Article

Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy

Innovations

Dinamización del Inglés en Ecuador: explorando las innovaciones en políticas educativas

en inglés de Corea

Revitalização do inglês no Equador: explorando as inovações nas políticas de educação de

inglês na Coréia

Chriselle Domenica Espinar

Fourth semester student a pedagogy of National and Foreign Languages, University of

Guayaquil, https://orcid.org/0000-0003- 1273-811X, chriselle.espinarc@ug.edu.ec

Received May 2021 - Accepted September 2021

Revista Iberoamericana de la Educación

Vol - 4 No. 4, October - December 2021

e-ISSN: 2737-632x

Pgs 56-80

Abstract: Ecuador requires the incorporation of new educational policies that

meet the needs of English today. One of the strategies required to solve this

problem is to develop alongside international educational trends. This article

explores the proposals in the teaching of the English language within the

educational system of South Korea such as the EPIK and FSP, showing

alternatives that may become applicable in the Ecuadorian context. This

review is qualitative, exploratory and descriptive in scope. Information

related to the needs and challenges faced by EFL contexts was recovered and

organized into three main sections: (1); Specific needs of the teaching-

learning of English, (2); What about teaching English in South Korea? (3);

Challenges of the EFL Context. It was agreed that in Ecuador and Korea,

students feel great difficulty developing productive skills (speaking / writing).

Further research can take this article as a reference of the successes and

challenges of EFL contexts to create more policies that can be implemented

in such a way that schools, government and teachers are encouraged to take

advantage of the variety of opportunities and overcome the challenges.

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

Keywords: EFL context; Educational policies; English as second language;

Teaching learning process.

Resumen: Ecuador requiere la incorporación de nuevas políticas educativas

que se acoplen a las necesidades que demanda el inglés en la sociedad actual.

Una de las estrategias requeridas para resolver este problema es desarrollarse

a la par con tendencias educativas internacionales. Este artículo explora las

propuestas en la enseñanza del idioma inglés dentro del sistema educativo de

Corea del sur como el EPIK y FSP, mostrando alternativas que puedan llegar

a ser aplicables en el contexto ecuatoriano. Esta revisión es cualitativa, de

alcance exploratorio y descriptivo, se recuperó información relacionada a las

necesidades y desafíos que enfrenta los contextos EFL y se organizó en tres

principales apartados: (1); Necesidades específicas de la enseñanza-

aprendizaje de inglés, (2); ¿Qué pasa con enseñanza de inglés en Corea del

Sur?, (3); Desafíos del Contexto EFL. Se coincidió que en Ecuador y Corea

los estudiantes sienten gran dificultad desarrollando habilidades productivas

(speaking/writing). Otras investigaciones pueden tomar este artículo como

referencia de los éxitos y desafíos de los contextos EFL para crear más

políticas que puedan implementarse de tal manera que las escuelas, el

gobierno y los docentes se animen a aprovechar la variedad de oportunidades

y superar los desafíos.

Palabras clave: Contexto EFL; Políticas educativas; Inglés como segunda

lengua; Proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje.

Resumo: O Equador requer a incorporação de novas políticas educacionais

que atendam às necessidades do inglês na sociedade atual. Uma das

estratégias necessárias para resolver esse problema é se desenvolver junto

com as tendências educacionais internacionais. Este artigo explora as

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

propostas no ensino da língua inglesa no sistema educacional da Coreia do

Sul, como o EPIK e a FSP, mostrando alternativas que podem se tornar

aplicáveis no contexto equatoriano. Esta revisão tem um escopo qualitativo,

exploratório e descritivo, e as informações relacionadas às necessidades e

desafios enfrentados pelos contextos de EFL foram recuperadas e organizadas

em três seções principais: (1); Necessidades específicas do ensino-

aprendizagem de Inglês, (2); Que tal ensinar inglês na Coreia do Sul?, (3);

Desafios do contexto EFL. Foi acordado que no Equador e na Coréia os

alunos sentem grande dificuldade em desenvolver habilidades produtivas

(fala / escrita). Pesquisas futuras podem tomar este artigo como uma

referência dos sucessos e desafios dos contextos de EFL para criar mais

políticas que possam ser implementadas de forma que escolas, governo e

professores sejam incentivados a aproveitar a variedade de oportunidades e

superar os desafios.

