ESOL and mainstream teacher collaboration: Overcoming challenges through developing routines

Abstract

This study examines how ESOL (English to speakers of other languages) and third-grade co-teaching
pairs made sense of collaborative models of teaching across one school year. Findings from this
qualitative case study of one elementary school highlight challenges faced by co-teaching pairs, as
well as routines that developed to support both successful and strained collaborative relationships. As
more schools adopt co-teaching to meet the instructional needs of English learner (EL) students in
mainstream classrooms, this analysis provides a critical picture of the challenges and opportunities
related to co-teaching. Implications for supporting and developing teacher capacity for linguistically
responsive instruction in collaborative teaching contexts are discussed.