Many people believe the myth that being taught by a native speaker is the best way to learn a language. This belief has influenced many Saudi schools, language institutes, and universities to include the nativeness factor as part of a language instructor's job requirements. Using an open ended questionnaire, this study aims to investigate the impact of native English speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs) on EFL university Saudi students. It also explores how the teachers' background and accents influence the students' achievement in terms of the development of their language skills. The participants are students who are in their preparatory year program at King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah taught by NEST and NNEST. The findings of the study indicate that teachers' nativeness and backgrounds have no significant effects on the EFL Saudi students' learning processes. However, a few factors have been detected that play roles in supporting EFL learning, which can be summarized as follows: 1) Teachers' competence and experience are what make the teachers qualified, regardless of their nationalities. 2) Teachers sharing the students' L1 play positive roles in the EFL learning process.3) The teacher's accent has an effect on students, which might hinder the learning process in the case of an unfamiliar accent. 4) The teacher's personality is more involved in the classroom communications and interactions than is the teacher's nativeness. Based on the findings of this study, implications are made on the topic of the effect of NEST and NNEST on EFL learning.

In the field of TESOL, the perception that Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) are better than Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) has influenced language schools, recruitment policies and institutional leadership practices. The tendency to recruit more NESTs and achieve improved learning outcomes can be seen in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Second Language (ESL) contexts. This paper aims to investigate whether NESTs or NNESTs have any impact on the EFL learners� language proficiency in Saudi EFL context. This quantitative study adopts pretest-posttest experimental and ex post facto designs to determine students� achievement in two language skills, namely speaking and listening. The two groups of participants are EFL students in a foundation year program at a Saudi Arabian University. One group was taught by a NEST and the other by a NNEST. The quantitative data were analyzed by using SPSS. The findings indicated that teachers� nativeness and backgrounds have no significant effects on the Saudi EFL learners� speaking and listening skills. Here, Saudi EFL learners can equally perform in classes taught by NESTs or NNESTs. In the light of the findings, the study suggests that recruitment policy should not be influenced by the employers� belief that NESTs possess better teaching skills than NNESTs.��