The Negative Influence of Native-Speakerism on the Sustainability of Linguistic and Cultural Diversities of Localized Variants of English: A Study of Local and Expatriate Teachers in South Korea

Kumju Hwang,Su Yon Yim

doi:10.3390/su11236723

Abstract

This study explores teacher identities of native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) based on interview data collected from twenty teachers who teach English to young learners in South Korean primary schools. The participants comprised ten NESTs and ten NNESTs. Bourdieu’s concept of three pillars was used to explore hegemonic relations between NESTs and NNESTs. The interview analysis showed that two different types of symbolic capital—one specified as native-speakerism and the other concretized as qualified tenured teacher positions—shape the dynamic nature of hegemonic relations that have constructed an antagonistic collective habitus between NESTs and NNESTs. This study revealed that power fluctuations and lack of institutional cultural capital shaped NESTs and NNESTs’ fragmented teacher identities which increased their dissatisfaction with their current roles. Bourdieu’s concepts provide a sociological vocabulary for understanding NESTs and NNESTs’ teacher identities and social status trajectories. This study provides an important theoretical and policy implication that English education practices and policies based on the ideology of native-speakerism fortify students’ preference for native English and negative attitudes towards localized variants of English which threatens the sustainability of linguistic and cultural diversities of localized variants of English.

Highlights

As English obtains the status of an international language (EIL) with the number of second-language English speakers outnumbering native speakers [1], the dominance of norms of British and American native-speakers in English-language teaching (ELT) practices is being challenged [2]
This study investigated expatriate native English-speaking teachers (NESTs)’ teacher identities as individualized habitus and collective habitus during their co-teaching practices as well as their interactions and power conflicts with non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) within Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and habitus
Power struggles between NESTs and NNESTs in producing and reproducing superior social status in the field of English teaching are apparent, because they possess different cultural capitals that become symbolic capitals in the classroom

Summary

Introduction

As English obtains the status of an international language (EIL) with the number of second-language English speakers outnumbering native speakers [1], the dominance of norms of British and American native-speakers in English-language teaching (ELT) practices is being challenged [2]. The new paradigm of EIL in ELT rejects the ideology of native-speakerism which assumes that native speakers and their cultures have superiority and authority. This phenomenon raises issues of stigmatization of non-native English speakers, categorization of English users, language ownership and identities, respect for cultural diversities [3], and negative impacts of native-speakerism on non-native diverse cultures and their cultural sustainability. Local variants of English are increasingly obtaining their status and importance, the ideology of native-speakerism still threatens the sustainability of cultural diversities, because it creates a negative attitude among second language users towards localized varieties of English as well as a preference for native English [6].

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Results

Conclusion