Nonnative Speaker English Teachers

Research, Pedagogy, and Professional Growth

George Braine

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2010
• ISBN:
  9781135152017
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: English Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

According to current estimates, about eighty percent of English teachers worldwide are nonnative speakers of the language. The nonnative speaker movement began a decade ago to counter the discrimination faced by these teachers and to champion their causes. As the first single-authored volume on the topic since the birth of the movement, this book fills the need for a coherent account that:

• 
  
  

• traces the origins and growth of the movement
• summarizes the research that has been conducted
• highlights the challenges faced by nonnative speaker teachers
• promotes NNS teachers' professional growth.

No discussion of world Englishes or the spread of English internationally is now complete without reference to the NNS movement. This book celebrates its first decade and charts a direction for its growth and development.

Chapter 1
The Nonnative Speaker Movement

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) is the largest international organization of English teachers in the world. Currently, TESOL has over 11,000 members from 149 countries. TESOL is affiliated with 47 inde pendent teachers’ organizations in the United States and 50 similar organizations in other countries. As a result of these affiliations, the influence of TESOL extends to about 47,000 members worldwide (see www.tesol.org).

TESOL Quarterly, the research-oriented journal published by TESOL is probably the best-known academic journal in the field of applied linguistics. The journal, now in its 42^nd volume, publishes four issues annually. Since its inception, the editor of TESOL Quarterly had been a native speaker of English. In 2005, the first nonnative speaker editor of TESOL Quarterly was appointed. Another dramatic change occurred in the leadership of TESOL the following year. Since its incorporation in 1966, the president of TESOL, too, had been a native speaker of English. But, in 2006, the first nonnative president was elected by the organization’s general membership.

These two unprecedented events are an indicator of the recognition that nonnative speaker (NNS) English teachers have received from the mainstream and the empowerment that the NNS teachers have themselves achieved in recent years. No discussion of such recognition and empowerment can proceed without reference to the NNS movement that arose within the past decade. This movement, which saw its origins in the United States, has since drawn the attention of English teachers and scholars worldwide. As a result, no discussion of World Englishes or the spread of English internationally is now complete without reference to the NNS movement.

Background

Historical evidence suggests that English was being taught as a second or foreign language as far back as the 15^th century. During the 16^th century, the rise of England as a maritime power and the expansion of the British Empire led to the recognition of English as an important language alongside French, Italian, and Latin, and to a growing interest in learning English. Gabriel Meurier, a Frenchman who lived in Antwerp, may have been the first NNS teacher of English we know by name. A Treatise for to Learn to Speak French and English , authored by Meurier, was published in 1553 (Howatt, 1984). In the latter half of the 16^th century, when a large number of refugees from Flanders, France, Italy, and Spain settled in England, some who taught English to these settlers were themselves refugees or immigrants and therefore NNS of English. The best-known among them, Jaques Bellot, taught English to the French community in the London area and authored two books, The English Schoolmaster (1580), and Familiar Dialogues (1586). Two other well-known immigrant language teachers of this period were Claudius Holyband, a Frenchman, and John Florio, an Italian (see Howatt, 1984 for detailed accounts of their work). With this tangible evidence of English being taught in England by NNS of the language, we may safely assume that the rapid spread of English from the 16^th century would have spawned a parallel growth in English language teaching, and enterprising NNS may have been quick to assume the role of teachers in other countries too.

The British Council (www.britishcouncil.org/english/engfaqs.htm) estimates that English is spoken as the second language by about 375 million speakers and as a foreign language by about 750 million speakers. There is little doubt that the majority of English teachers are NNS because these vast numbers of second and foreign language speakers would be taught mainly by indigenous NNS English teachers. For instance, China recently made English a compulsory subject from Grade 3 onwards. According to recent statistics, about 230 million students were enrolled in primary, secondary, and tertiary level in China (see http://www.edu.cn/jiao_yu_fa_zhan_498/20080901/t20080901_321919.shtml). Undoubtedly, the majority of these students are taught by Chinese teachers of English.

Despite the strong presence of NNS English teachers worldwide, issues relating to them were not openly discussed or studied till a little more than a decade ago. This may have been because the topic is unusually sensitive and may have been considered politically incorrect. The commonly accepted view in language pedagogy has been that NNS teachers are second in knowledge and performance to native speaker (NS) teachers (Phillipson, 1992 has discussed the origins of this issue). While the authority of the NS was accepted as the norm in English-speaking countries, there appeared to be power struggles between the expatriate NS teachers and the indigenous NNS teachers in Eflcontexts (see Canagarajah, 1999, for instance).

