PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TO CO-TEACHING - Research paper

Oct 15, 2026

Study investigates pre-service English teachers’ attitudes toward co-teaching as professional development and a collaboration method. Two instructors co-taught an undergraduate English Language Teaching Methodology course to provide experience and model the approach. Sixty university students participated over one semester using reflective journals, focus group discussions, and a final survey. Results show co-teaching’s effectiveness in improving learning, strengthening reflective skills, and supporting collaborative practices, with implications for designing teacher education programs.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Background on co-teaching

Study purpose and course context

PRE-SERVICE ENGLISH TEACHERS’ ATTITUDES TO CO-TEACHING Iryna Zadorozhna Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ternopil, Ukraine [irynazadorozhnai@gmail.com](irynazadorozhnai@gmail.com) Olha Datskiv Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ternopil, Ukraine [olhadatskiv@gmail.com](olhadatskiv@gmail.com) Valentyna Shepitchak Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Ternopil, Ukraine [valya.myskiv@gmail.com](valya.myskiv@gmail.com) The purpose of this paper is to investigate pre-service English teachers’ attitudes to co-teaching as a professional development tooland a collaboration method. Two instructors co-taught an undergraduate English Language Teaching Methodology course to gain experience and to model this method for pre-service English teachers. 60 students of Ternopil Volodymyr Hnatiuk National Pedagogical University, Department of Foreign Languages, participated in the study for one semester. Research instruments used in the study are students’ reflective journals, focus groups discussions, and a survey. The students wrote regular entries in reflective journals after each session, participated in focus groups discussions, and filled out a survey at the end of the semester. It was hypothesised that co-teaching would engage learners and enhance their learning, help pre-service teachers to develop professionally, and serve as a model of effective instructional technique for their future teaching assignment. Results indicate the effectiveness of coteaching in achieving these tasks. We also conclude that co-teaching in pre-service teacher education is an invaluable tool in developing teachers’ and students’ reflective skills and collaborative practices. The findings ofthe study can be applied in the design and implementation of educational programmes for pre-service foreign languages teachers. Keywords: co-teaching; English Language Teaching Methodology; pre-service English teachers; learning tool; collaboration method; reflective journal; professional development tool. Introduction Ukrainian higher education is striving to promote innovative teaching and learning tools to enhance learning and professional development of students. A nexus between education, research, and innovation is among the primary goals of Ukrainian universities according to the Law on Higher Education adopted in 2014 (Hladchenko, 2016, p. 382) . Innovation is not solely technological in nature, as the human element remains the most crucial and sensitive aspect of any educational advances (Serdyukov, 2017) . Thus, the principal focus of educators’ innovative work should be on learners and teachers, and on increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of all pedagogic efforts. The key to a prosperous, innovative society, in Serdiukov’s opinion, is an educational system that breeds critical thinking, autonomy, self-efficacy, creativity, responsibility, and a culture that supports innovative education (p. 8) . Co-teaching is an educational innovation, which relies first and foremost on a human element. It is defined as two or more individuals coming together in a collaborative relationship to share work in order to achieve what could not have been done as well alone (Wenzlaff et al., 2002). Roth and Tobin (2002) describe co-teaching as teaching at one another’s elbow and sharing responsibility for instruction. In research literature, co-teaching is seen as an effective instructional technique capitalising on the knowledge and expertise of two or more teachers in the same classroom in order to increase student learning (Bacharach, Heck, & Dahlberg, 2008; Roth &Tobin, 2004) . At the university level, co-teaching is often discussed and recommended in educational programmes as a way to utilise the professional understandings oftwo teachers (Crow & Smith, 2003; Shibley, 2006; Scantlebury, Gallo-Fox & Wassell, 2008; Dee, 2012; Jenkins & Crawford, 2016), develop instructional pra

FAQs

What is the purpose of the study?

The study examines pre-service English teachers’ attitudes to co-teaching as a professional development tool and a collaboration method.

How was the co-teaching model implemented?

Two instructors co-taught an undergraduate English Language Teaching Methodology course, providing experience and modeling co-teaching for pre-service teachers.

What research tools were used to collect data?

Data were gathered through students’ reflective journals after each session, focus group discussions, and a survey at the end of the semester.

Oct 15, 2026

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