings from the first phase of a two year research project that were found that can aid and impede EFL in the country based on the participants of the focus group and classroom observations in public schools and these findings will play a role in shaping EFL/ELT education in the future.

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