Influences of Distance Learning Shifts on English Language Development Co-Teaching and Collaboration

• In Event: Analyzing Critical Issues in Language Teacher Education

Abstract

Students bureaucratically classified as English learners (ELs) in the US are increasingly served by co-teaching and collaborative instruction. Given the model’s prominence, it is critical to understand impacts of COVID-based distance learning (DL) on co-teaching/collaboration. In this case study, we analyze interview data from an elementary school with an established tradition of co-teaching/collaboration to explore: How did the shift to DL influence ELD co-teaching and collaboration? Using CHAT-informed (Engeström, 1987) qualitative coding of teacher interviews, we found teachers experienced significant changes in their: sense of collaboration and student connection (community), planning time and technology use (tools), roles in providing instructional scaffolding, and division of labor in communicating with parents. We discuss implications of these shifts for current and future instruction.

Authors

• Amanda Kibler, Oregon State University

• Martha Garrett Sandstead, Oregon State University

• Sara Wiger, Oregon State University

• Jane Charlotte Weiss, Stanford University