Tesis – Maestría en Pedagogía del Inglés como Lengua Extranjera (Sin Restricción)

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Open Access
Developing EFL teacher’s identity: the role of EFL teachers in the classroom
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Ramírez Basantes, Raúl Sebastián; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Miliça Margarita
Early teaching and student experiences act as cultural references for English as a Foreign Language teachers. Tools and strategies are articulated in the form of roles, which are constantly tested and negotiated within the classroom, modeling the EFL teacher’s identity. The following is a case study on three EFL teacher’s identity development from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. The presence of roles related to EFL teaching was identified through a semi-participant observation and compiled in an observation grid. Observed tools and strategies origin was deepened in the transcription of interviews based on life stories, using a biographical methodology. The use of Socializing / Empathizing skills from the Acculturator role were present in codeswitch using an Ecuadorian pitch, aimed to deal with emotional transactions in the class successfully. Previous working experiences allowed teachers to find strategies to incorporate EFL teaching roles with low emotional labor. Role models from the family and working context played a crucial role in the integration of emotional tools to negotiate roles within the class with low emotional labor.
Open Access
Intonation of questions and requests in lower intermediate adult EFL students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Vaca Barragán, Diana Alejandra; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
This paper investigates the intonation of questions and requests produced by 10 adult lower intermediate EFL students. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze the most common intonation mistakes. It is significant to study the current state of intonation in order to propose methodological activities to improve specific intonation problems. In fact, the study compares the pitch contours of two questions and two requests produced by native speakers with the intonation of EFL learners. This descriptive study concluded that: the learners seem not to be aware of pitch contours and the function of intonation patterns; and that the L1 influences the production of the L2. These results suggest that some technological tools such as Praat can be used in the process of teaching and learning intonation.
Open Access
English vocabulary learning strategies for an ESP tattooing course
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Arízala Quinto, Miguel Ángel; Curiel Ávila, Adriana Beatriz
The aim of this research is to explore the vocabulary world that lies behind the art “street” of tattooing. With the purpose of setting a frame of leaning strategies capable of trespassing the aforementioned lexis in a suitable and academic way to a group of EFL learners. The methodology has a descriptive character and the population taken into consideration for the development of this project was the artists from the different tattoo studios in the city. The terminology used by them in their field of work was collected through a structured interview which was once outlined within categories in order to be taught weekly through the staging of various vocabulary learning strategies. The results indicate that these strategies can be used, as long as they are adapted to the specific needs of each group. It is concluded then, that there is in fact a specific jargon within the world of tattooing and that the limited number of courses offered, creates a fertile field that could be exploited in the future with the purpose of academicizing the urban art of tattooing and all the lexicon that this entails.
Open Access
Structured input activities to teach sentence patterns in past tense to A1 level students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Rodríguez Mora, Jefferson Fabián; Vásquez Naranjo, Alejandra Nathaly
La investigación tuvo como objetivo analizar, en una amplitud cuasi inclusiva, los tipos de actividades de input estructurado que ayudan en el proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje de patrones de oraciones en pasado simple. La investigación utilizó un diseño experimental. Se reclutaron doce estudiantes para esta investigación y seis de ellos fueron enviados al grupo de estudio. A este grupo se enseñó mediante el uso de actividades afectivas como ordenar y clasificar, seleccionar alternativas, opciones binarias y encuestas. Estas actividades proporcionan información suficiente ya que los estudiantes trabajan con la forma gramatical meta mientras procesan e interiorizan el significado de la oración. Se utilizaron actividades de preprueba, posprueba, grabaciones de audio y escritas para medir el aprendizaje del tiempo gramatical pasado simple. Los resultados sugirieron que las actividades de input estructurado eran responsables de la mayor parte de la mejora de los estudiantes. Sin embargo, la gramática explícita no debe dejarse atrás, ya que los estudiantes aún cometen errores al usar inflexiones -ed / d. Del mismo modo, las actividades de input estructurado podrían necesitar ayuda de la gramática explícita entrelazada con un enfoque comunicativo o basado en el significado.
