Students’ perceptions towards teachers’ use of information gap activities as a way to promote meaningful spoken language use in the EFL ninth classroom at Alicia Loza Meneses High School (ALMHS)

Abstract

The objective of this research project was to gain an in-depth understanding of EFL (English as Foreign Language) ninth graders’ perceptions regarding the implementation of information gap activities into the classroom setting. This study sought to employ qualitative research, and the instruments of data collection were an open-ended questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The research participantsreceived four-week communicative language instruction where the Jigsaw Task and Spot-the-Difference sub served students’ active participation. An important part of this research project includes the design and application of six lesson plans. This study yielded results indicating that a language classroom instruction grounded in the Communicative Approach (CA) and in meaningful communicative learning activities (e.g. the Jigsaw Task and the Spot-the-Difference) had a positive impact on the teaching-learning process. These main study results verify the importance of implementing non-traditional instructional practices in today’s English language classrooms within the Ecuadorian educational context.