nests: do they rule the roost?
DESCRIPTION
These are the slides from the presentation I gave at the 15th Warwick International Postgraduate Conference in Applied LinguisticsTRANSCRIPT
NESTs: Do they rule the roost?International Foundation Students’ Perceptions on Native and Non-Native English Language Teachers
Hazel McAllister
Leeds Metropolitan University
Content
The QuestionFirst SparkPrevious ResearchThe StudyWhat Students had to Say (Results)DiscussionYour questions
The Question
What are the perceptions of UK university foundation students towards NESTs and
NNESTs?
First Spark
Our ideal candidate:
A native English speaker
8/April/2012
Native Speaker
Teachers Needed in
Jakarta, Indonesia
10/April/2012
Requirements: - Native speakers from UK, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland & SA 8/April/2012
Requirements:
a) Native speaker
8/April/2012
First Spark (continued)
Selvi (2010) on two online TEFL jobsites showed over 60% stated nativeness as a job requirement
Illes (1991) Managers are responding to sts demand
Medgyes (1994) Schools use NESTs as a status badge. To recruit more students.
What is a NEST?
Definition is problematic
Previous Research 1
Students rate professional skills such as preparation and motivating students as more important than language skills.
(Cheung, 2002)
Students would prefer to have both NESTs and NNESTs teaching them
(Lasagabaster and Sierra, 2005)
Students recognise that NESTs and NNESTs have different strengths and weaknesses.
(Mahboob’s,2003, cited in Lipovsky and Mahboob, 2010)
Previous Research 2
NESTs (+) pronunciation
and cultural knowledge
(-) lack of knowledge of the students’ L1 and teaching ability
NNESTs (+) Learning strategy
knowledge of students’ L1
(-) pronunciation
(Lasagabaster and Sierra, 2005)
Previous Research 3
Teaching behaviour is statistically different between the two groups
NNEST – structured approach to grammar
NEST – more capable of encouraging speaking
Medgyes and Benke (2006)
The Study
‘Some students think that only native English speakers can be good English language teachers. Others think that non-native English speakers can also be efficient teachers. What is your opinion about this issue? Please feel free to provide personal details and examples.’
Adapted from Mahboob and Lipovsky (2010)
The Study
Full-time international foundation course students (approx 80 students)
Total participants: 8
Male 5 Female 3
IELTS 5+
All had NNESTs &NESTs
Arabic and European L1s
What Students Had to Say
“more confident teaching
about culture” “richer expressions”
“it’s better learning with native
speakers because of Pronunciation”
“The native is has no
disadvantage and only
advantage”
What Students Had to Say
“less likely to put
themselves into student’s
shoes”
“do not really [know]
anything about the
student’s mother language
backgrounds which can make
learning easier for
students”
“native teacher have no experience in teaching”
What Students Had to Say
“They also learned the
language so they know the
steps and how to think as the student think.”
“Non-native have more
experience in teaching”.
“…the majority are also
aware of many more
techniques of learning to
speak” “The best method to improve
your English is to start with non-
native speaker because they can
understand us/they pass the
same thing like us”
What Students Had to Say
“It is very hard for
some of them when it
comes to
pronunciation”
“When speaking it can be
grammar mistakes with
NNS”
“Do not have equal English
culture background.”
Key Finding
Tendency to have a preference for NEST over NNEST
“The non-native can be more efficient in teaching but in my opinion native teachers are
always better”
Key finding
Not a homogenous group
“The right qualifications and experience
matter are more important than [being native or
non-native]. If a person has the right education,
he or she will be an excellent teacher with the
same probability of success for both
native and non-native speakers”
Key Finding
Pronunciation seems to be the real crux of the issue and outweighs all other considerations
“The benefit of native or non-native
speaker in my opinion is the same. Except I
prefer native teacher because
pronunciation and fluency is important for
speaking, where the student will not
learn words in a foreign accent”
Key finding
“The most important aspect of being a language teacher in my perspective is having a fluent accent of that language,
everything else would usually come in second place”
Pronunciation outweighs all other considerations
Key Finding
“Parents of student depress
of the teacher were there
non-native speakers”
Influence of other stakeholders
So what?
Echoes findings from previous studiesFound students held some positive
views of NNESTs, they did not view NNESTs positively
Suggested there are additional factors to consider such as influence of 3rd parties/stakeholders
How do we teach pronunciation
Limitations
One group of students from one University in the UK.
Impossible to make broad generalisations from the results
Students were self-selecting
Future Studies
How is pronunciation taught in NEST and NNEST classrooms?
Is it taught differently?
or
Is this an issue of how students perceive it is taught?
Questions?
?
References
Illes, E. (1991) Correspondence ELT Journal Vol 45/1 Lasagabaster, D and Sierra, J. (2005) What do students think about the pros and cons of having a
native speaker teacher? In Llurda, E. (ed) Non-native language teachers: Perceptions, challenges and contributions to the profession New York: Springer and Business Media
Mahboob, A. and Lipovsky, C. (2010) Students’ appraisal of their native and non-native English-speaking teachers WATESOL NNEST Caucus Annual review. Vol 1
Medgyes P (1994) The Non-Native Teacher Macmillian Publishers Medgyes, P and Benke, E (2006) Differences in teaching behavious between native and non-
native speaker teachers:As seen by Learners in Llurda, E (ed) Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession New York: Springer and Business Media
Moussu, L. (2002) English as a Second Langauge students’ reactions to nonnative English-speaking Teachers MA Thesis Brigham Young University,
Moussu, L. (2006) Native and nonnative English-speaking English as a second language teachers: students attitudes, teacher self-perceptions, and intensive English administrator beliefs and practices PH.D dissertation Purdue University, Indiana
Selvi, A.(2010) All Teachers are Equal, but some teachers are more equal than others:trend analysis of job advertisements in English Language Teaching WATESOL NNEST Caucus Annual Review – Vol 1