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Language for Teaching Purposes pp 113–145Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The Non-Native Speaker Language Teacher

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Abstract

Personal experience and anecdotal evidence suggest that, in many contexts, including the post-primary school systems in Europe, a large majority of teachers are working in their second language. To begin with, I explore the concepts of native and bilingual speakers and consider that, in most cases, speakers of more than one language have certain strengths and deficiencies in each of the languages they speak even when highly proficient in both. I discuss the NNSLT identity as a group in the wider language teaching community and on an individual level, where I consider factors such as ‘imposter syndrome’. Further to this, I explore how NNSLTs are characterised in the literature, in terms of both their perceptions of themselves and the views of others, including institutions and learners.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. See http://www.tesol.org/s_tesol/index.asp

  2. 2.

    http://www.tesol.org/connect/interest-sections/nonnative-english-speakers-in-tesol

  3. 3.

    https://teflequityadvocates.com/2017/06/29/peter-medgyes-the-non-native-teacher-why-publish-a-new-edition/

  4. 4.

    https://teflequityadvocates.com/2014/07/06/interview-with-david-crystal/

  5. 5.

    http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161028-native-english-speakers-are-the-worlds-worst-communicators

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  1. German Department School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland

    Emma Riordan

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Riordan, E. (2018). The Non-Native Speaker Language Teacher. In: Language for Teaching Purposes. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71005-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-71005-1_5

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