Palavras-chave: Contexto EFL; Políticas educacionais; Inglês como segunda

língua; Processo de ensino aprendizagem.

INTRODUCTION

The desire and complexity of promoting a globalized world that disseminates

better communication skills, knowledge of great usefulness and interest and

quality training, today is strongly occupying a transcendental role in

Ecuadorian education, for which teaching and learning A second language for

the development of globalization is fundamental and an inescapable fact that

must be faced, since it has great relevance in the educational field as well as

in the labor field and in cultural, economic and political aspects.

Especially in the field of education, it is well known that both the educational

system and the advancement of societies must rise in the same direction and

at the same pace, because social action and its needs are constantly changing

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

and each time with better expectations, so it is inconceivable to think that

schools and universities maintain the same system that is currently known

Aldana-Zavala et al. (2020). Due to this, the educational system must face the

permanent challenge of providing the student with a solid professional

preparation, totally avoiding the exclusivity that may exist in some specific

areas of education.

Particularly the teaching of English in Ecuador according to Merchan et al.

(2016) emphasize that "it is one of the main concerns of Ecuadorian teachers,

highlighting that the content and quality standards that govern English

programs in Ecuador are not very flexible [...]" (p.116). This causes an

environment of instability for teachers who want to dynamize the teaching-

learning process, which in turn demands the adaptation of new evaluation

models and curricular modifications that meet the quality standards required

by the teaching of the English language.

It should be noted that the teaching of the English language in Ecuador is

stipulated as mandatory in public schools and universities within the

educational system, in addition Bernasconi & Celis (2017) emphasize that

Ecuador offers more profound reforms compared to other countries.

Therefore, English teachers have been evaluated and trained, however Santos

& Weathers (2015) analyze that these activities have not had the successful

performance expected in the country. Thus Gordón & Rocío (2017) suggest

that "it is necessary for Ecuadorian education to reflect on itself, on its being,

its work and its purposes [...]" (p.133).

Additionally, creating a positive environment of respect and tolerance within

the classroom in EFL settings is an essential part of the teaching-learning

process of a second language. N. E. C. Bravo & Belen (2019) indicate that a

positive climate makes the learner feel the support of the teacher, while being

concerned about their learning needs and enhancing the teacher-student

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

relationship, their motivation and teamwork. Likewise, Jarrín & Kim (2019)

argue that it has an effect on their autonomy, critical thinking and student

motivation. In this way, the teacher becomes a designer of their ways of

imparting knowledge to reach all the learning objectives (Rea & Román,

2019).

On the other hand, Vasquez-Martinez et al. (2018) explains that the

incorporation of educational policies and other complementary policies is

required to be able to overcome the difficulties they are currently facing.

Therefore, one of the strategies required to overcome these difficulties is to

develop alongside international educational trends. Thus, it is understood that

it is necessary to integrate new methodological alternatives and adapt

strategies that promote a dynamic teaching and learning process to improve

the quality of English teaching in Ecuador. Given that when wanting to

perform in the international framework, low English proficiency is usually a

problem in students in the Ecuadorian context (Villao, 2016).

Contemplating the need to know new innovative proposals that can be

coupled to the quality standards currently required by the teaching of the

English language, the objectives of this review article are; identify the specific

needs of the teaching-learning of English, explore the different scientific

studies in the Korean educational system in English in order to publicize

proposals that improved the quality of language teaching and also intends to

propose alternatives that streamline the process language teaching in Ecuador.

However, it is important to note that the position of this article is exploratory

and reflective of the different innovative proposals that have been made in the

teaching of the English language within the educational system of a non-

English-speaking country such as South Korea and thus know alternatives

that may become applicable in the Ecuadorian context.

