Evaluation of an english language program to identify the elements of the curriculum. A case study of a public high school in Ecuador

Abstract

Abstract:The general objective of this research was to evaluate the effectiveness of an English language program at a public high school in Ecuador, based on students and teachers perceptions. The participants were 5 EFL teachers who have a bachelor s degree to teach English as a Foreign Language and 5 (senior year) of high school students. The resources used were a checklist and 3 questionnaires which included closed-ended and open-ended questions that allowed gathering both qualitative and quantitative data giving a mixed grasp to the research. The first instrument converged information about the conditions that support the English language teaching program and the latter ones collected information about students needs and about teachers perceptions on the environmental factors that influence English language learning, as well as the principles, types of assessment, and tasks used for evaluation. Moreover, being aware of students needs, lacks and wants, environmental analysis and aspects for effective teaching to occur; besides, the use of appropriate principles, types, and tasks for assessing EFL learners contribute to educators self-evaluation in order to improve the EFL teaching and learning language process.