Enhancing oral english proficiency in ecuadorian secondary education: comparative practices from the Netherlands, Portugal, and Argentina

Abstract

This study analyzes the factors affecting the development of oral fluency among Ecuadorian secondary school students as well as identifies effective instructional practices and policies through comparative analysis with Argentina, the Netherlands, and Portugal. The mixed method was implemented to collect more data by combining quantitative information from a survey applied to high school English teachers, the qualitative findings from semi-structured interviews and the analysis of official documents of the curricular and teacher development policies of the selected countries. The quantitative results indicated insufficient opportunities to specialized professional development in speaking pedagogy, scarce of English curriculum training, assessment with dominant bias towards grammar, a lack of application of communicative activities, and oral assessment rubrics. While qualitative data provided a detailed explanation of these issues, highlighting a disconnect between curricular autonomy and classroom realities, generic professional development, assessment-oriented practices, insufficient institutional support, and the absence of specialized supervision. Consequently, comparative document analysis showed that high-performing systems maintain coherence among teacher competency standards, specialized ongoing professional development, communicative assessment, and structured pedagogical support. Finally, the study concludes that Ecuador’s challenges come from systemic misalignment rather than a lack of curricular vision or teacher dedication. Evidence-based recommendations are proposed to enhance the development of oral fluency through assessment reform, specialized teacher training, creation of support networks, and digital repositories.