Research On The Attitude Of English Major Students Towards Native English Speaking Teachers

Native speakerism has become a prevalent problem in ELT field. It not only compromises the career prospects of non-native English speaking teachers but also hampers the diversified development of English language. Although China is a country with a great number of English learners, only a few scholars have tapped into native speakerim. Therefore, study will undoubtedly promote the sound development of English education.This study offers a glimpse into the previous studies on students’ attitudes towards native and non-native speaking teachers. The author adopted the definition of attitude as the theoretical framework for this study. Sample survey was conducted to investigate the attitudes of 198 English major students in Hebei University of Science and Technology. The research collected both qualitative and quantitative data by means of seven-point likert scale questionnaire and semi-structured interviews separately. The reliability and validity of all the items on questionnaire was tested through SPSS 20.0. Descriptive analysis on the result of questionnaire was conducted and students’ demographic variables were tapped into through Independent sample t-test and One-way analysis of variance. Eight representative interviews were selected according to the results of the questionnaire. Each interview lasted about ten minutes and was recorded.The results indicate:(1) Based on the results of questionnaire, students stay positive of their native speaking teachers in EFL teaching and prefer native speaking teachers to their Chinese teachers.(2) By selecting the most representative questionnaire results, the author finds that gender to some extent affect students’ student’s choices. Male students are more positive of their native speaking teachers than their female counterparts. Besides, according to the results from the interviews, students are somewhat swayed by their motivational variables such as knowledge, self-worth and social approval. According to the results, further reform of English education in China is needed and there is a need to foster students’ critical thinking abilities. Only one University was surveyed and hopefully the sample size will be expanded in the future to further corroborate current study.