金門縣國民小學英語協同教學個案研究 - 政大學術集成

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(1)國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文. 指導教授：葉潔宇博士 Advisor：Dr. Chieh-yue Yeh. 政治大金門縣國民小學英語協同教學個案研究立. ‧ 國. 學. A Case Study of a Native and Non-Native Speaker. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. ‧. Team Teaching Program in Kinmen. Ch. engchi. i n U. 研究生：楊心鳳撰 Name：Hsin-feng Yang 中華民國一百零四年六月 June, 2015. v.

(2) A Case Study of a Native and Non-Native Speaker Team Teaching Program in Kinmen. 立. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. Nat. n. al. er. io. sit. y. ‧. Presented to Department of English, National Chengchi University. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. by Hsin-feng Yang May, 2015.

(3) 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. i n U. v.

(4) Acknowledgements This research was supported by the participants, May and Lisa, who kindly offered assistance to classroom observation and interviews. I would also like to thank my colleagues and administration staff for academic and facility support. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my thesis advisor, Prof. Chieh-yue, Yeh. She helped me a lot in my writing and provided her insights to complete my. 政治大. thesis. Without her, it would be impossible for me to finish this study.. 立. I would also like to thank my ETMA classmates, who always encouraged me and. ‧ 國. 學. cheered me up through text messages despite the distance. I am also grateful to my family for their patience and care.. ‧. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. iii. i n U. v.

(5) TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT..........................................................................................iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ............................................................................................ iv LIST OF TABLES...................................................................................................... vii CHINESE ABSTRACT ............................................................................................viii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION ......................................................................... 1 1.1 Background of the Research ............................................................................ 1 1.2 The Purpose of the Study ................................................................................. 2 1.3 Research Questions .......................................................................................... 2 1.4 Definition of Terms .......................................................................................... 3 CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................ 5 2.1 Team Teaching between NEST and NNEST ................................................... 5 2.2 Teaching Schemes in Asia................................................................................ 6 2.2.1 Japan ..................................................................................................... 6 2.2.2 South Korea .......................................................................................... 7 2.2.3 Hong Kong ............................................................................................ 8 2.3 Current Situations of NEST and NNEST Team Teaching in Taiwan .............. 9 2.3.1 The Background of NESTs in Taiwan .................................................. 9 2.3.2 The Studies on NESTs’ Teaching in Taiwan ....................................... 10 2.3.2.1 NESTs’ Classroom Practices .................................................... 11. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. y. Nat. sit. 2.3.2.2 NESTs’ Teaching Problems...................................................... 11. n. al. er. io. CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODS ...................................................... 13 3.1 The Setting ..................................................................................................... 13 3.2 The Participants ............................................................................................. 14 3.2.1 Criteria of Choosing the Participants .................................................. 14 3.2.2 NEST’s Background ........................................................................... 15 3.2.3 NNEST’s Background ........................................................................ 15 3.3 Instruments ..................................................................................................... 16 3.3.1 Interviews ............................................................................................ 16. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 3.3.2 Classroom Observations ..................................................................... 16 3.3.3 Document Collections ......................................................................... 17 3.4 Procedures ...................................................................................................... 17 3.4.1 Classroom Observations ..................................................................... 18 3.4.2 Interviews ............................................................................................ 19 3.4.3 Document Collection .......................................................................... 20 3.5 Data Analysis ................................................................................................. 21 CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND FINDINGS ..................................................... 23 iv.

(6) 4.1 The Teaching Practice.................................................................................... 23 4.1.1 Background Information ..................................................................... 23 4.1.2 The Lesson Planning Process and Teaching Practices ........................ 24 4.1.3 The Teaching Methods ........................................................................ 27 4.1.4 The Teaching Load and the Responsibilities ...................................... 28 4.1.5 Teachers’ Roles in the Classroom ....................................................... 30 4.1.6 Language Use in the Classroom ......................................................... 32 4.1.7 NEST and NNEST’s Interaction Inside and Outside the classroom ... 32 4.2 Problems and Solutions in Team Teaching .................................................... 33 4.2.1 The language barrier ........................................................................... 33 4.2.2 Rush to do lesson plan ........................................................................ 35 4.2.3 Classroom management ...................................................................... 38 4.3 NEST and NNEST’s Adjustments to Team Teaching Program ..................... 39 4.3.1 In-service Training .............................................................................. 39 4.3.2 Other Resources and Support.............................................................. 41 4.3.3 NNEST’s Help and Guidance ............................................................. 42 4.3.4 Interaction and relationship with colleagues and local residents ........ 44 4.3.5 Language Ability................................................................................. 45 4.3.6 Interaction with Students .................................................................... 46 4.4 Facilitating Factors......................................................................................... 46 4.4.1 Language Ability................................................................................. 47. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. y. Nat. sit. n. al. er. io. 4.4.2 Interaction ........................................................................................... 48 4.4.3 Teachers’ Personalities and Experiences ............................................. 49 4.4.4 Support from NEST Peers .................................................................. 49 4.5 Debilitating Factors ........................................................................................ 50 4.5.1 Language Barrier ................................................................................ 50 4.5.2 Cultural Awareness ............................................................................. 51 4.5.3 The Policy is not transparent ............................................................... 53 4.5.4 Personalities and Experience .............................................................. 53 4.6 What Mei and Lisa Learn from the Team Teaching....................................... 54. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 4.6.1 Lisa ...................................................................................................... 54 4.6.2 Mei ...................................................................................................... 55 4.7 Unforgettable Experience .............................................................................. 56 4.8 Suggestions .................................................................................................... 57 CHAPTER FIVE DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ........................................ 61 5.1 Major Findings of the Team Teaching Program in Kinmen .......................... 61 5.1.1 The NEST and the NNEST’s Collaboration in the Team Teaching Program ........................................................................................................ 61 v.

(7) 5.1.2 The Problems and the Solutions of Their Team Teaching Process ..... 63 5.1.3 NEST and NNEST’s Adjustments to Team Teaching Program .......... 63 5.1.4 The Facilitating and the Debilitating Factors...................................... 64 5.1.4.1 Facilitating Factors................................................................... 64 5.1.4.2 Debilitating Factors .................................................................. 65 5.1.5 What the NEST and the NNEST Learned from the Team Teaching Program in Kinmen ...................................................................................... 66 5.2 Implications of This Study ............................................................................. 66 5.3 Limitation of This Study ................................................................................ 68 5.4 Recommendations for Future Studies .......................................................... 68 5.5 Conclusion ..................................................................................................... 69 REFERENCES........................................................................................................... 70 APPENDICES ............................................................................................................ 73 Appendix 1: A Sample of Classroom Observations ............................................. 73 Appendix 2: Interview Questions ........................................................................ 77 Appendix 3: An Excerpt of Interview Transcription............................................ 82. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vi. i n U. v.

(8) LIST OF TABLES Table 1 Classroom Observation and Interview Schedule ........................................... xiv Table 2 Classroom Observation Dates ........................................................................ xiv Table 3 Semi-Structured Interview Sessions .............................................................. xiv. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. vii. i n U. v.

