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Attitudes towards inclusive education in teaching English as a foreign language: an academic review
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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 145.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.56712//latam.v3i2.71
Attitudes towards inclusive education in teaching English
as a foreign language: an academic review
Actitudes hacia la educación inclusiva en la enseñanza del inglés como
lengua extranjera: una revisión académica
Karina Sotomayor Cantos
Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo
ksotomayor@uteq.edu.ec
Orcid https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-1875
Quevedo - Ecuador
Rosmaira Martínez Garcés
Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo
rmartinez@uteq.edu.ec
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8411-6259
Quevedo – Ecuador
Rosa Varas Giler
Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo
rvaras@uteq.edu.ec
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2117-4128
Quevedo - Ecuador
Artículo recibido: 26 de agosto de 2022. Aceptado para publicación: 03 de septiembre de 2022
Conflictos de Interés: Ninguno que declarar.
Todo el contenido de LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades,
publicados en este sitio está disponibles bajo Licencia Creative Commons .
Como citar: Sotomayor Cantos, K., Martínez Garcés, R., & Varas Giler, R. Attitudes towards
inclusive education in teaching English as a foreign language: an academic review. LATAM
Revista Latinoamericana De Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, 3(2), 145–153.
https://doi.org/10.56712/latam.v3i2.71

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 146.
Resumen
Enseñar inglés como lengua extranjera es un trabajo desafiante que implica aplicar diferentes
estrategias en el proceso, ya que enseñar una L2 no es nada fácil. Los docentes deben aprender
a utilizar diversas metodologías para desarrollar las cuatro habilidades de manera efectiva. Por
lo tanto, enseñar inglés a alumnos con necesidades educativas especiales es un gran desafío
que incluye no solo formación y conocimientos, sino también una actitud positiva por parte de
los docentes. Desde esta perspectiva, este artículo presenta una revisión de la literatura sobre
las actitudes de los docentes hacia la educación inclusiva en la enseñanza del inglés como
lengua extranjera. Se realizó una búsqueda de artículos en la base de datos de Google Scholar
utilizando palabras clave como NEE, inclusión, enseñanza, inglés y perspectivas. En base a estas
variables de búsqueda, se seleccionaron 7 artículos. Los resultados de esta revisión indican que
la mayoría de los docentes tienen una actitud positiva hacia la educación inclusiva en la
enseñanza del inglés, pero existe una gran falta de conocimiento y formación en los futuros
docentes, docentes en servicio y estudiantes en este campo. Entonces, es por eso que hoy en día
aplicar estrategias y metodologías para un aula de inglés inclusiva no funciona de manera
efectiva.
Palabras clave: perspectivas, inclusión, NEE, inglés, maestros.

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 147.
Abstract
Teaching English as a foreign language is a challenging job that implies applying different
strategies in the process, since teaching an L2 is not easy at all. Teachers must learn to use
various methodologies to develop the four skills effectively. So, teaching English to students with
special educational needs is a big challenge that includes not only training and knowledge, but
also a positive attitude from teachers. From this perspective, this article presents a literature
review about teachers’ attitudes toward inclusive education in teaching English as a foreign
language. A search of articles was carried out in the Google Scholar database using keywords
such as SEN, inclusion, teaching, English, and perspectives. Based on these search variables, 7
articles were selected. The results of this review indicate that most of the teachers have a positive
attitude toward inclusive education in teaching English, but there is a great lack of knowledge and
training in pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and students in this field. So, that is why
nowadays applying strategies and methodologies for an inclusive English classroom does not
work effectively.
Keywords: perspectives, inclusion, SEN, English, teachers.

