Abstract

English has played an important role in Chile for almost 200 years. In this context, a profile of the Chilean English teacher is outlined to give them their rightful place and contribute to the understanding of the English as a Foreign Language discipline as it currently stands. An online questionnaire was sent to a statistically significant number of Chilean English teachers. Results were compared to a database provided by the Ministry of Education for comparative validation. It was found that most teachers are young women with adequate linguistic proficiency and training, with little experience, who teach English out of vocation for their students to enter the work force and to give them a broader view of the world. This reflects how Chilean linguistic policies influence the school and teacher training curricula and also highlights the teaching quality of Chilean English teachers. In other words, the purpose of vindicating the image of the Chilean English teacher is accomplished based on empirical data.