(9) 國立政治大學英國語文學系碩士在職專班碩士論文提要. 論文名稱：金門縣國民小學英語協同教學個案研究指導教授：葉潔宇博士研究生：楊心鳳. 立. 論文提要內容：. 政治大. ‧ 國. 學. 本研究主旨在研究金門縣內國民小學英語教師與外籍教師協同教學的狀況，. ‧. 研究主要在探討：(1) 中外師協同教學的情形；(2) 協同教學過程中是否遭遇困. Nat. io. sit. y. 難以及中外師如何解決教學中的問題；(3)有助於中外師協同教學的因素；(4). er. 不利於中外師協同教學的因素以及(5)中外師分別從協同教學過程中學到什麼。. al. n. v i n Ch 研究方法採用質性個案研究，研究對象為一對中、外籍的英語教師，研究工具為 engchi U 課堂觀察記錄，訪談，以及收集相關資料。研究結果發現：(1)中外師備課討論時間不足；(2)中外師之間有語言上的隔閡，彼此溝通費時；(3)外師有班級經營上的困擾；(4)職前研修、研習活動有助於中外師提升教學能力以及(5)中外師的個性親切隨和，協同教學時能互相配合；(6)外師具備當地語言能力有助於適應當地生活。根據研究發現，提出數點建議及未來相關的研究方向。. viii.

(10) Abstract The purpose of this study is to investigate how native English speaking teacher (NEST) and non-native English speaking teacher (NNEST) team teach English in Kinmen. It adopted a qualitative research method and selected a pair of NEST and NNEST who did not have any team teaching experience and who taught at an Elementary school in Kinmen. Data collection lasted for four months, and the. 政治大 The results 立 of the findings are (1) the NEST and NNEST did not. instruments for collecting data included interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis.. ‧ 國. 學. have enough time to discuss lesson planning; (2) the language barrier between the NEST and the NNEST resulted in communication difficulty; (3) the NEST had. ‧. difficulty in managing the classroom on her own; (4) the orientation, the in-service. sit. y. Nat. training, and workshops helped both of the NEST and the NNEST in their teaching; (5). n. al. er. io. The NEST and the NNEST’s amiable personality benefited the team teaching; (6) the. i n U. v. NEST’s ability to speak the local language helped her adjust to the local life. Finally,. Ch. engchi. pedagogical implications and recommendations for future studies are stated at the end of the study.. ix.

(11) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background of the Research As English has developed as a lingua franca and been widely used in the modern world, a good command of English is considered as a must for global citizens. Besides making English a compulsory subject in school curriculum, many governments in Asia even start to hire native English speakers in public schools in order to enhance students’ communicative ability. For example, Japan has implemented the Japan Exchange and Teaching Program (JET) since 1987. South. 政治大 Kong started the Native-speaking 立 English Teacher schemes (NET) in 1987 (Carless, Korea had a similar program, the English Program in Korea (EPIK) in 1996. Hong. ‧ 國. 學. 2006).. Taiwanese government began to introduce English in grade five and six in. ‧. elementary school curriculum in 2001, and extended to grade three and four in 2005.. sit. y. Nat. The policy led to the shortage of qualified English teachers in elementary school. In. n. al. er. io. order to fulfill the shortage of English teachers and provide a better English learning. i n U. v. environment, Ministry of Education (MOE) decided to hire teachers from. Ch. engchi. English-speaking countries in 2004. Most of the Native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) were allocated to rural areas, such as Nantou, Yilan, and Kinmen. The policy intended to solve the problem of the shortage of qualified English teachers and enhance students’ communicative ability, but it received much attention and sparked heated debates in research. The domestic research reveals a positive effect on students’ motivation and attitudes. Students improved in reading and listening in varying degrees (Herbart, 2009).. Students have more opportunities to practice English and. are more willing to speak English (Liu, 2004; Ting, 2000).. Local teachers also. benefit from professional knowledge and cultural awareness by working with 1.

(12) international teachers. On the other hand, the NESTs were found to have difficulties in the team teaching program. For example, many of them do not have teacher certificate and teaching experience before coming to Taiwan. The local teachers need to help them to manage the class (Chou, 2005; Tsai, 2005). Also, though the NESTs lack teaching skills, they are unwilling to participate in in-service training sessions. In addition, some of the NESTs just come to Taiwan to experience different culture or make money. Many of them will leave after their contract is due, which leads to high turnover rate (Tsai, 2005).. 政治大 While much research documented the team teaching programs in Taiwan, 立. 1.2 The Purpose of the Study. the setting in the present study, Kinmen, an outlying island of Taiwan, is rarely. ‧ 國. 學. mentioned. Moreover, the turnover rate of the NESTs in Kinmen is comparatively. ‧. lower than other cities, despite the fact that it is an isolated island apart from Taiwan.. y. sit. Little research has been done to investigate the particularity of the. io. er. next year.. Nat. Many NESTs in Kinmen are willing to stay or renew their contract and come back the. team-teaching relationship between the NESTs and the NNESTs in Kinmen. The. al. n. v i n present study is hoped to shed someC light on how the NEST h e n g c h i Uand the NNEST can develop a successful team teaching relationship. 1.3 Research questions. 1. How do the NEST and the NNEST cooperate in the team teaching program? 2. If there is any problem and difficulties in the process of team teaching, how will the NEST and the NNEST solve the problems? 3. How does the NEST get accustomed to the team teaching program both inside and outside the classroom? 4. What are the facilitating and debilitating factors for the NEST to get accustomed to the team teaching program in Kinmen? 2.

(13) 5. What do the NNEST and the NEST learn from team teaching? 1.4 Definition of terms Native English Speaking Teacher (NEST): Though the term of the NEST and the NNEST has not reached a consensus, the present study will adopt Medgyes’ definition: a NEST is a teacher who speaks English as a native language, teach at an EFL environment, whose students are monolingual and don’t share the same native language as his or her students (Â rva & Medgyes, 1999). Non-Native English Speaking Teacher (NNEST): NNEST refers to a teacher who. 政治大 students are monolingual and doesn’t share the same native language as his or her 立. speaks English as a second or foreign language, works in an EFL environment, whose. students.. ‧ 國. 學. Team teaching: A teaching team of at least two teachers, collaborating together in. sit. y. Nat. work together in class (Chou, 2005; Chen, 2007).. ‧. teaching activity. In the present study, team teaching involves a NEST and a NNEST. io. er. Local English teachers (LETs): Taiwanese teachers work as English teachers in the elementary schools in Kinmen.. al. n. v i n English Teaching AssistantC (ETA): NESTs who are h e n g c h i U recruited by Fulbright. foundation and come to Taiwan to provide assistance to the local English teachers. TEFL advisor: Each NEST in Fulbright foundation has a TEFL (Teach English as Foreign Language) advisor to help them solve their problems in teaching and living in Taiwan. Alien Resident Certificates (ARC): A foreigner who obtains Alien Resident Certificates (hereinafter ARC) after entering Taiwan by the inspection of National Immigration Agency with a valid passport or a valid travel document(s) under the visa waiver program, or holding a visitor visa. 3.

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(15) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW This chapter aims to present the literature relevant to the present study and is divided into three sections. The first section explores the research on team teaching between the NEST and the NNEST. schemes in Asian countries.. The second section reviews the team-teaching. The last section focuses on the current NEST and. NNEST’s team teaching situations in Taiwan. 2.1 Team teaching between the NEST and the NNEST Most research comparing non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs) and. 政治大 themselves and their counterparts, 立 their classroom practice, and students’ perceptions. native English speaker teachers (NESTs) focuses on the teachers’ perceptions of. ‧ 國. 學. of both groups of teachers. Language proficiency is the first issue of interest because it may lead to differences in teaching practice by NESTs and NNESTs.. Medgyes. ‧. conducted research to test his hypotheses that the NESTs and the NNESTs differ in. sit. y. Nat. terms of (1) language proficiency and teaching practice, and (2) the discrepancy in. n. al. er. io. language proficiency leads to the differences in teaching practice. The survey. i n U. v. included 325 teachers from 11 countries; 86% of them were non-native and 14%. Ch. engchi. natives. The results of the surveys reveal these discrepancies are due to teachers’ language proficiency (Reves &Medgyes, 1994).. Concerning the previous research. relied on much data collected from questionnaires, Arva and Medgyes conducted an ethno-cognitive study to examine the differences in teaching behaviors between NESTs and NNESTs. The results confirm that language proficiency affects the NESTs and the NNESTs’ teaching style and practices (Â rva & Medgyes, 1999).. To explore. further on NESTs and NNESTs perception and teaching practices, Medgyes and Benke employed another study to examine whether the differences perceived by NESTs and NNESTs match the learners’ perceptions. The findings revealed that there 5.