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 148.
INTRODUCTION
Inclusion of all people without distinction is a human rights issue; equality, equal opportunities,
and non-discrimination must be our today's society's challenges. Thus, an inclusive school and
family education that promotes diversity in flexible ways, promotes integration and combats
school failure by working for the educational success of all citizens (López, 2016). In addition,
goal 4 of the Sustainable Development Goals aims to ensure inclusive and equitable quality
education and to promote opportunities for lifelong learning for all (Unesco, 2021).
In this regard, there is a law in Ecuador that develops and deepens the rights, obligations, and
constitutional guarantees in the educational field, which sets up that Ecuador's aim is to educate
everyone, including students with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities, whether
physical, intellectual, or psychological, who speak a different language, come from different
ethnic groups, are afflicted, have mobility issues, are victims of violence or addiction, and so on
(Ley Orgánica de educación intercultural, 2015).
So, research on educational inclusion has become a popular topic and a necessity in the
educational field (Salazar et al., 2017). However, there is a lack of knowledge from teachers about
how to deal with students with special educational needs. When finding this kind of student in
the classroom, most teachers almost always do not know what strategies to apply in the
teaching-learning process. So, for English teachers, it is even more challenging to make these
students acquire the language. To meet the demands of inclusive education, teachers must be
properly trained to teach in institutions with a wide range of special educational needs (Jiménez
et al, 2015). In this respect, the question that guides this study is the following: what are teachers’
attitudes toward inclusive education in EFL classrooms?
Consequently, the objective of this research was to carry out a review of the literature on teachers’
and students’ attitudes towards inclusive education in the EFL. This article is divided into four
sections: the introduction, methodology, results and discussion, and conclusion.
METHODOLOGY
The present study is a theoretical review that allows knowing the perspectives of teachers about
inclusive education in EFL classrooms; which has a qualitative approach. To collect the articles
that were part of the literary review, a search was made in the Google Scholar database. The
search criteria used were the use of keywords such as inclusion, attitudes, perspectives, English,
methodologies, and education; with a temporal delimitation of the last 5 years (2017-2022);
citable documents, and type of literature (articles). The search was carried out in the month of
August 2022.
Once the search was carried out with the aforementioned criteria, special emphasis was placed
on titles referring to the process of teaching and learning the English language. Each article's
summary (abstract), results, and conclusion were read in order to select those that met the
investigation's criteria: articles that presented research on inclusive methodological strategies in
the teaching-learning process of the English language, and articles that focused on perspectives,
attitudes, and opinions about these methodologies. Articles published before 2017 and those
whose methodology was applied to the teaching of any other subject except English as a foreign
language, were specifically excluded.

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 149.
RESULTS
In this literature review, 7 articles were included that referred to the aforementioned criteria. This
sample is presented in Table 1.
Table 1
Analyzed simple
Data
base
Year
of
publicatio
n
Authors
Títtle
Scholar
Google
2017
Troeva
Inclusive education in foreign language
teaching: What is the first step to make it
work?.
Scholar
Google
2018
Rezai, Jabbari &
Ahmadi
Its greatest Benefit of inclusión is its
challenge?: EFL teachers’ attitudes towards
inclusión of learners with disabilities.
Scholar
Google
2018
Loor, Ortíz & Aucapiña
Perceptions of the English language teachers
about educational inclusion.
Scholar
Google
2018
Ávalos,
Redondo,
Rojas & Salazar
Inclusive learning methologies through use of
ICT: Opinions of Costa Rican students and
teachers.
Scholar
Google
2020
Haggag & Bakr
Teachers’ percepctions about language
learning difficulties in English as a foreign
language EFL classes.
Scholar
Google
2020
Aksu & Tasci
An investigation of prospective language
teachers’ knowledge and attitudes towards
inclusive education in Turkey.
Scholar
Google
2022
Mendoza, Enriquez &
Lopez
Foreign language teachers’ attitudes towards
inclusive English language teaching to pupils
with learning difficulties.
The results of the literary review are described below (look at the Complementary Material):
Because the teacher's attitude toward his students is so important in educational activities, it is
essential to recognize those attitudes that may prevent students with SEN from accessing and
benefiting from education with equal opportunities (Sucaticona, 2016).