The roots of the NNS movement probably lie with the concept of World Englishes first proposed by Braj Kachru and Larry Smith in the 1970s and since accepted widely by linguists. Kachru’s classification of the spread of English into three concentric circles was groundbreaking because, for the first time, it showed that the NNS in the Outer and Expanding Circles far outnumbered the NS of English in the Inner Circle. Kachru (1992) later argued that the dichotomy between native and NNS of English is functionally uninsightful and linguistically questionable, especially in the context of the functions of the English language in multilingual societies.

If NNS English teachers needed consciousness raising, it came with the publication of Robert Phillipson’s Linguistic Imperialism in 1992. One topic that Phillipson dealt with was what he termed the “native speaker fallacy”—the belief that “the ideal teacher of English is a native speaker”—which he speculated may have had its origins at the Commonwealth Conference on the Teaching of English as a Second Language, held in 1962. The result of this tenet was the widely held assumption that NS English teachers are better than NNS teachers. This “superiority” of NS teachers had been bolstered by Chomsky’s (1965) notions that the native speaker is the authority on language and that he/she is the ideal informant on grammar. Phillipson (1992) challenged the fallacy by stating that NS abilities could be instilled in NNS through teacher training, that NNS of a language have undergone the process of learning a (second) language and are therefore better qualified to teach the language, and that language teaching is no longer synonymous with the teaching of culture, and thus could be taught by teachers who did not share the same culture as the language they taught.

One of the first to explore NNS teacher issues was Peter Medgyes, himself a NNS from Hungary, who advanced three hypotheses based on his assumption that NS and NNS teachers are “two different species” (1994): native and NNS teachers differ in terms of language proficiency and teaching practice (behavior); most of the differences in teaching practice could be attributed to the discrepancy in language proficiency; and both NS and NNS could be equally good teachers on their own terms. However, Medgyes’ publications were based in Britain and were largely unknown in the United States, where the NNS movement had its origins.

Birth of the Nonnative Speaker Movement

The beginning of the nonnative speaker movement was the colloquium titled “In Their Own Voices: Nonnative Speaker Professionals in TESOL”, which I organized at the 30^th Annual TESOL Convention held in Chicago in 1996. I invited well-known NNS scholars in applied linguistics as well as novices to our profession—Ulla Connor, Suresh Canagarajah, Kamal Sridhar, Jacinta Thomas, and Devi Chitrapu—to address issues that were of concern to them. They exceeded my expectations, presenting highly charged, mainly personal, narratives. The colloquium generated much enthusiasm among the audience and the idea for a TESOL Caucus for NNS was first proposed at the discussion that followed. The statement that was written in order to launch the signature drive to establish the colloquium can be found on page 111 in Bailey, Curtis, & Nunan (2001).

Around this time, I was invited to write an article for the TESOL organization’s newspaper TESOL Matters, and it was published as “NNS and Invisible Barriers in ELT” (Braine, 1998). In the article, I stated that for many NNS English teachers, qualifications, ability, and experience were of little help in the job market where the invisible rule appeared to be “No NNS need apply.” I pointed out that despite the TESOL organization’s explicit opposition to hiring practices that discriminate against NNS, most ELT administrators did not hire NNS. I described two frequent excuses trotted out for not hiring NNS—that ESL students prefer being taught by NS and that recruiting foreigners involves a complex legal process—but argued that the main reason was the subtle opposition to the increasing presence of foreigners in western academia as teachers, researchers, and scholars. Although a similar presence of foreigners/ NNS in English language teaching was only to be expected—there are at least four NNS to every native speaker of English—it met with opposition when scarce jobs were threatened.

I also pointed out that this was especially ironic in ELT, considering the profession’s strident championing of multiculturalism, diversity, and other sociopolitical causes on behalf of ESL students and immigrants. While ESL students were praised and admired for the multiculturalism and diversity they bring into language classes, NNS English teachers who could also contribute their rich multicultural, multilingual experiences were often barred from the same classes.

In another ironic phenomenon, NNS English teachers who return to their countries after obtaining higher degrees and teacher qualifications in the West are not always able to find work. Some language program administrators— notably in Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong, for instance—appeared to prefer unqualified NS of English instead of qualified local teachers. I stated that such teachers were in the bewildering and frustrating position of being denied what they had been trained to do.

