Teachers and students’ perceptions of teaching English in small classes in Ecuador

Abstract

The present study investigated the teachers and students’ perceptions of teaching English in small classes in Ecuador; for this purpose, the population sample composed by five teachers and forty-four students was selected from three high schools and two institutes from the city of Manta in the province of Manabi. In order to gather data two questionnaires were applied, one for teachers and another for students; furthermore, additional information was obtained through class observations. The data obtained from both questionnaires was quantitatively presented, described and analyzed in comparison with the results of the observations and the most relevant literature that was previously investigated. The results of the current study showed that there were many benefits of teaching and learning English in classes with small number of students; teachers provided an adequate feedback because they had enough time to spend for each student; there was much teacher-student interaction; also, listening, speaking, reading and writing activities were developed with more teacher control; finally, the students felt in comfort to talk in front of their classmates and motivated to participate because they were few.