Albert M.
A widespread and deeply rooted bias against Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) have been documented. This prejudice, together with the discourses that support and normalize it, has been described as the ideology of Native Speakerism (NS). To be specific, Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) are claimed to be the best teachers based on the conception that they “represent a ‘Western culture’ from which springs the ideals both of the English language and of English language teaching methodology” (Holliday, 2005, p. 6). NNESTs are viewed as not only linguistically, but also instructionally inferior and second-class citizens to their native speaking colleagues (Curtis & Romney, 2006). Of course, both NEST and NNEST have their own strengths and weaknesses.
In a classroom research conducted among my Canadian Language Benchmark (CLB) 4 students , I asked them: What kind of teacher do you like? a. Native Speaker of English (Teacher who is born in an English speaking country like Canada and whose first language is English) b. Non-Native Speaker of English (Teacher who is born outside an English speaking country and learn English as second language) c. No preference ( I like both), why?
At least 6 out of 7 students who answered the questionnaire on Google classroom disclosed: c. No preference. Their reasons being are: “I think native or non-native is not important. I like them both, because they are teachers. I do not like comparison- if someone who is not Canadian (NNEST) works in an educational centre, it is because s/he is qualified and deserves to teach English. The important thing for us students is to learn the English language – that teachers show us the way on how to improve our English. Teachers should not only be patient and responsible, but also to teach professionally.” Only one student answered b: NNEST “I like the second language teacher because I can understand him.”
Undeniably, the dichotomy of NEST and NNEST generates negative reactions from scholars. In fact, Motha (2014) reveals that the “NEST/NNEST construct shrinks to simply one aspect of linguistic identity. This is not to deny that in many countries the construct is heavily racialized.” While Motha et al. (2012) reject the dichotomy as simplistic, they offer a more appropriate nomenclature and argue for the term translinguistic identity as a more appropriate emphasis on the “considerable linguistic and pedagogical resources that translinguistics identity offers English language teachers.” (p. 15)
It is high time to dismantle the NEST and NNEST divide. At this juncture, the trend in English Language Teaching (ELT) is the promotion of plurilingual multicompetence among TESL teachers. As Ellis (2016) noted that “in the future, the question we ask of a TESL teacher may be neither: “Are you a native or non-native speaker?” nor “What variety of English do you speak?” but rather “How rich is your linguistic repertoire and how can this be deployed as a pedagogical resource?”
Questions:
As a learner of English as a second language, what is your teacher preference: NEST or NNEST, why?
As a native speaker of English, do you consider yourself as monolingual, why?
References:
Curtis, A. & Romney, M. (2006). Color, race, and English language teaching: Shades of meaning. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Ellis, E. (2016). “I may be a native speaker but I’m not monolingual”: Reimagining all teachers’ linguistic identities in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 50(3), 597-630.
Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Motha, S. (2014). Race, empire, and English language teaching. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.
Motha, S., Jain, R., & Tecle, T. (2012). Translinguistic identity-as-pedagogy: Implications for language teacher education. International Journal of Innovation in English Language Teaching, 1(1), 13–28.
Hi Albert, good idea! Native speakers and non-native speaker teachers all have their strengths and weaknesses, however, it’s not fair and wise to evaluate a teacher based on native-speakerism. An alternative pedagogy many international schools use now is hiring qualified non-native and native speaker teachers at the same time, but the only concern is that cost will be very high in this situation.
Elisa
Hi Albert, thanks for your post. In Brazil students are used to learning with NNEST. It is though possible to encounter NEST working in larger capitals (the tropical working tourism). I would say that the Brazilian market does not lack good NNEST with adequate formation and just being a native speaker without any language teaching background would not be acceptable as sufficient feature to teach the language. As a student I prefer to have a non-native professional language teacher rather than a non-qualified native speaker. I liked very much the video you posted. That fueled me with good arguments the next time someone asks me about that!
I completely agree with you, Albert!
I also believe that discussions about NEST and NNEST are unavoidable. I actually consider the wage disparity between them, and in most cases, NEST is paid significantly more than NNEST in the job market. Therefore I believe it is high time to redefine the roles of NEST and NNEST in second language teaching.
Di Niu
Hi Albert, nice talk here and I really enjoyed reading your blog! I think instead of putting too much emphasize on differentiating native speakers and non-native speakers, we should recognize teachers’ linguistic identities and give them enough space to employ their language repertoires and language experiences in the classroom, which could facilitate students’ language learning.
Heng
Hi Albert, I really agree with your ideas. I prefer to have professional NNEST teachers instead of NEST. In most cases, speaking a language does not mean teaching a language. I speak Mandarin but I do not know how to teach it. Native speakers who do not have professional experiences in teaching may not know how to teach, so native or non-native should not be a criteria to evaluate teachers.
Yurun
Hi Albert! I find it interesting that some employers and students alike prefer a native English-speaking teacher (NEST) as opposed to a non-native English-speaking teacher (NNEST). Indeed, this is not unusual in contexts where English is taught as a foreign language (EFL). However, it is important to note that both NESTs and NNESTs have different sets of experiences that can be conducive to teaching. Plus, seeing as there are high rates of immigration in countries such as Canada, I wonder just how long we will be speaking of NESTs versus NNESTs. This idea of NESTs and NNESTs depends not only on how teachers view themselves, but also on how others view them. This means that it is a very subjective way to identify teachers, and this doesn’t necessarily have anything to do with a teacher’s identity or how good they are at teaching. Great post!
-Victoria
Hi Albert
Being an NNEST, I do reflect similarly. I think the idea of being native or non-native should not be the enrolment criterion for language teachers. The experience and qualification they do possess should be taken into account in this regard. I am surprised the way students presented their logical arguments in support of non-native English speaking teachers. I believe this is high time to get rid of such kind of prejudice and evaluate teachers objectively. Also, I agree with you that as teachers, we address a group of multilingual learners where the aim of language teaching is to build effective communication, one of the required skills for 21st century learners.
Nishat
Hi Albert,
Personally, I prefer a non-native teacher with whom can I communicate with ease when I begin learning a new language because they would help me understand the basics and grammar points easier. Plus, they have their own valuable experiences to share in terms of what strategies they used while learning some obscure grammar etc. A native speaker cannot do that for us. For example, it was a L1 English speaker who set my Mandarin tones straight after a year of my fruitless study under a native speaker. BUT at an advanced level, I feel that communicating and learning from native speakers helps me progress beyond the grammar book into the social settings native speakers are much more sensitive about (often inadvertently). The best of both worlds!
Sam Lyn
Hi Albert,
It is a great point that you made here.
It is indeed an issue in many countries’ second language education. In your survey, the students’ answers seemed quite fair, however back in China, it would be another picture.
For the school where I taught and the cases in language training institutions, the obsession for NEST is massive. It is still understandable if the NEST is speaking standard English and can teach properly, but sometimes, they hired NESTs which are actually NNESTs with fake resumes and a foreign face. And in this case, most possibly they don’t speak the language proficiently or teach professionally. However, as Di mentioned in earlier response, they may get employed and paid with higher rates than other NNESTs.
If such situations are to be improved, it would be a better professional arena for both NESTs and NNESTs that are more qualified in language and teaching.
-Zoe