English teachers and their teaching practice: A case study of public schools of the city of Cuenca, Ecuador

It is generally believed that the major reason for the limited knowledge and poor performance in English of the students graduating from high school is related to the absence and the lack of use of effective strategies of the English language teachers, and this in most of the public schools in Cuenca city. To check the extent and to identify the reasons of the low English literacy performance of graduating high school students an exploratory study was conducted. The research encompassed a paper questionnaire-based survey in which 168 English language teachers participated, 92 teachers were monitored in classroom during an English language class, and finally 54 teachers were interviewed, out of a total population of 215 English language teachers of the public schools of Cuenca city. Findings revealed that the poor English literacy performance of high school students is negative affected by the use of traditional teaching strategies, the teacher-centered approach, the lack of interaction with and among students in the target language, and the confusion of teachers when applying different communicative strategies. In the near future research results will be used to draft task-based teaching strategies and to upgrade the teaching capacity of English language teachers via in-service workshops.