(16) is an almost perfect match between the teachers’ and the learners’ perceptions (Benke & Medgyes, 2005). Sammy and Brutt-Griffler (1999) applied the Reves and Medgyes (1994) approach to survey seventeen non-native-English-speaking MA or Ph.D. students in TESOL in the US. Nearly 90% of the subjects perceived differences between the two cohorts. However, they attributed the different teaching practices to cross-cultural differences between Western and Asian societies. It is not the language the teacher speaks that accounts for better teacher.. The two cohorts of teachers have their. 政治大 language use for learners. Students can practice listening and speaking skills with the 立 respective strengths and weakness. NESTs can provide authentic pronunciation and. NESTs (Liu, 2004; Medgyes, 2000; Ting, 2000). Though with great English. ‧ 國. 學. competency, most NESTs have difficulties explaining grammatical questions. On. ‧. the other hand, NNESTs can provide more structural approach to teach grammar,. If the teachers speak the students’. io. er. they can help students avoid language difficulties.. sit. y. Nat. comparing to their counterparts. Moreover, the NNESTs are good learning models;. language, they know their students’ difficulties and how to overcome them. al. n. v i n C his superior and learners (Larsen-Freeman, 2011). Neither group appreciate both engchi U groups of teachers for what they do best in the classroom. 2.2 Team teaching schemes in Asia Following the trend of globalization, many governments in Asia started to hire native speaking English teachers (Carless, 2006). The following will illustrate the policy and the implementation of practices in Japan, South Korea, and Hong Kong. 2.2.1 Japan Under the pressure of globalization, Japan started the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program in 1987. The JET program recruited native English speakers from ten participating countries, such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Jamaica, 6.

(17) New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. The recruited teachers were placed in junior and senior high school to work with local English teachers as Assistant English Teachers (AETs) (Crooks, 2001). The goals of JET program are not only to provide students with authentic input and build English communicative skills, but also help Japanese teachers of English (JTEs) to change their grammar translation approach to a more communicative-based pedagogy. A qualified candidate for JET program should be under the age of forty and have a Bachelor’s degree. The salary is approximately 300,000 yen a month and the NEST. 政治大 for thirty-five hours per week from Monday to Friday, and sometimes do some extra 立. should pay for the rent and health insurance on their own. They are expected to work. work depending on school’s schedule (Lee, 2006).. ‧ 國. 學. Despite of the good initiative, the presence of the AETs in the classroom has. ‧. caused a lot of problems. The JTEs need to change their teaching methods and. The school administrative staff was also unaware of how to. io. er. competence as teachers.. sit. y. Nat. improve language skills. The changes made the JTEs concern about their roles and. utilize the AETs and just made them read out a list of words.. al. n. v i n C h in the past years, As the JET program developed more assistance and support has engchi U. been available to both cohorts by way of workshops or seminars. Through presenting and discussing classroom practices and experiences, JTEs and AETs develop a better understanding of team teaching (Crooks, 2001). 2.2.2 South Korea Another similar scheme in South Korea is English Program in Korea (EPIK) which launched in 1995. The goal of EPIK is to improve students and teachers’ English proficiency and cultural understanding.. The NESTs are hired from Australia,. Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the USA. They are assigned to teach English at public schools, train Korean English teachers, and assist the Board 7.

(18) of education. The government will provide free accommodation and pay addition 300,000 won to subsidize the rent (Lee, 2006). Research of EPIK scheme has found cultural conflicts between NESTs and Korean teachers. Han (2005) suggested that NESTs’ lack of understanding of Korean culture, educational context and students’ need may lead to the failure of EPIK program. If the NESTs can be open-minded in learning to respect the local culture, it may help the NEST develop a relationship of effective team teaching with local teachers(Carless, 2006).. 政治大 English became the official language in Hong Kong in 1858 when it was part of 立. 2.2.3 Hong Kong. the British’s colony. After Hong Kong was returned to China in 1997, the importance. ‧ 國. 學. of English was reinforced because Hong Kong serves the important role of. ‧. international financial center. English is considered an access to success.. y. sit. io. er. program.. Nat. Consequently, Hong Kong launched the Native-speaking English teacher (NET). Under the NET program, every secondary school has been provided with one. al. n. v i n C h schools shared one NEST since 1997, and every two primary NEST in 2002. The engchi U. salary scale ranges from HK$16,165 to HK$43,940 (US$2,077 to 5,700) per month. The NETs need to teach sixteen to eighteen hours a week.. By contrast with Japan. and South Korea, the NET program only hires trained and experienced teachers (Carless, 2006). The qualified NESTs should be native speakers of English with teaching certificates. Since the NESTs are experienced teachers, they are often arranged to teach alone in secondary schools. However, the NESTs found difficulties adapting to the examination-oriented education culture in Hong Kong, which emphasizes vocabulary and grammar memorization. On the contrary, the NESTs tended to focus on communicative skills. 8.

(19) Students felt that NESTs can help improve their oral and listening skills; however, some were questioning their less emphasis on exam preparation (Florence Ma, 2012), which may also hamper the relationship between NESTs and NNESTs. 2.3 Current situations of NEST and NNEST’s team teaching in Taiwan In order to enhance competitiveness, the MOE in Taiwan introduced English to elementary school curriculum in grade five and six in 2001 and extended to grade three and four in 2005 (Jeon & Lee, 2006). The new policy led to a shortage of qualified English teachers in elementary school. In need to solve the shortage of. 政治大 hire NESTs to teach English in public elementary and junior schools in 2004. 立. English teachers and improve students’ communicative ability, the MOE decided to. 2.3.1 The background of NESTs in Taiwan. ‧ 國. 學. The NESTs who are recruited from native-English-speaking countries like the. ‧. USA and the UK are required to have a bachelor’s degree and a qualified teacher. sit. y. Nat. certificate. The salary scale ranges from NT$50,000 (US$1,540) for those with a. io. qualified teacher certificate (Jeon & Lee, 2006).. al. er. bachelor degree to NT$70,000 (US$1,870) for those with a bachelor degree and a. n. v i n C h are not majoredUin English or TESOL before However, most of the NESTs engchi. coming to Taiwan (Lin, 2003; Ting, 2000). Ting (2000) Found out 80% of the NESTs in Kaohsiung did not major in English or TESOL. Two thirds of Lin’s (2003) interviewees in Hsinchu city were not English majors. Without related educational background, most of the NESTs do not have English teaching experience before coming to Taiwan and they are unwilling to participate in-service training.. For some. NESTs, coming to Taiwan is just for experiencing culture or making money. Most of them will leave Taiwan soon after the contract is due without considering teaching English as a life-long career. 9.

