NESTs: Do they rule the roost?International Foundation Students’ Perceptions on Native and Non-Native English Language Teachers

Hazel McAllister

Leeds Metropolitan University

Content

The QuestionFirst SparkPrevious ResearchThe StudyWhat Students had to Say (Results)DiscussionYour questions

The Question

What are the perceptions of UK university foundation students towards NESTs and

NNESTs?

First Spark

Our ideal candidate:

A native English speaker

8/April/2012

Native Speaker

Teachers Needed in

Jakarta, Indonesia

10/April/2012

Requirements: - Native speakers from UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland & SA 8/April/2012

Requirements: 

a) Native speaker

8/April/2012

First Spark (continued)

Selvi (2010) on two online TEFL jobsites showed over 60% stated nativeness as a job requirement

Illes (1991) Managers are responding to sts demand

Medgyes (1994) Schools use NESTs as a status badge. To recruit more students.

What is a NEST?

Definition is problematic

Previous Research 1

Students rate professional skills such as preparation and motivating students as more important than language skills.

(Cheung, 2002)

Students would prefer to have both NESTs and NNESTs teaching them

(Lasagabaster and Sierra, 2005)

Students recognise that NESTs and NNESTs have different strengths and weaknesses.

(Mahboob’s,2003, cited in Lipovsky and Mahboob, 2010)

Previous Research 2

NESTs (+) pronunciation

and cultural knowledge

(-) lack of knowledge of the students’ L1 and teaching ability

NNESTs (+) Learning strategy

knowledge of students’ L1

(-) pronunciation

(Lasagabaster and Sierra, 2005)

Previous Research 3

Teaching behaviour is statistically different between the two groups

NNEST – structured approach to grammar

NEST – more capable of encouraging speaking

Medgyes and Benke (2006)

The Study

‘Some students think that only native English speakers can be good English language teachers. Others think that non-native English speakers can also be efficient teachers. What is your opinion about this issue? Please feel free to provide personal details and examples.’

Adapted from Mahboob and Lipovsky (2010)

The Study

Full-time international foundation course students (approx 80 students)

Total participants: 8

Male 5 Female 3

IELTS 5+

All had NNESTs &NESTs

Arabic and European L1s

What Students Had to Say

“more confident teaching

about culture” “richer expressions”

“it’s better learning with native

speakers because of Pronunciation”

“The native is has no

disadvantage and only

advantage”

What Students Had to Say

“less likely to put

themselves into student’s

shoes”

“do not really [know]

anything about the

student’s mother language

backgrounds which can make

learning easier for

students”

“native teacher have no experience in teaching”

What Students Had to Say

“They also learned the

language so they know the

steps and how to think as the student think.”

“Non-native have more

experience in teaching”.

“…the majority are also

aware of many more

techniques of learning to

speak” “The best method to improve

your English is to start with non-

native speaker because they can

understand us/they pass the

same thing like us”

What Students Had to Say

“It is very hard for

some of them when it

comes to

pronunciation”

“When speaking it can be

grammar mistakes with

NNS”

“Do not have equal English

culture background.”

Key Finding

Tendency to have a preference for NEST over NNEST

“The non-native can be more efficient in teaching but in my opinion native teachers are

always better”

Key finding

Not a homogenous group

“The right qualifications and experience

matter are more important than [being native or

non-native]. If a person has the right education,

he or she will be an excellent teacher with the

same probability of success for both

native and non-native speakers”

Key Finding

Pronunciation seems to be the real crux of the issue and outweighs all other considerations

“The benefit of native or non-native

speaker in my opinion is the same. Except I

prefer native teacher because

pronunciation and fluency is important for

speaking, where the student will not

learn words in a foreign accent”

Key finding

“The most important aspect of being a language teacher in my perspective is having a fluent accent of that language,

everything else would usually come in second place”

Pronunciation outweighs all other considerations

Key Finding

“Parents of student depress

of the teacher were there

non-native speakers”

Influence of other stakeholders

So what?

Echoes findings from previous studiesFound students held some positive

views of NNESTs, they did not view NNESTs positively

Suggested there are additional factors to consider such as influence of 3rd parties/stakeholders

How do we teach pronunciation

Limitations

One group of students from one University in the UK.

Impossible to make broad generalisations from the results

Students were self-selecting

Future Studies

How is pronunciation taught in NEST and NNEST classrooms?

Is it taught differently?

or

Is this an issue of how students perceive it is taught?

Questions?

?

References

Illes, E. (1991) Correspondence ELT Journal Vol 45/1 Lasagabaster, D and Sierra, J. (2005) What do students think about the pros and cons of having a

native speaker teacher? In Llurda, E. (ed) Non-native language teachers: Perceptions, challenges and contributions to the profession New York: Springer and Business Media

Mahboob, A. and Lipovsky, C. (2010) Students’ appraisal of their native and non-native English-speaking teachers WATESOL NNEST Caucus Annual review. Vol 1

Medgyes P (1994) The Non-Native Teacher Macmillian Publishers Medgyes, P and Benke, E (2006) Differences in teaching behavious between native and non-

native speaker teachers:As seen by Learners in Llurda, E (ed) Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession New York: Springer and Business Media

Moussu, L. (2002) English as a Second Langauge students’ reactions to nonnative English-speaking Teachers MA Thesis Brigham Young University,

Moussu, L. (2006) Native and nonnative English-speaking English as a second language teachers: students attitudes, teacher self-perceptions, and intensive English administrator beliefs and practices PH.D dissertation Purdue University, Indiana

Selvi, A.(2010) All Teachers are Equal, but some teachers are more equal than others:trend analysis of job advertisements in English Language Teaching WATESOL NNEST Caucus Annual Review – Vol 1