Participants

The core of data was gained from pre-service and in-service teachers who were related to CETT at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest. As for the pre-service teachers, the project involved four female participants; all holding a General Certificate of Secondary Education and participating in the TEFL university programme at CETT (see section 1.2). The investigations were associated with the time of their studies and particularly their teaching practice scheduled in the academic year of 2005/2006.

The place of the teaching experience was the grammar school where I worked. The trainees, doing their teaching practice in the current situation reported here, could have been any other student teachers in the particular academic year; therefore, their selection was considered as random. Two pre-service teachers, both at the age of 24, were in their third year of studies. They were following a three-year programme. One participant was a single-major student and the other was a double-major; however, the second major was not a requirement of the three-year programme. The second major was the participant’s own choice and commitment.

The other two participants, both at the age of 21, were in their last year of studies. As double-majors they were taking part in a new four-year programme. It must be noted here that the similarities and the differences between the three-year and the four-year programmes, as well as their teaching practice components, were elaborated in detail in section 1.2.1 of the present dissertation. The trainees worked in pairs to teach a class for a term. Each pair of student teachers was responsible for a class at secondary level and taught four English lessons a week, a lesson being a forty-five minute session. From the

point of view of experience in collaborative teaching and work experience, the pre-service teachers presented a homogeneous group.

With regard to the in-service teachers, other four female participants were involved in this research with the purpose to collect data concerning the overall understanding of their work habits and attitudes toward cooperation in school. These respondents were previous student teachers who graduated from CETT at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest, attending a three-year program with one major. One in-service teacher possessed an additional Certificate in Foreign Trade but it did not concern TEFL. The participants involved in the teaching profession had worked with me (out of the 60 student teachers mentioned in section 1.3) during their teaching practice. I relied on the successful relationship established during that period. The four in-service teachers were also randomly chosen to take part in the study.

From the point of view of careers, all of them had full-time jobs, working as teachers of English as a foreign language. Two participants worked at secondary schools (one grammar school and one technical school) which belonged to the state sector of education and two participants were employed in language schools. The schools involved in this research were considered typical of the career opportunities for teaching English in Hungary. All in-service teachers were involved in one-to-one tuition.

As far as team teaching was concerned, the four participants had been involved in real-life collaborative teaching during their teaching experience. Two participants had taken part in year-long teaching practice and two participants had experienced a one-semester-long period. Additionally, one in-service teacher had a cooperative

relationship with a native speaker of English in the language school, where they co-taught in two groups. Two participants had the opportunity to team teach a group of learners for one term after the completion of their teaching practice in the school.

Obviously, from the point of view of involvement in collaborative teaching and work experience (ranging from three to six years), the four participants did not present a homogeneous group. There was also an age difference between the participants as well.

At the time of the study, they were 25, 26, 27 and 30 years old.

Evidently, the focus of my research was on the teachers, who had been active participants in the special form of collaborative teaching at CETT. Moreover, in order to explore the topic of interest in depth, in the course of the research, triangulation, particularly data triangulation was necessary. In this respect, with the objective to gain insight into the context, I interviewed four individual classroom teachers. They were also female teachers of English as a foreign language. Selection of the participants in that phase of the research was also random. These respondents were members of staff in one of the state schools mentioned above. It is relevant to point out that the same lack of homogeneity applied to the group they formed. As was revealed in the course of the interviews, two teachers were ELTE-CETT graduates, holding Bachelor of Arts Degrees, whereas the other two had attended different Teacher Training Colleges, but were involved in post graduate courses leading to a university degree. Apart from an age difference (25, 27, 30 and 39), three participants had full-time jobs, and one of them worked part-time. In terms of work experience, which ranged from three to ten years, three teachers had previously been involved in teaching jobs in other schools, namely two teachers had worked in language schools and one teacher had had a job in a technical school. All teachers had private students. As for the teachers’ experience in

collaborative teaching, two respondents had been involved in pair teaching during their teaching practice at CETT. None of the respondents was involved in team teaching in their current jobs. The in-service teachers’ colleagues were regarded as additional participants; however, the responses received were considered of significant value.

Finally, as the assumption was that perceptions and personal constructs needed further consideration, the study included data from the students (9^th and 10^th year) who attended the pre-service teachers’ classes. The students were regarded as necessary but not focal participants. In fact, the study had data on the students’ opinions mentioned in their written feedback given to the pre-service teachers at the end of their teaching practice.

Although some indirect students’ feedback was gained from the trainees, that was considered additional. As the students in the language school had no knowledge of team teaching in the classroom, they were not asked to provide information about their opinions about this issue. Including students’ perceptions was seen important; however, it was beyond the scope of the present research to consider this different aspect of the process in much detail.

On the whole, vital for the success of the interviews were the participants’ tolerance, willingness to cooperate, empathy and openness. It is significant to acknowledge that in a large scale study not all respondents might possess these qualities to such an extent;

however, the above listed characteristics were distinguished in the select groups. All participants were requested to take part in the research and they agreed to the suggestion ardently. The respondents expressed interest in undertaking the contribution to the research and greatly elaborated on the questions which proved a source of invaluable ideas.