







































English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021, pp. 99-112  

       10.12928/eltej.v4i2.4295                             http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/eltej/index             eltej@pbi.uad.ac.id 

 

English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador: 

Implementation of the Content and Language Integrated-

Learning during 2019-2021 

Pamela Barre-Parrales a, 1, Jhonny Villafuerte-Holguín b,2,*  

a Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Av. Circunvalación S/N. Manta,Ecuador, 130207, Ecuador  
b Proyecto Comprensión Lectora y Escritura Académica, y el Proceso de titulación de la carrera PINE de ULEAM, Ecuador 
1 pamela.barre@uleam.edu.ec ; 2*jhonny.villafuerte@uleam.edu.ec 

* corresponding author 

 

A R T I C L E  I N F O 

 

ABST RACT  

 

 

Article history 

Received 25 June 2021 

Revised 15 July 2021 

Accepted 13 August 2021 

 Ecuadorian educational policy for English as Foreign Language 
instruction in Ecuador mandated in 2016 to introduce Content and 
Language Integrated-Learning (CLIL) methodology to improve the 
teaching and learning process. This research aims to analyze the 
implementation of CLIL methodology in zone 4 of Ecuador during 
2019-2021. This work subscribed to the transformative paradigm and 
administrated quantitative and qualitative methods of educational 
research. The participants were 70 English as a Foreign Language 
teachers from nine public and private educational institutions located in 
Manabi Province of Ecuador. The instrument used was the Instructor 
Perceptions of Differentiated Instruction of Turner, Solis, and Kincade 
(2017) in an observation format. The information collection techniques 
used were in-depth interview and focus group discussion. The results 
allowed the research team to determine the impact of the pandemic on 
the CLIL implementation in zone 4 of Ecuador. The results show 
differences in the implementation of the methodology between public 
and private schools which are linked to internet and technology devices 
access, teachers' knowledge regarding CLIL methodology, and 
institutional policies. In regards COVID19 pandemic, it is concluded 
that it has pacted the implementation of CLIL methodology in both 
public and private secondary schools that participated in the study.  

 

This is an open access article under the CC–BY-SA license.    

 

 

Keywords 

English as a foreign language 

English language instruction 

educational innovation 

public policy 

reading and writing 

 

 

How to Cite: Barre-Parrales, P. & Villafuerte-Holguín, J. (2021). English as a foreign language instruction in 

Ecuador: An analysis of the Content and Language Integrated-Learning implementation. English Language 

Teaching Educational Journal, 4(2), 99-112 

1. Introduction  

Statistics show that Ecuador has fallen in its position of the index of knowledge of English 
worldwide, going down from position 80 in 2011 to 93 in 2020 (EF, 2020). It is striking because 
after detecting weaknesses in the English teaching process in 2012, Ecuador implemented some 
educational policies that are supposed to improve the quality of teaching. Some factors have been 
assumed to cause the condition, one of them is the issue of learning motivation. At this point, the 
study of Wang and Littlewood (2021) showed that motivation for learning is a person's motivation 
to carry out the desired goal, starting from one's motivation to learn to be better than their 
enthusiasm results of learning activities. 

Regarding the learning method, the government policies implemented in Ecuador for teaching 
English as a Foreign Language included the use of Content and Language Integrated-Learning 

http://journal2.uad.ac.id/index.php/eltej/index


100 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

 Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021, pp. 99-112 

 Barre-Parrales, P. and  Villafuerte-Holguín, J.  (English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador) 

methodology (Ministry of Education of Ecuador, 2016). The Ecuadorian academy expectation was 
CLIL helps create more meaningful EFL classes to provide more prosperous relations, 
communication situations, and opportunities that engage learners as stated by Karimi, Lotfi and 
Biria (2019) and Mayora and Gutiérrez (2019). The said methodology consists of two pedagogical 
principles: (1) making content understandable by providing comprehensible language input and (2) 
stimulating productive language for the students to use (Escobar-Urmeneta, 2019). 

In relation to the current situation where COVID19 pandemic issue becomes a global issue 
affecting worldwide, it affects the learning process in Ecuador as well. COVID19 pandemic 
situation has led to changes in Ecuador national educational system. As a result, the online and 
hybrid education model emerges, expecting to keep up the younger generations with their learning 
activities (World Health Organization, 2020). Unfortunately, under Ecuador's socio-economic and 
technological conditions, access to the internet and technological devices has impacted and 
distanced the private and public elementary schools.  

Encouraged to provide the need to have reliable information regarding the status of the CLIL 
methodology implementation in Ecuador, the authors of the study proposed the following research 
questions:  

1. How is CLIL methodology implemented in the secondary educational institutions of zone 4 in 
Ecuador between 2019-2021? 

2. How does the COVID19 pandemic impact CLIL implementation process in secondary schools of 
zone 4 in Ecuador? 

This research aims to analyze the implementation of the CLIL methodology in English as a 
Foreign Language in nine educational institutions located in zone 4 in Ecuador during 2019-2021. 

