Non-native Language Teachers Research Articles

TEACHERS’ BELIEFS ABOUT CLASSROOM LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT: COLLABORATIVE DISCUSSION AS A MEDIATIONAL SPACE

In recent years, numerous studies have been conducted on language teachers’ beliefs about language assessment; however, teachers’ collaborative discussion as a mediational tool has received scant attention. The present study aimed to investigate non-native language teachers’ beliefs about classroom language assessment regarding features of effective assessment, assessment of learners by teachers, peers, and themselves, benefits of assessment, informal assessment vs. formal assessment, and continuous assessment. Participants of the study were positioned in two collaborative discussion groups of novice and experienced teachers. Analysis of the data indicated that the teachers in each focus group held similar beliefs about most of the issues on classroom language assessment. The findings also demonstrated that the participants believed in the important role of classroom language assessment for different purposes, the utilization of both informal and formal assessment, and the utilization of continuous assessment as a fair mode of assessment. Furthermore, they believed that classroom language assessment should accurately assess what is taught in the course while focusing on all four language skills and sub-skills. Although they had positive attitudes toward teacher assessment and self-assessment, they were not in favor of peer assessment. The results of this study have implications for teacher education as adequate attention should be paid to teachers’ assessment beliefs due to their vital role in classroom assessment. Collaborative discussions can be enacted in teacher education to shape and reshape teachers' assessment beliefs.

Re-conceptualizing the knowledge base for non-native language teachers to cope with negative emotions

When non-native speakers become second language teachers, emotions play a significant role in the teacher-learning process and throughout their professional lives. However, few teacher education programs explicitly relate emotions to teachers’ knowledge bases to improve their social-emotional skills. Due to the dynamic nature of a knowledge base, teachers can always take an inquiry stance to continuously examine their teaching practices and beliefs. Therefore, this paper takes an inquiry stance to discuss negative emotions in non-native language teachers’ narratives and how they can overcome the potentially negative effects of such emotions by reconceptualizing their personal knowledge base to reinforce the effects of positive emotions and minimize the effects of negative emotions in their teaching practice. As a preliminary study, it aims to raise awareness for teachers to develop social-emotional skills through knowledge-base re-conceptualization and to advocate for reform of language teacher education./ Keywords: emotions, social-emotional skills, language teacher education, knowledge base, non-native teachers

Native and Non-native Language Teachers’ Perspectives on Teacher Quality Evaluation

Various features of teacher instruction underpin the criteria used for the evaluation of teacher quality. The current study sought to explore whether nativeness/non-nativeness affects the criteria teachers consider for teacher quality evaluation. To this end, the participants were provided with five video clips of teaching, each presenting a 10-min lesson taught in a real classroom environment. They were requested to rate the quality of the teachers and to point out and describe the criteria they used to rate the teachers. Content analysis of the data indicated that preparation, caring, classroom management, and instruction constituted the general criteria the native and non-native teachers employed to evaluate teacher quality. Considerable differences, however, were observed between the two groups regarding a few of the criteria. The native teachers valued teachers’ efficient use of learners’ L1 more than the non-native teachers, while teachers’ linguistic accuracy and fluency of speech were highlighted by more non-native teachers. Besides, issues related to caring, management, and instruction grabbed the attention of both native and non-native teachers, while preparation received substantially less attention. It can be concluded that the use of video-mediated peer observation can provide a platform to uncover the implicit beliefs teachers hold toward teacher quality.

Examining target language proficiency among in‐service K‐12 language teachers

AbstractAdvanced oral proficiency is an integral part of language teacher education and has been for decades. To date, little research exists that investigates practicing K‐12 nonnative language teachers' target language (TL) maintenance habits. This study presents the results of a research study that investigated the TL proficiency maintenance practices outside the classroom and the current oral proficiency rating of 104 language teachers in Oklahoma and Utah. Data were collected by means of a questionnaire and an official ACTFL OPIc. Results indicate that the majority of current language teachers have either maintained or improved their level of TL proficiency from when they started teaching and that all teacher participants consciously use their TL outside of the classroom. These results have implications for language teacher preparation programs, district and state language supervisors, ACTFL, and CAEP.

