An odd way of breaking native speaker hegemony

Posted on 10/04/2011 by alexcase

I’ve heard quite a bit of cheerleading for the move of some countries (e.g. Japan and Korea) to open up foreign English teaching posts to people from India and the Philippines. However, it seems clear to me that the justification by the relevant authorities is that they are getting “almost/ some kind of a native speaker” but on the cheap. That means that the idea of “native speaker is best” is reinforced by this move, not weakened by it. What is more, many of those teachers would not have learnt their English in the EFL way that they will be expected to teach it. So, if governments and school boards really need to make sweeping generalisations on who can and cannot get an ALT post or teaching visa, surely their first priority should be the most successful EFL learners of English, i.e. Norwegians, Swedes, Danes and the Dutch (see EF EPI rankings below).

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6 Responses to An odd way of breaking native speaker hegemony

  1. Andy Mallory's avatar Andy Mallory says:
    11/04/2011 at 17:23

    But said Scandinavians etc are not going to be the ‘cheap white meat’ the authorities crave….

    When I was in Korea I noticed most of the black teachers from Canada and the US were working in the public sector – not the private hogwans. Paying customers still expect their native speakers to be white but the school boards with huge numbers of places to fill will give less marketable teachers a chance.

    Non-white teachers from poorer countries will depress wages further, but it’s hard to make a coherent arguments against them in a globalised economy. If they can get the jobs in Japan etc, then how can we argue about it? I don’t think they can in any significant numbers though.

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  2. SandyM's avatar SandyM says:
    15/04/2011 at 11:44

    Similar story in the Gulf. There are plans to bring in ‘native speaker’ English teachers from India, etc, to work in secondary schools and introduce a bilingual/CLIL-type curriculum.

    Nice idea, except … most Gulf Arabs despise Indians, unfortunately, looking down on them as little more than paid slaves – and not paid very well at that!

    So the cost factor is important here. And perhaps the differences between native-speaker English and Indian English can be overlooked too…

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  3. Dana's avatar Dana says:
    15/04/2011 at 16:43

    I don’t think nationality is a fair criterion – well, in the case of “native speakers” it is, because it’s an easy way to be sure the person can speak English very well (with the exception of some recent immigrants).

    For everyone else, looking at English test scores would be a much more reliable way to choose a teacher. You can very well have a particular Swede with better proficiency than a particular Indian, or a Filipino who is better than a Norwegian. What’s passport got to do with it??

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  4. Alex Case's avatar Alex Case says:
    15/04/2011 at 21:08

    That is what I meant by “if governments and school boards really need to make sweeping generalisations on who can and cannot got an ALT post or teaching visa”. At the moment they usually do so, including the decisions to accept Indians and Filipinos (but not the Dutch, for example). As I say, I think cost is only one reason behind that decision. On the positive side, it would at least show the students that English is also an Asian language and you don’t need blue eyes in order to speak it.

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  5. SandyM's avatar SandyM says:
    16/04/2011 at 22:18

    Dana, passport and nationality have everything to do with it, as it indicates your price. And that’s not just in The Gulf, or abroad even.

    Look at the ads for teaching positions in the UK and you’ll see a high proportion of foreign names corresponding to the DoS. Why? Because Poles and such are much cheaper than native speakers.

    Of course, the teachers are all native speakers, as people who pay out money to learn English in England expect (not just hope!) to be taught by a real English person. But the DoS can be foreign, as she’s a lot cheaper!

    Watch out for a posting about this on my site soon, btw…

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  6. Dana's avatar Dana says:
    17/04/2011 at 06:45

    Not sure I agree with you Sandy! Almost all the job ads for DoS mention “native speaker” as a requirement.

    For one thing, just because they have foreign names doesn’t mean they are not NES. Actually, I’ve noticed that a great percentage of ESL “personalities” have foreign names.

    On the other hand, if they really are foreigners, then good on the school for looking at qualifications and not only at country of origin. I don’t believe that they are cheaper – they either give you the job or not, but the salary is usually set.

    I agree that in some schools “passport indicates your price” (for instance, in Thailand, Filipinos generally get paid less than Europeans). But I don’t think this is that common in other countries.

    Then again, I don’t live in the UK and I have no first-hand knowledge of what it’s like over there so I might be wrong. I would love to hear other people’s opinions.

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