The Halo surrounding native English speaker teachers in Indonesia

Abstract

The Native Speaker Fallacy, a commonly held belief that Native English Speaker Teachers (NESTs) are inherently better than Non-NESTs, has long been questioned by ELT researchers. However, this belief still stands strong in the general public. This research looks to understand how much a teacher's nativeness affects a student's attitude towards them, as well as the underlying reasons for their attitudes. Sixty seven respondents in two groups were asked to watch an animated teaching video, after which they completed a questionnaire that used Likert-scales to assess comprehensibility, clarity of explanation, engagement, and preference. The videos for both groups were identical apart from the narrator; one spoke in British English, while the other, Indian English. In addition, they were also visually identified as Caucasian and Asian, respectively. The video was controlled for speed of delivery. The quantitative data were then triangulated using qualitative data collected through open questions in the questionnaire as well as from a semi-structured interview conducted with 10 respondents. The data show that there is a significant implicit preference for NEST teachers in the video, as well as in respondent's actual classes. However, when asked explicitly, respondents didn't rank nativeness as a very important quality in English teachers. This discrepancy between implicit and explicit attitudes might be due to a subconscious cognitive bias, namely the Halo Effect, in which humans tend to make unjustified presumptions about a person based on known but irrelevant information.

English language education in Indonesia: A review of research (2011–2019)

“…We have found that many studies employed a single type or source of data, usually collected with either questionnaires or interviews, or a combination of the two. However, there has been an increase in the number of researchers who combine research methods creatively, allowing readers to examine recent issues with emerging perspectives (see, for example, Kramadibrata, 2016; Mambu, 2016). We note that there was considerable variability in the depth to which researchers addressed the topics of study, resulting in considerable difficulty assessing the quality of the work undertaken.…”

“…Scholars working within the pluricentric English perspective generally challenge the native-speakerism which highlights the belief that the only norm worth teaching is the ‘native’ English and that the ‘native speakers’ of English are the only language models. For example, Kramadibrata (2016) conducted a quasi-experimental study to investigate the perceptions of native-speakerism, using video analysis, questionnaires and semi-structured interviews. Although they held an implicit preference for ‘native’ English-speaking teachers, the participants of the study also believed in a more fluid understanding of ‘nativeness’.…”

The native English teachers' expectations in teaching EFL students

“…There is a long-standing belief that since they were born in countries where the language is spoken thus it comes naturally to them (Karakas et al, 2016). For this reason, people simply assume that NESTs' way of teaching is likely to be more dynamic and communicative (Kramadibrata, 2015). Parents also tend to select schools that employ NESTs as their members of staff for their children (Kurniawati & Rizki, 2018).…”

Reinforcement of White Native-Speakerism: An Analysis of English Language Teacher Training Materials

“…The term native speaker encompasses a racial component along with a linguistic component (Ruecker, 2011;Sung, 2011). Native speakers of English are often described as people born in countries with a majority White population and closely associated with Whiteness historically (Phillipson, 1992;Ramjattan, 2019;Ruecker, 2011;Ruecker & Ives, 2015); however, these associations may be greater with countries such as the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada (Charles, 2019;Iams, 2016;Kramadibrata, 2016;Ruecker, 2011) with others forgotten or excluded (e.g., South Africa, Ireland) (Ruecker, 2011). The label native speaker may be assigned primarily to a homogenous, stereotyped, and essentialist view of White native speakers, and the nuanced experiences of teachers representing non-White racialized groups, notably Black teachers of English, are not considered (Charles, 2019;Kubota, 2018).…”