Currently, the English language has both an important role in university studies and professional careers. With that in mind, the present study employed an exploratory research approach to determine university students’ perceptions with regard to learning course content on curriculum and education-related topics through the implementation of content-based lessons taught in the English language. A survey was administered to 171 students in different majors from one public university in Ecuador. The close-ended questions focused on learning about the respondents’ perceptions concerning varied statements, such as the importance and suitability of the use of English for the learning-teaching process of university subjects, the helpfulness and impact of learning content through the implementation of class sessions taught in English. Furthermore, an open-ended question was put forward to find out in what ways the learning of university subjects taught in English may help the study participants in the future. The findings showed that a large number of respondents had positive attitudes towards learning content-based lessons about the education-related subject matter in English, as they found this instructional process helpful in terms of class participation, motivation, critical thinking, and other aspects. It was concluded that students could better learn the English language in a more genuine manner by means of lessons directed by CLIL, as they complete essential undergraduate courses from their field of study at the university level.

This small-scale quasi-experimental research study aimed at investigating the effectiveness of cooperative learning (CL) strategies in the achievement of students’ oral performance at the A1 Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) level. The study participants were twenty-four seventh graders from a small rural primary school located on the southern part of Cuenca city. The quantitative part was based on a descriptive statistic study. It was collected through the students’ speaking pre and post-test. The results were processed and analyzed through SPSS version 25. To compare the mean scores of the students in the pre and post- test, a T test for one sample was used. In addition, the qualitative part based on phenomenological research was gathered through direct classroom observations and group discussion. Findings indicated that: firstly, the study participants reached their A1 oral performance level in the evaluation criteria of comprehension, interaction, fluency, pronunciation. Secondly, students had positive attitudes toward CL strategies. Thirdly, through CL strategies students became more motivated and less reluctant during oral participation. In light of the findings, CL should be adopted in primary English learning as it helps improve learners’ EFL peaking skill.

La necesidad de promover la producción oral de una segunda lengua ha creado la necesidad imperativa de analizar y explorar nuevos métodos y técnicas de enseñanza con el fin de desarrollar las destrezas de la comunicación oral en la lengua meta. Este estudio investiga el efecto del  Aprendizaje Integrado de Contenidos y Lenguas Extranjeras (AICLE) en la producción oral de un segundo lenguaje en los estudiantes ecuatorianos de segundo año de Bachillerato General Unificado (BGU). Este estudio fue llevado a cabo empleando una clase de segundo de bachillerato. Un total de 22 estudiantes participaron en este estudio. Con el propósito de recopilar datos métodos cuantitativos y cualitativos fueron empleados lo cual permitió al investigador tener una mayor compresión del problema en investigación. Los participantes del estudio tomaron parte de una prueba previa para determinar su nivel de competencia en sus habilidades orales. Después de tres meses de aplicación del método AICLE los estudiantes tomaron parte de una prueba posterior y los resultados fueron comparados con el fin de medir el efecto del método AICLE. Además cada AICLE clase fue documentada y con el propósito de investigar las precepciones de los estudiantes hacia el método AICLE  una encuesta semiestructurada fue aplicada. Los resultados de esta investigación revelan la efectividad de AICLE en la producción oral de los estudiantes comparado con la educación tradicional de un lenguaje. Al mismo tiempo los estudiantes expresaron opiniones positivas hacia el nuevo método.

The research study employed an explanatory sequential mixed-methods design, and it was aimed at determining and analyzing the essential factors that motivate university students’ English learning within the Ecuadorian higher education system. The quantitative study results, drawn from a questionnaire administered to 109 EFL university teachers, were further explained through a qualitative phase. The latter phase consisted of in-depth interviews with key stakeholders, namely university teachers, language center directors, Ecuadorian experts and international experts in English language education. The insights gained from the conducted 25 in-depth interviews were essential to explain in greater detail the motivational factors determined in the quantitative phase. The integration of quantitative and qualitative data sets helped to gain an in-depth understanding of motivation in student learning of English as a foreign language within the Ecuadorian university context. The results showed that factors associated with intrinsic and instrumental motivation are key toward student language learning. In this sense, English is seen as a tool for a more effective completion of different academic tasks required to university students. Also, motivation in English language learning is promoted when effective instructional practices and a positive classroom environment have a central role in the university classroom. In terms of extrinsic motivation, students are likely to become more motivated when their teachers employ meaningful strategies and techniques. Moreover, teaching materials and resources can help to foster learner motivation when students’ input and insights are carefully taken into account in a strategic manner.

Communicative-oriented  language teaching methodologies need to have a central role in the current foreign language education. In fact, language teachers are expected to shift away from traditional language teaching methods that have proven to be ineffective for language learning. Nowadays, a movement, which favors and embraces interaction, communication, and negotiation of meaning, is growing in language education; therefore, pre-service and in-service teachers of English need to be responsive to and become aware of the importance of these key aspects. With these notions in mind, the present article can be seen as a contribution  to help language teachers gain an understanding of key theoretical notions related to the emergence of communicative language teaching and its most well-known methods – CLT and TBLT. Additionally, this work analyzed CLT and TBLT as these two language teaching methods are not opposing but in line with the communicative  approach. The importance of implementing communicative-oriented lessons into the English classroom was also examined. In this sense, a table made up of specific guidelines was elaborated by using works of leading experts in language teaching and learning. The table is intended to help teachers to be better equipped to design and implement  TBLT lessons into the classroom, which may have a positive impact  on foreign language learning.