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

MATERIALS AND METHODS

In this research, a bibliographic review was carried out with a qualitative,

exploratory and descriptive approach regarding the different scientific

productions directed towards the teaching- learning process of the English

language in EFL environments, as well as, reports, case studies and articles

as primary source of information.

For this bibliographic review, a search was carried out in the Eric, Redalyc,

Scielo and REDIB databases focused on documents of scientific production

in education, particularly in foreign language with a mention in English in the

national and international context, carried out by universities and institutions

in relation to improve dynamization in the teaching of English as a foreign

language.

Due to the fact that more research and studies published in the English

language were found, it was considered convenient to carry out the search for

the information with the key words essentially in this language and then in

Spanish. Subsequently, the reports, case studies, comparative studies and

scientific articles were compiled by means of the following equations;

¨Korea¨ AND ¨English Education¨ and ¨EFL context¨ AND ¨Ecuador¨

without a date limit. Later, the thesaurus and main descriptors were modified

by synonyms to make the search for significant results more precise.

Finally, the bibliographic references found within the most relevant scientific

articles for this section were used with the aim of rescuing remarkable and

essential information directed to the subject that has been carried out in this

review. These references were retrieved from the articles obtained in the

ERIC databases.

In the search for the information, documents that had studies and research

carried out mainly in the educational field within the teaching of a foreign

language in both South Korea and Ecuador were included, in addition, studies

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

carried out in Colombia and Mexico were considered, as well as they

correspond to improving the quality of teaching the English language. On the

other hand, in terms of scientific articles and case studies, the inclusion

criteria of these studies were corresponding to the level of schools or

universities, in addition to including practical proposals to stimulate the

teaching of English. Similarly, research and studies were included that in their

conclusions contributed with activities to stimulate the teaching-learning

process of English within the classroom.

The main exclusion criterion was that the articles found did not contain

information regarding; foreign language education, improvement of English

language practices, active second language learning, activities inside and

outside of class and English as a second language.

Data extraction:

Subsequent to the initial search, approximately 262 results were obtained, of

which 211 were excluded that did not contribute significantly, nor did they

contain the information related to the research of this review article. 7 case

studies, 3 comparative studies, 1 book, 2 Reports and 38 scientific articles

were selected. For selection and subsequent extraction, the summaries,

keywords and corresponding titles of each document were briefly examined,

in the same way, it was considered convenient to read certain articles that

revealed information derived from the subject of this review in order to verify

whether their content was substantial to mention or not, with the purpose of

adding or discarding it. For the easy management and organization of the

bibliographic references of this review article, the Mendeley bibliographic

manager was used.

In the data collection and analysis of the 51 studies obtained and reviewed for

this article, information was recovered regarding the needs of English today,

the Korean educational system in English, the challenges faced by the EFL

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

contexts and organized all the information in three main sections: first;

Specific needs of the teaching-learning of English, second; What about

teaching the English language in South Korea? Which in turn of subdivided,

third; Challenges of the EFL Context.

RESULTS

Specific needs of teaching and learning English.

Communication and international relations have increased over time in recent

decades, due to this the need to develop skills in the English language as the

most important way to globalization and in turn to modernization is felt in

non-native English speaking countries from all over the world. Consequently,

to this demand, the educational systems of all these countries where the

mother tongue is not English, including Ecuador, have placed a high priority

on both the teaching and learning of English.

Regarding this growing need to improve communication skills in English by

countries in the context, EFL Aliakbari & Gheitasi (2014) point out that the

importance of English as a foreign language has been unquestionably

beneficial, since governments and their respective educational systems for

their part, they have reflected and reconsidered their language teaching

programs in order to meet the needs that it currently demands.