1.1. Literature Review 

1.1.1. Content and Language Integrated-Learning (CLIL) 

     Marsh et al. (2014) promoted the Content and Language Integrated-Learning (CLIL) method 
in 1994. CLIL reinforces literature, history, or science lessons with foreign language practices, by 
promoting 'you can do it!'. It requires teachers to be very well acquainted with the developmental 
stages of the language learning and the main theories of foreign language acquisition as well. To 
understand the concept of CLIL better, there are factors that academics need to understand, 
especially the differences between learning a mother tongue and a foreign language (Marsh et al., 
2014). CLIL has four basic principles: (1) content, which successfully places the acquisition of 
knowledge skills and understanding inherent in that discipline, (2) communication, which 
defines language as a conduit for communication and learning, (3) cognition, which represents a 
cognitive challenge for students to improve their thinking and basic interpersonal communication 
skills and the cognitive-academic language competence, and (4) culture, which functions to 
encompass to multiculturalism, considering that language, thought, and culture are closely linked 
(Salamanca & Montoya, 2017). In addition, in the technological and global society setting 
nowadays, it is imperative to understand that the knowledge of another language helps learners 
communicate ideas about science, art, and technology to people worldwide.  

Regarding the strengths it holds, CLIL methodology is believed to be able to make meaningful 
content for meaningful learning and provide more prosperous relations, communication situations, 
and opportunities that engage learners (Karimi et al., 2019). Besides, Mayora and Gutiérrez (2019) 
found that, when using CLIL, learners show more favorable attitudes for learning a target language 
as the central methodology for learning EFL. In addition, Akila and Ilankumaran (2020) argued that 
CLIL encourages a deeper level of assimilation in students exposed to similar languages and 
language roles. Karimi et al. (2019) study also showed that English language learners groups find 
classes more accessible and attractive when it is used the methodology CLIL. However, applying 
CLIL should be done appropriately as Barrios & Milla-Lara (2020) and Antropova et al. (2021) who 
remarked that CLIL incorrect implementation can negatively impact learners' achievement. 

1.1.2 Curriculum and multicultural approach  

    Understanding the term curriculum can be different for each person. As a result, practically, 
how curriculum is applied varies. Some teachers may tend to be concerned with the teaching 
techniques, while some others are going into more procedural.  



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    Graves and Garton (2017) argued that the curriculum in foreign language can be classified 
according to its dominant approache. Approach informs teachers about what to teach and how to 
teach. In addition, it also impacts the process of formulating teaching goals, selecting contents and 
their presentation sequences, selecting techniques to use, and designing evaluation procedures. The 
EFL curriculum also uses diverse kinds of tasks such as collaborative learning and conversational 
skills to integrate curriculum content with non-native language instruction (Calderon, 2018).  

    Regarding EFL curriculum development in South American countries, Mayora and Gutiérrez 
(2019) revealed a persistent difference between the teachers’ visions about curriculum. In some 
schools, the vision of language is less present compared to others. Meanwhile, in some other schools 
the vision of learning is more dominant. in most schools. However, there are cases in which both the 
learning vision and the language vision are either absent or posed in vague and unclear ways.  

     In the case of Ecuador, the Ministry of Education (2016) stated that curriculum is the 
expression of the educational project that members of a nation prepare to promote the development 
of the new generations. However, the challenges occur as Ecuador is a multicultural nation. It is the 
home of 14 nationalities and 18 indigenous communities. The official languages spoken in this 
country are Castilian, Kichwa, and Shuar. Besides, there are other 14 indigenous languages and 8 
different linguistics branches: Barbacoa, Chocó, Jívaro, Quechua, Tukano, Záparo and two language 
families called Cofan. Thus, such social characteristics demand a multicultural educational system 
as well. 

    Practically, according to Intriago et al. (2019), the current Ecuadorian educational system 
promotes intercultural education, but schools require time and investment to ensure students have 
access to good linguistic competence. Moreover, technological development through the internet 
access with high volumes of information and diversity of entertainment activities has been going 
through academic and social life, which people assimilate as part of the transculturation process. 
Consequently, this situation requires methodological changes in English language learning process 
in Ecuador (Ibarra-Rius & Ballester-Roca, 2017). Fortunately, academics identify CLIL as an 
appropriate methodology for the Ecuadorian educational context.  

