Planning to co-teach with ELL teachers: how discourse positions teachers within professional learning communities

Many schools implement co-teaching with ELL teachers as a way to support the learning of English learners. While this approach offers the potential to support the knowledge and skills of both ELL and general education teachers, little is known about the conversations that occur during these co-teaching PLC meetings.

Through teacher interviews and observations of PLC meetings a deeper understanding of how conversations occur between general education and ELL teachers was developed. This study found that the ways teachers engage in conversation during PLCs are influenced not only by the topics of the PLC, but also in the ways teachers perceive their position, or role, in the co-teaching relationship. It was also found that each teacher’s perception of the purpose of co-teaching influenced how they engaged in conversations during their PLC meetings.

The conclusion of this study found that in order to have effective co-teaching PLC meetings between ELL teachers and general education teachers, these teams must receive training in co-teaching practices as well as continual communication and supports from their schools in order to develop a shared vision of co-teaching that supports the academic language development of English learners.