“We’ve Got Some Non-natives Here Who You Wouldn’t Even Notice That They’re Non-natives”: Teachers’ Views on Speakerhood

Abstract

In the field of Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL), divisions and essentialization are inherently embedded, calling for an argent need to address the issues of inequity and favouritism on the basis of speakerhood status in diverse teaching contexts. The persistent use of the terms, native and non-native English-speaking teachers (NESTs/NNESTs), has polarized our understanding of English teachers without leaving a room for fluid identities and thus has created an essentialized binaries of Self and Other in many contexts. This world-wide view of English teachers, despite receiving a huge amount of criticism, still exists. This paper will allow English teachers from diverse socio-linguistic backgrounds to address these issues and to reflect on their experiences as English teachers in the Saudi context.