(20) 2.3.2 The studies on NESTs’ teaching in Taiwan There are three large-scale English language programs known for team teaching between NESTs and NNESTs in Taiwan, which are Hsinchu City English Program, Fulbright Program, and English Schweitzer Program. Hsinchu city was the first to launch the NEST and non-NEST team teaching program in Taiwan in 2001. The city government hired a private language institution to recruit, manage and train the NESTs. Though the NESTs are required to be college graduates with a teacher’s certificate, most of them do not major in related areas and do not have any teaching. 政治大 this job for the purposes of making money and experiencing living in a different 立. experience before coming to Taiwan (Chou, 2005; Lin, 2002; Luo, 2005). They took. accustomed to new teachers every new school year.. 學. ‧ 國. culture (Lin, 2002). Thus it leads to a high turnover rate. Students need to get. Like Hsinchu city, the Yilan. ‧. government cooperated with private language institution to hire NESTs to teach. y. Nat. English in all the elementary schools in 2002. But it turned out to be a failed. er. io. sit. experiment because of the NESTs’ limited time in each school. The government then worked with the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange Fulbright program and invited. al. n. v i n C hwith local teachersUin the following year. young Fulbright scholars to team teach engchi. The NESTs taught twenty periods a week, and used another fifteen hours to work on teaching-related duties (Tsai, 2005). On the other hand, the English Schweitzer Program was initiated by Kingcar Education Foundation to recruit volunteers from America in 2002. Since then, several teams of the volunteer youths from the USA have assisted teaching English in Nantou County, Chiayi County, Hualien County and Kinmen County (Hsu, 2006). Though there are different backgrounds of these programs, most research in Taiwan has been focused on NESTs’ teaching in several aspects, which could be categorized as below: (1) NESTs’ classroom practices, and (2) NESTs’ teaching 10.

(21) problems. 2.3.2.1 NESTs’ classroom practices As native English speakers, NESTs serve as perfect models for students, and students are more willing to speak English in NESTs’ classes.. Most NESTs use. games or activities to motivate students to learn and create a lively atmosphere (Lin, 2002). Students enjoy the NESTs’ classes because they think it’s more fun and with less pressure (Liu, 2004). Though NESTs and NNESTs should work together in the team teaching sessions,. 政治大 NNESTs helped translate and manage the classroom (Lin, 2002; Jiang, 2006). The 立 it turned out that NESTs tended to dominate the whole teaching process while the. team teaching program aims to provide students with authentic input, but students. ‧ 國. 學. may rely on the translation of NNESTs.. ‧. 2.3.2.2 NESTs’ teaching problems. sit. y. Nat. Team teaching programs between NESTs and NNESTs are supposed to bring the. io. NESTs’ classroom management and working attitude.. al. er. best out of two teachers; however, domestic studies have revealed some problems in. n. v i n C h management, numerous In terms of NESTs’ classroom studies reveal that engchi U. classroom management is the most challenging for NESTs (Ting, 2000). Most NESTs rely on the NNESTs’ translation to communicate with the low achievers and discipline the mis-behaviors. NESTs appreciated NNEST in dealing with the students in general, though they thought the punishments were meaningless (Herbart, 2009). Some NESTs account their classroom management challenges for their lack of students’ language. Low achievers cannot follow what the NEST said and feel bored in class (Wang, 2007). As for NESTs’ working attitude, a lot of NESTs come to Taiwan to experience exotic culture while making money. Most of them will leave Taiwan soon after they 11.

(22) finish their one-year contract and thus it led to high turnover rate of NESTs in Taiwan. However, the turnover rate of the NESTs in Kinmen is comparatively lower than other cities. Despite the fact that Kinmen is an isolated island apart from Taiwan. Many NESTs in Kinmen are willing to stay or renew their contract and come back the next year.. Little research has been done to investigate the NESTs in Kinmen.. The. present study, therefore, is aimed to explore the team teaching relationship between the NEST and the NNEST in Kinmen, an outlying island of Taiwan.. 立. 政治大. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 12. i n U. v.

(23) CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODS This study is a case study which aims to investigate the challenges and difficulties the NNEST and the NEST encountered in the team teaching program in Kinmen. The study examined three aspects: (a) the participants’ classroom practices and teaching effectiveness; (b) the difficulties the participants encountered in the process, and (c) the participants’ solutions to the problems. The study adopted a qualitative approach to obtain an in-depth understanding of the co-teaching. 政治大 instrument, procedures and data analysis of the study are introduced below. 立. relationship between the NEST and the NNEST. The setting, the participants, the. 3.1 The setting. ‧ 國. 學. The school presented in this study is located in Kinmen, an outlying island. ‧. located in the west of the Taiwan Strait and closer to China than Taiwan.. The. sit. y. Nat. Ministry of Education (MOE) in Kinmen started the NEST-NNEST team teaching. io. er. program (also known as English Schweitzer Program) with Kingcar Education Foundation in 2004. Every class from the third grade to the sixth grade has a period of. al. n. v i n class per week taught by an C NEST who would go to h e n g c h i Udifferent schools for a morning or an afternoon, so students would be used to being taught by American teachers in Kinmen. In addition to the Kingcar Education Foundation, the Ministry of Education in Kinmen also started to cooperate with the Fulbright Foundation to assist the English village program1, for which six Fulbright English teaching assistants (NESTs) stayed in Kinmen for eleven months from August, 2012. After a one-month training with the Fulbright employees, these NESTs were placed in the English village or other. 1. The English village in Kinmen provides a two-day program to help enhance students’ English learning by using English in six simulated-scenario classrooms. 13.

(24) elementary schools. To minimize the polarization of English learning in Kinmen, the MOE strives to enhance students’ English proficiency by assigning foreign teachers to every elementary school. Currently, both foundations are operating across the island, NEST Teachers from the Kingcar foundation and the Fulbright foundation were placed in every elementary school in Kinmen at the start of the new school year.. In addition. to regular classes taught by NNESTs, every class has one or two more periods taught by NESTs. 政治大 Each class has thirteen to twenty-three students. 立. The school in the present study consists of twenty teachers and six classes totaling 186 students.. Most of the. students are so-called new Taiwanese children whose mothers come from China or the. ‧ 國. 學. South-east Asia. Few of them have English classes after school. This school year. ‧. when the data was collected was the first time for the school to have a regular. sit. y. Nat. American teacher on campus. Students would have one regular class taught by the. al. n. 3.2 The participants. io. classes per week.. er. NNEST, one to two additional classes taught by NEST, and one to two team teaching. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. 3.2.1 Criteria of Choosing the Participants. The research aimed to investigate how the NEST and the NNEST cooperated in the team teaching program, problems and difficulties they encountered in the team teaching process, how they solved the problems and how they became accustomed the team teaching program in Kinmen. In order to answer the research questions, the researcher looked for the participants who were qualified under the following criteria: (a) a NEST and a NNEST who never taught English in Kinmen, (b) a NEST and a NNEST who did not have any team teaching experiences, and (c) a NEST and a NNEST who were willing to participate in the research. 14.

(25) First of all, the reason why the first and second criteria were set up was to select the participants who were unfamiliar with the teaching contexts in Kinmen and therefore the difficulties they encountered would be various. Secondly, since the classroom observations and the interviews would take up a lot of teachers’ time, the willingness of the participants was important. It was crucial to find the participants who were willing to spare their time to cooperate with the researcher. With all the criteria taken into consideration, Mei2, the NNEST and Lisa, the NEST, who never had English team teaching experience, were selected as the participants for the present. 政治大 To depict a picture of the NEST and the NNEST who participated in the present 立. study.. 3.2.2 NEST’s background. 學. ‧ 國. study, information of their backgrounds and working experiences are described below.. She studied religious studies there and took some. sit. y. Nat. went to Rhode Island for college.. ‧. Lisa, the NEST in the present study, comes from Hawaii in the United States and. io. er. Chinese courses. She can speak Chinese well and likes to learn Chinese. Lisa chose to come to Taiwan because one of her Mandarin Chinese teachers encouraged her to. al. n. v i n C hTeaching program.UBefore she came to Taiwan, she apply for the Fulbright English engchi. also taught beginning Chinese in the US with elementary school students, introducing them to basic Chinese language and culture. Though she does not have any English teaching background and experience, she is very passionate about English teaching. 3.2.3 NNEST’s background Mei, the NNEST in the present study, is from Kaohsiung. She holds a BA degree in English. She has been teaching for four years in other elementary schools, in Kinmen and New Taipei city, and this is her first year teaching in the school under research. She did not work with Lisa, the Fulbright teacher or any other NEST before. 2. These are pseudonyms used to protect the identities of the participants. 15.