In our context, it is necessary to emphasize the importance of having a

standardized English curriculum that conforms to the standards in Ecuador to

train quality teachers. This is why public and private institutions where the

English language is taught require highly qualified English teachers, however

most of these institutions point out that the main problem occurs when hiring

educators, because they have an extremely low command of English and with

few methodologies to teach the language to students in their classes even after

they have graduated as English teachers (Serrano et al., 2015). It is thus

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

evident that another present need is to develop programs that evaluate

teachers in the performance of the language and train them so that they can

function better in their classes and with better teaching methodologies. On the

other hand, Carless (2006) emphasizes that from the perspective of L2

teachers, they know very well what the needs of their students are and the

frequent difficulties they currently face as teachers and relate it to the syllabus

and the didactic material that is used. This explains how the little flexibility

of the syllabus and textbooks with information not updated to the standards

that are required, can negatively affect the dynamization of the teaching of

the language and the methodology of the teacher. In this vein, Toro et al.

(2019) state in this regard emphasizing that to bring the teaching-learning

process to success, different factors are required, ranging from the design of

a good teaching plan to being flexible in the implementation of strategies that

are required within the classroom.

Consequently, other studies determined that students stated that they did not

have enough opportunities to speak English within or outside of class and

when they were given the opportunity to communicate and exchange

information in English, in written or spoken form, they showed great

difficulty. in doing so, which caused negative reactions in their motivation to

learn the language (Chamba et al., 2019; Shahini & Shahamirian, 2017). For

this reason, teacher support, student.

autonomy, effort to learn new vocabulary and motivation are the main factors

that are needed in learning a language. In other words, Bravo et al. (2017)

strongly argue that motivated students can retain much more information and

in the long term, so it is necessary to see motivation as a primary factor that

produces interest in learning a second language.

Likewise, new technologies cannot be excluded since they play a fairly

important role in the quality and dynamism of the teaching of the English

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

language. Although this idea is clear and the implementation of technology

in teaching is nothing new, it represents a constant challenge, especially when

it comes to integrating them into the class. Solano et al. (2017) state that, in

certain developing countries such as Ecuador, even the use of technology for

the teaching-learning process should be more exploited.

As can be seen in this section, English currently requires many specific needs

to stimulate the teaching-learning process, of which the following can be

considered primarily; Institutional support for teachers, motivation and

autonomy in the student and the integration of technology in the education of

a second language.

What about teaching the English language in South Korea?

It should be mentioned that South Korea has had a long journey in teaching

this language, which has not been easy but whose vision has always been to

improve and promote English education within the country. Chang (2009)

analyzed that the history of English education in Korea is divided into two

important periods, in conjunction with historical events in Korea: The Choson

Dynasty Period and Japanese Imperialism Period.

Choson dynasty period

During this first period, English was brought to Korea with Christianity, it

was considered as a symbol of equality and democracy to end the prevailing

feudal class in the Choson dynasty (Lee, 1999; Sung, 2002 cited in Shin,

2007). However, Chang categorized this period into two groups of institutions

in which English was taught to Koreans, these were public institutes and

missionary schools (Chang, 2009). In addition, in this same study it was

clarified that the objective of the public Institutes was to instruct Korean

translators in other foreign languages, in this case English with the Direct

Method, since they began to have diplomatic relations with other countries,

while the Missionary schools had an impact on modernization in this period,

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

not only in the English language, but also in the entire Korean society in this

way English was taught with the bible as a textbook Chang (2009).

Japanese imperialism period

In this period Japan enforced cultural acceptance tactics including teaching

English in Japanese to Koreans. Regarding this period, Yang (2017) explains

that the Japanese took refuge in the fact that their cultural domination over

Korea was a sacred duty to achieve modernization. Although English was

taught, during this period it was very scarce as languages other than Japanese

were canceled or banned (Sung, 2002 cited in Shin, 2007).

As can be seen in these studies for a long time there was a very low deficit of

the English language, however Park & Watson (2011) speak in their study

arguing that only a few decades later, Korea now faces different challenges

on this path to justice. Similarly, currently Korea has overcome different

challenges in the education of English that were imposed throughout its

history. For example, in Korea, the Ministry of Education inserted the policy

of 세계화 (segyehwa), which is the Korean term for globalization, with the

purpose of evolving from an English curriculum with instructions in

traditional grammar to a communicative one (Shin, 2007). In other words, the

teaching of English in Korea has shifted to focus on fluency over grammatical

accuracy.

