Perceptions on the Internal Factors Influencing EFL Learning: A Case of Ecuadorian Children

Abstract

This study was conducted to identify teachers' and students' perceptions regarding the internal factors that influence English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learning in the southern region of Ecuador. The participants were 257 children, who answered a questionnaire about motivation, anxiety, willingness, self-efficacy and memorization when learning English skills. The English classes that these students took were observed during a three-month period. In addition, eight teachers were interviewed in order to know their views about the students' internal factors in EFL learning. After analyzing the data quantitatively and qualitatively, the results evidenced that, according to the participants' perceptions, motivation decreases depending on the students' age and the type of skills. Furthermore, anxiety when speaking in front of the class and doing listening activities increases as the students get older. Students are also self-efficient in the classroom, and they recall what they have learned. All the implications that can be derived from these factors should be carefully analyzed by educational stakeholders in order to help students succeed in the learning process.

Young Learners Preferences on Using Games and Songs for Learning English in EFL Context

“…Some positive respond and negative respond. The studies which have examined the students' perception of EFL learning like positive respond (Abdelrady et al, 2022;Abdullah, 2020;Alghasab, 2020;Hussain Al-Qahtani, 2019;Bsharat et al, 2021;Ika Dhamayanti, 2021;Fithriani et at., 2019;Sheybani, 2019;Tragant & Vallbona, 2018;Wang et al, 2021;Behnamnia et al, 2020;BEN EL MOUDDEN, 2021), while other studies report the negative respond from students (Klimova & Polakova, 2020;Cabrera-Solano et al, 2019).…”

Teachers’ and Students’ Perception on Acquiring English Vocabulary for Young Learners Using Mobile Apps in EFL Context

“…The similar point of views leads the mutual understanding to reach the aim of learning. Therefore, many studies in EFL context have investigated the teachers' perception (Alghasab, 2020;Bsharat et al, 2021;Ćirković-Miladinović and Dimitrijević, 2020;Luan et., 2020;Millán Librado & Santos, 2020;;Reynolds et al, 2021) and students' perceptions (Abdelrady et al, 2022;Abdullah, 2020;Cabrera-Solano et al, 2019;Fithriani et al, 2019;Hussain Al-Qahtani, 2019;Ika Dhamayanti, 2021;Karimian Shirejini & Shirejeni, 2020;Klimova & Polakova, 2020;Millá n Librado & Santos, 2020;Roos & Nicholas, 2019;Sheybani, 2019;Soria et al, 2020;Pishghadam et al, 2021;Vattøy & Smith, 2019;Wallace & Leong, 2020;Wang et al, 2019). The respondent and participants used in the previous studies of EFL are also varied such as university or college students (Abdullah, 2020;Alghasab, 2020;Hussain Al-Qahtani, 2019;Karimian Shirejini & Shirejeni, 2020, Klimova & Polakova, 2020Luan et al, 2020;Reynolds et al, 2021;Wang et al, 2019), the respondent from senior high students (Abdelrady et al, 2022;Ika Dhamayanti, 2021;Hadj Said & Al-Jamal, 2018), and the respondent from elementary school (Bsharat et al, 2021;Cabrera-Solano et al, 2019;Ćirković-Miladinović and Dimitrijević, 2020;Gutierrez Arviz...…”

“…The focus might cover only one skill of language competent or more than one. The previous studies that examine reading skills (Elyas & Al-Bogami, 2018;Kurt, 2021;Tragant & Vallbona, 2018), writing skills (Alghasab, 2020;Kurt, 2021;Roos & Nicholas, 2019), Hussain Al-Qahtani, 2019;Hadj Said & Al-Jamal, 2018;Sheybani, 2019), listening skills (Cabrera-Solano et al, 2019;Sheybani, 2019;Sooria et al, 2020;Tragant & Vallbona, 2018). Besides four skills of language, there are few other language components reported by the previous studies such as vocabulary (Abdullah, 2020;Boyinbode, 2018;Chen, 2019;Elaish, 2017;Elyas & Al-Bogami, 2018;Hadj Said & Al-Jamal, 2018;Klimova, 2019;Klimova & Polakova, 2020;Kohnke, 2020;Makoe, 2018;Nicolaidou, 2021;Song, & Ma, 2019;Sooria et al, 2020), pronunciation (Hadj Said & Al-Jamal, 2018.…”

“…The studies which have examined the students' perception to EFL learning like positive respond (Abdelrady et al, 2022;Abdullah, 2020;Alghasab, 2020;Bsharat et al, 2021;Ćirković-Miladinović and Dimitrijević, 2020;Fithriani et at., 2019;Hussain Al-Qahtani, 2019;Ika Dhamayanti, 2021;Sheybani, 2019;Tragant & Vallbona, 2018;Wang et al, 2019), while other studies report the negative respond from students (Cabrera-Solano et al, 2019;Klimova & Polakova, 2020). In addition, the usage of ICT undergone by teacher in the classroom is less effective (Habibi et al, 2019).…”

Using Digital Games for Enhancing EFL Grammar and Vocabulary in Higher Education

“…Since English is considered a lingua franca in our globalized world, teaching English as a foreign language is becoming increasingly important nowadays. Nevertheless, learning it might constitute a challenge in several contexts [12]. As [13] acknowledges, EFL teaching involves several factors that affect teachers and learners.…”