(26) She did not have any co-teaching experience prior to this semester when the data was collected. 3.3 Instruments This study adapted a qualitative approach to examine the cooperative relationship between the NEST and the NNEST.. The present study, like many other. qualitative studies, involved detailed description and analysis of the participants, and employed observations, interviews and related documents to collect data.. Details. concerning the three instruments are listed below.. 政治大 Two types of interviews, formal and informal, were conducted in the present 立. 3.3.1 Interviews. study. The formal interviews were semi-structured interviews. There were eight. ‧ 國. 學. formal interviews, including two pre-observation and six post-observation interviews.. ‧. Before the classroom observations, the researcher interviewed the participants to get. sit. y. Nat. information about their background and teaching experience. The interview questions. io. er. were adapted from the past literature that the researcher had reviewed.. The researcher conducted the post-observation interviews after observing the. al. n. v i n Caimed These interviews the problems the U h e ntoginvestigate i h c. teaching sessions.. participants encountered and how they solved the problems during the teaching process. Other than formal interviews, informal conversations with the participants, the participants’ students, and colleagues were also made to further investigate the participants’ teaching. 3.3.2 Classroom observations Classroom observations were aimed to find out how the classes were conducted, and what difficulties and problems the NEST and the NNEST encountered in the teaching process.. Observation is a common tool used in qualitative research as it 16.

(27) helps examine the phenomenon in-depth (Yin, 2003). The observed classes were video recorded to document the teaching process in the classroom. Video recording comprises more detailed information, including verbal and non-verbal aspects and enables the researcher and the participants to review the footage at any time.. In. addition to video recording, all classroom observations were also supplemented by field notes to compensate for any weaknesses of video-taping classroom observations, such as not capturing the students’ reactions. 3.3.3 Document collections. 政治大 collected materials such as Fulbright training handbooks, textbooks, handouts and test 立 Besides collecting data through interviews and observation, the researcher also. sheets, in hope of gaining a holistic understanding of the participants’ teaching.. ‧ 國. 學. 3.4 Procedures. There were altogether six observations and eight interviews, and the. sit. y. Nat. twenty weeks.. ‧. The data were collected from September, 2013 to January, 2014, which covered. io. er. procedures of data collection were illustrated as follows in Table 1. Table 1 Classroom Observation and Interview Schedule. n. al. Week. Ch. observation. engchi. co-teaching 1 3. V. 4. V. 9. V. 11. V. 17. V. 18. V 17. i n U. v. interview. NEST. NNEST. I 1-A*. I 1-B*. I 2-A. I 2-B. I 3-A. I 3-B. I 4-A. I 4-B.

(28) Note: “A” refers to interviews with the NEST. “B” refers to interviews with the NNEST.. 3.4.1 Classroom observations The team teaching model in the school under research consisted of two joint sessions between the NEST and the NNEST for third and fourth grade levels and one joint session for fifth and sixth grade levels. The class observed was Class 601 which was also Mei’s homeroom class. The researcher originally planned to video record six weeks of classroom observation. But classroom observations were not video recorded until the NEST and. 政治大 observations were conducted in the third, fourth, ninth, eleventh, seventeenth and 立. the NNEST became more familiar with each other and the researcher. The classroom. eighteenth week (see Table 2). Each period was forty minutes long.. The. ‧ 國. 學. observation schedule was designed to see how the NEST and the NNEST cooperated. ‧. in the beginning, middle, and end of the semester. In other words, different stages of. sit. y. Nat. cooperation were observed. Because there were one mid-term and one final in the. io. al. n. semester.. er. tenth and twentieth week, no classes were observed during these points in the. Ch. Table 2 Classroom Observation Dates Date. Observation. engchi. Class. i n U. v. teacher. 09/16/2013. 1. 601. NEST & NNEST. 09/27/2013. 2. 601. NEST & NNEST. 10/25/2013. 3. 601. NEST & NNEST. 11/08/2013. 4. 601. NEST & NNEST. 12/20/2013. 5. 601. NEST & NNEST. 12/26/2013. 6. 601. NEST & NNEST. 3.4.2 Interviews 18.

(29) In the first week of the semester, the researcher conducted the pre-observation interviews (see Table 3).. The researcher interviewed the NEST and the NNEST. separately to get the information about their personal background and teaching experience (I A-1 and I B-1). The interviews also helped the researcher build up mutual trust and cultivate a rapport relationship with the participants from the beginning. After every two observations of the teaching session, the researcher conducted the after-observation interviews (I 2-A, I 2-B, I 3-A, I 3-B, I 4-A, I 4-B). The. 政治大 teachers’ perceptions of their teaching practices. Interviewing the NEST and the 立. researcher interviewed the NEST and the NNEST separately to investigate the. NNEST respectively allowed the participants to talk openly and the researcher to. ‧ 國. 學. obtain in-depth information in a relaxed atmosphere.. ‧. A total of six semi-structured interviews were conducted after a week of. sit. y. Nat. classroom observation, either in the library or the art classroom. The interviews were. io. er. conducted in the participants’ native language, i.e., English for the NEST and Mandarin Chinese for the NNEST. All the interviews were audio recorded and later. n. al. transcribed.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Table 3 Semi-Structured Interview Sessions Date 08/30/2013. Interview teacher I 1-A. NEST. Time. Topic. 25 min. . Teacher background information. 09/04/2013. I 1-B. NNEST. 31 min.. . Teacher background information. 10/08/2013. I 2-A. NEST. 38 min.. 19. . Team teaching practice. . Difficulties encountered in.

(30) team teaching 10/02/2013. NNEST. I 2-B. 56 min.. . Team teaching practice. . Difficulties encountered in team teaching. 11/22/2013. NEST. I 3-A. 50 min.. . Native and non-native English teacher issues. NNEST. 立. ‧ 國. NNEST. Native and non-native English. issues 政治 teacher 大of NEST vs. NNEST  Images 48 min.. Interaction with colleagues. . Life in Kinmen. . Suggestion. . Interaction with colleagues. . Suggestion. y. 40 min.. . ‧. I 4-B. Nat. 01/15/2014. NEST. I 4-A. . 學. 01/13/2014. 28 min.. io. sit. I 3-B. Images of NEST vs. NNEST. er. 12/13/2013. . al. The interview questions were formulated through several ready-made questions. n. v i n C hteachers’ background from related literature review, including e n g c h i U information, personal perception of the advantages and the disadvantages of being a NEST or a NNEST(Arva & Medgyes, 2000) and co-teaching and the problems in teaching. (Wang, 2007; Jiang, 2006). The researcher chose the related questions from the larger pool and also designed her own questions to collect data for the research. 3.4.3 Document collection The researcher also collected documents related to the co-teaching program, including the textbook, syllabus, lesson plans, worksheets and tests throughout the course of the study. Field notes taken in the observations will also serve as 20.