Teaching two languages: navigating dual identity experiences

ABSTRACT Research on language teacher identity has grown exponentially over the last two decades. By researching language teacher identity, we develop a better understanding of how sociological issues generally impact teachers’ lives. For non-native language teachers, in particular, challenges tend to originate from language ideologies around monolingualism as well as native-speakerism and affect teachers’ identities in terms of legitimacy and acceptance. However, our existing knowledge has focused on the experiences of teachers teaching one language and reflected primarily the experiences of teachers teaching English as a second or foreign language. In this paper, I employ autoethnography as a method to explore my own identity-related experiences as a teacher of two languages: English and Portuguese. Two concerns guided my inquiry: first, what kinds of experiences – e.g. challenges, conflicts, discoveries – emerge within each teaching context, and second, how teachers navigate their dual identity-related experiences – in other words, how they make sense of such experiences. In describing my experiences, I highlight the negative impact of cultural stereotypes and linguistic purism on one hand, while on the other, the positive impact of teaching in a multicultural setting to my personal and professional identities.

Learning How to Use Mitigation Devices: A Peer-Supervisory Context Between a Non-Native Peer-Supervisor and a Non-Native English Teacher

Learning how to provide effective supervision can be challenging. After all, helping language teachers increase awareness regarding their teaching practices requires the difficult task of giving them critical feedback, which, at times, can be a face-threatening act as will be defined later in the paper. To soften their criticism, supervisors make use of various language strategies. However, the task of delivering feedback using such language strategies in English can be even more difficult for supervisors who are also second language learners of English. Utilizing the mitigation devices Wajnryb (1994) conceptualized, this study analyzed the language used in three post-observation conferences in a peer-supervisory discourse between a non-native English teacher and a non-native peer-supervisor. The study found that mitigation devices as conceptualized by Wajnryb (1994) were effective in structuring a non-threatening and growth-oriented supervisory context when consciously used by the non-native peer-supervisor. Keywordslanguage teacher supervision, mitigation devices, non-native language teacher supervisor, peer-supervision

“This is not my world”. Essential support strategies for newly arrived adult immigrants learning Swedish

In Sweden, the state-sponsored language education, Swedish for immigrants (Sfi), provides language and cultural knowledge for the integration of newly arrived adult migrants in Swedish society. Sfi’s educational quality has sustained severe criticism. Through qualitative investigation of Sfi teacher work, this study aims to find out what pedagogical priorities guide the teachers’ classroom practices with linguistically and culturally diverse students. Furthermore, it aims to compare the contributions to Sfi learning environments of ethnically diverse teachers whose language experiences are different. Research into second language acquisition and native and non-native second language teachers contextualize the research aims. Bakhtin’s (1986) conception of human understanding as the meeting of two consciousnesses and Garcia’s ideas about translanguaging in language education for adult migrants provide theoretical perspectives. Classroom observation alongside teacher focus groups generated data. Content analysis condensed the data into five essential support strategies that foreground students’ existential needs, their home languages as a learning resource, integration, learning challenge and instructional partnership between ethnically diverse teachers. Findings do not support the view that non-native language teachers are better equipped to teach second language students than their native counterparts but illuminate the unequivocal advantage of harnessing the pedagogical strengths of both teacher groups cooperatively. https://doi.org/10.2478/sm-2021-0005

“This is Not My World”. Essential Support Strategies for Newly Arrived Adult Immigrants Learning Swedish

Summary In Sweden, the state-sponsored language education, Swedish for immigrants (Sfi), provides language and cultural knowledge for the integration of newly arrived adult migrants in Swedish society. Sfi’s educational quality has sustained severe criticism. Through qualitative investigation of Sfi teacher work, this study aims to find out what pedagogical priorities guide the teachers’ classroom practices with linguistically and culturally diverse students. Furthermore, it aims to compare the contributions to Sfi learning environments of ethnically diverse teachers whose language experiences are different. Research into second language acquisition and native and non-native second language teachers contextualize the research aims. Bakhtin’s (1986) conception of human understanding as the meeting of two consciousnesses and García’s ideas about translanguaging in language education for adult migrants provide theoretical perspectives. Classroom observation alongside teacher focus groups generated data. Content analysis condensed the data into five essential support strategies that foreground students’ existential needs, their home languages as a learning resource, integration, learning challenge and instructional partnership between ethnically diverse teachers. Findings do not support the view that non-native language teachers are better equipped to teach second language students than their native counterparts but illuminate the unequivocal advantage of harnessing the pedagogical strengths of both teacher groups cooperatively.

