Effective roles of native and Korean English teachers in the videoconferencing classrooms

This paper reports on an investigation of teachers’ roles in videoconferencing classrooms. The videoconferencing program has been implemented in English classrooms since 2008 by the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology to mitigate unequal access to English education between urban schools and countryside schools. This study analyzed 43 elementary school teachers’ videos and documents to examine co-teaching types in the videoconferencing classrooms. Among the random, non-focus group teachers, six expert teachers were selected to be role models during planning, in-class and after-class periods. For the analysis of the expert group (focus group), the Delphi method was conducted, and additional data were collected including questionnaires, interviews, workshops, and detailed lesson plans. The study revealed that there were clear differences between the focus group and the non-focus group regarding co-teachers’roles. The focus group teachers exhibited more effective and feasible co-teaching models, in which the native speaking teachers led the class and the Korean teachers supported and assisted. Particularly, the Korean teachers adapted flexible roles, shifting from facilitator to assistant to monitor, depending on the situations. The paper also includes suggestions for successful co-teaching in a videoconferencing classroom.