(31) supplementary materials. 3.5 Data analysis Since the present study has been conducted using the case study approach, the analysis must derive from data and takes the form of “grounded theory”(Nunan, 1992). The theory is grounded from the data. Rather than beginning with a hypothesis, the researcher collected data first and discovered theory through the process of data collection. The primary data collected for analysis through interviews and observation included eight interviews, six classroom observations, and the related. 政治大 Then the researcher followed Freeman (1998)’s model of data analysis, which 立 materials.. All the data from observations and interviews were transcribed verbatim.. prescribed four pivotal activities－naming, grouping, finding relationships and. ‧ 國. 學. displaying. Naming is labeling the data and takes them apart. The labels can come. ‧. from the data itself or the patterns researcher finds, called grounded codes, or from. sit. y. Nat. outside of the data, also known as priori codes. The next step, grouping, is. io. er. reassembling the codes into categories. This process creates the structure of the data, like the scaffolding on a building. Then, the researcher found relationships between. al. n. v i n C h the structureUof the present study. the categories which helps strengthen engchi. Lastly, data. display is to reveal the relationships and patterns between the categories, making the interpretation more concrete. The researcher applied the four steps to the data she collects. In the coding activity, the researcher used codes, including teaching behaviors, classroom practices and the difficulties the participants met in Kinmen. The researcher transcribed all the interviews and classroom observations immediately to ensure trustworthiness of the research; the latter was performed using a worksheet adopted from Wang(2007) (see Appendix 1). It contains activity type, short description of teaching activity, time, aids, students’ responses and notes.. In the grouping activity, the researcher categorized 21.

(32) the different sources of data. Classroom practices were represented by observations and handouts. Significant and repetitive practices and problems were categorized into separate tables. The next activity was to find the patterns in each teacher’s practices and problems. Lastly, the researcher interpreted these patterns and relationships and displayed them as clearly as possible. To ensure the trustworthiness of the present study as mentioned above, the researcher conducted both triangulation and member checking methods. Using multiple sources of evidence and perspectives can help establish the construct validity and reliability of the case study. And the participants’. 政治大. review can increase the validity of the study (Yin, 2003).. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. n. er. io. sit. y. Nat. al. Ch. engchi. 22. i n U. v.

(33) CHAPTER FOUR RESULTS AND FINDINGS This chapter presents the results of the study on English team teaching program in Kinmen.. First, the lesson planning process and the teaching practice of the NEST. and the NNEST are described. Second, the problems and the difficulties they met in the process of team teaching are revealed. Third, how they solved the problems and how the NEST adjusted herself to the team teaching program are also described. Fourth, both the facilitating and debilitating factors for the NEST in becoming Lastly, the 政治大 NEST and the NNEST shared what they learned from the team teaching program and 立 accustomed to the team teaching program in Kinmen are also presented.. gave their opinions and suggestions.. ‧ 國. 學. 4.1 The Teaching Practice. ‧. In this section, the researcher discusses how the participants conducted their. y. Nat. team teaching class, including how they prepared for the class, how they shared the Lisa and Mei. er. io. sit. teaching load, and how they perceived their counterpart’s teaching.. were interviewed regarding how they co-taught in the classroom. Additionally, the. al. n. v i n C h class to obtain researcher observed their co-teaching a holistic sense of their team engchi U teaching situation.. 4.1.1 Background Information Both teachers had limited experience teaching English prior to this semester. It was Mei’s first year as a qualified full-time English teacher in Kinmen. She had had former experience as a substitute teacher for four years in Kinmen and New Taipei city, mostly as a homeroom teacher who didn’t teach English. It was Lisa’s first semester as a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant. It was also her first time teaching English and team teaching with other teachers in Taiwan. Both of them had no experience in team teaching in Kinmen prior to this semester. 23. Lisa and Mei.

(34) expressed that they felt excited about the cooperation in the coming semester in the interviews before they team taught in class.. “I think it will be fun though we haven’t. tried any teaching activity yet.” (09/04/2013, Mei). Lisa also revealed that “I think. it's gonna be good because I’m from the United States, I'm a native speaker, I'm bringing the culture with me, but they can learn that much more.” (08/30/2013, Lisa) 4.1.2 The lesson planning process and teaching practices To run the team teaching class smoothly, planning and preparation before class play important roles in successful team teaching.. Since both of the participants had. 政治大 In the beginning, the NEST and the NNEST discussed what they would 立. no team teaching experience before, they should have taken more time to prepare for the classes.. do for the whole week in advance. They designed activities based on the sentence. ‧ 國. 學. structures and talked through every step for each class. However, both of them. ‧. quickly became saturated by their individual teaching schedules, as Mei was a. sit. y. Nat. homeroom teacher and stayed in her classroom most of the time. Lisa was also. io. er. occupied with her class schedule because Fulbright required her to teach twenty classes per week. As time passed, they spent less and less time discussing, unlike in. n. al. the beginning of the semester.. v i n ByC mid-semester, they often h e n g c h i U just met a few minutes. before class to quickly discuss what they would do for that period.. Most of the time, they just met during the recess, and hurried to decide what they were going to do.. “We often just plan like, we pass and ‘hey, let's plan really quick.’. Sometimes that's ok, but it's not 100% effective.” (Lisa, 10/08/2013) Lisa realized that once they got to know students better, they could not only plan better, but also control the students better.. In the beginning of the semester, both. Mei and Lisa were unfamiliar with the students, as were the students unfamiliar with them. As time went by, they were able to find ways to plan the lesson and design suitable activities for their students. Even though they didn’t plan the activities 24.

(35) thoroughly, they found that they were able to modify their teaching on the spot based on students’ reactions. Lisa said that in the lesson planning process, she didn’t like to formally type out the lesson plan; rather she preferred to keep the plans in her notebook and bring them to the classroom as a reminder. Lisa described that, Well, there's a spectrum of informal and formal, I think we're probably one third, like I don't wanna type our lesson plan and spend thirty minutes typing it in an hour. I just like to write it down and bring the note to class in case I forget or need to modify, so I can look. So maybe we can do that but we're not too bad right now. (Lisa, 10/08/2013) As Lisa developed a good rapport with Mei and had more teaching experience,. 政治大 conduct the class well.立 Mei felt the same. Sometimes after she finished her teaching,. she felt even though they didn’t spend much time planning, they were still able to. ‧ 國. 學. she would just signal to Lisa, and Lisa would take over the teaching. The following excerpt illustrates how the teaching goes.. n. Ch. engchi. sit er. io. al. y. Nat. Mei: One more time. Students: T-w-e-n-t-y. (Mei gave the flashcards to Lisa.) Lisa: What’s this? (Hold the flashcards). ‧. Mei: OK. How to say twenty? (in Mandarin Chinese) Students: Twenty, t-w-e-n-t-y.. i n U. v. Students: January, j-a-n-u-a-r-y. (10/25/2013, Class 601). In the excerpt, Mei helped students to review the numbers before teaching the months. Mei asked the students to repeat the vocabulary and then gave the flashcards to Lisa.. She did not tell to Lisa to continue the teaching, but Lisa knew what she. needed to do after Mei gave her the flashcards. This depicts the NEST and the NNEST’s good rapport and how they cooperated in class. When Mei and Lisa co-taught, they used textbook as their base. Often, Mei would choose a point to focus on, and from this point they both came up with 25.