Fostering intuitive competence in L2 for a better performance in EAP writing through fraze.it in a Turkish context

Online corpus referencing through web applications such as fraze.it can help non-native language teachers train tertiary level learners of academic writing by providing them with native or near-native perspectives which come within concordance lines derived from authentic sources. The present study features a semi-experimental design in order to reach an understanding of the impact of simulated academic reading (SAR), which denotes a sentence-based approach to getting students familiar with the authentic use of English in academic texts. The sample (N = 62) is comprised of English for academic purposes (EAP) students taking a grammar course with a specific focus on academic writing at the language school of a state university in Turkey. In order to see the difference that SAR could make, the sample was split into an experimental group (n = 32) and a control group (n = 30). Whilst the experimental group received SAR-weighted grammar aid through effective teacher guidance for seven weeks, the control group was required to follow the guidelines exerted by the existing curriculum. The quantitative data were collected through the application of a delayed pre-test and a post-test, and the scores of the learners in the two groups were compared through a paired sample t-test. The qualitative data was collected by means of an online survey of four open ended questions, and a corpus analysis was conducted to reach common codes and themes emerging in the responses. The difference between the test scores of the two groups were statistically significant. This overall trend was concurrent in the responses to the survey as well. Further research is needed to see the extent to which SAR can change the way learners learn in the long run, though.

Enabling Translanguaging in the French Language Classroom

Recent studies in multilingual and translanguaging pedagogies have shifted the focus from investigating how students engage their multilingual repertoires to exploring how teachers understand and implement these pedagogical directions in their practice. In this article, the authors report on a national online survey on the multilingual perspectives and practices of teachers of French in Australia. The overall goal of the survey discussed here was to comprehensively capture how teachers of French understand the teaching and learning of languages in general, and of French in particular. The study revealed several tensions between the language teachers’ beliefs and practice. While most of the survey participants expressed strong support for innovative pedagogies such as translanguaging (García & Wei, 2014), and keen motivation to engage the full multilingual repertoire of their learners, a closer reading of the data indicated that most of them felt restricted in their practice by “the normative terms and conditions of an understanding of languages education that remains rooted in parochial, monolingual and pecuniary perspectives” (Weinmann & Arber, 2017, p. 173). In particular, the findings indicate that (self-)perceptions of “non-native” language teachers as “culturally deficient” continue to frame the notion of what constitutes a “good” language teacher (Holliday, 2015). For teachers to feel more confident and better equipped to effectively implement translanguaging pedagogies in their practice, teachers’ perceptions of their own multilingual identities and how these are shaped within the systems they work in (Young, 2017) need to be better understood.
 Keywords: Languages teaching, languages education, translanguaging, native language teacher, non-native language teacher, linguistic repertoire, multilingualism, Australia

Elicitation: A Powerful Diagnostic Tool for Actively Involving Learners in the Learning Process

This paper attempts to show the importance of elicitation in language classrooms for teachers and learners as well. Elicitation helps in motivating English language learners. Most of the teachers think that applying elicitation in language classrooms promotes interest among students, set a stress free environment, and increases students' participation. However, all teachers do not share the same attitude towards elicitation because of some drawbacks. Therefore, this paper discusses the effectiveness of using elicitation as a powerful diagnostic tool for actively involving learners in the language classrooms, the merits and demerits of elicitation, necessity of language teachers to focus on this technique in a skilled way that helps the learners develop their English language skills, and some factors affecting the teachers in using the elicitation techniques. For this purpose, a mini-research was conducted where 30 undergraduate students and 15 non-native language teachers of a university in Saudi Arabia were chosen as participants in carrying out the study. This paper also offers some suggestions for both experienced and novice teachers to focus on some criteria for applying elicitation techniques for motivating students and having variety in the language class.