By virtue of this, Schenck (2013) mentions that, in contemporary South

Korean society, culture is strongly fixed together with the expansion and

growth of the command of English as the main human resource. Similarly,

Jahng (2011) expresses that, considering the increase and the great position

that English occupies nationally and worldwide, South Korea perceives

education in English as the surest way to achieve rapid progress in education

social class. Therefore, at first, education in English should be a basic human

right and not a privilege (Jambor, 2012). Consequently, in South Korea it is

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

openly considered that among the countries in which English is not spoken,

those that promote its use are richer than other nations.

Since English education has had a great impact in almost every respect in

Korean society, Choi et al. (2019) in their study highlights that for Koreans

achieving a high score in English tests is an inevitable and necessary fact.

This is how proficiency in this language has been the main focus for the

Ministry of Education in this country. For this reason, Jeong (2020) reveals

that the Korean government reformed the educational system, these reforms

included vocational programs, study plans, some teacher policies, looking

beyond and not only providing standardized instructions.

Jo (2008) points out that the government carried out a pilot plan from 2006 to

2007 with the aim of integrating English education at an early age, for this

reason the Ministry of Education proposed the introduction of English in 1st

grade. However, according to Kim et al. (2018) the national curriculum

indicates that education in English begins to be taught from the 3rd grade of

primary education with around 2 to 3 hours during the week. The desire to

integrate early English education in Korea is because children's English skills

are often related to success in their lives. In turn, the desire to improve

children's English led to updating the textbooks. According to Yuasa (2010)

each lesson in the English books has: "Look and Listen, Listen and Repeat,

Let's Play, Let's Chant, Look and Speak, Let's Sing" (p.149). Thus, these

themes in the lessons are associated with the daily lives of children.

When it comes to secondary and higher education, English education is even

more demanding in South Korea and the reason why the government has

constantly struggled with this educational demand. According to the study

carried out by Megan I. Beard (2018) indicates that having a high command

of English is not only considered when students want to obtain higher

education, but also when publishing articles in English by university students.

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

While it is true that these measures are necessary to qualify at elite universities

in Korea, these demands have caused a great deal of stress on Korean

students. As a result of these facts, the Korean government has integrated

programs such as the EPIK (English Program in Korea) to improve the quality

of English in the country and FSP (Free Semester Program) to alleviate the

stress of students in demanded subjects as a requirement to enter the

university.

EPIK (English Program in Korea)

According to Ahn et al. (1998) the English program in Korea was launched

in 1995 with 856 teachers teaching in secondary schools in the country. The

objective of this program is to strengthen education in foreign languages and

at the same time reinforce a globalized education (EPIK, 2011). In addition,

two studies agree that the program was developed to integrate native English

teachers from the following countries: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New

Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and South Africa, in the same

way the main eligibility requirements are: have obtained a bachelor's degree,

good physical and mental health, high English proficiency and adaptability

(Jeon, 2009; A. Schenck, 2020). Additionally, Jeon (2009) mentions that the

salary will depend on both the location of the school and the term of the

contract and this ranges from US $ 1,900 to US $ 3,000 per month.

The EPIK is also beneficial for Korean English teachers, since it is a program

in which, according to Wang & Lin (2013), native English language teachers

have two great duties: to jointly carry out the teaching process with local

teachers and to help them to improve your skills in class. In this sense, native

English teachers also have a support system that includes a Korean assistant

teacher (Oh & Nussli, 2014). In this way, Carless (2006) indicates in their

results that Korean English teachers improve their communication methods

and skills in the language, and also highlights the importance of the presence

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

of the Korean teacher in the class, since it maintains the good behavior of the

students.

FSP (Free Semester Program)

The FSP was targeted at all Korean high schools since 2016, after having

gone through a three-year period as a pilot program across the country (Jung

et al., 2020). This is how this program allows students to explore their future

career options, it is also responsible for providing them with the essential

academic skills so that they can be admitted to universities. The program

covers: Mathematics, English, Chinese, science, among others (Ministry of

Education). Tan (2019) mentioned that the FSP focuses on a happy education,

since the university entrance exams put great pressure on Korean students.

