Best practices of team teaching by Native Speaker Teachers and Non-Native Speaker Teachers in Taiwanese junior high school English classes.

摘要

The problem. The purpose of this study was to investigate team teaching practices, interactions between team teachers, interactions among team teachers and students, and the efficacy of English classes in four Taiwanese junior high schools. The research examined participants' perspectives toward team teaching and factors influencing the effectiveness of team teaching in a search for best practices for team teaching.;Method. This research was designed as hybrid, employing both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Quantitatively, this study was a quasi-experimental two group design with types of instruction – Native Speaker Teachers (NSTs) and Non-Native Speaker Teachers (NNSTs) team teaching versus NNST solo teaching – as the independent variable. The primary dependent variable was the test scores on the Cambridge Young Learners English examination and on the high school entrance examination. Qualitatively, this study employed an "intrinsic case study" approach.;Results. This research used standard tests to measure team teaching efficacy. The quantitative results show a statistically significant difference in favor of the non-team teaching group in both the YLE test scores and archival records of high school entrance examination scores. The quantitative results of the closed-ended Teacher Survey questions showed teachers ranked team teaching and solo teaching as equally effective. The results also revealed that NNSTs preferred solo teaching and were more satisfied with solo teaching. The quantitative results of the closed-ended questions in the Student Survey showed no difference in preference or satisfaction between team and solo teaching. The qualitative data from observations and interviews revealed that various team teaching models and team teacher combinations resulted in variable outcomes. The qualitative results from interviews and open-ended questions of the teacher and student surveys showed that system-wide factors are more critical than the individual difference factors in team teaching efficacy. The team teaching practices in this study demonstrate pedagogic potential, but problems require resolution or change to alternative implementation.