Forum - Ian Walkinshaw - Nov 16 2011

The speaker for 16 November 2011 is Dr Ian Walkinshaw, a lecturer in English at Griffith University.

If you would like to watch the presentation from Ian Walkinshaw, please click here. (WARNING: This is a fairly large PowerPoint document).

Advantages and disadvantages of native- and non-native EFL teachers
There should be some lively debate over this one at our fifth and final LTF for the year! If you are a non-native teacher of languages, perhaps you have had to justify yourself. This may give you more ammunition. If you are a native speaker, you may get some great ideas from fellow native-speaker teachers.

This presentation reports on research carried out at two public universities in Vietnam which elicited the perceptions of 50 Vietnamese English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners about the advantages and disadvantages of learning English from a native English-speaking teacher (NEST) and a non-native English-speaking teacher (non-NEST). This research responds to a widely-held assumption in the ELT profession that the ideal EFL teacher is a native speaker and that EFL learners view non-native speakerness as a disadvantage in a language teaching professional. Contrary to this view, the research illuminated a number of perceived advantages and disadvantages in both types of teacher. Non-NESTs had the advantage of being able to explain even complex linguistic items, and could resort to the students’ mother tongue when necessary. Respondents reported that communication with non-NESTs was easier because of their shared culture and familiar teaching style. However, non-NESTs’ pronunciation was seen as different to that of NESTs, and they were perceived as less fluent. NESTs were viewed as ideal models of pronunciation and correct language use, and could impart knowledge about ‘native’ cultures. However, many Vietnamese learners of English struggled with the cultural differences between themselves and NESTs. In sum, my findings dispute the perception that L2 learners prefer to learn English from native speakers of English, and suggest instead that both NESTs and non-NESTs offer valuable benefits for language learning, each type of teacher complementing the other.