University Students’ Perceptions Of Native And Non-native Teachers In EFL Teaching

China has employed many native teachers of English in recent years, and thesenative teachers of English played an important role in English teaching in our country.However, not much research has been carried out by scientists and teachers inuniversities to evaluate the process and output of language teaching by these nativeteachers of English, especially little research has been conducted from students’ pointsof view. Therefore, research on English language teaching by this group of teachershas become necessary for us to understand how they taught English in classroom.This study was designed to investigate students’ perceptions of native speakerteachers (hereafter NSTs) and non-native speaker teachers (hereafter NNSTs) inEnglish teaching in Jiangxi Normal University.148third-year English majors (22male students and126female ones) from4intact classes participated in this study. Aquestionnaire by Rao Zhenhui (2013) was used as the instrument. It consists of38items related to personal quality, linguistic proficiency, cultural knowledge, teachingmethods, teaching contents, classroom management, feedback and evaluation. Thisstudy attempts to explore:(1) students’ general perception of NSTs and NNSTs;(2)the difference between NSTs and NNSTs in the aspect of personal quality, linguisticproficiency and cultural knowledge;(3) the difference between NSTs and NNSTs inthe aspect of teaching methods and teaching contents;(4) the difference betweenNSTs and NNSTs in the aspect of classroom management and feedback andevaluation. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed in this study.The SPSS16.0was employed for the statistical analysis. Descriptive analysis andpaired samples t-test were used to analyze the data in this study. In qualitative study,six students were chosen on purpose as interviewees.The study has revealed a number of main findings. Firstly, the results show that there is no clear preference for either NSTs or NNSTs based on students’ perception.Students appreciate both NSTs and NNSTs in some aspects and also realize theirdeficiencies. Secondly, there is significant difference between NSTs and NNSTs in theaspect of personal quality, linguistic proficiency and cultural knowledge. On thewhole, NSTs are more popular than NNSTs in these aspects. Thirdly, there issignificant difference between NSTs and NNSTs in the aspect of teaching methodsand teaching contents. Generally speaking, NSTs employ more flexible teachingmethods, while NNSTs’ teaching contents are easier for students to follow. Finally,there is significant difference between NSTs and NNSTs in the aspect of classroommanagement and feedback and evaluation. NNSTs are more capable of maintainingclassroom order and discipline, while NSTs do better in giving positive feedback andevaluation.Based on the findings of the study, this thesis offered several pedagogicalimplications. Firstly, since both NSTs and NNSTs have their own advantages anddisadvantages, it is quite important for both camps to realize their own shortcomingsand advantages, and then they can learn from each other and help each other. Inaddition, in order to overcome their shortcomings, it is necessary for each camp ofteachers to attend extra training in different aspects. Secondly, the results of this studyshowed that both NSTs and NNSTs were appreciated by students in different aspects,so educational administrators in China need to be conscious of the “native speakerfallacy” and consider the students’ perceptions of NSTs and NNSTs before rushing toemploy NSTs. Finally, while employing English teachers, they should take suchfactors as past teaching experience, academic degrees in language education, andfluency in English into consideration. Only in this way can both language teachingand learning be improved.