LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3337.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v4i1.491
Teaching techniques applied in EFL during the COVID-19
pandemic outbreak: A review in Ecuadorian secondary
education
Técnicas de enseñanza aplicadas en inglés como lengua extranjera
durante la pandemia de COVID-19: una revisión en la educación
secundaria ecuatoriana
Andrea Cristina Salazar Carranco
asalazar@pucesa.edu.ec
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3520-3417
Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador Sede Ambato
Ambato – Ecuador
Luís Antonio Paredes Rodríguez
oupconsultant@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8226-3071
Universidad Central del Ecuador
Quito – Ecuador
Artículo recibido: 03 de marzo de 2023. Aceptado para publicación: 15 de marzo de 2023.
Conflictos de Interés: Ninguno que declarar.
Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic has taken every member of the global society unprepared to deal with
an extreme event that not only affected people’s health but also the economy and education of
every country of the world. Translating face-to-face interaction into an online teaching context
was a challenge for all educators. For this reason, the aim of this study is to analyze the teaching
techniques EFL teachers had applied during the lockdown. A semi-structured interview was
applied to ten EFL secondary public and private teachers who provided a clear vision of their
teaching reality. It was determined that the main issues to deal with are internet problems,
planning time and the lack of an EFL-centered platform.
Keywords: COVID 19, education, english teaching, online teaching, teaching techniques
LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3338.
Resumen
La pandemia de COVID-19 ha tomado a todos los miembros de la sociedad global desprevenidos
para enfrentar un evento extremo que no solo afectó la salud de las personas sino también la
economía y la educación de todos los países del mundo. Traducir la interacción cara a cara en
un contexto de enseñanza en línea fue un desafío para todos los educadores. Por este motivo, el
objetivo de este estudio es analizar las técnicas de enseñanza que los profesores de inglés como
lengua extranjera habían aplicado durante el confinamiento. Se aplicó una entrevista
semiestructurada a diez docentes de EFL de secundaria pública y privada quienes brindaron una
visión clara de su realidad docente. Se determinó que los principales temas a tratar son los
problemas de internet, el tiempo de planificación y la falta de una plataforma centrada en EFL.
Palabras clave: COVID 19, educación, enseñanza de inglés, enseñanza en línea, técnicas
de enseñanza
Todo el contenido de LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades,
publicados en este sitio está disponibles bajo Licencia Creative Commons .
Como citar: Salazar Carranco, A. C., & Paredes Rodríguez, L. A. (2023). Teaching techniques
applied in EFL during the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak: A review in Ecuadorian secondary
education. LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades 4(1), 3337–
3347. https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v4i1.491
LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3339.
INTRODUCTION
In March 2020, the first COVID-19 victims in Ecuador were reported. The first city to be affected
was Guayaquil, with 157 confirmed cases by the time the government decided to call for a
lockdown to stop its spread in the national territory (7). Progressively, other cities such as Quito,
Cuenca and Babahoyo had a significant increase in confirmed cases and deaths related to the
coronavirus. Given this tragic situation, a quarantine was in mandated not only in Ecuador but
also in other countries in the world. This measure affected several aspects of society, one of
them being education.
From that point on, education had to dramatically switch face-to-face classes to online sessions
with the help of different applications like Microsoft Teams, Google Classroom, or Zoom. This
change took every teacher and professor by surprise, urging them to be proficient in digital tools,
learning platforms and online assessment. While a good number of educators manage the
technological aspect without difficulty, there are several that were in urgent need of training to
carry on with their educational duty.
In Ecuador, the reality regarding technology and easy access to the internet was revealed once it
was necessary to perform daily activities with the help of a computer and an internet connection.
According to UNICEF (10), only 37% of Ecuadorian households have access to the internet, while
in rural areas the number is lower, only 16%. With this obstacle, many students decided to stop
their educational process. According to data gathered by the Ministry of Education, over one
hundred students didn’t access the online education modality, either for the lack of an internet
connection, for not having a suitable device to be part of online sessions.
