Beyond ‘(non) native-speakerism’: Being or becoming a native-speaker teacher of English

Abstract

The labelling of teachers of English as either ‘native’ or ‘non-native’ speakers in the field of English Language Teaching continues to promote ideals of ‘native-speakers’ that impact negatively on the teaching lives of those teachers using English as another language. In this paper, I explore constructs of ‘native-speakerism’ (Holliday, Adrian. 2015. Native-speakerism: Taking the Concept Forward and Achieving Cultural Belief. In Anne Swan, Pamela Aboshiha & Adrian. Hollliday (eds.), Encountering Native-speakerism: Global perspectives, 11–25. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan) by examining them as networks or assemblages formed through interactions of people, technologies, discourses and other material objects integral to teaching and learning environments. Drawing on ‘Actor-network theory’, I analyse unique influences of ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ networks as experienced by individual teachers of English from different contexts. The data collected in this qualitative study shows how ‘native-speaker’ networks form and exert power to reinforce the ideal of ‘native-speaker’ teachers, and restrict the agency of those who are classed as ‘non-native’. By unravelling these networks, I challenge the notions on which they are constructed, and show how the categorising of teachers in this way undermines the legitimacy of those classed as ‘non-native’, and limits their professional development. I therefore argue that moving beyond these labels is an essential step for English Language Teaching to move forward as a profession.

Are EFL pre-service teachers’ judgment of teaching competence swayed by the belief that the EFL teacher is a L1 or LX user of English?

“…It is therefore not impossible that the aims of the NNEST movement may be achieved, in Europe, within the next generation of teachers (cf. Brain and Selvi 2018;Leonard 2018;Mahmood 2018).…”

“…The problematic issues surrounding Native-speakerism and the use of the terms native/non-native speaker (NS/NNS) have increasingly been the focus of academic work and debate (Aneja 2016;Holliday 2015;Kamhi-Stein 2016;Leonard 2018;Mahboob 2018;Richard 2017;Swan et al 2015). Though the concept and the terms have been heavily criticized because they are simplistic and static (Faez 2011;Leonard 2018), researchers face a dilemma "because there is a necessity to use terms, 'non-native speaker' and 'native speaker', which should not be in use at all" (Holliday 2015: 12). Paradoxically, use of the terms even when defending the rights of the NNS may have contributed to perpetuating the use of the term.…”

Positive Psychology can help overcome the pernicious native speaker ideology

“…Although there is increased acceptance that measuring learners' performance in terms of some mythical unattainable norm is unrealistic and that the measurement should be based on individual local context (Jenkins & Leung, 2019;Tsang, 2019) there is less unease among many practitioners who use the concept of NS as an idealistic goal (Leonard, 2019). To get rid of the highly resilient NS/NNS dichotomy in education and in society, it remains crucially important to explain why this dichotomy is both theoretically and ideologically unacceptable.…”

“Analytical,” “Angry,” and “(Too) Honest”?! Learners' Stereotypes about Teachers of German

“…Researchers have criticized the distinction between NS and NNS teachers; it oversimplifies the identities of language educators and categorizes them as homogenous groups, which they are not (Calafato, 2019;Leonard, 2019). This study elected to use these binary constructs that persist in public discourse and language advertising to enable inferential statistical analyses capable of showing patterns, even as they neglect unique positions taken by individuals.…”

“…They often characterize TL communities as groups of NSs living in different geographical locations (Magnan et al, 2014; White, 2016). Despite efforts by researchers to contest the idealization of NSs (Cook, 2016; Leonard, 2019), the NS ideal has persisted in the minds of educators and students (Chavez, 2020a). In German Studies, authentic native voices are often associated with white personae, primarily from Germany (Bryant et al, 2021; Criser & Knott, 2019; Gallagher & Zenker, 2020; Ilett, 2009).…”