When George Braine wrote his seminal work on the issues relating to NNESTs in 2010, it was estimated that 80% of the English teachers working in the field were NNESTs themselves. I worked as an EFL teacher at jobs in two public elementary schools, a private elementary school, and an ESL center that was open on weekends and holidays, in Thailand for over two years. What I learned while I was over there, outside of what related directly to me performing my job, was that I was in a position of relative privilege in the field because I was white (and thus looked the way they expected Westerners to look) and also because I was a native speaker of English.
The native speaker term became a lot more familiar to me as I worked there and spoke more with Thai teachers and administrators as well as others working in my field in that area. It meant that I got paid twice or more than what Thai English teachers were paid and that I was automatically given a degree of recognition that was essentially unearned. Everyone grows up speaking some language (almost everyone, see Nell, 1994) but because my first language was English and English has become a global language I am assumed by many to be better qualified to teach it than those who have undergone years of training and have significant experience.
Many English teachers working in Thailand were from the Philippines, and spoke English as a second language. These teachers were more highly regarded than Thai teachers because the standard of English in the Philippines is higher than in Thailand but were also paid less and given less respect than native speakers of English working with a bachelor's degree, in anything.
My experience was an awakening for me and I would like it if those of you with experiences working in this field on both sides of this issue (native speakers and nonnative speakers) will share your stories here.
It is my hope that those of you who read this blog will do what you can to combat this prejudice any way you can. If you are in a position of privilege you should use it to dispel myths of this nature. It will be a much harder struggle for those not in positions of privilege, for those individuals I hope to provide resources for support in the forms of both community and argument for change.
Braine, G. (2010). Nonnative speaker teachers: Research, pedagogy, and professional growth. New York: Routledge.
Interesting topic, John. Its definitely not something I had considered, so thanks for bringing it to our attention. I think, at first glance, its one of those issues that seems to make sense; why wouldn't a native speaker be preferred to a non-native in terms of language skills? However, as your research suggests, there is something other that higher wages for increased skill going on here. There is an interesting meeting of cultural values here, as the value of your western cultural identity and "whiteness" is preferred over hard skills like pedagogy or teaching experience; in my mind, this illustrates something about biases in both cultures. I am wondering if there is any native accent that is discriminated against; for example, would an extremely think, down-home southern accent discredit someone, or would their westerness make up for it? Looking forward to reading some more.
ReplyDeletePS This reminded me of a funny story I learned in college. Sometimes theater snobs say things like "That perfomance was good, but Shakespeare just isn't the same if its not done with British actors, the way it was meant to sound." However, linguistic research suggests that the closest one can get to the accent and pronunciation of Shakespearean English can actually be found in the most remote towns in Appalachia. So in a sense, people who many would describe as rednecks use Shakespearean English.