Elicitation: A Powerful Diagnostic Tool for Actively Involving Learners in the Learning Process

This paper attempts to show the importance of elicitation in language classrooms for teachers and learners as well. Elicitation helps in motivating English language learners. Most of the teachers think that applying elicitation in language classrooms promotes interest among students, set a stress free environment, and increases students' participation. However, all teachers do not share the same attitude towards elicitation because of some drawbacks. Therefore, this paper discusses the effectiveness of using elicitation as a powerful diagnostic tool for actively involving learners in the language classrooms, the merits and demerits of elicitation, necessity of language teachers to focus on this technique in a skilled way that helps the learners develop their English language skills, and some factors affecting the teachers in using the elicitation techniques. For this purpose, a mini-research was conducted where 30 undergraduate students and 15 non-native language teachers of a university in Saudi Arabia were chosen as participants in carrying out the study. This paper also offers some suggestions for both experienced and novice teachers to focus on some criteria for applying elicitation techniques for motivating students and having variety in the language class.

The teaching of pragmatics by native and nonnative language teachers: What they know and what they report doing

The paper focuses on how nonnative teachers of a target language (NNTs) deal with pragmatics in their classes. It starts with a discussion of what pragmatics entails. Next, issues relating to the teaching of pragmatics are identified, such as the language background of the teacher, comparisons between second- (L2) and foreign-language (FL) instruction, and the potential role of digital media and other means in providing models for pragmatic behavior. Then, an international survey is presented which probed into the experiences of NNTs of various languages while teaching the pragmatics of their language of instruction. A total of 113 teachers were asked to indicate what they taught with regard to pragmatics, 30 native-language teachers (NTs) and 83 NNTs. They were also asked to report on their experience as teachers of L2 and FL pragmatics (e.g., if they encountered classroom moments when they did not feel like an authority on some aspect of pragmatics, what they did about it). Since pragmatics is a meeting of language and culture, the teacher respondents were asked to assess their knowledge regarding pragmalinguistics (i.e., the language forms) and sociopragmatics (sociocultural knowledge). In addition, they were asked to give their opinion regarding similarities and differences between the teaching of FL as opposed to L2 pragmatics, as this traditional dichotomy gives way to a more hybrid reality in an increasingly globalized world. Similarly, they were asked about their methods for teaching pragmatics (e.g., their use of digital media and their handling of dialect differences). Finally, they were asked to suggest areas in which they would like to see research conducted that would inform the teaching of pragmatics. The paper reports the findings from the study, including statistical differences in reported teaching of criticism, sarcasm, and cursing, as well as in the use of digital media and in having students gather data on pragmatics.

Symbolic power and the native/non-native dichotomy: Towards a new professional legitimacy

Abstract Based on the research literature of the “native/non-native” distinction and on Bourdieu’s notion of field and social action, this paper proposes to use the specific case of foreign language (FL) teaching in the French educational system to conceptualize the FL teaching field as a highly contested space where unequal actors vie for symbolic power and influence. The FL teaching field is organised into two large spaces: one representing state school educational systems, the other representing private language schools. Symbolic power and teaching legitimacies have been jointly constructed giving more power and legitimacy to non-native teachers in state school settings, and more power and legitimacy to native teachers in private language schools. Universities occupy a middle position between the educational settings of the national education systems and the private settings of language schools: the teaching of language to future specialists is still in the hands of non-native speaker teachers whereas the teaching of language to non-language specialists seems more open to native speaker teachers. The “native/non-native” opposition that linguists thought to be relevant linguistically might no longer be a linguistic concept (Paikeday 1985; Davies 1991; Rampton 1990; Cook 1999; Muni Toke 2013), but, as a social construct, this opposition is still very much alive. It serves to design language policies within which actors-teachers of foreign and second languages confront one another. Due to the global deregulation of educational settings, language actors-teachers are therefore put into a highly competitive market: both native and non-native language teachers struggle to be recognized, and essentialist or even racist attitudes have developed into what Holliday (2006) calls “nativespeakerism”. Understanding the structure of the language teaching field worldwide makes it possible to clarify the power struggle and symbolic violence within the field, whose goals and values are paradoxically aimed at mutual understanding through language teaching and cultural mediation – and even more so in the age of multilingualism.