1.1.3. Information and communication technology in the English language instruction   

     Educational technology and communication in the EFL context can provide diverse 
opportunities to innovate the teaching and learning process (Çakici, 2016). ICT emerges to support 
the links between students and teachers. It helps rebuild the roles and functions of formal education 
(Casablancas, 2017). Moreover, ICT can promote students' critical thinking and strengthen their 
problem-solving skills (Pandey et al., 2021). It allows teachers to encourage learners' autonomous 
and collaborative language practices.  Moreover, electronic games and consoles as learning tools can 
improve the dynamic and enjoyable processes to consider in the curriculum and lesson plans 
(Wienecke & Damsgaard, 2020). From students’ perspective, according to Cortés-Cabrera and 
Meléndez-Araya (2021), students positively value the use of ICT and the articulation of the planning 
of learning objectives. ICT use can enhance students’ motivation as well. Hsiao and Su (2021) 
suggested that as learning motivation, referring to a kind of attitude in which students naturally and 
willingly participate in learning towards the teaching goal and the internal psychological process set 
by the teachers, plays a significant role in a learning process, consequently, teachers can use diverse 
technological devices to increase students' learning motivation, which is a critical condition in every 
educational context. 

Instead of the tremendous benefits it gives, the use of ICT in an educational setting has some 
drawbacks. Mora (2021) argued that the distance education process cannot replace the teacher's 
humanity in the classroom during face-to-face classes, so it is worth asking the question. Other 
limitations of ICT use are related to its accessibility quality and national policies where it applies. In 
other words, the use of ICT especially in an educational setting needs to be done properly.       

1.1.4. English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador 

    The instruction of English as a Foreign language in Ecuador began in 1950, during the 
Government of Galo Plaza Lasso. At that period of time, only the students of high school received 
an hour of English language class per week. English as a Foreign Language (EFL) instruction 
followed the curriculum reform project aimed at the Development of the Learning of English 
(CRADLE) for around 30 years. CRADLE program which was created in 1992 with the British 
Consulate and the Ministry of Education of Ecuador aimed to improve the secondary students' EFL 



102 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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acquisition with a local contextualization. It was implemented until 2008, and successfully produced 
six textbook series called "Our World Through English". The book series were expexted to show the 
Ecuadorian culture through the topics featuring local themes and characters (Calle et al., 2015). 

    For decades until the year 2007, EFL used to be an optional school subject in Ecuadorian 
curriculum. It was taught by teachers paid by the student's families. Later, EFL became part of the 
secondary school Ecuadorian curriculum with the increase in the instruction duration to two and 
three hours per week (Cáneppa-Muñoz et al., 2018). In 2010, the Ministry of Education of Ecuador 
evaluated teachers' English language levels. The results showed that 50% of teachers reached a basic 
beginner level base don the European Framework (Calle et al., 2015). Nevertheless, in 2014 the 
Education First Index reported that Ecuadorian students reached the 65th rank out of 88 countries 
evaluated worldwide. This unsatisfactory result could be related to a few factors such as the 
persistence of the overcrowded classrooms in public schools, the little attention given to the process 
of acquiring the English language, and the lack of specialized teachers for EFL instruction (Intriago 
et al., 2015).  

     One of the first changes implemented to improve teaching and learning process in Ecuador 
was the increment of the number of instructions hours from 3 to 5 hours per week in public 
educational system (González, 2015). Unfortunately, the EFL class practices commonly consisted of 
mere grammar and structure explanation and basic vocabulary teaching (Calle et al., 2015). In 2017, 
the Education Ministry, through the agreement number 0052-14, ordered the incorporation of the 
English subject into the general primary education curriculum from the second to the seventh grade. 

     Furthermore, Ecuadorian government set policies implemented to improve the EFL 
instruction which included: (1) strengthening teachers' communicative competencies until obtaining 
B2 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), (2) 
introduction of EFL instruction standards, (3) implementation of program called "Go Teacher" 
(2014-2018) providing teacher fellows for training abroad, and (4) implementation of the national 
EFL curriculum in 2017, which recommended the usage of CLIL method as the central 
methodology to improve students' English language competencies (Ministry of Education, 2016).  

    In spite of the improvement policies set by the government, the changes in quality didn’t 
appear as expected as the students do not improve their EFL knowledge level (Matamoros et al., 
2017). Vélez-Bernal and Ramos-Paredes (2018) added that students only improved their EFL level 
passing from A1 to A2 when teachers used active strategies whaich reinforced students' knowledge. 
Furthermore, statistic showed that the overpopulated classes and the focus on the choral repetition of 
dialogues pre-established by teachers, has distanced learners from the communicative class 
atmosphere. And it was all related to the Ecuadorian public education policy (Intriago et al., 2019). 
Consequently, in 2020, the average of the Ecuadorian population EFL knowledge went down 
negatively to the position of 93rd out of 100 countries (EF, 2020).  

    Among the previous studies revised appears Wang and Littlewood (2021). They showed that 
motivation for learning is the strength used to carry out the desired goal, starting from one's 
motivation to learn to be better than their enthusiasm for learning activities. Regarding the 
unsatisfactory result, there had been some studies conducted. One of them was the study by 
Contreras, Picazo, Cordero-Hidalgo and Chaparro-Medina (2021) which recommended that 
professors should consider students' context and limitations before planning the adjustments to their 
school programs. They ratified the relevance of teachers' training about educational platforms and 
technological tools used on education besides government support for issuing laws to formalize 
virtual education, giving schools the necessary tools and resources to meet their needs.  Another 
study by Antropova et al. (2021) argued that teachers should efficiently use diverse didactic material 
to implement the CLIL methodology efficiently. Besides, they demonstrated that teachers did not 
use didactic resources homogeneously, neither did they implement the four principles of CLIL, 
reducing the efficiency of this method.  

