Group 3:

• Feby Rahmi
• Khairun Nisa Simanjuntak

Issues on Native
and Non-Native
English Educators:

• Research Perspectives on Non-Native

English Educators
• Decline and Fall of the Native Speaker
Teacher
 Research Perspectives on Non-Native
English Educators

To Label or Not To Label

• Teachers who identify themselves as NES
• The label ‘NNES professional’ is problematic educators become more confident as English
users and cultural teachers. In contrast,
because it perpetuates the perception in the job
market that NNES educators are less teachers who view themselves as NNES
competent than their NES counterparts while educators have a better relationship with
failing to capture the language learning students and feel more confident in using L1
experiences of ELT educators. as a pedagogical tool.
Self-Perceptions of Non-native English-Speaking
Educators
1 2 3 4
•The relationship •The role that •The relationship •The role of race and
between NNES
NNES educators between language language status in
educators’ proficiency and
play in the L2 relation to the ‘ideal
perceptions of their professionalism.
language classroom. English teacher.
proficiency and
their instructional
practices.
OTHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF
N O N - N AT I V E E N G L I S H -
S P E A K I N G E D U C ATO R S

• Students’ perceptions about NNES educators has

focused on two areas: teacher accentedness and
pedagogical skills.
 First, exposure and familiarity with NNES teachers play a
more important role in the development of students’ attitudes
toward the teachers than does the teachers’ accentedness in
English.

Teacher The second relation to teacher accentedness is that students

may not be capable of distinguishing between the accents of

Accentedness NES and NNES teachers with ‘a high degree of accuracy’.

The third is that language learners do not necessarily perceive

accentedness to be a criterion for the ‘ideal’ English teacher.
 Pedagogical Skill
a. NES and NNES educators are
perceived to be good teachers, each with
their unique strengths and the student
feels that they can learn English just as
well from either group.
b. ESL and EFL learners assume
NES teachers as being more
knowledgeable than NNES
teachers in the area of the target
language (TL) culture.
c. There is support for NNES
teachers who are favored as
reading and writing teachers, but
research results are somewhat
mixed.
e. ESL and EFL students favor NNES
educators in the area of grammar
d. ESL and EFL students prefer to teaching, and language learners find
study listening, pronunciation, and their NNES teachers able to answer
speaking with NES rather than grammar questions in more specific
NNES teachers. ways than NES teachers.
Looking to the Future
1. Future investigations will benefit if they do not distinguish
the individual potential of NES and NNES educators by their
language proficiency, professional preparation, and the settings
in which they teach.

2. Future research should move beyond the issue of self-

perception of language proficiency and instead deal with the
level of English competence of NNES educators in curriculum
delivery.
 The Decline and Fall of the
Native Speaker
•Native Speaker is a person who learned to speak the language of the
place where he or she was born as a child rather than learning it as a
foreign language.

•Non-Native English Speaking Teacher (NNEST) is a term used to

refer to teachers whose mother tongue is not the same as the
language they are teaching.
• A different approach to overcoming the rigid NS/NNS
dichotomy was taken by Piller (2002):

• 'Native speaker' is no longer an identity category, and

rather than being something that someone is, it becomes
something they do. (Piller, 2002: 201)
 • The idea of ‘passing for native speaker’ developed by Piller

1. The particular type of communicative performance the speaker

is involved in;
2. The incorporation of local speech features in a way that
‘coincides with the stereotypes of the audience’;
3. The medium used for the communicative encounters (oral,
written, and electronic); and
4. The interlocutors
Research on Non-native Speaking
Teachers

• An implicit rule was that native speakers were ideal for

promoting natural and spontaneous communication, and
therefore when available should naturally be preferred.

• Medgyes (1992, 1994) introduced the question that

challenged the above assumptions.

•Non-native English language teachers (NNESTs) suffer

from an inferiority complex and lack of self-confidence,
according to research
a. Is There Anything Wrong with NS Teachers?

Claiming the need for a higher role and better appreciation of the
NNS condition does not carry with it a downgrading of the NS. Any
change of perspective that affirms the qualities of NNS may challenge
those NSs who are convinced that their sole NS condition makes them
good teachers.

b. Outcomes of Research

The artificial construct of the separation between native speakers

and non-native speakers in language teaching has been recently
dealt with by several researchers who have used two major
arguments to eliminate such discrimination:
1)Minimizing perceived differences between NSs and
NNSs
Liu (1999) conclude that there was no consensus regarding the
meaning and implications of the terms NS and NNS.

2) Vindicating the role of non-native speakers in language

teaching
Recent research on NNESTs has shown that language
teaching can be successfully performed by non-native
teachers.
• S O M E O F T H E A D VA N T A G E S O F N N E S T S
( M E D G Y E S ( 1 9 9 4 : 5 1 ) , TA N G ( 1 9 9 7 : 5 7 9 ) A N D
SEIDLHOFER (1999: 235–242))

– They are a model for imitation

– They can successfully teach strategies for language

learning

– They have a high level of awareness of the language

and can supply information about it

– They can anticipate the difficulties that will appear

in the learning process
– They can be more empathetic to the
needs and problems of students

– They often have the same mother tongue

as their students, which allows them to use
it when necessary and act as mediators
between different languages and cultures

– They have more familiarity with the local

context, specifically with the syllabus and
examination procedures
3) Internal Diversity among Native and Non-native
Speakers

As Holliday (2005) pointedly remarks, NNSs have often been

reduced to a single homogeneous group in many discussions.

Native speakerism’, constitutes one manifestation of the more

general phenomenon of culturism and, eventually, racism.

In the field of NSs, a basic distinction needs to be established

between well-trained teachers and ‘backpackers’ (Árva and
Medgyes (2000)).
V. Cook (2007; 226) points out that the
goals of ELT

• such as those gained through the manipulation of

language;
• benefits for the learner’s future career;
opportunities to emigrate;
• and the effects on society whether through the
integration of minority groups, the creation of a
skilled workforce, or the growth of international
trade.
Critical Approaches to Language Teaching: The Decline
and Fall of the NS

• Native speaker teachers have traditionally enjoyed the benefit of

being considered the default language teacher.

• In many countries (for example Spain, UK, and Japan) non-

native teachers have always been in a higher position than natives.

• Successful teaching will come out of the balanced combination

of command of the language as well as training and ability to
teach it.
• Simon Borg (2006) points to the native–non-
native distinction as one of the characteristic
elements of language teaching, inexistent in the
teaching of any other subject matter.

• Like the feminist movement, NNSs have

finally gathered the strength to claim their right
to be heard in the language teaching and
research community.
Final Remarks
• Sifakis (2004), in his analysis of teachers’
awareness of English as an international
language (EIL) makes a useful distinction
between three areas in the debate surrounding 1. Theory
EIL:
2. Reality
3. Application
THANK YOU