A Study Of Native And Non-native English Speaking Teachers In The Oral English Classroom

In the world of ELT (English Language Teaching), Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and non-NESTs are used to distinguish between English teachers who acquire English as a first language and those who learn or acquire it as a second or foreign language. It has been a hotly-debated issue for a long period and several studies have been down with the aim of trying to find out the similarities and differences between the teaching behaviors of the two types of teachers. But those studies relied mainly upon data obtained from questionnaires. This study supplements these secondary sources with primary ones, that is, besides comparing the stated teaching behavior of the two types according to the questionnaire for teachers, it also examines the participants' actual behaviour in classroom through the researcher's observation of the participants' lessons. Moreover, through analyzing students' questionnaire, the study shows students' attitudes and preference. Therefore, the focus of this study is three-fold: firstly, it analyses the stated behavior of native and non-native teachers of oral English; secondly, it compares their stated behaviour with their actual behaviour in the classroom, and lastly finds out students' attitudes and preference. The study finds that there are a variety of differences between the teaching behavior of NESTs and non-NESTs with the major ones laying in their English language competence, cultural knowledge, class atmosphere, empathy with the students and systematic teaching methods. NESTs' advantages mainly lie in their superior English language, first-hand cultural knowledge on English-speaking countries and lively class atmosphere while non-NESTs' strengths mainly include better understanding of students' difficulties and problems, adopting a systematic theme-based teaching approach in every class as well as helping students better understand grammar. After analyzing students' questionnaire, the study finds that 81% of the student participants prefer to have a NEST as their oral English teacher. The four major reasons are: firstly, natives speak the authentic language; secondly, natives can shed light on the cultural aspects of the English-speaking countries; thirdly, in NESTs' class, students can enjoy a lively atmosphere and learn to speak English in a relaxed way; lastly, natives provide a more authentic environment for students to speak English. In short, both NESTs and non-NESTs have advantages and disadvantages in teaching oral English. If each type can borrow the strong points from their counterparts and minimize their weaknesses, they would be worth more to the learner.