[mokhtaraftat]

ESL/EFL co-teaching is a total waste of time. Those who claim having experienced success with it have yet to PROVE what they claim. I don't know how they define successful TEFL/TESL, but to any professional ESL/EFL teacher with basic common sense, having two EFL/ESL both teaching in the SAME classroom at the SAME time is wishful thinking to say the least and is pure bogus.

I know teachers are sometimes hungry for new ideas and new methods to help them improve their students' performance and achieve general goals better. However, jumping to conclusions too soon and giving too much credit to an idea or method once it is experimented with can have dangerous consequences, especially to novice teachers. The bandwagon theory can prove disastrous as a result.

Co-teaching or collaborative/team teaching can be done and can lead to good results OUTSIDE the classroom, not inside. This form of "co-teaching" is part of professional development that can benefit teachers directly and students indirectly. Workshops are an example.

Co-teaching may also work when an ESL/EFL teacher and a content teacher (say a finance teacher or social studies teacher) are involved, where the content teacher is the main teacher. Then, and only if well planned and structured, if their is reasonable communication and mutual respect between the two teachers -- can this kind of team-teaching work.

There is very little research in favor of ESL/EFL co-teaching today when co-teaching means having two ESL/EFL teachers teach in the same classroom and at the same time. Also, if this methodology "works" in some contexts (some Japanese schools apparently), it does NOT mean it will necessarily work in another context, where there is a different caliber of students, different needs, different human resources situations, etc.

I think people should weigh their words when it comes to drawing conclusions and should be humble about what they claim as "working." Once again, jumping to conclusions too soon can be misleading, especially to training teachers, and is in no way a contribution to research.