Refuting the nest fallacy through equality in elt

Author: 
Rana Khan Mohammed Ishaque

The dichotomous fallacy of Native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and Non-native English- speaking teachers (NNESTs) has often mislead the English teaching community on grounds of right credentials and language teaching proficiencies. Natives are usually considered as the rightful speakers of a language, which may not be true. Various studies point out that there are certain special teaching qualities and characteristic features that make both NESTs and NNESTs unique and important. The aim of this pilot project is to refute this myth of superiority of NESTs through promoting equality and fairness in hiring practices and acknowledging the worth of both while establishing English as a global language. Two questionnaires (one for English teachers and the other one was for students) were administered to gather data and analyze them to further this research. Roughly 75 teachers both NNESTs and NESTs were involved. Both native and non-native teachers agreed that being a native is neither a necessary criteria for the teachers of English nor an indication of better teaching. The study also concluded that collaboration is essential to build a stronger foundation of mutual respect, effective communication and interaction in TESOL classrooms.

Download PDF: 
DOI: 
http://dx.doi.org/10.24327/ijcar.2019.18812.3603
Select Volume: 
Volume8