Innovation in Language Learning

Co-Teaching is defined as the shared delivery of instruction (Spencer, 2005). It is not a new notion in the field of education and has been designed and employed extensively for decades by educators and teachers of special education, where a combination of special education and regular education expertise is required to ensure that learners with disabilities receive appropriate education services.

However, the concept of co-teaching in  ESL/EFL contexts, particularly in undergraduate and graduate classes, is rather a new notion, and has not received adequate attention from experts or researchers in the field. Most of the available EFL/ESL literature on the topic sees co-teaching as an approach to train teachers, helping them to adapt to the mixed education environments required in English speaking countries, where many immigrant second language learners need integrated instruction. In addition, EFL/ESL teachers and educators still – rightly of course - hesitate to apply any of the various available models of co-teaching, because  empirical evidence on their pedagogical efficacy and/or practicality in EFL/ESL contexts is unbelievably limited  as compared to the amount of research available on other topics. On the other hand, most of the literature on the topic is mainly theoretical, and lacks substantial evidence on the applicability of co-teaching in  EFL/ESL contexts. The feasibility and practicality of implementing Co-Teaching within the sphere of foreign and second language education is yet to be investigated.

The present paper aims to portray how a tailored version of the interactive  model of co-teaching -tried out by the researcher in undergraduate classes for four years- can be extremely conducive to learning in various  EFL/ESL classes, making teaching an enjoyable experience for the instructors as well.

Key words: EFL/ESL, Co-Teaching, Team-Teaching, Interactive Model.