Coteaching in K-12 second/foreign language classrooms: A systematic review from 1998 to 2024

Abstract

Coteaching is widely adopted in K-12 second/foreign language education, yet its models are not fully understood. This systematic review examines 35 empirical studies from 1998 to 2024, exploring the effects, challenges, and potential of this pedagogical approach. Results indicate that K-12 classrooms mainly employed the two-teacher-one-language and the one-teacher-one-language approach, with the most commonly used models being the one-teach-one-assist and the team-teaching model. Regarding its influences, coteaching helped develop students’ target language competence and multilingual repertoire, and it fostered cultural exposure and cross-cultural interactions. Coteaching also supported teachers in coconstructing knowledge and provided shared space for reflection. However, challenges such as language and cultural barriers, insufficient training or support, and interpersonal incompatibility between coteachers may hinder its sustainable implementation. The review identifies three key aspects for reconsideration for the future of coteaching in second/foreign language education: adaptivity versus creativity, culture as challenges versus culture as potential , and complementarity versus integration . We suggest that practitioners and researchers work together to creatively and effectively implement coteaching models, improve the integration of coteachers’ roles, and explore cotaught classrooms as translanguaging, transcultural, and trans-semiotizing spaces.