Reinforcement of White Native-Speakerism: An Analysis of English Language Teacher Training Materials

Abstract

This article draws awareness to Whiteness as a centered phenomenon in ELT which contributes to discriminatory practices through reliance on and privileging of White norms on a global scale. This study sought to address this issue through a critical discourse analysis of 14 English as a foreign language (EFL) open-source teacher training modules with the following guiding question: How are ideologies that reinforce White native-speakerism demonstrated in open-source English teaching methodology training materials designed for global ELT audiences? Critical Whiteness Studies (CWS; Nayak, 2007), the concept of native-speakerism (Holliday, 2006), and the ‘native speaker’ frame (Lowe, 2020) informed the theoretical assumptions of the study. Critical Discourse Studies (CDS; Wodak & Meyer, 2015) provided an analytical lens to examine discourses of power and framing of ideology in the texts. The main thread that emerged from the analysis was an avoidance of stance, demonstrated through contradictory, simultaneous representations of resistance to and reinforcement of ideologies of White native-speakerism. This avoidance of stance is exemplified through representation of language varieties, the emergence of a monolingual view of teaching, representations of culture, and the framing of authenticity. Keywords: White native-speakerism, Whiteness, English teacher training, training materials, English as a foreign language (EFL), English language teaching (ELT), reinforcement, resistance