Comments on: How to teach TESOL ethically in an English-dominant world

By: Arakah

Arakah — Fri, 29 Oct 2021 23:43:48 +0000

As a migrant I’m talking Arabic to my daughter the day she was born, now she is 4 years, and she is proficient with Arabic language, and she have a huge number of Arabic vocabularies than other peers who are in her age. Thus, I think it is crucial, yet it is hard to maintain the heritage language that we have with learning the language such as language for the value that it has. This learning would came with connect and communicate with native speakers, the pure place of the English language.

By: Ingrid Piller

Ingrid Piller — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 20:08:10 +0000

In reply to emme effe. Thanks, emme effe! Another interesting dimension of this is of course that many language learners (or their parents) have no way of identifying “native” speech and so rely on white looks as an index of nativeness … conversely, Asian-looking teachers may be less valued, even if they are, in fact, native speakers …

By: Thao

Thao — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 12:03:27 +0000

Policies to encourage cultural diversity in the workplace involve employing employees from various cultural backgrounds. Similarly, language schools would do well to promote diversity by employing teachers from backgrounds that are not necessarily an English speaking country. By employing teachers who are only ‘white natives’, it could be perpetuating the stigma that ‘non-white’ teachers are inferior. Commanding higher fees for schools with ‘white native’ teachers could also add to this narrative as society equate higher fees with better quality when this could be not the case. Being a native speaker does not mean one can explain the finer points of the language.

By: Tammy

Tammy — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 10:40:56 +0000

Sharing the same thoughts with Jenny and Zoe, I have to say that there is deep bias preferring native to non-native English teacher in Vietnam. In my highschool time, there was an English class with native teacher (Australian, Filipino) in a week; and from my observation, it was advocated by both students and parents. Compared to the Vietnamese teachers’ classes, students possibly had more activity time (speaking, playing, watching video, etc.) and less strict supervisor from the native teachers; while their parents supposed that they could practice speaking, listening with teachers having native accent, higher qualifications and expert knowledge. Indeed, in the English classes with Vietnamese teachers, the curriculum was heavily theoretical (i.e. focused on grammatical points, lack of communication tasks) so students rarely had chance to actively immerse in English. However, apart from some new vocabulary, no significant improvement in students’ English proficiency was noticed from native teachers’ time. Because most of these foreign teachers did not have any specific or language-teaching-related qualifications (except some previous teaching experience in non-English-speaking countries), instead, they just relied on the textbook and Google to introduce and explain the content. Thus, I believe that the ethical teaching is not significantly relevant to the origin of the teacher; on the other hand, it is more depent on not only their professional knowledge/phylosophy, but also the instituition’s recruitment policies and management.

By: emme effe

emme effe — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 09:48:41 +0000

Hi Ingrid,
Thank you for sharing this. It seems to be widely believed that being a native English speaker makes you a better teacher as opposed to a non-native English speaker. I completely disagree as I think that other characteristics make a teacher a good teacher: content knowledge, helpfulness, skilful use of pedagogies to name a few. All of this is independent of the teachers “nativeness” or “non-nativeness”. I was lucky enough not to experience this during my English teaching experience in Japan. Nobody ever questioned the quality of my teaching based on my nationality/first language. Moreover, as it was mentioned, if teachers tried to learn a language, they would ultimately gain a better understanding of their students’ circumstances. I 100% agree: in my practice, this has helped enormously to both assist and motivate my students.

By: Ally

Ally — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 09:29:00 +0000

In reply to Ingrid Ulpen. Ingrid I can very much relate to your experience as a teacher. I also had to overcome and compensate for my family experience as neither of my parents graduated high school, and both had immigrant parents, so their linguistic skills and vocabulary were limited. I too struggle with teaching grammar effectively. I have also found that many textbook grammar lessons do not seem to actually improve my students grammar in the long run. Earlier in my teaching career I focused on other areas which i am much stronger at, believing this would benefit the students more. However, in my own language journeys, I do not like to study grammar and found that to be a limitation for my language acquisition . I now see the importance of learning grammar but still grapple with the most effective way to teach it. My experiences team teaching with non-native speakers in Japan proved to be a very effective way to improve students language acquisition experience. Unfortunately most schools do not offer this option but I hope it is something we will see more of in the future.

By: Ally

Ally — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 09:13:48 +0000

In reply to Megan. Meghan I totally agree that collaborative teaching is a holistic model and has the potential to better meet the student's needs. I have been fortunate to experience this when living in japan and found it very effective and enjoyable for everyone. I sincerely hope we see more of this in the future of language teaching.

By: Ally

Ally — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 09:11:07 +0000

Growing up in rural Canada, I was fortunate to enjoy our native peoples’ cultures, art and ceremonies. I became acutely aware of their heart wrenching history still often negatively affecting their present realities and opportunities. In Uni, I became even more aware of our country’s “original sin…of colonialism” and the prolific social injustices.

Understanding my position of privilege just because I was born white, an English speaker and in a western country, is one reason I became a teacher. I realised I could strive to use my privilege to empower students, while cocreating a learning experience together, to support them in their journey to overcome unfair limitations for a fulfilling future.

It was profound for me, when Ingrid said as native speakers, we need to be constantly questioning how our teaching is meaningful to our students, and endeavour to overcome limiting social structures and be part of the solution. This is so important and an ongoing challenge especially within many school systems.

I agree wholeheartedly all language teachers, should be required to learn at least one other language. Understanding the process of grappling with learning another language, makes us better, more effective and compassionate teachers.

