Similarities and Differences of Team-teaching Practices in South Korea, Japan, and China

This article examines team teaching practices among South Korean, Japanese, and Chinese by analyzing educational frameworks and classroom practices from teachers’ and students’ perspectives. English language education programs in Korea, Japan, and China use team teaching structures which pair native-English- speaking teachers (NESTs) with non-native-English-speaking teachers (NNESTs). The research uncovers various similarities among these nations in their national English development programs, their use of a one-teacher and one-assistant format, and their difficulty in defining the roles of NESTs and NNESTs. The integration of policies, however, differs among these countries as Japanese programs assign NNESTs’ minimal classroom authority yet Chinese institutions face structural challenges, and South Korean schemes promote active participation by NNESTs. The findings reveal the essential need for clarifying adequate roles of each party along with better institutional support and curriculum harmonization to achieve efficiency and success in team teaching. This paper presents an analytical comparison that provides guidance to both teachers and education policymakers on enhancing team teaching methods to foster an effective pedagogical team-teaching approach to English language teaching in East Asian settings.