2. Method 

This work subscribes to the transformative paradigm. It administrated the quantitative and 
qualitative methods of the educational research to collect data and information describing more 
precisely the changes in the implementation of CLIL in the province of Manabí (Territorial zone 4 



ISSN 2621-6485 English Language Teaching Educational Journal 103 
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of Ecuador) between 2019-2021. Furthermore, the study has been started within the framework of 
the consultancy involving 2 expert researchers in the EFL instruction field and the observation of 
five public and four private schools located in the province of Manabí. In terms of data analysis, the 
qualitative analysis used follows Avraham (2016) strategies for processing the information using 
categories helped by the software Atlas Ti 8v. Meanwhile for the statistical analysis to test the 
research hypothesis, it used SPSS, v25. As for the hypothesis, it’s formulated as follows: 

Ho1: There are no significant changes between 2019 and 2021 regarding the implementation of 
CLIL in the private schools participating in this study. 

Ho2: There are no significant changes between 2019 and 2021 regarding the implementation of 
CLIL in the public schools participating in this study. 

Ho3: There are no significant differences regarding the implementation of CLIL between Ecuadorian 
private and public schools between 2019 and 2021. 

 

2.1.  Research Participants 

The research participants presented in Table 1 consisted of seventy EFL teachers from nine 

educational institutions located in the province of Manabi, Ecuador. The participants reported to be 

between 28-45 years old with the average teaching experience of eight years.  

Table 1. The Sample 

                 Secondary Schools                            Male            Female         Total               Schools 

 

 

Public schools 
 

3 2 5 1 

3 1 4 1 

2 4 6 1 

1 4 5 1 

2 13 5 1 

 

Private schools 

4 1 5 1 

5 3 8 1 

4 1 5 1 
13 4 7 1 

Total   37 (52.8%) 33 (47.2%) 70 (100%) 9 
a. Source: Research project registers (Jun/2019).  

 

2.2. Research Instruments 

The instruments used in this research are the following. Firstly, focus group discussion guide. 

Focus group discussion guide was used to collect information from EFL teachers concerning the 

EFL instruction practice under Ecuadorian policy during the COVID19 pandemic. The instrument 

was designed ad hoc by the research team and validated by a panel of experts belonging to a public 

university located in Manabí province and having vast experience in the fields of EFL instruction, 

government policy, and social work. Originally, the focus group discussion guide seven questions. 

However, the expert panel recommended using only five questions which are related to CLIL 

implementation.  

Secondly, in-depth interview guide.  This instrument aimed to collect teachers' opinions about 

the EFL instruction in Ecuador. The instrument was designed ad hoc, by the research team and 

validated by a panel of specialists consisting of 3 professionals who belong to a public university 

located in Manabí province. These specialists have more than 10-year experience in education 

management, EFL instruction, and government policy. As for the interview guide, it contained   

seven questions out of twelve as recommended by the panel.   

 Thirdly, Observation form. - The observation form used was the Instructor Perceptions of 

Differentiated Instruction of Turner, Solis and Kincade (2017).  It was adapted in such a way by the 

research so that it suited social and educational conditions of Ecuador. The instrument was 

evaluated and validated by 3 specialists of a public university in Manabí whose expertise are in 

EFL instruction, education and psychology fields with more than 10-year experience. The 



104 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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instrument originally had 28 items, however, the panel recommended only 20 items. Of these 20 

items, five items were related to the demographic questions such as: sex, age, length of experience 

and training in CLIL methodology, and fifteen items were related to CLIL methodology 

implementation. 

 
2.3. Research Procedures 

The research conducted through the executed the following stages. Stage 1: Selecting the 

participants. – The participants were English teachers from different educational institutions 

located in zone 4 of Ecuador, District Manta-Montecrtisti-Jaramijó. 70 out of the invited 100 

teachers agreed to be part of the research. All of these participants signed an informed consent 

letter following the ethical research regulations of APA. The research project began in June /2019. 

Stage 2: Doing the observation process. – The instrument used during this stage was the 

Instructor Perceptions of Differentiated Instruction of Turner, Solis and Kincade (2017). The 

research team adapted the instrument to an observation format in 2019. Six groups of students (30 

students) from an Ecuadorian public university participated in the data collection process. The 

observation of the group 1 was carried out between Dec/2019 - Mar/2020 before the COVID19 

pandemic. Meanwhile observation of the group 2 was held during the pandemic using Zoom 

application during Sep-Nov/2020.  