Native and Nonnative Teachers of L2 Pronunciation: Effects on Learner Performance

Both native and nonnative language teachers often find pronunciation a difficult skill to teach because of inadequate training or uncertainty about the effectiveness of instruction. But nonnative language teachers may also see themselves as inadequate models for pronunciation, leading to increased uncertainty about whether they should teach pronunciation (Golombek & Jordan, 2005). Although studies have regularly shown that instruction is effective in promoting pronunciation improvement (Saito, 2012), it is not known if improvement depends on the native language of the instructor, nor if learners improve differently depending on whether their teacher is native or nonnative. This study investigated the effect of teachers' first language on ratings of change in accentedness and comprehensibility. Learners in intact English classes were taught one class by a nonnative‐ and one by a native‐English‐speaking teacher. Each teacher taught the same pronunciation lessons over the course of 7 weeks. Results show that native listeners' ratings of the students' comprehensibility were similar for both teachers, despite many learners' stated preference for native teachers. The results offer encouragement to nonnative teachers in teaching pronunciation, suggesting that, like other language skills, instruction on pronunciation skills is more dependent on knowledgeable teaching practices than on native pronunciation of the teacher.

Presenting the L2 User: Considerations on foreign language psychology and teaching

Given the lack of self-confidence and diversified learning strategies identified in foreign language learners in Portugal, this paper proposes a solution that mediates the needs of both students and teachers. The introduction of a teaching perspective that treats students as users of the language instead of separating native speakers from language learners could benefit students in a number of ways, beginning with increased self-esteem and self-respect. L2 users (the students) taught in this way are not seen as having an L2 deficit but rather are celebrated for the knowledge they possess in not just one but two (or even more) languages. They also learn to value their own multicompetence and how to acquire new approaches to learning, in general and for language learning, as well as toward acquiring skills for self-assessment. For the teacher, this approach is also beneficial given the breadth of possibilities for new positioning in the classroom; the teacher’s role can be transformed into that of a more dynamic facilitator and strategist for getting the students to truly use their multicompetence. This perspective also sheds the terrible practice of classifying the non-native language teacher as less capable, withdrawing the prohibition of use of the L2 in the classroom and honouring the cognitive flexibility and linguistic resources used in interlanguage, language transfer and interculturality. Working with L2 users also pays special heed to the teacher’s ability to put L2 users in situations that provide real opportunities to use the target language. This approach, considering the L2 users in all their abilities, goes a long way in reducing the fear of a foreign language, the unknown, to motivate students to recall the knowledge they already possess which serves as the basis for constructing new competences with the appropriate level of support so that, later, their competences can continue to grow autonomously.

Pro-ELT; A Teacher Training Blended Approach

Pro-ELT is a blended teacher training course. The aim of Pro-ELT is to strengthen English teaching and learning through a blended training approach that includes; quality face to face delivery, supported distance learning and integrated proficiency and methodology training. It delivers quality language teaching and teacher development courses to Malaysian primary and secondary school teachers working in Malaysian government schools in order to develop their English language proficiency and teaching knowledge and skills. Language skills and system are undoubtedly the basic components of each teacher training program, but there is a fact that for a huge number of non-native language teachers who teach at school levels, improving their own language proficiency and command of English is their own personal objective and top priority in their professional development. This presentation shows the Pro-ELT model of teacher training program and shows how teachers will be able to achieve their professional development goals.

Defosilization of /æ/ Phoneme Pronunciation of Non-native EFL Teachers

The literature asserts that when a foreign language is learned after puberty, the fossilized pronunciation problems of adult FL learners cannot be remedied. However, to the best of knowledge there was no empirical evidence to support this belief. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate whether or not non-native English teachers’ fossilized pronunciation mistakes on /ae/ vowel phoneme of the British English language can be cured through treatment. First, a diagnostic test as a pre-test was used before the treatment phase to identify participants’ pronunciation problems and the same test was repeated after treatment to check out any difference. As the data revealed from repeated measurements, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used and the results displayed a significant difference (z= -3.527, p< .05). That is, the application of the cure programme developed using the audio-articulation method facilitated participant teachers to cure their pronunciation problem on /ae/ vowel phoneme of the British English. In brief, this study has proved this case and cured non-native English teachers’ problem. All in all, this study recommends non-native language teachers to improve language teaching materials with explicit pronunciation exercises especially for adult learners using similar methods.

Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession - By Enric Llurda

Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession - By Enric Llurda

Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession (review)

Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession (review)