(36) instructions and activities.. Lisa indicated that “The textbook is our base, when we're. teaching together. So we look at where they are at the textbook, and we come up with good lessons and activities from that portion of textbook.” (Lisa, 10/08/2013) Since they had not thoroughly planned the details for the co-teaching class, sometimes they had to communicate during the class and also observe students’ responses about how well the class was going.. As they both became familiar with their students, they felt. they gradually learned how to manage the classroom and design the activities. In order to supplement the textbook, Mei also mentioned that she thought that. 政治大 would spend too much time on the textbook. “I hope she (Lisa) can teach some 立. they could adopt some extracurricular materials in team teaching lessons or they. clips to train their listening.” (Mei, 10/02/2013). 學. ‧ 國. vocabulary related to the textbook and extend it, or students can watch some video. In the classes the researcher. Lisa employed the youtube clip to help students fill in the blanks. sit. y. Nat. Christmas carol.. ‧. observed, she found that Mei and Lisa used extracurricular video clips to teach a. io. er. of the lyrics and sing along with students.. (After reviewing the vocabularies related to Christmas, Lisa gave the worksheets. n. al. to the students.) Mei: Let’s learn the song.. Ch. engchi. i n U. v. Lisa: We’ll learn Jingle bells jingle bells. (Lisa gave students the worksheets, and Mei played the video clip.) Lisa: So first you listen and then you write what you hear in the blank, OK? We’ll go line by line. Mei: OK, first LISTEN. And then you can fill in the words. Student 1: Why not just print the lyrics? (In Mandarin Chinese) Mei: You can try to listen. (In Mandarin Chinese) (Class 601, 12/20/2013) 26.

(37) Lisa and Mei used the song to teach students vocabulary related to Christmas. Though some students complained that the teachers did not directly give them the lyrics, they still finished the worksheets. Both the NEST and the NNEST encouraged the students to try their best to fill in the blanks and enjoy singing the song along with the video clip. 4.1.3 The teaching methods Both of the participants were asked questions about their teaching methods. For Mei, she indicated that they used a lot of listening and speaking activities and TPR. 政治大 attention through gestures and body language. It makes the class more alive, less 立. (Total Physical Response) method in team teaching. “Sometimes it’s easier to get their. boring, I think.” (Mei, 01/15/2014). ‧ 國. 學. However, the researcher discovered that the teachers’ theory and practice were at When the researcher observed the class, she found very limited TPR used in. ‧. odds.. sit. y. Nat. the observed class. Most of the time, the two teachers introduced or reviewed the. io. er. vocabulary and sentence pattern in the beginning, and then moved through various activities to review, such as role plays or guessing games. The following is an excerpt. n. al. Ch. of the classroom observation.. engchi. i n U. v. Mei: …we’re going to see what we can find. Don’t forget you can clap your hands. It can help you read the tongue twister (in Mandarin Chinese). OK? Ready, go! (Mei and Lisa read along with the students): Treasure hunt, treasure hunt, we’re going on a treasure hunt. We’re going on a treasure hunt. We’re going to see what we can find. [clap hands] Mei: Ok, now please turn to page thiry…thirty-seven. (Lisa showed the students which page and circulated the classroom) Lisa: Page thirty seven, yeah. Thirty-seven. Mei: Thirty seven. [waited for Lisa to come back to the front] Teacher Lisa and I will tell you a story. (11/08/2013, Class 601) Mei and Lisa usually had the students listen carefully and repeat what they just 27.

(38) heard. And then the students wrote down some notes on the textbook. Limited physical responses were observed in the class 601. However, Lisa and Mei also team taught in the fourth grade, where they also claimed to use TPR strategy in teaching. The researcher, however, was unable to observe that class. 4.1.4 The teaching load and the responsibilities Mei and Lisa were asked about their workload and responsibility in team teaching class. In the beginning, Mei wanted to share the teaching load equally with Lisa but she discovered that Lisa’s lack of experience held Lisa back from teaching in. 政治大. front of the class. So Mei decided to teach first to help Lisa learn some teaching skills, she said. 立. ‧. ‧ 國. 學. When we first met, she (Lisa) said she wanted to observe my teaching. Because she had no experience before, and she was afraid of running class on her own. I also found out that she felt more confident after she used some of the techniques I used in class. (Mei, 10/02/2013). sit. y. Nat. After Mei and Lisa cooperated more, the teaching time became equally shared by. n. al. er. io. both teachers. When one was teaching, the other walked around the classroom to see. i n U. v. whether the students need help. Mei would introduce the vocabulary and the sentence. Ch. engchi. patterns and Lisa would use activities to help students to practice later. Lisa indicated that, Like we often [do] role play, while one person does one part of the dialogue, and then we switch, so they can hear both of us from both parts. When we play with flashcards we switch off, so that students can hear different accents, and um just have a variety of teaching. And when we play games or activities, one person is, say keeping score, and one person is doing (another job,) we try to make sure that, or if that someone is teaching, the other one can walk around, and make sure students are participating rather than standing there and doing nothing. So I try to make sure to do that if I'm teaching, and Mei doing the same thing (Lisa, 10/08/2013). In practice, the team teaching class often started with a greeting, so the students 28.

(39) knew the class began and they needed to concentrate. Next, Lisa led the students to read along a tongue twister as a warm-up and helped them review phonics. Then, Mei would hold the flashcards to review the vocabulary or sentence structures taught in the previous sessions. If they taught the reading passages, Mei and Lisa would read line by line with the students and Mei would ask students whether they understand the passages. After students understood the passages, they read by themselves or role played in front of the class.. Then, Lisa would use games or activities to review the. words they learned and Mei would walk around the classroom to see whether anyone. 政治大 Though both of them teach the textbook together, Mei was responsible for giving 立. needed help.. students assignments and correcting them. Lisa offered to help Mei to correct. ‧ 國. 學. homework, but Mei refused the help in order to be consistent. Mei was also. ‧. responsible for assessing students’ reading and writing performance during the. sit. y. Nat. school’s examination periods. Lisa helped to test students’ speaking ability in the. io. er. mid-term and final exams. Sometimes, Lisa gave students worksheets to finish in class for practices, but they were never take-home and deemed as homework.. al. n. v i n In addition to her threeC periods of team teaching h e n g c h i U class with Mei, Lisa co-taught. three periods with another NNEST and fourteen on her own with a school soldier3. Lisa indicated that it was different from her expectation, because her program indicated that all twenty classes would be team teaching. “It's very surprising because the application said that I teach with an LET the entire time. So then, like, everywhere else, that's not Jinmen has that situation, Yilan and Kaohsiung, all 20 classes are with LETs.” (Lisa, 01/13/2014). This confusion of the program also. caused Lisa and Mei’s different perceptions of their roles in the classroom. Lisa 3. The school soldier is having his military service in school to assist the English teaching and help some basic administrative duties. 29.

(40) applied for this program because she viewed herself as an English assistant to help the local English teacher’s teaching instead of teaching alone in the classroom.. But in. practice, Lisa has to teach other classes on her own besides co-teaching class. 4.1.5 Teachers’ roles in the classroom NEST Role Both Mei and Lisa were asked questions concerning their individual role in the classroom, along with their perception of each other.. Lisa indicated that she. expected herself to be a teaching assistant before she started her teaching in Kinmen.. 政治大 soldier’s help. Without any teaching experience, she was very nervous to run a class 立 To her surprise, she needed to teach fourteen periods on her own, with a school. by herself in the beginning. So she asked Mei if it was appropriate to observe Mei’s. ‧ 國. 學. teaching first. In the beginning of the semester, Lisa team taught with Mei as an. ‧. observer and assistant. On one hand, she was learning how to teach a class. On the. sit. y. Nat. other hand, she also helped Mei’s teaching. As Mei gained more team teaching. io. er. experience, she came to regard Lisa as a language model and had her present the new words to the students. Lisa taught the new vocabulary with very simple English, so. al. n. v i n that some students could understandCand then explain to others h e n g c h i U in Chinese. If no one. could understand what Lisa said, Lisa would try to explain again in a slower manner and with gestures. Mei would not immediately translate Lisa’s messages into Chinese for students, because she thought students should have more time to process what they heard. When Lisa and Mei team taught together, Lisa provided students with accurate pronunciation and authentic input. She believed her role in the team teaching was to help the students have the opportunities to interact with the native speakers and gain more cultural understanding. I think it's to bring a new, a different perspective, and voice and energy. 30.

