School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University Native-Speakerness vs Pedagogical...

School of Languages and Linguistics, Griffith University

Native-Speakerness vs Pedagogical Expertise: Which do EFL Students Value More Highly? Dr Ian WalkinshawSchool of Languages and LinguisticsGriffith University

Dr Duong Thi Hoang OanhVietnam National University

Contents

The differences between native speakers and non-native 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).



But TESOL and applied linguistics is full of advanced non-native 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...



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

Which elements could apply to a non-native speaker?

XX


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).


The native/non-native schism in ELT

Native-speakerness =‘ownership’

Expertise

Prestige

ResearchMaterials

Training

Funding


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)?


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


Data collection: Survey I

ELT qualifications?Friendly personality?Enthusiastic?Interesting classes?Understands students’ culture?Understands/speaks English fluently?


Data collection: Survey II

Participants


•50 Vietnamese learners of English•Upper intermediate proficiency•38 females, 12 males•Aged 20-24•Hue University and Nha Trang University


Quality I: Teaching experience

Teaching experience

56.3

31.3

12.5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Selected 1-2 Selected 3 Selected 4-5

Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e

Mean: 2.16 (Std Dev 1.19)

Teaching experiencevalued 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’.

Qualifications

61.2

20.4 18.4

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e


Quality II: Appropriate qualifications


Qualificationsvalued more than


Friendly personality

52.1

18.7

29.2

0

10

20

30

40

50

60


Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e


Quality III: Friendly personality


Friendly personalityvalued more than


Enthusiasm for teaching

61.2

24.5

14.3

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e


Quality IV: Enthusiasm for teaching


Enthusiasmvalued more than


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

Interesting classes

16 12

72

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80


Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e


Quality V: Interesting, informative classes


Interesting andinformative classesvalued more than



Interesting, informative classes

Interesting classroom practices

Increased languageintake (Van Patten 1990)

‘Pushed output’ - more newly-learned complex language, less previously internalised language (Batstone 2002)

Automatic processing (McLaughlin 1990)


Interest: NESTs & non-NESTs

NESTs:Ss can learn about teacher’s culture (n=19)Interesting teaching methods (n=10)

Non-NESTs:Good teacher (n=7)Easy to understand explanations (n=18)Easy to communicate with teacher (n=10)

(20 Ss found NESTs difficult to under-stand)

(But no Ss found non-NESTs boring)

Understanding culture

16.7 16.7

66.6

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70


Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e


Quality VI: Understanding students’ culture


UnderstandingStudents’ culture

more important thanlinguistic 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’.


How much power does the teacher have?

How does she expect me to

behave?

How do I request something?

Refuse? Disagree?

When am I allowed to talk? How long can I

talk for?

What if she thinks I’m being impolite?Is she being

impolite to me?

What will she do if I make a

mistake?What should I

do if she makes a mistake?



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’.


Quality VII: Advanced English competence


?

Advanced English competence

28

3438

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40


Student preference

Per

cen

tag

e


Advanced competence vs native-speakerness

What is the issue?

Lexical and grammatical competence?

General fluency?

Pronunciation?

NO – only 2 mentions

NO – only 5 mentions

YES – 30 mentions

Grammar explanations anadvantage of non-NESTs (n=18)

Native pronunciationthe primary advantage

of NESTs (n=30)


Previous studies of pronunciation I

L2 learners listened to recordings of NESTs’ and non-NESTs’ 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 b. 90% of the timec. 60% of the time d. 45% of the time

(Kelch & Santana-Williamson, 2002)

Previous studies of pronunciation II

L2 learners listened to recordings of several native- and non-native 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 Non-native speakers Both equally

(Kim, 2007)

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?

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