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
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That is why, Troeva (2017), carried out qualitative research, through interviews with thirty
Bulgarian teachers of preschool, school, and university; twenty-six were English teachers and four
were teachers of other languages. The objective of this study was to identify their attitudes to
teach students with SEN. The results showed that the specific disabilities found were dyslexia,
deafness, autism, visual impairment, physical impairment, and mental health disorders. In
addition, teachers with more teaching experience had a more negative attitude than those with
less. One explanation would be that long years of teaching have resulted in a higher number of
unsuccessful interactions with students with SEN. The reason could be that the integration of
these students, particularly those with more severe learning difficulties, only began a few years
ago in Bulgaria.
Moreover, the survey results also show that the majority of participants have reservations about
in-class instruction, regardless of their overall attitude toward teaching students with disabilities.
That could imply that, while many participants support the wonderful idea of welcoming all
students in the classroom, its practical implementation remains elusive to them, possibly due to
a lack of preparation. One more factor identified by survey participants in achieving an inclusive
foreign language classroom is the support of all foreign language class members for the student
with SEN. Not only the teacher's collaboration, the entire class, is deemed necessary to raise
awareness of inclusive values among peers.
Rezai, et al., (2018) conducted a qualitative and quantitative study on the issue of inclusion.
Surveys were carried out on 254 Iran teachers of language institutes, of whom 35.4% had
experienced teaching SEN and 64.4% hadn’t. They reported a total of 200 SEN. The surveys
showed that EFL teachers in Iran's language institutes have neutral-to-positive attitudes and
perceptions about special-needs students in their English classes. In other words, some teachers
reported inclusion negatively while others reported it positively.
Furthermore, teachers reported some benefits from including disabled students in English
language classes. The most significant advantages were a better understanding of individual
differences through group interaction, social and emotional development, improved
communication and social life skills, increased motivation, improved teaching knowledge, and
others. They also stated that additional training is required to achieve a productive integration of
EFL learners with difficulties in English language institutes.
Many institutions do not pay as much attention to SEN students as they do to their regular peers
in EFL educational settings (Reiza, et al., 2018). In this sense, Loor-Aldaz, et al., 2018) researched
the perceptions of English language teachers about educational inclusion which had a descriptive
quantitative approach. The population object of the study included eight Ecuadorian participants,
who were English teachers at a primary school. The survey used in this study is a Likert-type scale
of eight elements. The results obtained in this study show that the perception of English teachers
about inclusion is positive in a high percentage and reveals the importance of the role of the
foreign language teacher in inclusive education.
Guerrero (2012) discusses some methodologies, techniques, and resources that can be used
outside of the classroom to promote inclusive learning environments, including the use of ICT. In
this respect, Avalos, et al., (2018) conducted a comparative analysis of three educational centers
in Costa Rica with the goal of investigating the use of various ICT in the teaching-learning
processes in Science and English and determining whether such use indicates the
implementation of teaching and learning methodologies that favor a comprehensive education
and attention to student diversity. The sample of this study was 59 students and 8 teachers.

