Abstract
The article is a theoretical study of the issue of non-native English speakers and, in particular, nonnative English teachers’ accent peculiarities and whether these can be an obstacle for employing the latter as teachers of EFL (English as a Foreign Language taught in non-English-speaking countries) or ESL (English as a Second Language taught in English-speaking countries). In the paper, an attempt is made to prove that, under certain conditions, such accent peculiarities can be considered not as qualified non-native English teachers’ shortcomings but as an asset of a kind. In that respect, the notion of global English accents is introduced, which are considered as normative accents for English as an international, or rather global/ planetary, language of international/intercultural communication taught to all the learners of EFL and ESL. It is claimed that special measures should be taken for the native and non-native speakers of English to become accustomed and adapted to hearing such diverse accents quite frequently even in their home countries. Both the native and non-native English speakers the world over need to be taught and get accustomed to perceive the global English accents as something totally normal and acceptable as long as they do not make communication in English incomprehensible or comprehensible with difficulty. The advantages of non-English teachers with their accent peculiarities are discussed when teaching English not only to EFL but ESL students as well, and it is shown that they can be a great help in inuring both nonnative and native speakers of English to hearing the variety of global English accents. It is indicated that relevant training and mutual cooperation of both non-native and native teachers of English is required for achieving this goal.
Highlights
Some publications have appeared demonstrating that the non-native speakers of English, immigrants to the English-speaking countries, may encounter employment problems, and those problems are mostly connected with the foreign accent of job applicants, good their command of English in other aspects may be [19]
In the conditions when English has become the planetary language of communication in the globalized world, it has ceased to be the ‘property’ of the English-speaking nations only
Just like the greatest works of art and literature, the greatest writers and poets, such as Shakespeare or Shevchenko, the monuments to whom stand in England or Ukraine, but in many countries of the world, English has turned into the language belonging to all humankind – everyone’s tool for international and intercultural communication, one and the same communication instrument for all the nations on this planet
Summary
A nonnative speaker of English who permanently lives and works in their own country uses English as a planetary communication medium only on visits to other countries, including the English-speaking ones, and, in general, when contacting for different purposes the representatives of other nations, including the native speakers of English In all such cases, the imperfections in English of such a non-native speaker (on the condition that he or she is fully comprehensible) are forgiven or hardly noticed even by native speakers as something quite natural and expected. Among all the EFL/ESL teachers in the world they are undoubtedly the most numerous group because it is they who, as a rule, teach English as a foreign language in the absolute majority of countries belonging to what Kachru [12] calls the Expanding Circle. It is the non-native English teachers who are believed to be the norm while the native ones are deemed to be a desirable additional luxury but not something indispensable
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