Native-Speakerness vs Pedagogical
Expertise: Which do EFL Students
Value More Highly?
Dr Ian Walkinshaw
School of Languages and
Linguistics
Griffith University
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Dr Duong Thi Hoang Oanh
Vietnam National University
Contents
 The differences between native speakers and nonnative speakers
 The schism in ELT
 Desirable qualities in language teachers
 Collecting data
 Findings and what they mean
 Topics for discussion
How are native- and non-native speakers different?
According to some theorists:
‘Non-native speakers can never achieve a native-speaker’s
competence [because they] can never be as creative and
original as those whom they have learned to copy.’
(Medgyes, 1992).
‘[S]ome L2 users can pass for native-speakers [but] these
passers form an extremely small percentage of L2 users.’
(Cook, 1999).
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
How are native- and non-native speakers different?
But TESOL and applied linguistics is full of advanced nonnative speakers:
Suresh Canagarajah, Vijay Bhatia, Braj Kachru, Zoltan
Dornyei, Jan Blommaert, Duong Thi Hoang Oanh, Aya
Matsuda, Jef Verschueren, Peter Medgyes, Srikant Sarangi,
Jun Liu, Ulla Niemela Connor, Pham Hoa Hiep, Keiko
Samimy, Lia Kamhi-Stein, Anna Wierzbicka, Enric Llurda...
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
How are native- and non-native speakers different?
Another way of conceptualising native-speakerness:
Davies’ (2003) required elements for native-speakerness:
 Childhood language acquisition
 Understand/produce idiomatic forms of language
 Understand how standard forms differ from variations
 Produce fluent, spontaneous speech
X
Which elements could apply to a non-native speaker?
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
The native/non-native schism in ELT
I have heard influential employers [in the ELT industry] in
Britain say that while they would abolish the discriminatory
differentiation between ‘native speakers’ and ‘non-native
speakers’ tomorrow, they can’t because their ‘customers
demand it’ (Holliday 2008, p. 121).
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
The native/non-native schism in ELT
Funding
Expertise
Training
Native-speakerness =
‘ownership’
Materials
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Research
Prestige
Research questions
1. How much importance do Vietnamese EFL students place
on native-speakerness compared with other professional /
personal characteristics?
2. What are the perceived advantages / disadvantages of
learning from a native English-speaking teacher (NEST) or
non-native English speaking teacher (non-NEST)?
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Desirable qualities in an EFL teacher (Brown 2001)
Professional qualities
 Experience of teaching
 ELT qualifications
Personal qualities
 Friendly personality
 Enthusiasm for teaching
Pedagogical qualities
 Familiarity with learners’ culture
Linguistic qualities
 Advanced L2 competence
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Data collection: Survey I
ELT qualifications?
Friendly personality?
Enthusiastic?
Interesting classes?
Understands students’ culture?
Understands/speaks English fluently?
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Data collection: Survey II
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Participants
•50 Vietnamese learners of English
•Upper intermediate proficiency
•38 females, 12 males
•Aged 20-24
•Hue University and Nha Trang University
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Quality I: Teaching experience
Mean: 2.16
Teaching experience
56.3
(Std Dev 1.19)
60
Percentage
50
40
31.3
30
20
12.5
10
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
Teaching experience
valued more than
linguistic background
Experience
Students mentioned two types of experience:
1. Experience of teaching English as a foreign language
- years of teaching
- variety of skills taught / variety of educational contexts
2. Experience of language learning
- conscious understanding of lexical/syntactic rules
- knowledge of language learning strategies
- understand L2 learners’ difficulties
‘Non-native teachers has been a foreign language learner like us now. They have
good experience in studying English which is good for us to learn from them’.
Quality II: Appropriate qualifications
Mean: 2.23
Qualifications
70
(Std Dev 1.45)
61.2
Percentage
60
50
40
30
20.4
20
18.4
10
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
Qualifications
valued more than
linguistic background
Quality III: Friendly personality
Mean: 2.62
Friendly personality
60
(Std Dev 1.54)
52.1
Percentage
50
40
29.2
30
18.7
20
10
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
Friendly personality
valued more than
linguistic background
Quality IV: Enthusiasm for teaching
Enthusiasm for teaching
70
Mean: 2.26
(Std Dev 1.22)
61.2
Percentage
60
50
40
24.5
30
14.3
20
10
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
Enthusiasm
valued more than
linguistic background
Enthusiasm
Borg (2006) says:
‘Language teachers [require] particular traits…:
creative, sense of humour, flexible, ‘actor’ type,
motivating, enthusiastic, communicate freely and
radiate positive feeling…these were almost
essential for language teachers compared to
perhaps desirable for other teachers’.
