This study looks at how Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is implemented in Ecuadorian universities through analysis of teaching resources that teachers use in classes. A survey was conducted through the administration of a questionnaire. A total of 65 teachers responded to the survey. The results indicated that in developing productive skills, grouporiented activities such as pair-and-share scheme and role-plays are frequently conducted, and the use of worksheets, translator applications and audio materials were often used in developing students" receptive skills. Teachers did not often use resources on pronunciation activities, direction-oriented tasks and translation using Spanish. Analysis of frequently used resources showed that teachers tried to develop students" communicative competence, one of the core principles of CLT, however, most of these resources were not teacher-made but support materials of textbooks produced by publishing houses abroad. Too much dependence on these resources influences teacher interaction with students and also diminishes the role of the teacher as the frontline source of language use especially in listening and speaking when audio materials and worksheets replace the teachers" voice. Indeed, the selection of a teaching resource is as crucial as the method employed in CLT implementation in EFL classroom.
An analysis of teachers' profiles and their influence on the curriculum implementation of English taught as a foreign language (EFL) constitutes the crux of the study. Teachers' profiles provide a gauge of their capability in curriculum implementation. Policies have been conceptualised to facilitate the seamless and smooth interaction between the teacher's role and task, and to ensure that the curriculum is implemented according to its goals and objectives. However, when teachers' profiles do not meet the requirements, and the policies do not facilitate the teachers' task, challenges arise that impact the teaching–learning process. Thus, this study analysed teachers’ profiles and the influence of these profiles on teachers’ curriculum implementation. The survey design captured 57 EFL teachers' profiles and their beliefs and perceptions about implemented policies. The findings reveal that most of these teachers had an intermediate proficiency level and more than a decade of teaching experience, and most taught at high school level in urban areas. Pedagogically, teachers employed communication-driven activities; however, certain conditions, such as big classes, insufficient time, and limited resources, were factors that may have affected the effective facilitation of the implementation of the English component of the curriculum. Teachers' profiles and institutional support are key factors that influence the outcome of policy implementation. Having an appropriate professional profile in the teaching pool and providing the appropriate pedagogical and curriculum support is pivotal to curriculum implementation of teaching a foreign language such as English in a predominantly Spanish-speaking country such as Ecuador.
Corrective feedback has attracted much attention in recent years, this with a particular emphasis on meaning-focused language instruction. In order to compare the effectiveness of the strategies of Metalinguistic and Recast feedback in student uptake during oral interactions, an eight-week quasi experimental study was conducted. This study comprised thirty participants distributed in two classes. One group of 16 students was exposed to metalinguistic feedback and the other group of 14 students to recast. Throughout the study students remained constant in each group, this means they were not mixed. The selected students were aged from 18 to 20 year-old and they were attending the Eighth course of the English Foreign Language Program in ESPE [Universidad de las Fuerzas Armadas] during the semester October 2015 to February 2016. To compare the effectiveness of the two aforementioned feedback strategies, four target structures were adopted, these were: omission of subject, auxiliary use in questions, subject-verb agreement, reported statements. The selected structures emerged from a survey which was administered to a sample of EFL teachers from the Language Center of ESPE. The findings of the study revealed that learners who were exposed to metalinguistic feedback outperformed their counterparts who were exposed to recast feedback.
I In 2020, the entire world experienced a pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. This pandemic drew most of the entire world population to confinement, causing dramatic changes in most people's everyday activities, for instance, education. Most countries modified their educational systems and moved from a face to face education to an online mode. By using a survey design, this study aims to describe the online teaching practices of 51 language teachers working at the language center of a university. Results show that language instructors working in this institution did not receive clear instructions on how to move from face to face to an online mode effectively. Additionally, results show that they have limited understanding of online education, a lack of a proper online education training among language teachers, and limited knowledge of how to properly integrate technological tools into an online mode.
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