(41) Because like every teacher has their own personalities and so when there are two personalities, that much more interesting for students. I just like to … just be myself, and do that with the other teacher so … with that, I bring pronunciation, different culture, and different ideas, the teacher might not think of on their own, we share ideas. (Lisa, 10/08/2013) For Mei, the NEST role is to help the NNEST’s teaching and make the teaching more diverse and interesting. She indicated that the NEST takes the supporting role to make the classroom more interesting. (Mei, 10/02/2013) NNEST Role Mei 政治大 initially mentioned that the NEST and the NNEST should share the teaching load 立 Both Mei and Lisa were interviewed on the NNEST role in team teaching.. equally in team teaching lessons, but was comfortable with playing a slightly. ‧ 國. 學. dominant role.. “After all, I think it’s a good opportunity to co-teach with a foreigner;. ‧. students must be more interested in foreigners.” (Mei, 10/02/2013) She thought the. sit. y. Nat. NNEST could help the NEST’s teaching through translating her instructions, though. io. er. not immediately word for word. Some students of higher levels can understand Lisa and translate to other classmates in an easy way. “Sometimes students were not able. al. n. v i n Csaid to understand what the NEST wouldU turn to ask for translation. I will h eandn they i h gc ask them to guess and then Lisa will try to use simple English to explain again.. Anyway, I will not translate Lisa’s words immediately, except for playing games.” (Mei, 10/02/2013) Besides translating and clarifying what Lisa said in class, Mei also helped to manage the classroom. Since Lisa cannot use Chinese to discipline the students, she relied on Mei’s translation for classroom management. In addition, Mei was also the homeroom teacher of the observed class, so she had better control of the students. Lisa also incorporated Mei’s reward system in team teaching class. If students answer the questions correctly or behaved well, they could earn points for themselves. 31.

(42) For Lisa, the role of the NNEST is “to help us stay on track, and to keep students in line, like help them run smoothly.” (Lisa, 10/08/2013) 4.1.6 Language use in the classroom The team teaching classes the researcher observed were mostly conducted in English. Sometimes Mei would ask questions in Mandarin Chinese to help students clarify what Lisa said. Though Lisa was able to speak fluent Chinese, she rarely used Chinese to interact with students. Only when students asked her questions privately would she use limited Chinese. Some slow learners would also like to ask Lisa for. 政治大. help, though they cannot speak English very well. Lisa would use simple English and gestures to help students understand.. 立. When Mei was interviewed questions concerning the language use in classroom,. ‧ 國. 學. she said that she was used to speaking Mandarin Chinese when team teaching with. ‧. Lisa. “I used to speak Chinese in the beginning because Lisa has already used English,. sit. y. Nat. I wanted to use some Mandarin Chinese to help students.” (Mei, 1/15/2014) But as. io. more English in the team teaching class.. al. er. Mei soon realized that students should have more exposure to English, she tried to use If Mei found some slow learners did not. n. v i n C h again in Mandarin understand the instruction, she explained Chinese to help them. engchi U. In practice, Mei used Mandarin Chinese to clarify what Lisa said or explain the. activity rules to the students.. Mei did not translate immediately after Lisa, but she. only explained it again when she found most of the students did not understand the instruction.. With Mei’s help, Lisa only spoke English to students in the team. teaching class. 4.1.7 NEST and NNEST’s interaction inside and outside the classroom In the beginning of the team teaching, both Mei and Lisa were unfamiliar with each other, so they spent a lot of time on preparation. They would discuss the process thoroughly and Lisa would bring the notes to the classroom as a reminder. The lesson 32.

(43) plans were served as a guideline and they modified them if necessary. They communicated with each other if they needed to change their plans on the spot according to students’ reactions.. Mei indicated that “I felt that we had good rapport,. if she finishes her teaching, she’ll turn to me and then I continue to teach.. Or when I. finish my teaching, something she thinks of activity that can help students, she’ll continue and help students review.” (Mei, 10/02/2013) The researcher also observed that sometimes Mei chatted with Lisa in the office if both of them were not busy with classes.. Sometimes Lisa asked Mei to come to. “I’ve been hanging out with my LETs a fair bit 政治大 outside of school. They’re becoming my good friends, and I think this will help our 立 her apartment for party or dinner.. teaching. I’m feeling more and more comfortable with them, and I think they’re. ‧ 國. 學. Lisa described their. relationship like “friends and partners.” (Lisa, 01/13/2014). Their interaction. ‧. feeling the same.” (Weekly reflection report, 11/07/2013). When. y. Nat. outside the classroom positively impacted their co-teaching relationship.. also helped Lisa to discipline the students.. n. al. Ch. 4.2 Problems and solutions in team teaching. engchi. er. io. sit. Lisa was teaching alone in the sixth grade, which was Mei’s homeroom class, Mei. i n U. v. This section presents the problems the NEST and the NNEST encountered in the team teaching process and how they solved their problems. different challenges in the team teaching process.. Mei and Lisa faced. Mei had difficulties in. communicating with Lisa while Lisa felt the language barrier, rush to plan before class and classroom management challenging. 4.2.1 The language barrier When asked questions regarding interaction between the NEST and the NNEST, Mei mentioned the language barrier and her lacking English proficiency.. Mei. explained that she was afraid of speaking English to foreigners because of the 33.

(44) influence of a strict foreign teacher in college.. She explained how the teacher’s. impact made her feel her English was not good enough to communicate with foreigners. She even felt uneasy to team teach with a native speaker at the beginning of the semester. “I used to feel scared when I see foreigners, probably because of my bad impression with the American teacher before. But now I feel much better. Maybe it’s not that good. But at least I won’t feel afraid.” (Mei, 09/04/2013) As for Lisa, she can empathize what Mei felt. She understood Mei’s uneasiness of communicating in English with her because she also learned Mandarin Chinese as. 政治大 in front of native speakers. In order to help Mei to feel comfortable discussing lesson 立. a second language. Lisa knew that embarrassing feeling of speaking another language. plans in English, sometimes Lisa used some simple Mandarin Chinese to. ‧ 國. 學. communicate.. ‧. The experience of learning Mandarin Chinese in college was the main reason Though she was modest to say her Chinese was not. sit. y. Nat. Lisa chose to come to Taiwan.. io. er. very good, most of the colleagues in the school under research praised her for that she can speak Chinese very well. Lisa’s ability to speak Chinese helps Mei feel. n. al. Ch. comfortable to speak English in the team teaching class.. engchi. v i n ULisa also indicated that she. can understand Mei’s struggle to speak English because of her Chinese learning experience.. Lisa indicated that “it's fun we switch between Chinese and English, so. yeah that helps her feel less scared to speak English to me, because I’m working on my Chinese, too.” (Lisa, 1/13/2014) However, Lisa did not use Chinese in the team teaching class. She believed that her role in the classroom was to give students more authentic input. With Mei’s help in the classroom, she rarely used Chinese in the classroom unless students asked her questions privately. Besides communicating with Mei, Lisa also thought that language plays an 34.