In efforts to reach the student population that was left behind due to their technological
shortcomings, the Ecuadorian government with the Constitutional Court through decree number
220-EE-20 established that those students must get access to their education through radio and
television, to give them equal opportunities of learning (7). Within this new context, the
Ecuadorian society embarked on a never-before-seen learning adventure, with digitally proficient
teachers and students, households adapted to this new need and multitasking families, carrying
out their professional and personal activities in the same place.
English as a foreign language (EFL) has been a mandatory subject in every school curriculum
since 2016 after a two-year hiatus proposed by the national government (11). Consequently, the
Ecuadorian secondary teaching system has determined that every student must have a B1 level
of English to obtain their baccalaureate. For this reason, EFL classes have been an essential part
of every student's schedule and, therefore, a big number of EFL teachers have been tackling the
issue of online classes with a dose of creativity and a big amount of experience and knowledge.
It is the aim of this study to analyze how EFL teachers have been managing their online classes
during the COVID-19 emergency teaching period. In order to do it, several articles on the same
topic have been considering having a clearer idea of the reality teachers must face.
According to Cheung (3), EFL teachers in Hong Kong managed their online classes during the
Covid-19 lockdown without any methodological or technological problem since their professional
beliefs, knowledge and experience made it possible for them to carry out their teaching duties
without any type of concern. This study also manifests that the interaction between teacher-
students is minimal, however, this has not posed any type of problem to reach the goal of
language learning.
Arif and Arief (12) carry out a study focused on Indonesian EFL teachers. They point out that no
one was prepared for this situation. To learn more about this experience, EFL teachers were asked
to write their reflections about their experience with the online teaching reality. The gathered
LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3340.
information revealed some important details about their educational duty, among them the
following: the need of training to work with online platforms and a better planning system that
fits their current situation. The authors encourage researchers to continue studying this topic to
provide teachers with resources to fulfill their goal.
Given the never seen context, educators perform in, Arif et al. (12) have gathered information
about EFL teaching in the university environment in Indonesia. A semi-structured interview and
written reflections of 17 Indonesian EFL teachers helped to identify that it is necessary to count
on a specialized platform, it was also revealed that there is a lack of students’ motivation and
engagement, as well as the big amount of time teachers dedicate to creating online material. In
order to enhance learning efficacy, it is necessary to create a suitable platform that has all the
required material to help teachers, students and institutions in general.
In Saudi Arabia, this same reality was studied by Mohamed (4). A qualitative and quantitative
study was carried out with the help of a questionnaire applied to teachers in different universities
in Saudi Arabia, it was distributed with the help of different tools such as WhatsApp groups, email,
and Facebook. The results depicted that it is necessary to have the right training and orientation
programs to work with proper platforms not only for teachers but also for students.
The EFL teaching approach at the University of India was also studied by Lokanath (6), specifically
on how the applied methods in face-to-face classes can be translated to an online context.
According to the obtained results, it seems that the key to a good online teaching-learning
process is to have good class management with a holistic approach, meaning that all aspects of
education must be taken into account, with a special emphasis on the well-being of the student.
Dr. Mahyoob (8) in his study emphasizes the usefulness of the WhatsApp message app as a
support system in the learning process, with which students could constantly communicate with
their teachers and their peers in the midst of this crisis. This strongly supports the point made by
Kaid & Hady (4), who stated that social media can be used as contributing foreign language
learning tool.
Even if this context seems new to most of society, online education has been a reality for a long
time. It has been applied by a small number of institutions, in Ecuador, however, it is not only a
great source of knowledge and materials but, according to Krish (5), it has also been a great
opportunity to collaborate and associate with other course participants. Even if there were not
many study programs offered by Ecuadorian secondary or tertiary education centers, this study
modality gave people the opportunity to get their desired preparation level.
METHODOLOGY
This study was carried out at the secondary level of Ecuadorian private and public institutions,
with a total of 10 teachers who willingly collaborated with the semi-structured interview, which
gathered relevant information about EFL educators and their teaching context during the COVID-
19 pandemic lockdown. They were 6 females and 4 males, ages 25-41, from private and public
secondary educational institutions from the city of Ambato.
This topic was deemed important given that the last results provided by Education First (13)
depict Ecuador in position 82 out of the tested countries assessed in their English proficiency
level. Among the regional countries, it is ranked third-to-last place out of 20 Latin American
countries.
LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3341.
