Qualities of Effective EFL Teachers in the 21st Century: A Reflection From Ecuador

English Language Teachers (ELTs), to be effective in the teaching and learning process in contemporary society, need to be not only competent with qualities of instructional skills but also with qualities of personal traits. This paper aims to offer ELTs reflection around the most vital qualities of personal traits, which are required to contribute to the design of more effective EFL teaching and learning milieus. To that end, and supported by a pilot study carried out to construct a master´s degree program in Teaching Local and Foreign Languages in an Ecuadorian Public University, we gathered, in four major categories, the scattered and unclassified qualities of personal traits which are available in the related literature. In this framework, the qualities of personal traits that ELTs must possess are bound with virtues such as perpetual learning, humanism, instructional-personal communication, and cross-culturalism. In general, this article may be helpful for ELTs to visualize the qualities of personal traits, which are needed to face the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) education of the 21st century.