Exploring English Language Teaching in an Ecuadorian Urban Secondary Institution

Abstract

This article presents a case study focused on the pedagogy of nine English language teachers' pedagogy in Ecuador. The significance of this study is its potential to inform practitioners, teacher educators, and policymakers in countries where teachers need to be prepared to teach in multilingual settings, such as Ecuador. Data analyses of nine observations of practicing teachers seems to suggest the curriculum used to prepare English teachers does not fully meet the educational needs of teachers or students. Observations of secondary level English teachers were conducted using the Classroom Observation Checklist (2010). This instrument is useful to analyze teachers' delivery of content, lesson organization, classroom interactions, verbal and non-verbal communication in the classroom, and integration of media during instruction. One major theme emerged from data analyses; English language teaching appears to follow teaching as a foreign language paradigm. The validation of the results of this exploratory study through the participation of a larger sample size of classroom teachers would be important to provide a more robust conclusion regarding teaching diverse student populations. No. 14 (January -June 2017) 108 ResumenEste artículo presenta una investigación exploratoria que examina la pedagogía de nueve maestros de inglés en Ecuador. Este estudio ofrece posibilidades para informar a maestros, profesores, y líderes gubernamentales en países multilingües como Ecuador. Se utilizó la Escala de Observación (2010) para observar a nueve maestros. Este instrumento facilita la observación de la pedagogía en la práctica dividiendo lo observado en cinco categorías: la forma de presentar el contenido de las lecciones, la organización de las lecciones, las interacciones en el aula, la comunicación verbal y no verbal, y el uso de la tecnología como parte integra de la instrucción. El tema principal que emerge del análisis de las observaciones es que la enseñanza del inglés en Ecuador refleja la pedagogía del aprendizaje de un idioma como lengua extranjera. En el futuro, validar los resultados de este estudio exploratorio con un mayor número de participantes sería importante para proporcionar conclusiones más sólidas sobre la enseñanza de estudiantes en Ecuador. Palabras Clave: Preparación de Maestros, Estudiantes Multilingües, Contextos Educacionales Multilingües, Enseñanza del Inglés ResumoEste artigo apresenta uma pesquisa exploratória que examina a pedagogia de nove mestres de inglês no Equador. Este estudo oferece possibilidades para informar a mestres, professores e líderes governamentais em países multilíngues, como o Equador. Foi utilizada a Escala de Observação (2010) para observar a nove mestres. Este instrumento facilita a observação da pedagogia na prática, dividindo o observado em cinco categorias: a forma de apresentar o conteúdo das lições, a organização das lições, as interações na sala de aula, a comunicação verbal e não verbal, e o uso da tecnologia como parte integral da instrução. O tema principal...

Linking Teachers' Profiles to their Capability in Curriculum Implementation: Analysis of Factors that Shape and Influence EFL Classes

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Tools of the Trade: Teachers’ Qualifications as a Contributory Factor towards Quality Teaching and Learning of Life Sciences

“…The study of Burgin and Daniel (2017) affirms that teachers need to undergo professional development training to acquire the pedagogical content knowledge of a particular subject so that they can face the challenges posed by curriculum change. In enhancing and improving learner performance, teacher experience appears to have played a pivotal role, that is, higher teacher experience led to an improvement in student performance (Dada 2016).…”

“…A plethora of educational reforms introduced by departments of education forces teachers to employ teaching methods that are different from the ones they are used to (Berland et al 2016;Marco-Bujosa et al 2017). The effective implementation of new policies requires teachers' professional development to increase their pedagogical content knowledge (Bunch 2012;Burgin and Daniel 2017;Vold 2017). According to Burgin and Daniel (2017), normally, teachers are not well trained to deliver the life sciences content effectively.…”

“…The effective implementation of new policies requires teachers' professional development to increase their pedagogical content knowledge (Bunch 2012;Burgin and Daniel 2017;Vold 2017). According to Burgin and Daniel (2017), normally, teachers are not well trained to deliver the life sciences content effectively.…”

Contextualization of Training Input in Multi-Level Replication and Scaling-up Approach in EFL Teacher-Training

“…The Ministry has acknowledged the crucial role of constant professional training of EFL teachers in the in-service (MinEduc, n.d.) sector to help teachers cope with the pedagogical and content challenges in implementing the curriculum in their classrooms. Several studies have revealed the lack of professional development programs for EFL in-service teachers in Ecuador (Burgin & Daniel, 2017;Villafuerte-Holguin & Macías-Mosquera, 2020); however, the few training programs implemented lack research to determine their effectiveness. According to Calle et al (2012Calle et al ( , 2015, it is necessary to expand research studies on the impact of professional development and teacher training while taking diverse educational contexts in Ecuadorian classrooms into account.…”