Cultural diversity in the classroom: Shortcomings and successes of English co-teaching programs in East Asia

English co-teaching programs between native speakers and local teachers have been established in schools in a number of countries in East Asia with the aim of improving standards of teaching and students’ English proficiency. Despite the large investment of resources, there is little clear evidence in the literature that the objectives have been achieved, and research has identified a number of challenges such programs face in an East Asian context. This study first examines different co-teaching programs in East Asia where it finds cultural friction, role confusion, differing concepts of professionalism and unrealistic goals are the main factors undermining the effectiveness of such programs. It then looks at the Fulbright Taiwan English Teaching Program which seems to have been able to overcome many of these obstacles.