Open Access
Structured input grammar activities for penultimate year students at Fernández Madrid High School
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Riofrío Salazar, Evelyn Esdrey; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
This quasi-experimental research was conducted to determine the effectiveness of structured input grammar activities on students in their penultimate year at Fernández Madrid High School, during the school year 2020-2021. Pre-tests applied to 70 students of penultimate year showed a low level of grammar competence in topics as present perfect, tag questions, passive voice, used to and second conditional. Structured input grammar activities were incorporated in the experimental group of 35 students, while conventional strategies were applied in the control group of 35 individuals. There were 25 interventions of forty minutes in total to introduce input activities such as binary options, surveys, supplying information, matching, selecting alternatives, ordering, and ranking to facilitate the internalization of linguistic forms. The process culminated with a post-test to experimental and control group to compare and analyze the grades of both groups. The results demonstrated that a better average was achieved in the group to which structured input grammar activities were incorporated. In consequence, the incorporation of structured grammar activities has had significant impact on grammar competence of students.
Open Access
Error analysis of subject verb agreement in present simple third person singular on written sentences with A2.2 EFL students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Torres Merino, José Fabián; Vásquez Naranjo, Alejandra Nathaly
This research is aimed at analyzing the written subject-verb agreement (SVA) errors in present simple in third person singular made by high school students to know the possible sources for these errors and design or plan the most appropriate input to support students to overcome these difficulties. The corpus for this study comprises 15 participants and 366 writing samples obtained from the tasks responses to identify, classify, quantify, and determine the possible sources of errors. The methodology was conducted through a descriptive research design, and it was focused on the qualitative and quantitative approaches. Later, the collected errors were classified conforming to Dulay, Burt, and Krashen's (1982) Surface Strategy Taxonomy, which gathers errors with omission, addition, misformation, and misordering. Likewise, the analysis of the results to know the possible sources for these errors is based on prominent studies from specialists in this field. The results reveal that the most common error that students make deals with misformation, followed by omission and misordering errors, whereas addition is the least frequent error; thus, most of the errors are intralingual as the students apply rules inadequately or incompletely. Further, other errors are interlingual since the errors committed by the participants are from the negative transfer of their mother language. Lastly, the context of learning is another significant source of error considered in this paper. Based on the information, teachers could detect students' needs and design the most effective and optimal input to overcome this issue from the results.
Open Access
Interactive apeaking activities to strengthen oral interaction and accurate Wh-question intonation in A1 EFL students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Paucar Sangoquiza, Verónica Pilar; Vásquez Naranjo, Alejandra Nathaly
For many years, students try to learn English as a foreign language since they are kids until they become adults in Ecuador, but the speaking abilities are not developed in an effective way because the students are exposed to mechanical drills where they do not acquire the English language in order to be used as a tool to establish oral communication. I decided to apply this research due to the lack of oral interaction and intonation in wh-questions during the English class process. This project was focused on A1 level - eight graders- of a private high school in Quito where there are students with difficulties when they attempt to communicate their thoughts or ideas which need to be solved in order to strengthen the oral interaction. In order to succeed in this project, video recordings, teacher’s observation and a survey were used to show that interactive speaking activities such as a video, a game and a song help them speak, participate, have fun and interact during the teaching process. In addition, they felt relaxed, motivated and excited when they had to work in pairs or groups.
Open Access
Speaking anxiety in young EFL ecuadorian students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Ocaña Ramos, Diana Elizabeth; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
This paper aims to determine the causes of speaking anxiety among EFL teenagers from Unidad Educativa Municipal Quitumbe. Teenage learners are influenced by different types of feelings during adolescence due to the specific psycho-physiological changes of this age group. Therefore, teachers must be incredibly careful on how foreign language anxiety negatively influences the personality of learners from the point of view of their character and confidence building. According to the surveys administered during this investigation, most of the students find it difficult to learn, understand and use the foreign language. This phenomenon is the result of the interaction of several factors, which is why, it is paramount to identify the causes of foreign language anxiety, particularly in speaking for it is in the communicative act where anxiety is most visible. To obtain the data, it was considered necessary to make use of the previously used and tested Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety Scale (FLCAS), which was taken into consideration as guide. The findings present a high level of speaking anxiety in the foreign language class due to the poor knowledge of verbal and non-verbal skills (See in results pgs. 12-18). This paper suggests that further research about this phenomenon within Ecuadorian students is of the highest importance.
