Perceptions of KETs, NESTs, and Students on Co-teaching

With the escalating number of NESTs in Korea, how to operate a co-teaching system could have a considerable influence on achieving communicative ability. This study explored the perceptions of KETs, NESTs and students on general practice, planning, and implementation of co-teaching through questionnaires and face-to-face interviews. 57 KETs, 31 NESTs, and 261 students participated in this study. The major findings are the following. Firstly, all the three groups are generally satisfied with co-teaching class, although students show their slight liking for it over KETs' solo-teaching. The top three effective parts shared by all the groups are listening, speaking, and culture. Secondly, some qualities including understanding Korean English education, teaching method knowledge, cooperation with KETs, and understanding Korean culture are generally perceived necessary for NESTs. Thirdly, in planning co-teaching, there is low KETs' and high NESTs' participation, indicating much greater KETs' efforts need to be made. Next, personal propensity is more considered as an obstacle than cultural factors for effective co-teaching. Finally, when implementing co-teaching, all the groups consider students' interest and participation important, although they, in reality, show much less interest and participation in co-teaching class than should be. Based on the findings, pedagogical implications and suggestions are also made.