Stage 3: Designing guidelines for the focus group discussion and in-depth interview. – The 

instruments were developed by the research team in March/2020. A panel of specialists reviewed 

and validated the guidelines.  

Stage 4: Conducting focus group discussion. - The activity was carried out in June 2020. Nine 

teachers participated in it. Following the APA ethics research procedures, the participants signed 

consent and informed letters. Concerning to the pandemic of COVID19, the focus group discussion 

was then conducted online using a teleconference application and lasted around an hour. 

Stage 5: Doing the interview. - The interview was carried out in September/2020. As the focus 

group discussion conducter eralier, the interview was done online using Zoom application due to 

the pandemic. The interview participants signed the informed consent letter following the ethics 

research procedure of APA. The interview lasted around an hour. 

Stage 6: Doing statistical analysis. – The statistical analysis was done using Statistic Package 

Social Science SPSS, v.24. Considering all the critical points of the CLIL methodology, the present 

work gathered information contrasting virtual and face-to-face classes. The test applied was the 

Wilcoxon test for related series with the p-value 0.050; 

Stage 7: Doing categorial analysis. - The categories used in this analysis were: (1) Teacher 

training for ELF instruction. Subcategories 1 comprised: (1.1.) Teachers’ knowledge, (1.2.) 

Teachers’ challenges for CLIL implementation, (2) Challenges for teaching during the pandemic. 

Meanwhile subcategories 2 consisted of: (2.1.) Implementation advances, (2.2.) CLIL 

implementation limitations, and (3) Materials and resources used for EFL teaching during the 

pandemic time. And subcategories 3 included (3.1.) Materials availability and (3.2.) Resource 

availability. 

3. Findings and Discussion  

3.1. Research Findings 

The results presentation follows the order of the research questions formulated in the previous 

Introduction section. 

 3.1.1. Implementation of CLIL during 2019-2021 period in secondary schools of Manabi, Ecuador  

Table 2 presents the analysis of teachers’ voices collected during focus group discussion. The FGD 

was conducted to collect information about participants’ CLIL knowledge and training and their 

challenges for implementing the methodology in 2019-2020 period during the COVID19 

pandemic.  



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    Table 2. Teachers' Challenges for the Implementation of EFL Instruction Policy in Ecuador 

Category 1: Teacher training Teachers’ 

knowledge 

Teachers’ 

Challenges for 

implementation 
E1.10 “We have not had strong training for EFL online instruction. It was 
not part of the curriculum; it was not taught.” 

E4.17 “Training processes have been so short that it has not had that 

follow-up cycle, where it was found that what was acquired is really being 

carried out in the classroom, that is why teachers fight and continue to ask 
for training." 

E7.22 “Teachers with a lot of experience as teachers pay little attention to 

short trainings from the Ministry of Education. Online instruction is 

something new for us” 

Online education. 
 

Teachers with limited 

training. 

 
 

Teachers without 

experience about 

online education 

No available 
resources. 

No follow-up on 

CLIL use. 

 
Teachers feel stress 

because the online 

education. 

Category 2: Challenges for teaching during the pandemic Implementation 

Advances 

Implementation 

Limitations 

E1.02. “We the teachers do not have the time for do too many activities 

students need to learn in a meaningful way. For me, the most complicate is to 

teach to students with disabilities.” 

E4.04. “Many of the activities are not carried out due to the lack of materials 
in students’ houses. Parents try to support their kids to carry out learning 

activities that for many of them do not make sense”. 

E6.12 “The limitation we have are too many. We should take decisions about 

what is the most relevant of the curriculum to teach. 
The most complicated for me is to apply evaluations. I have not permanent 

access to Internet. 

Limited class time. 

 

Students are kept in 

learning activities. 
 

Teaching basic 

grammar is 

prioritized. 

Connectivity 

limitations. 

 

Students support 
the students 

learning. 

 

Limitation of 
access to devices  

Category 3: Materials and resources for EFL teaching during the 

pandemic. 

Materials’ 

availability 

Resource’s 

availability 
E6.14 "The study guides are very heavy and long so that many students cannot 
see them on mobile electronic devices." 

E7.12 “To work on online education during this pandemic year 1, I have had 

to limit my classes to the fundamentals of teaching grammar. I feel 

unmotivated as a teacher”. 
E9. 14 “It's a shame, but I feel like I have regressed in class. We no longer have 

time to practice reading and listening comprehension, etc. Students take little 

interest in learning EFL.” 

Poor quality internet. 
Content’s priorities. 

 

Limited time to teach 

online. 
 

The motivation to 
learn EFL has 

decreased. 

 

 
Less interest in 

learning EFL 

 
b. Source: Focus group. Jun/2020. 

Category 1: Teacher training. The evidence showed that teachers had limitations in the training 
process, which made it challenging to develop and transmit information that would facilitate joint 
learning and teachers' training about online education. Those factors have affected the efficiency of 
the EFL teaching process and their career development.  