Open Access
Implications of teaching english idioms to L2 learners through digital gamification at a public school
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Portilla Ayala, Oscar Roberto; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
The purpose of this study is to determine the impact of teaching English idioms through the use of digital gamification on students who are learning English as a second language at a public school. Sixty students and eight English teachers from the school participated in this research. The students were divided into two groups, a control group and an experimental group with 30 students each. Pre-tests and post-tests were applied to the participants in both study groups. For this descriptive study, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used. Several scientific instruments were applied to collect data as well as observations and analyses of the recorded classes by the teachers who participated in the study were carried out. After the discussion and analysis of the results, it was possible to conclude that the use of methodologies based on gamification positively impacts the learning of English idioms in students of the public institution. This study suggests that the application of gamification for teaching idioms has favorable results in student learning It was determined that learning methods through digital games motivate both students and teachers, making students acquire and use idiomatic expressions in their everyday language. After concluding the investigation, several recommendations for future studies were raised, mainly concerning a larger sample to obtain reliable results and additional tests at different times after the experimentation. On this basis, observations in-person classes and use combined teaching methods should be used to verify which is the most effective method for teaching English idioms.
Open Access
Analysis of errors in spoken production of french L3 learners of level A2 at a private school in Quito
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Erazo Jiménez, Rodrigo Javier; Matts, Janine Marie
The present study deals with the issue of exploring the possible sources for the most frequent errors in oral production of teenage learners of French who are Spanish native speakers and have also received instruction in English. To attain this objective, online oral interactions of 15 students of a private school of Quito and their teacher in an interview-like setting have been transcribed and analyzed in search of errors. The quantitative data evidenced the most frequent ones which subsequently underwent a qualitative analysis. It consisted of a description of the errors and ultimately, a formulation of hypotheses on their possible causes. The results show that the most frequent types of erroneous production have to do with form rather than content and do not represent a major impediment to communication. As for their causes, the detected errors seem to have their origin not only on the interference of the first or second language, but also on overgeneralization and oversimplification of the rules of the target language. The existence of a combination of several features or sources was also deemed possible.
Open Access
Tongue twisters as a strategy to enhance the pronunciation of lexicon of senior students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Reinoso Pinto, Maribel Alexandra; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
Communicative skills have been considered essential when giving and receiving information or establishing effective communication. For this reason, pronunciation has been considered the core of this research using tongue twisters as a strategy to strengthen the skill. Quasiexperimental - explanatory research and qualitative and quantitative methods were applied to collect information to support and validate the study from the student and teacher perspectives. 27 seniors’ students (18 men and 9 women) between the ages of 16 and 17 participated in the research, all native Spanish speakers with a B1 level of English. This research allowed to raise awareness among students and teachers about the importance of proper pronunciation of words in the English language, applying tongue twisters and repetition through active thinking as a strategy. This study was carried out in 8 weeks in the 2020-2021 school year in a private school, the classes were synchronous on Zoom sessions, 4 hours per week. The Instruments that supported the research in a significant way were PRAAT (a computerized software that analyzes speech) and the IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet). The process included a pre-and postexam. which were compared and analyzed statistically in the Excel program, obtaining important results and discoveries for the project. The tests and materials, as well as the tongue twisters applied in the study, were analyzed according to the needs of the students by the researcher in specific phonemes (minimal pairs) / p /, / b /, / f /, / v / in the lexicon.
Open Access
Interactive vocabulary learning strategies for intermediate EFL students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Proaño Merizalde, Ana Lucía; Gavilanes Jijón, Christian Geovanny
This research presents the proposal Interactive Vocabulary Learning Strategies for Intermediate EFL students. This proposal has the participation of four students who attend the third year of International Baccalaureate from a public school at North of Quito. The objective of this proposal is to get students to learn English vocabulary through the implementation of interactive vocabulary strategies. The research used in this proposal is quasi-experimental. First, students took a pretest to identify the students’ vocabulary knowledge level. The mean got in this test is 17.5. After that, six interactive vocabulary strategies were applied. Students worked with Comic Pixton, Educaplay, Flipped classroom, Wordart, Flipgrid, and Vocabulary Dictation. Students received three sessions per week, which facilitated the application of all interactive vocabulary strategies. Finally, students took a post-test with the aim of proving if the strategies worked and if the students learn new vocabulary with these interactive strategies. The mean corresponds to this test is 22.5. According to the post-test results, students learned English vocabulary through interactive vocabulary strategies. Students increased a 25.7% in their vocabulary English level. The objective was accomplished in this research. This proposal motivates teachers and students to continue working in an interactive way and acquire new learnings with the implementation of new strategies.
