EFL learners' beliefs about native and non-native English-speaking teachers: perceived strengths, weaknesses, and preferences

Abstract

Although the number of native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) contexts has increased in recent years with the emergence of English as an international language, only a few studies on NESTs and non-NESTs have extensively and directly examined students' beliefs about these two groups of teachers. To fill this gap, a questionnaire was administered to 125 Korean EFL university students. Findings indicated that Korean students perceived NESTs and Korean English teachers (KETs) as having both strengths and weaknesses and did not uniformly favour one teacher type over the other. Students held differentiated beliefs about the characteristics, specific areas of instructional competence, teaching effectiveness at different learning stages and classroom performance of NESTs and non-NESTs. NESTs were judged more effective in their linguistic competence and status as native speakers. KETs were judged more effective in helping students with psychological aspects of language learning and in having sensitivity to students' needs coming from their shared L1 and experience as language learners. The issue of NESTs' possessing basic knowledge of students' L1 and the possible recent growth in KETs' linguistic abilities and professional development complicate the situation. These findings suggest that students can benefit from being taught by both types of teachers.