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 151.
The study's goal is to look deeper into the differences in opinion between teachers and students
from three educational centers regarding the use of available ICT in each educational center, in
order to determine whether the use of these resources favors the development of inclusive
learning methodologies in Science and English subjects. This research was descriptive and
explanatory. Interviews, observation processes using Likert scales, and focus groups were used
to gather information.
Following the collection of qualitative data, an electronic questionnaire was administered to the
students. In contrast to opinions between students and educators, one of the main findings of
the research has been the absence of inclusive practice in the learning that students receive. The
latter revealed that teachers' use of technological resources is not inclusive or educational, but
rather instrumental. The results also indicated that there is a lack of initiative, rigid planning,
ignorance in the subject of inclusion from the use of learning practices supported by various
technological resources, and resistance to the change to implement new learning methodologies,
seem to be possible causes that make the development of an inclusive learning management
system impossible.
Thus, teachers of English as a Foreign Language teachers face particular difficulties when
teaching students with learning disabilities along with their peers who do not (Lama, 2019). For
that reason, Haggag, et al., (2020) made research about a study on English language teachers'
perceptions of English language learning difficulties in their classes. A descriptive analytical
approach was carried out, it used a questionnaire divided into four sections: basic concepts,
intervention techniques, class barriers, and class assessment techniques. The second tool was
an online reflection journal that participants used to record their thoughts on language learning
challenges. The participants were 99 English language teachers at various stages in Egypt. The
findings revealed a significant positive relationship between participants' perceptions of English
language learning difficulties and its concepts, intervention techniques, barriers, and assessment
techniques. The study's recommendations included incorporating language learning difficulties
modules into both pre-service and in-service teacher education and training programs, as well as
emphasizing intervention techniques in EFL curricula and learning difficulties assessment
procedures and techniques.
On the other hand, when hiring new teachers, it is also important to know the experiences or level
of knowledge about teaching students with SEN and the procedures that it involves. Aksu, et al.,
(2020) conducted research on prospective language teachers' perspectives on inclusive
education in the Turkish context. The sample was 20 prospective teachers. It is relevant to
highlight that the participants did not take any courses oriented to teaching language in inclusive
classrooms or to students with learning disabilities. Some of their methodology lessons, however,
covered topics related to teaching students with special needs.
The study applied a qualitative approach. So a questionnaire with open-ended questions was
given to the participants. The findings appeared to show that the majority of prospective language
teachers understood what inclusive education meant. Although these prospective language
teachers had positive attitudes toward inclusive language education, they stated that they lacked
the necessary knowledge to succeed. They also emphasized the relevance of both theoretical
and practical inclusive education training.
Mendoza et al., (2022) worked on the same line two years later. The purpose of this study was to
describe the attitudes of English language teachers in primary schools in Cuba toward inclusive
teaching of students with SEN. The method used was descriptive. They polled 50 teachers and
interviewed them. A Likert-scale survey was used, with three attitude components examined:
cognitive, affective, and behavioral. The data from the surveys and the interviews were found to
be completely coincidental. The findings revealed that teachers of foreign languages have an
indecisive or neutral attitude toward the three components of inclusive teaching English to SEN,
owing to a lack of knowledge about SEN and L2 learning.

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 152.
DISCUSSION
It is extremely important to highlight the significance of raising educational populations'
awareness on the subject of inclusion and diversity so that it is understood that this must be
present in classrooms and be part of all the elements that integrate the teaching process and
learning because we are all part of a diversity with particularities, strengths, and weaknesses,
which enriches the classroom in the formation of values and new knowledge from an integrality.
According to the academic review, teacher attitudes and perceptions towards inclusion are the
most important factor influencing the successful implementation of inclusion. Various
investigations have been conducted in this regard, and some pertinent factors have been
presented. This study adds to the body of knowledge by analyzing the complicated system of EFL
teachers' perceptions and attitudes, as well as their concerns about promoting positive attitudes
toward the inclusion of learners with SEN.
It is clearly evidenced that teachers lack education and training scenarios in inclusive teaching
English methodologies, which sometimes generates an exclusive attitude toward students with
SEN, in addition to a lack of resources and strategies, support and curricular adjustment, and
shortcomings in continuous accompaniment. Nevertheless, some teachers showed a positive
attitude toward inclusive language education.
To sum up, some urgent actions need to be done to encourage teachers, such as additional
training that is required to achieve successful integration of EFL learners with SEN and involve all
students in this process. Thus, inclusion in the institutions will foster understanding of individual
differences and encourage students throughout the institution to be more supportive of their
peers, allowing them to develop in a humanistic setting. They will develop values that will allow
them to coexist in a respectful and friendly environment.
As for limitations, there was little current research on this topic, and the data of this study were
collected from qualitative researches majority. As a result, it is suggested that future studies
supplement qualitative data with quantitative data, and inclusive methodologies in teaching
English to students with SEN are studied.

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LATAM Revista Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades, Asunción, Paraguay.
ISSN en línea: 2789-3855, agosto, 2022, Volumen 3, Número 2, p. 153.
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