Open Access
Surface acting in the classroom affecting public ecuadorian english teachers in a Facebook Group
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Gavilánez Congacha, Jorge Luis; De Angelis, Adeline Jenny
The purpose of this paper is to show the exhaustion of teachers caused by surface acting that teachers feel in their everyday activities and the health problems that it causes when applying it in the class. This investigation shows different points of view of teachers when giving classes related to surface acting, health and stress. This descriptive investigation uses qualitative and quantitative methods applied through a survey and focus group, both applied to Ecuadorian Public English Teachers. This paper shows that teachers are suppressing their real feelings when giving classes and students’ interaction is an important feature that affects teachers negatively but mostly positively. Survey and focus group results show that surface acting has a close relation that ends in teachers’ exhaustion and sometimes serious health problems. Results show that teachers have ideas that can help reduce surface acting that mostly depend on authorities. This is the first time that an investigation of surface acting is applied to Ecuadorian Public English Teachers and it could be the beginning of future investigations that will help reduce surface acting in the class. This study recommends authorities by teachers’ comments to pay attention to teachers’ health caused by surface acting.
Open Access
Thought-based superior speaking: an EAP higher-order thinking course designed to accelerate the spoken language proficiency of advanced EFL students
(PUCE - Quito, 2021) Melsada Frame, Sharon; Monteros Altamirano, Ivanova Mercedes
A growing demand for English proficiency in the global economic sphere has accelerated the pace of EFL learning, especially in functional, spoken language skill competence. The purpose of the study is to investigate the need for an English for Academic Purposes (EAP) course design that fast-tracks the speaking proficiency skills of advanced L2 learners by cultivating their higher order thinking. Using mixed-method analysis, the research examined a general English Superior Speaking course I piloted two years ago to determine how it could be restructured to create an effective EAP speaking course by integrating metacognition to accelerate students’ verbal language skills. The probe explores ways to turbocharge the students from rote learners to cognitive thinkers to metacognitive strategists. This way, they become self-directed, autonomous scholars who use functional language to plan, evaluate, and monitor their own mental and verbal intelligence. Results of numerous task-based, higher order thinking activities were measured to assess the potential success of such a unique EAP course. Also, audio, video and written testimonials from participating students were found to attribute dynamic improvement in their thinking and speaking skills to the metacognitive teaching approaches I experimented with in my current Superior Speaking class, and now proposed for the EAP course. The study definitively offers credence to the notion of an EAP public speaking course that uses higher order thinking to boost advanced EFL students’ speaking prowess. Further study is needed to explore ways the causal relationship between higher order thinking and higher order speaking can be further developed in L2 students well after the EAP class ends, and to investigate how these students can perpetuate their own self-ditermined language acquisition.
Open Access
Using PRAAT to aid in the pronunciation of -S ending in an ecuadorian EFL class
(PUCE - Quito, 2022) Moncayo Herrera, Wilmer Enrique; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
This research aims to improve students' pronunciation of the -S ending sound by using PRAAT computer software and explore whether, after the use of it, their pronunciation had improved in context. A design method using PRAAT as the primary tool helped this group of learners from a high school in Ecuador to improve their pronunciation of words with these ending sounds. Recorded sample audios from native English speakers were implemented in this study. The final results demonstrated that certain group of learners improved their pronunciation on the -S ending sounds yet others did not, students concerned about their level of English improved compared to the ones with low proficiency.
Open Access
Teaching phrasal verbs through a cognitive approach
(PUCE - Quito, 2022) Procel Zarria, Mónica Margarita; Vásquez Naranjo, Alejandra Nathaly
Most of the time, teachers can see that students usually cannot communicate fluently in the English language because they have limited vocabulary. For this reason and due to the demands of the new era, it is essential to learn vocabulary that is used by native English speakers in their daily conversations. The following research focuses on teaching English phrasal verbs through a cognitive approach with the support of embodied experience and metaphor theory in order to promote quality learning, looking for more viable alternatives to reach a meaningful understanding. This study was based on experimental and descriptive research in which quantitative data helped the researcher collect information The project was applied to B1 level students of a private Institute in the city of Quito. These students were chosen because they have had a difficult time learning English phrasal verbs by memory without any context. The instruments used in this project were pre and post tests. Besides, a variety of interactive activities were applied in this project such as: videos, memes, wordwall website, comic strips, among others. Therefore, students felt more motivated and confident during classes.