Category 2: Challenges for teaching during COVID19 pandemic. The evidence showed that 
teachers should encourage the learners' skills development while maintaining continuous attention. 
The implementation of CLIL had crucial limitations especially on the search for proactive teaching 
strategies and this resulted in students' less language production. 

Category 3: The materials and resources for EFL instruction during COVID19 pandemic. The 
data showed that teachers did not have adequate didactic materials and resources for them to switch 
to an online learning mode. As a result, the students had lost interest in learning English. In such 
scenarios, CLIL methodology provided support for teachers to be trained in how to use the intended 
methodology, especially for social studies and science subjects.  

Table 3 presents an analysis of the causes due to the decline in the use of CLIL methodology in 
EFL classes during the pandemic. The categories used in this comparation were: (1) Teachers 
training in CLIL methodology, (2) Access to technology, and (3) Attention given to EFL subject. 

 

 



106 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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Table 3. Comparative Analysis of EFL Instruction between Public and Private Schools 2019-2021 

Public schools Private schools 

(1) Teachers` training about online teaching 

The teachers have not been trained in CLIL. 

Teachers do not differentiate between Soft CLIL and Hard 

CLIL activities. 

The texts are designed with the face-to-face methodology, but 
the teachers do not know it. 

Most of the schools apply Soft CLIL (little articulation of the 

contents of Natural Sciences and History).  

Teachers have been trained in the use of CLIL since 

2017. 

Teachers differentiate between Soft CLIL and Hard 

CLIL activities. 
The texts are designed with the CLIL method. 

Teachers use Hard CLIL in subjects as Natural 

environment and Sciences, History and Geography.  

(2) Techers’ access to ICT for teaching during COVID19 pandemic  

They have no online platforms to practice English classes 
using CLIL. 

The work guides are applied where all the weekly activities 

appear. A small part corresponds to EFL. 

Internet access limitations reduce the chances of advancing 
with classes with the CLIL method. 

 

They have online platforms to use CLIL in English 
classes. 

Students having good connections can complete their 

schedule in online classes. 

Teachers give priority to the class contains to warranty 
students advance in their learning. 

(3) Attention given to EFL subject 

Insufficient time for online English classes to apply CLIL.  
Parents do not attach importance to learning English. 

Institutional policies prioritize the permanence of students in 

learning activity despite ICT access limitations. 

Mathematics and Spanish language are prioritized as 
preparation for PISA. 

Enough time of the online English classes to apply 
CLIL. 

Parents place high importance on learning English. 

Institutional policies prioritize the permanence of 

students in learning activity despite ICT limitations. 
Mathematics and Spanish language are prioritized for the 

PISA exams. 
c. Source: In-depth interview to EFL teachers from zone 4 of Ecuador. Jun/2020. 

Category 1: Teacher training in online education. The evidence showed that private school 
teachers differentiated and created activities depending on whether the methodology was 
categorized into soft or hard CLIL; meanwhile, teachers in public schools did not differentiate 
between these two kinds of CLIL. As a consequence, teachers' productivity became lower and it 
limited student's achievement.  

Category 2: Access to ICT during COVID19 pandemic. The evidence showed that teachers of 
public schools informed that they had limitations to access technology. They had no specific 
platform for teaching and learning, and the students did not have mobile devices to join the online 
synchronous classes.  In contrast, teachers of private schools showed good experience in using ICT 
since they used to work with virtual platforms even before the pandemic occured. Besides, parents 
from private schools gave high priority to online EFL learning. 

Category 3: Attention given to EFL subject. The evidence showed that in public schools the 
technical limitations and institutional policies did not give much attention to the English subject 
during the pandemic which eventually affected students' EFL learning significantly. Moreover, 
teachers had to direct their explanations to grammar topics only. As a result, they did not have time 
to do engaging learning activities like gamification or other engaging learning activities. On the 
contrary, the activities in the private schools were planned well and teachers had ample time to 
conduct each planned activity from introduction to evaluation. 

Figure 1 shows the comparison of CLIL methodology implementation between 2019 (before the 
pandemic) and 2021 (during the pandemic). The private schools reduced their rate of CLIL 
methodology implementation from 30% - 45% in advance in 2019 to 46% in advance in 2021. The 
implementation continued. Meanwhile, CLIL implementation in public schools reduced from 15% 
in advance in 2019 to 13% in 2021. The students had online synchronous classes with their teachers 
once a week sharing 90 minute session as the other subjects. 

  



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                                     Private schools                                     Public schools 

Fig. 1. : The contrast CLIL implementation in public and private schools of zone 4 of Ecuador  

                  during 2019-2021. 
        Source: Survey. Project registers (July. /2021) 

 

The normality test of the Kolmogorov-Smirnov data series did not pass, as presented in Table 4. 

Therefore, nonparametric hypothesis tests should be conducted. 

Table 4.  Normality Tests of Data Series 

 Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk 
Statistic gl Sig. Statistic gl Sig. 