In 1998, the Non-Native English Speakers in TESOL (NNEST) Caucus was established with myself as the chair, Jun Liu as the chair-elect, Lia Kamhi-Stein as the newsletter editor, and Aya Matsuda as the web master. The first formal meeting of the Caucus was held at the TESOL Convention in 1999, which coincided with the publication of my book Non-Native Educators in English Language Teaching. The overall aim of the Caucus was to strengthen effective teaching and learning of English around the world while respecting individuals’ language rights. Specifically, the major goals were to

• create a nondiscriminatory professional environment for all TESOL members regardless of native language and place of birth

• encourage the formal and informal gatherings of NNS at TESOL and affiliate conferences

• encourage research and publications on the role of nonnative speaker teachers in ESL and Eflcontexts, and

• promote the role of nonnative speaker members in TESOL and affiliate leadership positions.

The Caucus used a biannual newsletter, an active listserv, and the website to publicize its activities and disseminate information among the membership. The website also listed a bibliography of publications that have appeared under the topic. The Caucus was fortunate in the leaders it elected and the enthusiasm and dedication of its members. For those of us who have been members from its inception, the Caucus appeared to have released a floodgate of pent-up energy in the empowerment of NNS. Through outreach activities, well-attended meetings, an actively subscribed listserv, conference presentations, and publications, the Caucus created a vibrant TESOL community that had attracted 1,700 members by 2008.

In 2008, by consensus of its members, the Caucus transformed itself into an Interest Section of the TESOL organizations. Caucuses are mainly for advocacy whereas Interest Sections are more concerned with professional issues. This transition marked another milestone of the movement with its emergence as a full-fledged area of research.

Reflecting on Achievements

Ten years after the formation of the Caucus, it is time to reflect on the achievements of the NNS movement. What began as an attempt by a small group of TESOL members has now become a worldwide movement. Three of the original objectives—to encourage the formal and informal gatherings of NNS at TESOL and affiliate conferences; to encourage research and publications on the role of nonnative speaker teachers in ESL and Eflcontexts; and to promote the role of nonnative speaker members in TESOL and affiliate leadership positions—have been achieved beyond expectations. The first objective—to create a nondiscriminatory professional environment for all TESOL members regardless of native language and place of birth—is more an ideal than a pragmatic reality, and the NNS movement will continue to work towards these ends. More specifically, the major achievements are the rise in self-esteem, a surge in academic research and publications on NNS issues, and leadership in TESOL. I will now consider these achievements in more detail.

Rise in Self-Esteem

When I was contemplating a suitable name for the Caucus in 1997–98, I thought of “NNS in TESOL”, and sought the opinion of others interested in forming the Caucus. Some colleagues did not support the inclusion of the term “nonnative speaker” in the name and suggested alternatives (see Chapter 2 for a list of suggested names). I was not surprised at their reticence in using the term “nonnative speaker.” As stated earlier, NNS English teachers had long being considered second rate, which in turn may have caused a certain lack of self-confidence among NNS teachers. To my recollection, till the formation of the Caucus, few NNS English teachers had called themselves NNS, either in academic presentations or publications. The term “nonnative speaker” was indeed a pejorative. In fact, one NNS scholar also stated that “to call ourselves non-NS [in naming the Caucus] is akin to the slave owner’s language.”

In sharp contrast, the past ten years have seen a surge in the use of the term “nonnative speaker” in scholarly presentations and publications as well as in informal discussions, both face-to-face and online. Now, it is politically correct to use the term, and NS scholars and teachers no longer hesitate to use it. But, among NNS, the change has been dramatic. No longer afraid to call themselves NNS, they have transformed the landscape of academic presentations and publications. For instance, since the formation of the Caucus, the annual TESOL conventions have included about 15–20 presentations on NNS issues with the term “NNS” in the title. Many of these presentations have been from NNS themselves. The 2008 New York TESOL convention, for instance, saw more than 25 presentations affiliated to the Caucus, many by NNS with “NNS” in the title.

This does not mean that the term has...

Table of contents

• ESL & Applied Linguistics Professional Series
• Contents
• Preface
• Introduction
• Chapter 1 The Nonnative Speaker Movement
• Chapter 2 The Native Speaker— Nonnative Speaker Divide
• Chapter 3 Research on Self-perceptions of NNS English Teachers
• Chapter 4 Research on Students’ Perceptions of NNS English Teachers
• Chapter 5 An English Teacher from the Outer Circle
• Chapter 6 An English Teacher from the Expanding Circle
• Chapter 7 From Worlds Apart: The Lives of Two English Teachers
• Chapter 8 Extrinsic and Intrinsic Challenges Faced by NNS English Teachers
• Chapter 9 Where Does the NNS Movement Go From Here?
• Chapter 10 Professional Development
• Notes
• References
• Index