Enthusiasm = motivation = risk-taking = processing = fluency
Quality V: Interesting, informative classes
Mean: 1.98
Interesting classes
80
(Std Dev 1.33)
72
70
Percentage
60
50
40
30
16
20
12
10
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
Interesting and
informative classes
valued more than
linguistic background
Interesting, informative classes
Increased language
intake (Van Patten 1990)
Interesting
classroom
practices
‘Pushed output’ - more newly-learned
complex language, less previously
internalised language (Batstone 2002)
Automatic processing
(McLaughlin 1990)
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Interest: NESTs & non-NESTs
NESTs:
Ss can learn about teacher’s culture (n=19)
Interesting teaching methods (n=10) (But no Ss found nonNESTs boring)
Non-NESTs:
Good teacher (n=7)
Easy to understand explanations (n=18)
Easy to communicate with teacher (n=10)
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
(20 Ss found NESTs
difficult to understand)
Quality VI: Understanding students’ culture
Mean: 2.16
Understanding culture
70
(Std Dev 1.28)
66.6
Percentage
60
50
40
30
16.7
16.7
20
10
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
Understanding
Students’ culture
more important than
linguistic background
Cultural familiarity – Vietnamese learners of English
21 descriptive comments about this:
‘Due to difference between cultures…sometimes learning with
native speaker teachers makes me stress’.
‘Different cultures may sometimes cause misunderstandings
between the teacher and students. For example, my American
teacher surprised so much when she saw same sexual student in
my class holding [hands] together’.
‘They have some culture shock when teaching us [because they
think] students in Vietnam is not as active as student in their
country’.
Cultural familiarity – Vietnamese learners of English
What if she thinks
I’m being impolite?
Is she being
impolite to me?
How much power
does the teacher
have?
How does she
expect me to
behave?
How do I request
something?
Refuse? Disagree?
What will she
do if I make a
mistake?
What should I do
if she makes a
mistake?
When am I allowed
to talk? How long
can I talk for?
Cultural familiarity – Vietnamese learners of English
10 descriptive comments about cultural familiarity as an
advantage of non-NESTs:
‘We are the same culture. So, it is easy to behave with them’.
‘A non-native speaker teacher can communicate with me easily,
they know our culture and habit’.
‘Non-native speaker teacher understand more about their
students than native teacher’.
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Quality VII: Advanced English competence
Mean: 2.9
Advanced English competence
40
38
35
(Std Dev 1.52)
28
30
Percentage
34
25
20
15
10
5
0
Selected 1-2
Selected 3
Student preference
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Selected 4-5
?
Advanced competence vs native-speakerness
What is the issue?
Grammar explanations an
advantage of non-NESTs (n=18)
Lexical and grammatical competence? NO – only 2 mentions
General fluency? NO – only 5 mentions
Pronunciation? YES – 30 mentions
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Native pronunciation
the primary advantage
of NESTs (n=30)
Previous studies of pronunciation I
L2 learners listened to recordings of NESTs’ and nonNESTs’ pronunciation. The learners were asked to
guess whether the speakers were native or non-native.
How often were the learners able to guess correctly?
a. 100% of the time
c. 60% of the time
b. 90% of the time
d. 45% of the time
(Kelch & Santana-Williamson, 2002)
School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University
Previous studies of pronunciation II
L2 learners listened to recordings of several native- and nonnative speakers. They were asked which they found easier to
understand, and then given a comprehension test.
Which did the learners say they understood most easily?
Native speakers
Non-native speakers
Both equally
Which did they actually understand according to the
comprehension test?
Native speakers
(Kim, 2007)
Non-native speakers
Both equally
Summary of findings
Vietnamese learners of English valued
 Experience – of teaching and of second language learning
 Qualifications
 Friendliness
 Enthusiasm for teaching – motivation + risk-taking
 Interesting and informative classes – ‘pushed output’
 Familiarity with their culture
 Native-speaker pronunciation
 Non-NEST ability to explain grammar & lexis
Questions for discussion
1. Can you think of any other qualities that are desirable
in an English language teacher?
2. What other advantages do you think non-NESTs might
have as language teachers?
3. Do you think native- and non-native English speaking
teachers might complement each other? If so, how?