The employability of non-native-speaker teachers of EFL: A UK survey

Abstract

The native speaker still has a privileged position in English language teaching, representing both the model speaker and the ideal teacher. Non-native speaker teachers of English are often perceived as having a lower status than their native-speaking counterparts, and have been shown to face discriminatory attitudes when applying for teaching jobs. To date, research into the employment of non-native speaker teachers has been carried out only in the United States; this study extends that research by providing data on the United Kingdom. Questionnaires were distributed to those responsible for recruitment at English language teaching institutions in the UK in order to investigate the extent to which employers regard being a native English speaker as an important criterion when making hiring decisions. 72.3% of the 90 respondents judged the 'native English speaker criterion' to be either moderately or very important. The conclusion that employers regard this criterion as important was shown to apply to the whole sample as well as to the separate groups of private language schools only and universities only. As a pre-interview criterion, the 'native English speaker criterion' thus excludes competent English language teachers from consideration in the recruitment process.

Is a Degree Relevant? A Comparison of Pedagogical Thought Units of Teachers with and without ELT-related Academic Credentials

“…Considering the frequency of PTUs as a yardstick of professionalism, it seems that individuals with academic degrees in English-related majors are in a better position by showing more mental sophistication and sensitivity as to what is going on in the classroom. These findings can have significant consequences for language teacher recruitment and education: those who are in charge of ELT teacher employment must bear in mind that there are some issues that are more important to the quality of teachers than being a native or non-native speaker (Clark & Paran, 2007). Additionally, teacher educators must try to come up with distinct teacher education programs that accommodate the differences among applicants with relevant and non-relevant degrees.…”

Feedback on Second Language Pronunciation: A Case Study of EAP Teachers’ Beliefs and Practices

“…In the EAP classroom, teachers struggle with significant time varieties of English has been well-documented over the years (e.g., Borg & Al-Busaidi, 2012;Carlson & McHenry, 2006;Clark & Paran, 2007;Hosoda & Nguyen, 2012).…”

Feedback Used in Classrooms with Native English and Non-Native English Teachers

“…This might be because non-native teachers would sometimes interact with students using L1 which may possible lead to translation, while native teachers tended to use all types of feedback equally. Clark and Paran (2007) state that non-native English speaking teachers share similar cultural background and language understanding, so it may be more convenient for them to interact with students using L1. Also, according to Noemi's (2009) finding that non-native teachers rely on eliciting students, two Thai English teachers in this study indeed preferred to encourage the students to speak a lot, which led to more student utterances.…”