Recruiting English teachers from the Outer Circle: perspectives of Taiwanese students

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study explores Taiwanese university students' attitudes towards recruiting teachers from the Outer Circle (OC) in response to Taiwan's high demand for English teachers. Forty-six first-year non-English majors from a large university in northern Taiwan participated in the study, which used four instruments. Results showed that, given the choice between Inner, Outer, and Expanding Circle teachers, Taiwanese freshmen students preferred teachers from the Inner and Expanding Circles over those from the OC. Despite this, interview data revealed that students would consider OC English teachers under certain conditions, such as those with less distracting regional accents. Other factors that positively impacted students' perception of OC teachers included their role in facilitating communication with native-English speakers and the cultural diversity they brought to the campus. However, students perceived OC English teachers' speech as unintelligible and believed that American English contributed most to international communication. The study's implications for teacher recruitment are discussed.