In previous years, its position was not favorable either, but this year the results are worrying. For
this reason, it is necessary to know what is the reality EFL secondary teachers are dealing with.
However, given the sanitary crisis, the context has dramatically changed for every person in the
world. An analysis of the teaching techniques applied by the educators is necessary to
understand the strengths that need to be valued and the weaknesses that need to be dealt with.
The English Language teachers who cooperated by answering the questions of a structured
interview were divided into two groups. Seven of them work in public institutions and three are
private school instructors. The participants were interviewed with the help of WhatsApp video
calls and Zoom calls. All of them were informed of the aim of this study and the value of the
information they could provide. The data were reduced and transcribed with the help of Google
Cloud Speech-to-text. Data coding was carried out to classify data and to identify trends among
the participants. Once the results were processed, they were condensed to present in the results
section along with their respective discussion.
RESULTS
This sample was made up of people who were willing to participate and tell their experience
during the lockdown online teaching period. This information was obtained thanks to question
one. 60% percent of them used Microsoft’s Teams as a teaching means, while 40% worked via
Zoom.
The second question was related to the use of a textbook, to which 60% answered that they didn’t
have a specific EFL book to teach during the lockdown period. The 40% remaining stated that
both their students and themselves were able to work with a book that provided the 75% of them
with digital resources for their online sessions. 25% of the teacher who used a textbook,
mentioned that it didn’t have any digital tools.
Figure 1
The second question was related to the use of a textbook
Fuente: Andrea Salazar, 2023.
Another important point to mention is that public school teachers were the ones who didn’t have
an official guidebook, mostly to the governmental decision of not asking the students to purchase
any other school supplies than those that were strictly required.
F
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ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3342.
The EFL teachers that answered that they didn’t use a textbook to guide them, declared that they
applied the material provided by the government, interactive online websites, self-made
worksheets or they just simply didn’t use any support teaching tool.
Table 1
Question 3: Applied didactic resources
Frecuency Percentage Valid
percentage
Accumulated
percentage
Modules from the government
3 50,0 50,0 50,0
Interactive Page 1 16,7 16,7 66,7
Don't use teaching resources
1 16,7 16,7 83,3
Worksheet papers 1 16,7 16,7 100,0
Total 6 100,0 100,0
Fuente: Andrea Salazar, 2023.
The group of teachers shared their experience teaching the English language skills. In relation to
grammar, the most popular way to teach it was with the help of PowerPoint, Canva and other
presentation tools. 50% of them applied this teaching technique to grab their students’ attention.
20% stated that YouTube videos were helpful during this period. 10% mentioned online apps to
practice grammar after the teaching process.
When asked about their approach to vocabulary, 50% acknowledged the importance of using
pictures in online presentations. 20% of them relied on the Flipped Classroom techniques. It is
necessary to point out that these answers remark on the importance of games and ludic activities
to learn vocabulary.
In relation to reading, 30% of the participants used websites and online platforms to check
reading comprehension. There was also stated that Active Thinking was essential given the
context. 10% highlighted the importance of working in groups for better results in virtual learning.
As to writing, the participants’ answers were varied. They applied online forums, apps, summaries,
short essays, writing essays at home and submitting them on a picture through Whatsapp. They
pointed out that feedback was crucial, regardless of the manner in which their students presented
in their writing.
In terms of autonomous work and assessment, the EFL teachers provided a wide array of
answers. 30% agreed on applying online platforms such as Edmondo for their students to practice
the language. They have also translated the face-to-face technique of collaborative work to have
them work together and to assess their peers. They mentioned technological online tools for
formative assessments, as well as interactive worksheets and games. The use of songs to
strengthen their knowledge was also brought up.
They were also inquired about their students’ progress monitoring systems. 60% commented that
the only way to do this was with online homework, online portfolio and virtual interaction. These
teachers are part of the public educational system, however, those working for private schools
LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3343.
had access to online platforms such as Moodle to monitor their students’ progress. One of the
participants pointed out that by the end of the school year, the students had to take the TOEFL
Junior exam and obtain a high score in order to pass the level, which is how their progress was
monitored.
