The Challenges Native English-Speaking Teachers Face in Korean Secondary Schools

In recent years, as many native English speakers are working in Asia to as English teachers, team teaching with local teachers has been commonly implemented within the Korean EFL classroom. Using qualitative case studies, this paper aims to explore native English-speaking teachers' (NESTs) perceptions of team teaching and their challenges at different secondary Korean schools. The study documents the challenges faced by three foreign teachers embedded in intercultural teaching teams. The data shows that common challenges include vague role distribution among teachers, problems presented by mixed levels of students, large classes, and students' low valuation during foreign teacher's classes, which go ungraded. The study calls for serious governmental efforts to change these fundamental problems and closely examine local factors that strongly affect team teaching practices before initiating a system of importing foreign teachers without proper preparation.