In the Age of ‘World Englishes’,Native Speaker Teachers or Non-native Speaker Teachers?

This paper attempts to argue that in the age of‘World Englishes', it is not necessary to differentiate native speaker teachers from non-native speaker teachers. It is concluded that non-native speaker teachers can be as effective as their native colleagues and they have equal chance to achieve professional success, even though native speaker teachers have great advantages over non-native teachers in some aspects. It is time for employers, as well as ELT professionals to shut their eyes to the glaring differences between native speaker teachers and non-native speaker teachers and optimize such unique resources.

A SURVEY:CHINESE COLLEGE STUDENTS’PERCEPTIONS OF NON-NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS

本文是一份调查报告。通过对在校大学生的问卷调查和个别访谈,了解他们对中外英语教师的看法。调查的内容包括中外教师的语言能力、课堂教学能力及教师的人格魅力。结果表明,中外英语教师各有优势。外籍英语教师的语言能力,尤其在口语交际能力和目的语文化方面有较高的认同度。但是,中国英语教师也有他们不可替代的地位。他们更加了解学生的学习策略和风格,能够较准确地预测学生的学习难点,因而能更好地帮助他们解决问题。值得指出的是,高年级的学生更加关注教师的专业水平和人格魅力。

Native-speakerism in China:An Investigation of Foreign Language Education Policy and Learners’Attitudes

With the development of globalization,the use of English is no longer restricted to native speaker(NS)but also widely spread to non-native speaker(NNS).The importance of English learning is also acknowledged by Expanding and Outer Circle,and English as a foreign language(EFL)education plays a significant role in China’s education.Admitting the fact that non-native English teachers(NNESTs)take up a large proportion of English teachers,English language teaching(ELT)is still greatly influenced by native-speakerism.This research aims to investigate language ideologies reflected in Chinese foreign language education policy(FLEP)at higher education level,and Chinese English learners’attitudes towards native-speakerism and English teachers.A mixed method of policy analysis and survey is adopted in this research.After conducting analysing two FLEPs in higher education level,it is found that linguistic instrumentalism is the prominent language ideology,although native-speakerism and standard English ideology is implicitly demonstrated.Questionnaire is used to investigate 58 Chinese English learners’attitudes,revealing that most participants do not demonstrate bias towards either NESTs or NNESTs.Instead,the strengths and weaknesses of both NEST and NNEST are identified,though participants adhere to native-speakerism in terms of English variety.Overall,English learner’s attitudes are consistent with language ideologies in FLEPs.This research may provide implications for future studies on addressing native-speakerism in Chinese FLEPs,as well as relationship of students’attitudes and language policies.

从学习者视角看中外英语教师

在全球化的今天，虽然英语为非母语的教师在数量上占绝大多数，但语言能力上的制约使他们仍然不能与英语母语教师进行公平竞争。笔者通过调查了中国英语学习者对中国英语教师和外籍教师的看法发现，中国学生认为两者各有其独特优势。外籍教师擅长教授口语和词汇，而中国教师在读写、语法等课程上有优势，并且他们更理解学生并能提供情感上的支持。研究结果还表明：单凭语言能力并不能在教学上获得成功，英语为非母语教师虽然在语言上有其弱点，但完全应该享有与母语教师一样的成功机会。