CLIL_PRIVATE_2019 .148 25 .166 .906 25 .024 
CLIL_PRIVATE_2020 .247 25 .000 .866 25 .004 
CLIL_PUBLIC_2019 .400 25 .000 .642 25 .000 
CLIL_PUBLIC_2020 .368 25 .000 .745 25 .000 

d. a. Lilliefors significance correction 

 

Ho1: There are no significant changes between 2019 and 2021 regarding the implementation 

of CLIL in the private schools participating in the research. 

To answer the Ho1, the Wilcoxon test for related series was administered with the p-value 

0.050; and the result was 0.000. Therefore, in Table 5, it shows that the null hypothesis is rejected. 

It means that there are significant differences regarding the implementation of CLIL during 2019-

2021 in the private schools participating in the study. 

Table 5.  Hypothesis Test Report  Ho1 

 Hipótesis nula Test Sig. Decisión 

1 La mediana de las diferencias entre 
CLIL_PRIVATE_2019 y  

CLIL_PRIVATE_2020 es igual a 0 

Prueba de Wilcoxon 
de los rangos con  

signo de mestras 

relacionadas 

 
 

.000 

 
Rechazar la hipótesis  

nula. 

  

Asymptotic significances are shown. The significance level is .050. 

 

Ho2: There are no significant changes between 2019 and 2021 regarding the implementation 

of CLIL in the public schools participating in the research. 

 

In Table 6, to answer the Ho2, the Wilcoxon test was administered for related series with the p-

value 0.050; the result is 0.000. Therefore, the null hypothesis is rejected. It means that there are 



108 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

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 Barre-Parrales, P. and  Villafuerte-Holguín, J.  (English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador) 

significant differences regarding the implementation of CLIL during 2019-2021 in public schools 

that participated in the study. 

Table 6.  Hypothesis Test Report for Ho2 

 Hipótesis nula Test Sig. Decisión 

1 La mediana de las diferencias entre 

CLIL_PRIVATE_2019 y  
CLIL_PRIVATE_2020 es igual a 0 

Prueba de Wilcoxon 

de los rangos con  
signo de mestras 

relacionadas 

 

 
.000 

 

Rechazar la hipótesis  
nula. 

 

Asymptotic significances are shown. The significance level is .050. 

 

Ho3: There are no significant differences regarding the use of CLIL between private and 

public schools in the periods 2019-2021. 

 

To answer the Ho3, the independent sample median test was administered with the p-value 

0.050; and the result was 0.000. Therefore, Table 7 shows that the null hypothesis is rejected. It 

means that there are significant differences regarding CLIL implementation during 2019 and 

2021period between public and private schools that participated in the study. 

Table 7.  Hypothesis Test Report for Ho3 

 Hipótesis nula Test Sig. Decisión 

1 La distribución de CLIL2020 es la misma 
entre las categorías de GRUPO 

Prueba de Mann-
Whitney de muestras 

independientes 

 
 

.000 

 
Rechazar la hipótesis  

nula. 

 

Asymptotic significances are shown. The significance level is .050. 

3.2. Discussion 

Based on the reviewed literature and the research results obtained, the authors argue that teachers 
of zone 4 of Ecuador tend to consider implementing the methodology CLIL as a government 
decision imposed in the national EFL curriculum. Therefore, it is evident that EFL teachers look at 
the curriculum as a learning approach to fulfill, instead of a tool in a permanent construction for 
improving the teaching and learning process. It is a situation that ratifies the Mayora and Gutiérrez 
(2019) position when teachers assume the curriculum only from the learning approach point of view.  

The information collected allows to help determining that there are differences in the EFL 
teaching motivation between public and private school teachers. The results obtained ratify what 
Wang and Littlewood (2021) stated regarding motivation. As motivation is considered the strength 
capable of moving people to work harder and harder to reach the desired goal, teachers of public and 
private schools in Ecuador have experienced different ways of managing their teaching motivation. 
Moreover, the current COVID19 condition has been putting the educational systems as well as 
teachers under high stress, which decreases their motivation in teaching. 

As for the results of the participants' voices, after analyzing them, the authors disagree with the 
Ministry of Education (2016) point of view regarding the pertinence of CLIL methodology for the 
EFL online clases, especially when there’s a vast contrast between instruction expectations and the 
social, economic, and technological conditions of the families living in zone 4 of Ecuador. This 
point of view is also argued by Contreras, Picazo, Cordero-Hidalgo and Chaparro-Medina (2021). 
They recommend considering students' context and limitations when planning certain school 
programs, including CLIL methodology. Besides, there are no previous records in Ecuador to affirm 
that CLIL can produce positive results in students' English language acquisition. It is like an 
unknown methodology for most of the EFL teachers taking part in the research. As a result, 
especially among public school teachers, they tend to not put CLIL methodology into practice 
because they do not have enough knowledge about it. One of the solutions to such a circumstance is 
by giving teachers training on both methodology and technology. For this, the authors ratify 



ISSN 2621-6485 English Language Teaching Educational Journal 109 
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 Barre-Parrales, P. and  Villafuerte-Holguín, J.  (English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador) 

Contreras et al. (2021) regarding teachers' training on platforms and technological tools used for 
linguistic purposes. They recommend that the universities that train English teachers in Ecuador 
should consider including CLIL methodology as one of the topics in their curriculum of EFL teacher 
training program.  