These studies thus indicate that the FSP, for its part, has also contributed to

improving the learning of English and reducing a little the stress felt by

students due to the compulsory command of this language for admission to

the country's universities.

Challenges of the EFL Context

During the teaching-learning process in the EFL context, not only in Korea

but also in Ecuador, students may feel pressure, demotivation and stress, due

to the current demands of learning English and it is normally expected that

they be able to cope with these feelings so that they can understand and study

the language successfully. In the case of Korea, teachers tend to integrate

different activities, not just those that are related to learning (Kim et al., 2018).

It is well known that there is no single effective way to achieve the goal of

enhancing and improving the teaching of English in EFL contexts. Therefore,

it is understood that this process should not be static. Lee (2012) argues that

the English language teaching process has to be carried out actively, so that

the development of the student's communication and comprehension skills is

continuous in participation within or outside of class. However, despite the

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

fact that teachers maintain their efforts to make this participation active in

EFL settings, Viáfara (2011) in her research argues that, the interaction of

students in English within the classroom continues to represent a great

challenge for teachers.

K. Jeong (2017) expresses that it is not easy to motivate students to develop

their English skills inside EFL environments. In Ecuador, for example,

according to the study by Ochoa et al. (2016) highlights that an attempt was

made to solve this problem by integrating activities such as: group work,

dynamics and role plays, which subsequently obtained positive responses in

the motivation of the students. On the other hand, in South Korea, faced with

this situation, it is considered that it can be especially useful for the teacher

to make the student perceive that he has made progress, through interesting

but at the same time challenging activities at the correct level. way the student

will increase his confidence (N. Choi et al., 2019).

From this order of ideas, the teacher in the EFL environment must at all times

bring out her virtues, be patient, understanding and above all tolerant. This

great importance stems from the study carried out by Greenier & Whitehead

(2016) where they highlight EFL teachers as cultural ambassadors, given that

they represent a role model of how society should treat other people who are

culturally and linguistically different from them. Teachers at EFL must also

possess critical thinking to adjust and perfect their own learning in teaching a

second language, thus favoring their practice as a teacher in their future

classroom (Saiful & Triyono, 2018).

As a result, a recent study reveals that Ecuadorian educational policy knows

well what it faces in classrooms, heterogeneity and great diversity, which

makes it challenging to reach each of the students (Hernández-Chérrez &

Hidalgo-Camacho, Cynthia Soledad Carrera-Martínez, 2020). For this

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

reason, teachers at the EFL must consider different learning styles and adjust

their plans in the best way.

However, this same situation is not the same for South Korea, some teachers

expressed that the teaching policies for the most part are not so relevant to the

needs that their students actually demand (T. Choi, 2017). Consequently,

productive English skills for Korean students are now a great challenge.

According to Babakhouya (2019), it indicates that speaking and writing skills

in a foreign language represent great anxiety for students. Similarly, it is

recognized that it is also a challenge for Ecuadorian teachers to develop these

skills, especially speaking, since for Toro et al. (2019) is "one of the most

difficult skills to develop in students [...]" (p.102). Thus, Salazar Lugo et al.

(2016) resolves that by constantly encouraging students and developing their

confidence in a dynamic way in oral practice, they will be able to function

better in communicative competence.

The studies presented previously revealed the specific needs in the teaching

of the English language, considering mainly EFL environments, that is,

countries where English is taught as a second language, in addition to Ecuador

and South Korea, research carried out in Colombia and Mexico. In the same

way, they highlighted what were the constant challenges in these

environments. Subsequently, studies in the innovative English educational

policies in South Korea were explored as an example of an EFL environment

and showed alternatives to overcome these challenges.

As mentioned in the section on specific teaching-learning needs in the English

language, the studies agreed that these three main aspects should be

considered: Motivation and autonomy in the student, institutional support for

teachers, and the integration of the technology in second language education.

