Co-teaching English classes with a native English-speaking teacher is a recent development in the public elementary school system. This style of co-teaching intends to benefit the students by increasing opportunities for speaking the English language ...
Co-teaching English classes with a native English-speaking teacher is a recent development in the public elementary school system. This style of co-teaching intends to benefit the students by increasing opportunities for speaking the English language and improving motivation.
Co-teaching can be classified into two models. The first occurs when the native English-speaking teacher and the Korean English teacher share the processes of teaching. A leader and assistant relationship defines the second model. The native English-speaking teacher performs majority of the teaching process while the Korean teacher's role is the assistant.
The purpose of this study is to decipher which co-teaching model is most effective. Figuring out which model is best allows schools to maximize their utilization of native English-speaking teachers. The information obtained from such studies can then be transferred to the elementary schools so that the proper model of co-teaching can be practiced.
A couple of questions were addressed within this study and comparison of the two co-teaching models:
1.Do any differences in a learner's listening skills occur?
2.Do any differences in anxiety towards the English language?
To research these two questions, four fourth grade classes of an elementary school in Seoul were used. Two of these four classes were taught using the shared responsibility model and the remaining two were taught with the leader and assistant model. The research was collected over a period of eight weeks using eight different lessons. The fourth grade students were subjected to two tests during the experiment. One test was conducted prior to the eight-week experiment. The results were used to make predictions and assess levels of the students. The second test was taken when the experiment period concluded. Both groups were given the same tests which focused on listening skills and levels of language anxiety.
In the shared model, the co-teachers established a concrete model for each lesson. It was important to decide what should be done in the classroom prior to each lesson. The role-sharing model was developed after some research. Preceding each class, the two teachers prepared lesson plans, determined roles based on their teaching strengths, and sought out the best ways to lead the class in a collaborative manner.
The leading, native English teacher model followed the traditional procedure used at the school. The native English teacher lead the class and the Korean English teacher managed the classroom behavior throughout the lesson. This co-teaching style also requires regular communication between the English teacher and homeroom teacher. The intention of such meetings is to build a successful lesson, but this is actually quite hard to do. Since the native English-speaking teacher has so many different co-teachers (one for each class), there is little time to meet with all of them to properly plan. The major reason for miscommunication is many of the homeroom teachers struggle with the English language themselves.
After the experiment, the listening skills were tested through a listening exam. A scale was used to verify the differing levels of English anxiety between the two groups. The t-test using SPSS/WIN statistics program was used to analyze the results. Qualitative observation by each teacher was recorded after every lesson to provide more data.
The following results have been acquired through this study:
1. The experimental group showed a higher average in listening skill compared to the controlled group. But the test results didn't show any statistically meaningful differences (t=1.921, p<.05) with a 0.58 significance rate. Therefore, it is concluded that there is no difference between the experiment group and the controlled group in listening skill.
2. The experimental group showed a higher average in English anxiety compared to the controlled group. The test results showed statistically meaningful differences (t=-2.340, p<.05) at a 0.022 significance rate. Therefore it is concluded that the experiment group got the lower English anxiety than the controlled group.
3. According to the analysis of differences in the three subordinate factors consisting of English anxiety, there are meaningful differences in anxiety on communication between two groups (except the fear of negative evaluation and test anxiety). The test results of communication anxiety in the experimental group showed a statistically meaningful difference (t=-2.057, p<.05) with a 0.043 significance rate. Therefore, it's concluded that the experimental group have experienced less anxiety on communication than the controlled group.
4. Analysis from the teacher's diary after each class shows that two teacher's achieved a more active response form the children. This is credited to the demonstration, interaction, individualized instruction, creative ideas by two brains and the permission of speaking Korean in the classroom. However, a lack of practice and drill before one class disturbed a successful lesson. Also, it's been observed that the presence of two teachers in the same classroom sometimes got children confused.
In conclusion, role sharing with a native English-speaking teacher and a Korean teacher is effective in reducing children's anxiety of communicating in the foreign English language. The Korean teacher provided additional cues (hints and explanation) in Korean after the native teacher's explanation. Both teachers showed how to do activities (song, chant, and game) and provided example conversation situations to enforce understanding. It wouldn't be impossible in one teacher instruction system. In short, co-teaching as arole sharing effort enables children to become more involved in activities based which provide understanding of lesson objectives.
According to the result of this study, the following proposals can be suggested:
1. To reduce children's English anxiety and to maximize the utilization of native English speaking teachers, the role-sharing model of co-teaching is required.
2. Role-sharing between the native language speaking teacher and the Korean teacher enables children get involved in activities. It does this by reducing the children's English anxiety deriving from communication between two teachers; this will eventually improve the learner's communicative ability.
3. For a successful role-sharing lesson, it is necessary to have enough preparation. Regular meetings with the native English-speaking Teacher can improve the communication capabilities of the Korean English teacher as well. Because of these reasons, authorities in charge of elementary education should develop more effective co-teaching models, try to spread out these models and provide constant training courses on these goals.
4. Long-term study should be carried out to observe differences in listening. This study was performed in a short period; there were no meaningful differences in listening skills between the experiment group and the controlled group. Considering the result of anxiety on communication in the experimental group, it is also expected that this group's listening skills can be improved after a longer experiment
5. To generalize the result of this study, a follow-up study should be carried out and cover various factors. Role sharing is effective in enhancing communication skills, writing skills, and reading skills. This study shows that this style of co-teaching should continue. Also, a study or verification of the higher grades with difficult contents in the texts is also a suggestion.