TESOL Teachers' Grapple With Native-Speakerism: An Exploratory Study on Language Ideologies

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Ideology and Identity Across the Educator Career Span

Abstract

Stated and unconscious linguistic ideologies held by teachers are important components of their professional identities and can be manifested in their teaching behaviors. This exploratory study, grounded in Bourdieu’s conception of symbolic violence, investigated the perceptions of the distinction between “native” and “non-native” speakers of English by teachers certified in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). This dichotomy is foundational to a pervasive preference for “native speakers” known as “native speakerism.” Semi-structured interviews were used to elicit participants’ perspectives. The findings suggest that the participants demonstrated varying degrees of commitment and, at the same time, resistance to the internalized ideology of native-speakerism. The implications for teacher education, in the spirit of critical pedagogy, are presented.

Author

• Robert Niewiadomski, Hunter College