(PUCE - Quito, 2024) Suquitana Garzón, Miguel Ángel; Harutyunyan, Liliya
This research took place in a low-income school in the south of Quito city. The purpose was to collect the perception that all members from the institution had after six German volunteers visited them for four weeks whose purpose was to actively participate in EFL classes with 8th and 10th graders in order to help them enhance their skills in English. The impact of TEFL volunteering was recorded using a descriptiveexplorative type of research using a series of semi-structured interviews, focal groups, pre and post written surveys and participant observation techniques promoting a dialogic and relational construction based on design research and collective imagination (Appadurai, 1996) at INEPE institute. The most remarkable results showed that the learners felt the volunteers’ English level actually enhanced EFL classes boosting their pronunciation and lexis. In correspondence, learners contributed with proactive participation and good behavior in class. Certainly, the analysis of volunteers and authorities’ perception contributed to understand that even though there was a positive cultural exchange during the experience which proved TEFL volunteering is advisable, there are also some issues inside EFL classes that are still permanent and quite problematic to solve unless educational authorities take action on this matter in the interest of improving and democratizing the decisionmaking process in regards to EFL classrooms in our country.
