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

Abstract

Abstract: This study evaluates the effectiveness of the English language program used in a public educational institution in the city of Loja, Ecuador, based on teachers and students perceptions. The participants included 10 people, 5 were students aged 15-18 and 5 were English teachers aged 29-45 with 5 to 20 years of experience in English Language Teaching. This study employed a mixed-method approach which included quantitative and qualitative data. The instruments used were checklists, which were administered to the participants; later data were organized and tabulated. The acquired information was analyzed and interpreted to obtain relevant results, from which, a set of conclusions and recommendations was stated. The main findings suggest that the program presents several weaknesses for developing English learning and lacks a good reputation. It was also found that the most implemented principles of assessment in ELT by teachers are authenticity and washback. Likewise, the most used types of assessment to evaluate students learning are formative and summative assessments. Finally, it was discovered that the tasks teachers use the most to evaluate students are games and listening cloze tasks.