The Myth Surrounding the Nonnative-English-Speaker Teacher

(Why) Is this (still) an issue in language assessment?

October 15, 2020
Gabriel Brito Amorim, Ph.D., Adjunct Professor, Federal University of Goiás, Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures Brazil

When I moved to the United States with an assistantship that paid for my tuition in my master’s degree in TESOL and also gave me a monthly salary to cover my living expenses while in school, it did not cross my mind that my “nonnativeness” could be/would be a subject of concern. As part of my Graduate Teaching Assistantship (GTA) duties, I had to teach two English as a second language (ESL) classes in the university’s Intensive English Program (IEP). Prior to arriving in the US, I had already taught English as a foreign language (EFL) in my home country (Brazil) for 3,5 years, also in the university’s languages center, to where I have returned and have worked until today. I cannot recall an instance in which my proficiency in English or ability to teach and assess my students had been questioned by either my students or superiors. At least, not to my face. Amongst my colleagues, I was and still am well aware the myth surrounding the nonnative-English-speaker teacher haunts teachers, who constantly need to provide proof of their proficiency. It also mesmerizes students, who idealize a prototype of standard teacher.

Rajagopalan (2006) states that nonnative-English-speaker teachers represent 80% of the English Language Teaching (ELT) total workforce worldwide. Pereira da Silva (2009) alerts that this massive number of professionals in the workforce has triggered an interest amongst researchers to investigate the characteristics of each group, both native-English-speaker teachers and nonnative-English-speaker teachers.

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