Teaching Speaking Skills in Ecuador: EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs during the Practicum

Jardel Santos; Gloria Luque-Agulló

doi:10.31261/TAPSLA.17221

Published: 2025-10-22

2025

Teaching Speaking Skills in Ecuador: EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs during the Practicum

Jardel Santos

, Gloria Luque-Agulló

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.17221

Abstract

Teachers’ beliefs shape their pedagogical strategies, yet many language teachers remain unaware of their educational philosophies and how these beliefs are manifested in their teaching practices. This issue becomes more significant regarding pre-service teachers’ beliefs, which affect their performance during the practicum when they start university programs with pre-established beliefs about teaching. The present qualitative study aims to investigate five Ecuadorian EFL pre-service teachers’ beliefs about teaching speaking skills. Data were collected through written and visual narratives, focus group interviews, and reflective journals. The analysis was done following grounded theory. Findings show three different core beliefs: (a) the importance of English, (b) speaking error correction, and (c) methodologies to teach speaking skills. Research into teachers’ beliefs is critical, as it may offer insights into teachers’
thought processes and classroom planning strategies. Further research is necessary to see how these beliefs affect their teaching practices.

Keywords:

speaking , teaching , practicum , EFL , Ecuador

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Santos, J., & Luque-Agulló, G. (2025). Teaching Speaking Skills in Ecuador: EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs during the Practicum. Theory and Practice of Second Language Acquisition, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.31261/TAPSLA.17221

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Jardel Santos

jc000030@red.ujaen.es
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8626-7229

Affiliation:

Universidad de Jaén / Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo, Ecuador Spain

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Jardel Coutinho dos Santos holds a BA in English and Portuguese language teaching from Universidade Federal de Viçosa, Brazil, and an MSc. in English language teaching from Universidad Casa Grande, Ecuador. Currently, he is a Ph.D. candidate in Languages and Culture at the Universidad de Jaén (Spain). He is a professor in the English Pedagogy career at Universidad Técnica Estatal de Quevedo. His research interests include teachers’ and students’ identities, beliefs, information and communication technologies (ICTs) applied to language learning, and pedagogical innovation in language.

Gloria Luque-Agulló

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1237-1549

Affiliation:

Universidad de Jaén Spain

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Gloria Luque Agulló holds a PhD in English Philology from the University of Jaén, where she has worked for nearly 30 years. She has participated in the committee for the preparation of University Entrance Exams tests in Andalucía since 2007 up to 2022. Currently, she codirects the Acquisition and Learning panel for the Spanish Association of Applied Linguistics (AESLA). Her research interests deal with teaching and learning English as a second/foreign language, focusing on TEFL materials and design and how to maximize learning outcomes.

2025
Published: 2022-05-31

ISSN: 2450-5455

eISSN: 2451-2125

10.31261/tapsla

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Teaching Speaking Skills in Ecuador: EFL Pre-Service Teachers’ Beliefs during the Practicum

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Keywords:

Jardel Santos

Gloria Luque-Agulló

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