Open Access
Error analysis on the use of simple past tense in narrative texts in online learning
(PUCE - Quito, 2022) Oviedo Zuñiga, Silvana Patricia; Vásquez Naranjo, Alejandra Nathaly
This study aims to analyze the different types of errors made in Simple Past Tense in narrative texts by students in the EFL classroom in a high school from Quito. The group of learners of this study present difficulties in their English writing skills, structuring sentences, writing paragraphs in a correct way and narrating events in past. The participants selected for this study were 39 students between 16 and 17 years old. All of them were native Spanish speakers and learners of English as a foreign language. Three narrative documents written by the students were collected during synchronous and asynchronous environments. The researcher identified, classified and analyzed the errors in Simple Past Tense made by the participants and based the study on Error Analysis theory. The author found 309 errors items which were classified into Omission, Addition, Misformation, and Misordering errors (Dulay et al., 1982). These errors were made in Synchronous and Asynchronous environments. The study found more Misformation errors in students’ writings – 193 total errors, 87 errors in the Synchronous modality and 96 in the Asynchronous environment. The findings in this study revealed that the high frequency of errors is caused by Intralingual interference
Open Access
Effects of Input-based Processing Instruction and Output-based Traditional Instruction on Past Tense by Ecuadorian Learners
(PUCE - Quito, 2022) Naranjo Jácome, Myriam Estefanía; Matts, Janine Marie
El presente artículo investiga los efectos de la instrucción de proceso basada en input y la instrucción tradicional basada en output sobre el tiempo pasado en estudiantes ecuatorianos de EFL. El propósito de este estudio es comparar la aplicación de ambas instrucciones y sus efectos. Este fue un estudio cuasiexperimental el cual contó con veinte participantes quienes no fueron escogidos de manera aleatoria para tomar un curso cuyo enfoque era el tiempo pasado en un instituto de idiomas en Quito-Ecuador. Se asignó aleatoriamente a los participantes a un grupo de instrucción basada en input (IPI) y a un grupo de instrucción tradicional basada en output (OPI). Ambos grupos rindieron un examen previo y posterior junto a una encuesta al final del curso. Los resultados mostraron que ambas instrucciones tuvieron efectos positivos al aprender el tiempo pasado. Sin embargo, el grupo de instrucción de proceso basada en input obtuve un mejor desenvolvimiento que el grupo de instrucción tradicional basada en output. Los resultados proveen evidencia para aplicar la instrucción basada en input al momento de aprender una estructura específica de un segundo idioma.
Open Access
Flipped classroom methodology for EFL teachers
(PUCE - Quito, 2022) Pacheco Logroño, Silvana Catalina; Dragosavljevich Garzón, Milica Margarita
The aim of this study is to explore to what extent the Flipped Classroom Methodology application improved the English language teaching process in some institutions in the south of Quito during the pandemic. For this reason, it is essential to identify the factors that influenced the performance of the teaching process in English teachers during this time. The data collection instruments used in this research were: a personalized questionnaire and a semi-structured interview applied to five teachers chosen at random; as well as quantitative and qualitative techniques were applied for the corresponding data analysis. The participants were fifty-three out of eighty-seven English teachers trained in using this methodology through an academic workshop. The rising results from the data analysis both in the questionnaire and in the interview were positive. Ninety-nine percent of the teachers surveyed agreed that the Flipped Classroom Methodology had contributed to improving the language teaching process; the content videos supported students' learning of language skills. Although this methodology is not classic for teaching English, it has greatly benefited the learning and motivation of students when it comes to learning.
Open Access
Interactive software to teach technical vocabulary to A1 and pre A1 ecuadorian adult english students using contextualized stories
(PUCE - Quito, 2022) Escobar Ponce, Pablo David; Serrano Prato, Gabriela Petruska
This paper investigates the development of software designed to help adult students learn Informatics technical vocabulary using interactive storytelling. The aim of this study is to identify and analyze how six adult A1 EFL students feel and learn when using non-conventional educational technological tools. It is important to take advantage of current technological advances in order to develop inventive language learning resources that can help students learn in a meaningful and engaging way, not only in the classroom but at any time. The study presents the development of software that uses a combination of many branches of language learning theory such as English for specific purposes, vocabulary learning in adults as well as storytelling in order to improve the Informatics technical vocabulary of learners. By interpreting the data gathered from a user experience survey and a vocabulary test conducted after the participants interacted with the software, this study concluded that: Interactive storytelling helps beginner students to learn technical vocabulary and make them more confident in their reading skills. However, combining two typically difficult subjects such as English and Informatics overwhelmed some learners and discouraged them from using the developed software more than necessary. These results suggest that interactive storytelling can be used in the process of teaching and learning general and technical English vocabulary as well as improving reading.