This bias about native vs non-native teachers is particularly troubling. My experience is that often non-native teachers can be more effective teachers, particularly for, but not limited to grammar, than many native speaking teachers. My most effective teaching experiences were in Japan where I participated in collaborative team teaching with non-native speaking teachers, both within my schools and in private classes. The students who benefitted from the expertise of both non-native and native speaking teachers often made much better progress with their language acquisition.

By: Fathima

Fathima — Sun, 24 Oct 2021 06:16:19 +0000

The answer is a common myth that learners studying from native speaking teachers could achieve fluency. But I think fluency can be achievable without a native speaker. It’s just a misconception in the minds of people that believe native speaking teachers are always better. In my view, non-native and native teachers are equal but can be a slight comparison among them in certain traits.
Certain factors like passion, experience gained to do a good job is important when teaching than high-level English proficiency. Another factor is empathy, which native(inherited L1) and non-native teachers ( foremost learners themselves) must bear. Mostly non-native teachers empathise more with L2 learners because they underwent the same frustrations of learning English, and (if she is good at what she does), will passionately help you succeed.
Lastly, native teachers benefit over non-native teachers in pronunciation. Natives are practically born with perfect pronunciation in L1. And it’s an aspect that a non-native teacher won’t have had a lot of training in.

By: Ingrid Piller

Ingrid Piller — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 19:18:21 +0000

In reply to Ingrid Ulpen. Thank you, Ingrid, for your wise comment!

By: Chen Wang

Chen Wang — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 15:06:33 +0000

It is obvious that English is becoming more and more prevalent in Asia. For example, every Chinese student learns English as a compulsory course in their education. Most of them are taught by Chinese teachers in school and few of them attend international schools where teachers are from English speaking countries. Also, some institutions provide English classes such as English for academic purposes, English for business purposes and so on. There is a trend that private institutions in China prefer foreign teachers from Western countries to teach English. I also see some recruitment advertising express their favourable of teachers from the US, USA and Australia. In my view, the reason why this happens is that the parents believe teachers from these areas have standard English accents which would benefit their child. The owner of these companies is willing to cater for their preference. So if we relate this issue to the context of TESOL, it may not only be about the teacher and learning outcomes but also be about the market demand. Although there is no evidence showing that native speakers are better than non-native speakers when teaching English, this may have been taken for granted in some places where people lack knowledge of TESOL.

By: Vatnak

Vatnak — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 14:00:27 +0000

The concept of having native teachers to teach language is still an influential the parents in my country are looking for when choosing language schools for their children. The thing is that most of them believe that the native speakers are more proficient in the language than the local teachers. However, a few institutes of foreign languages are still famous despite of having only few or none native teachers. Of course, the native English teachers are normally stay on the top when it comes to pronunciations and speaking. However, what is more important is the ability that they can provide the accurate content knowledge to the students. It really shows that both native and non-native English teachers can stand in equal chance to deliver a good language experience to the students.

By: Zoe

Zoe — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 11:51:52 +0000

Most Vietnamese parents think it is better for their children to learn English taught by native speakers since native English teachers might teach English better than non-native ones. Taking advantage of these parents’ thoughts, many privately-funded institutions have been established, which advertise many English courses taught by “native teachers”. However, “native teachers” in some of these institutions are not well-qualified since most of them are backpackers and do not have any qualifications and teaching competencies. This leads to the reality that these native speakers might have good language skills, but little or no teaching skills. Thus, I believe that teaching English ethically does not depend on whether the teacher is native or non-native, but it rather depends on whether the teacher understands and focuses on the student’s problems, conditions, and needs.

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 11:50:45 +0000

It is more important to be concerned with the content knowledge, pedagogical knowledge and Wisdom of Practice of language teachers irrespective of their identities since they all provide their distinct potentialities and limitations. Collaborative teaching could be a holistic model that facilitates teachers to meet the target needs of their students. For instance, the University of Economics in Vietnam allows Vietnamese teachers and foreign teachers specializing in Business to work together and plan which authentic business-related texts are culturally appropriate to teach business students in Vietnam. Moreover, Vietnamese teachers teach abstract grammatical aspects and receptive skills while foreign teachers are responsible for improving students’ productive skills that are likely to be used in their future working environment. This collaboration may tailor the needs of the majority of students.

By: Ingrid Ulpen

Ingrid Ulpen — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 10:09:45 +0000

Teaching English ethically in increasingly multilingual, globalised contexts is an evolving issue with many layers. The closer you look, the more you find.

My personal experience is that of a white Australian native-English speaker. However, I am not fully Anglo-Celtic and Australian English does not have the highest status (or intelligibility) internationally. As a teacher, I struggle with succinct explanations of grammar, a common problem for native speakers. For me, this is compounded by my background of having grown up with many people in the family circle who learned English as adults: I learned to ignore the details of grammar and pronunciation when someone was talking, and listen for their meaning. As a teacher, I often do not even notice “mistakes”, but I hope this early experience helps me create an accepting classroom where students feel heard and valued irrespective of their English proficiency.

Everyone – students and teachers- has unique, often unpredictable, strengths and weaker areas. In a teaching institution, as in many other group enterprises, the best results are achieved when diversity is welcomed and capitalised on.

By: Ingrid Ulpen

Ingrid Ulpen — Sat, 23 Oct 2021 09:06:39 +0000

In reply to Milly. Milly, it gladdens my heart to read that your friend's son feels that speaking both Chinese and English is cool. Children naturally want to be accepted by their peers, which may, in some social circumstances, lead to them feeling ashamed of their heritage and full identity. As he grows up and moves into new social groups, I certainly hope he continues to feel proud.