In Ecuador, studies indicated that the integration of new educational policies

is required, programs that meet the needs of English learning today and have

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

a standardized English curriculum. For this reason, South Korea exemplified

programs that turned out to be successful for improving English, such as the

EPIK to improve English skills within the country and FSP to reduce the

stress of students in the subjects necessary for admission to the universities.

It was demonstrated in both Ecuador and South Korea that they have

implemented strategies and activities such as: role play, teamwork and

challenging activities to stimulate the teaching of English within the

classrooms, however, it remains a challenge for these two countries that

students develop in English outside of them, since in EFL environments the

classroom is still usually the only place where students can practice English

(K. Jeong, 2017).

Along the same lines, it was discovered that students feel great anxiety

developing productive skills such as speaking and writing, in the case of

South Korea a study showed that even these two skills still need to be

improved, while in Ecuador one of the most difficult skills to develop is

speaking.

The studies also agreed that it is essential that educational policies in EFL

settings are coupled to the true needs of students depending on each of their

context, keeping in mind that in Ecuador teachers face students with different

cultural backgrounds and in different ways. South Korea with some very rigid

and inflexible educational policies.

An observation is made in the role of the teacher, where he is placed as a

cultural ambassador (Greenier & Whitehead, 2016). He is not only expected

to be a guide, but also a creative person, critical thinking and above all tolerant

when it comes to teaching a second language because it involves getting to

know a new culture.

The main limitation of this study is that although the success of programs

such as EPIK and FSP in South Korea was proven, they were carried out in a

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

different context with different needs, however, it was exemplified because

South Korea is part of the EFL environments that have constantly struggled

to improve English as a human resource just like Ecuador.

Therefore, it is suggested for future research to resolve whether the adaptation

and adjustments of the educational policies and instruments used in the

international context indicated above in this study for the educational context

of English in Ecuador is sustainable.

Secondly, in Ecuador it is still limited to recognizing English as a second

language, but this must confront the new concept of English as an

international language, it is also suggested to carry out a systematic follow-

up study on the changes in the EFL environment in Ecuador and the use of

new technologies as they are necessary to develop English education

appropriately for the globalized world.

CONCLUSIONS

Thanks to international educational trends, we can learn from new

experiences and aspects of life in today's society, which can be used

essentially when they are the result of reflection on other realities and contexts

whose main objective is to break with traditional standards, recognizing the

importance of English for development and modernization.

Although the policies used in the international context may be adjusted in the

Ecuadorian context in the teaching of the English language, it will be difficult

for them to be applied and bear fruit without the collaboration of teachers in

this subject, especially when their training in the teaching of English. a second

language is not consistent or deficient. (Hernández Hernández & Izquierdo

Sandoval, 2020). Because the quality of education cannot possibly surpass

the quality of teachers

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Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

It is concluded that in Ecuador and South Korea they have placed a high

priority on teaching English trying to modify their educational policies,

however, there is still a long way to go to perfect these policies and adapt

them to the corresponding needs in each context. Studies in Ecuador and

South Korea revealed interest in fostering an active and dynamic education,

willing to implement new methodologies to help overcome these challenges

within EFL environments.

With regard to dynamization within classes in EFL contexts, it was shown

that different activities can be used, not only related to learning, such as:

watching video, group discussions, simulations or role-playing, this helps the

student's motivation to learn a second language as well as including

technology in the English teaching-learning process.

The role of the teacher is another important aspect in the teaching-learning

process of a second language in the EFL context, although it is mentioned that

there is not only one way to get teachers to dynamize their classes, this process

should not be static for any reason. Teachers should promote creative ideas

and challenging tasks considering the level of their students. In the same way,

it must encourage respect and tolerance since they not only represent their

own culture, but also teach a linguistically different one.

Finally, although Ecuador favorably has not gone through the same

unfortunate events in the history of English teaching as South Korea, Korea

continues to be an example of providing rapid responses to the globalization

process through which this country not only It quickly adapts to the demands

of international standards, but also strategically pursues national interests by

offering its citizens different ways of acquiring a high command of English.

Article

Enhancing English in Ecuador: Exploring Korean English Educational Policy Innovations

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