Even if this study focuses on EFL teaching techniques, there were some aspects that needed to
be considered to be asked so that the context in which the teachers had to carry out the teaching-
learning process can be better understood. One of those aspects was training. Considering that
the COVID-19 pandemic was a never-before-seen event, it is evident that teachers had educated
themselves in matters of virtual learning. 70% affirm that they were not trained by their schools,
this group being part of the public school system.
Figure 2
Were you trained by your school to carry out the online teaching?
In this regard, they were also asked about their technological tools’ management, to which 70%
stated to be good at them. This implies that, even if they were not officially trained, they didn’t
have any major inconvenience during this teaching-learning process. Among the shared
comments they said that they had to learn how to use the platforms to access the sessions.
Table 2
How would you rate your technological tool management?
Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Accumulated
percentage
Excellent 2 20,0 20,0 20,0
Good 7 70,0 70,0 90,0
Fair 1 10,0 10,0 100,0
Total 10 100,0 100,0
Fuente: Andrea Salazar, 2023.
The participants were also asked about the technical support they received from their school,
60% stated that they sometimes got any help, 10% stated that they were rarely associated. These
answers came from the public system teachers who, quote, were not properly managed regarding
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ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, marzo, 2023, Volumen IV, Número 1 p 3344.
the technical context. The replies, “often” and “sometimes” come from private school EFL
teachers.
Figure 3
How often did you have technical support from your school?
Fuente: Andrea Salazar, 2023.
It was equally important, to better understand the situation, the participants were going through,
to learn about their students’ possibilities to join the online sessions during the pandemic
lockdown. They were asked about their students’ access to a device that made it possible for
them to attend online classes. They affirmed that most of the public school students could rarely
be in class, due to the lack of a proper appliance to log in. The remaining participants have varied
answers, as depicted in the following chart:
Figure 4
Did your students have the required technological devices to attend your online sessions?
Fuente: Andrea Salazar, 2023.
The participants shared information about their planning hours working at home. Given all the
circumstances presented above, it was deemed imperative to determine how many hours a day
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the EFL teachers used to plan their online classes, an average of three to four hours. These are
the expressed results:
Table 3
How many hours a day did you devote to planning your lessons for virtual learning
environments?
Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Accumulated
percentage
1 to 2 hours 1 10,0 10,0 10,0
2 to 3 hours 2 20,0 20,0 30,0
3 to 4 hours 6 60,0 60,0 80,0
4 to 5 hours 1 10,0 10,0 100,0
Total 10 100,0 100,0
Fuente: Andrea Salazar, 2023.
As it is depicted, teachers devoted from 3 to 4 hours to plan the activities to be applied in their
online sessions. This means that their commitment to their teaching duty demanded them to
spend more time than they would normally do. This conclusion is reached given that teachers
have their planning hours as part of their working schedule. However, due to this unprecedented
event, they had to take up more hours of their daily routines to find the best way to reach their
students through virtual means.
DISCUSSION
After the analysis of the gathered date, it is possible to state that public school teachers faced
bigger challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, they were not able to have a
textbook for teaching support, and neither did their students. The measure was considered given
the economic consequences of the lockdown in the Ecuadorian families.
Another reason for the statement above is the fact that they didn’t have any training in how to
teach online using meeting apps. Their dexterity came from their own experience and they were
rarely assisted by their schools whenever they faced a technological predicament. In addition,
they did not have access to a learning platform to keep track of their students’ progress as the
private EFL teacher’s did. The class management between the two is notoriously different, given
that private teachers could evidence their students’ work by logging into Moodle or other
platforms. Furthermore, another obstacle for the teaching-learning process was that a vast
number of public schools’ students were not able to access their online sessions on the grounds
that they did not have an appropriate device.
It is necessary to remark that, even with limitations, public and private teachers managed to
practice the language skills in virtual learning environments. The use of online resources was the
most popular option, as well as the interaction through meeting apps that made it possible to
translate, to certain extent, activities that were applied in face-to-face classes such as reading
comprehension, oral presentation, grammar and vocabulary practice games, and others. All this
was possible as a result of an arduous process of planning carried out at an average of 3 to 4
hours a day, where grammar and vocabulary presentation, formal and informal assessments, and
evaluation portfolios were adapted to a never-before-seen educational context in which the EFL
teachers' performance could be described as outstanding.
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