Native Speakers?
In a recent poll, I asked readers if they thought Englishlanguage teachers should be native speakers. The result was
interesting, as the vote from those with an opinion was close
with 48% believing they should be native speakers and 41%
saying no. I don’t know what you think about this but I’ve
always had mixed feelings.
The first question I would raise with those who believe being a
native speaker is an essential prerequisite for an English
language teacher is, which native speaker would you choose? My
point is that native speakers are not by virtue of their birth
language experts. I can think of many native speakers whose
command of their own language is remarkably poor! Evidently
being a native speaker is not in itself a guarantee of any
linguistic understanding. Of course, native speakers have a
certain instinctive feel for the language that probably cannot
be acquired. But the non-native speaker, having gone through
the process of really mastering English, is more likely to
understand the learning process and the pitfalls that are
peculiar to learning the language.
Students also have mixed feelings, I find. I have come across
students who prefer to be taught by someone with their own
linguistic background so that, if problems arise, discussion
can take place in the language they are more familiar with. I
have even been told that native English speakers’ pronunciation
is too difficult to understand. On the other hand, some students
feel cheated if they do not have a native speaker, believing
that somehow they can’t trust somebody who has had to learn the
language just as they are doing. Some students have said to me
that they don’t trust the non-native speaker not to make
mistakes. This argument is quite interesting because it depends
what you mean by a mistake. Native speakers are not free from
grammatical error, if that is what is meant. In this respect I
would say that native speakers simply make different errors
from non-native speakers.
So are there really any key differences between native and
non-native speakers as teachers? Probably, yes. But does it
matter? Each type of teacher will have specific strengths and
weaknesses and, when push comes to shove, you’re either a good
teacher or you’re not, regardless of your native tongue.