Another issue regarding CLIL implemetation is related to the intented subjects to teach. In 
practice, the students of public schools should attend online classes once a week for 90 minutes long 
by continuously listening to their teachers' explanations of such subjects as Mathematics, Literature, 
Social Studies, and English language. The main instruction for English teachers is to teach the target 
language and use it as the teaching approach for essential communication in everyday life. However, 
such a strategy is not clear for most of the teachers. Using English separately among subjects is note 
ay to do because they consider everyday life involves comprehensive subjects including health and 
care topics, social life, family interaction, pets care, house organization, intergeneration 
communication, and sports practice.  

In regards with learning media, in harmony with Karimi et al. (2019), the authors argue that the 
use of recycled objects as educational materials can effectively allow students to strengthen their 
learning environment and nature conservation attitudes. Meanwhile, regarding the use of graphic 
organizers, Pazan-Torres et al. (2017) and Antropova (2021) state that it provides learners with more 
possibilities to remember more information during online EFL classes.  

As for the problems arising during the learning process, both public and private school teachers 
have experienced them though differently. Private school teachers participating in the research state 
that they have shortcomingsin regarding issue of the EFL standards and the way of handling the 
curriculum in a practical level. One of the causes of this is because they commonly use imported 
books with less local contextualization. Meanwhile, base don the results, public school teachers face 
more complex problems. It is evident that because public schools have limitations of internet 
connectivity, teacher training on CLIL, and limited access to didactic materials as well, it has caused 
teachers feel difficult in implementing CLIL methodology in their clases.  

In sum, the observation of EFL classes in nine educational institutions taking part in the research 
allows affirming that CLIL methodology implementation in Ecuador has been reduced. Besides, the 
collected data also allows inferring that the way how the Ecuadorian government educational policy 
has been implemented or practised differently by teachers of public and privates schools.  

In terms of what way to improve the EFL quality and thus to move the Ecuadorian English 
knowledge index towards better place in English global index, it is probably necessary to improve 
teachers' training programs. When teachers are better trained, the students will have better English 
proficiency and viceversa. And when the students have low EFL proficiency, it will make them hard 
to access international scholarships to continue their studies abroad. 

 

4. Conclusion 

The research concluded remarkable differences in the CLIL methodology implementation 
process between public and private schools in zone 4 of Ecuador during 2019-2021. Regarding 
COVID19 pandemic, the results confirm that pandemic had impacted negatively on the 
implementation of CLIL during 2020-2021. Results show private schools passed from CLIL 
implementation progress speed of 45% in 2019 (before COVID19) to 46% implementation. Having 
only 1% of improvement. However, public schools passed from 15% CLIL implementation progress 
in 2019 to 13% (-2%) in 2020. This phenomenon is probably related to the lack of internet 
connectivity, especially in rural schools, and institutional policies that gives more priorities to 
subjects such as as mathematics and national language.  

Hopefully, the study enriches the information regarding CLIL implementation and can be useful 
for institutions which are in charge of evaluating government policy implementation. Besides, 
schools can use the information to make decisions concerning EFL instruction. The weakness of 
thisstudy, however, could be related to the size of its corpus (seventy EFL teachers from nine 
secondary schools), which does not allow to generalize the results to all EFL teachers of this 
geographical zone. Finally, the authors invite other researchers to direct new studies to generate new 
information about the state of CLIL methodology in Ecuador and other Latin American countries. 



110 English Language Teaching Educational Journal   ISSN 2621-6485 

 Vol. 4, No. 2, 2021, pp. 99-112 

 Barre-Parrales, P. and  Villafuerte-Holguín, J.  (English as a foreign language instruction in Ecuador) 

Acknowledgment: 
The authors would like to thank Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí for the support on this 

research process. 

 

Declarations: 
This work subscribes to the research projects of the Faculty of Education Science of the 

Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro in Manabí, Ecuador. (1) Project ‘Comprensión lectora y escritura 

académica - LEA: cambiando vidas desde la educación para la paz, 2021’ and (2) Project 

‘Innovación y Desarrollo de procesos educativos 2018-2021’. 

 

Author contribution    : PBP: initiated the research ideas, instrument construction, data collection, 

analysis, and draft writing; JVH revised the research ideas, literature 

review, data presentation and statistics analysis, and the final draft. 

Funding statement        : Non apply.  

Conflict of interest        : The authors declare no conflict of interest. 

Additional information: No additional information is available for this paper. 

 

 

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