NESTs Versus NNESTs Politics: From the Perspective of English-major Students in China

Abstract

This article reports on the findings of a study that explores the mentality of Chinese English-major students on the politics of native English speaker teachers (NESTs) versus nonnative English speaker teachers (NNESTs) through a questionnaire survey of 95 undergraduate English majoring in English at a Chinese university. Data analysis reveals that the vast majority of the participants viewed Inner Circle NESTs as being linguistically more competent in English than Outer Circle English teachers and local Chinese English teachers (LCETs), deemed it natural to prioritize Inner Circle NESTs in the hiring of foreign English teachers and considered it reasonable to offer higher payment to NESTs. Although Inner Circle NESTs are also deemed pedagogically more capable than the other two categories of English teachers, this positioning is less salient than that concerning the linguistic competence that NESTs and NNESTs are assumed to possess. All these findings suggests the continuity of native speakerism in China. Nevertheless, that many students maintained a neutral stance on the superiority of NESTs over LCETs in adopting diverse teaching methods and learner-centered principle as well on the intelligibility of Inner Circle NESTs versus Outer Circle English teachers deserves further exploration.