Causes of low EFL level in incoming university teacher training program students

This article is a case-study that interprets the possible causes of low English as a Foreign Language (EFL) communicative competences of certain incoming students in the course Introductory English A1 of a bachelor’s degree in foreign languages, English in a university in Bogotá, Colombia in the first and second semester of 2023 regarding the perceptions of professors of this subject. Data was gathered through interviews. Results evidenced that high-school EFL education quality and experiences, Foreign Language Anxiety (FLA), lack of autonomous work, of motivation and of extracurricular opportunities to practice the language were the main causes of this low EFL level. Concluding, to address this issue, some practical EFL learning strategies are proposed to enhance a more successful EFL learning process of these students bearing in mind they are going to be teachers of this language.