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Nonnative-Speaking Teachers of English as a Foreign Language

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Second and Foreign Language Education

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

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Abstract

The chapter analyzes current views concerning teachers of English who teach it in the context when students learn it as a foreign language (EFL), i.e., outside English-speaking countries. Relative positions and advantages and disadvantages of teachers of English who are native speakers of the language and nonnative speakers of it (sharing their students’ mother tongue) are compared and contrasted. In EFL contexts highly qualified nonnative-speaking teachers of English appear to have a number of advantages that their native-speaking colleague cannot enjoy. These advantages include the option of using the students’ mother tongue whenever and wherever it can facilitate and accelerate the process of learning English, preparedness for developing students’ interlingual and intercultural awareness and for understanding students’ specific difficulties in learning English which are due to the influence of their native language and home culture, as well as the ability to function as achievable models of EFL mastery to the students. On the other hand, nonnative-speaking EFL teachers have a number of disadvantages as compared to native speakers: foreign accent and other imperfections in English, not being aware of the most recent developments in the language they teach, the cultures of the English-speaking nations, and the latest methods of teaching both. This chapter suggests some ways of capitalizing on the advantages of the nonnative and native EFL teachers with the view of mutually eliminating their respective disadvantages.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Linguistics and Methods of Foreign Language Teaching, Alfred Nobel University, Sicheslavska Naberezhna str., 18, Dnipro, 49000, Ukraine

    Oleg Tarnopolsky

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  1. Oleg Tarnopolsky
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Correspondence to Oleg Tarnopolsky .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center Language Study, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

    Nelleke Van Deusen-Scholl

  2. Faculty of Education and Social Work, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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Tarnopolsky, O. (2017). Nonnative-Speaking Teachers of English as a Foreign Language. In: Van Deusen-Scholl, N., May, S. (eds) Second and Foreign Language Education. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02246-8_32

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