LINTANG PUSPITASARI
A/2013.
When
Non-NESTs Serve Better in ELT
Studying
the Lingua Franca of the world that goes by the name of English in which it
happens to be a foreign language would not be no sweat to the learners and so
would the teachers as the tools. Stating the obvious, English is now undeniably
a recognized international language which is widespread across the world to the
point where there is no country on earth that does not speak or attempt and or
study the language. Therefore, when one wants to study the language, they want
to have the best source and guide they can manage to have. For that, the
majority of people would still think that it is best to do it with the native
speaker who is traditionally defined as someone who speaks English as his or
her native language as known as mother tongue, first language (F1) but there
would come a question to mind, “what qualifies someone as a native speaker?”
once in 1991, Davies said that it is the one who is birth to and it is the
criteria for “native speakerhood”. That is to say, a native speaker of English
is an individual who was born in an English speaking country but the thing here
is that birth does not always determine language identity. In that case, native
or non native are considered to be useless for a comparison when both can have
the same possibility of being the best source or the otherwise. That is to say,
one should not feel the need to study with NESTs (Native English Speaking
Teachers) when there are still Non NESTs ( Non Native English Speaking Teachers)
who can serve better in ELT where the students have a big deal of something in
common, the same mother tongue in which it is pretty beneficial as a mean to
help understand things. But that is not it, there is more to the bright sides
of Non NESTs compared to NESTs.
Speaking
of what has been revealed before that there is a problem about what is so
called as “native speaker” that birth does not always determine language
identity. Let us just say, a child can be born in the United States but that
child can move to Austria at such a young age let us say, at 1, and since she
never learned to speak English then it would be odd to say that child is a
native speaker. That was just one of a very simple example knowing there are
tons of examples out there for this case. That is why there was this
controversy between native and non native speaker in the 1980s and early 1990s
that it happened to become particularly acrimonious to the point where a number
of resources claimed that there is no such creature as the native and non
native speaker, an opinion well rendered by the title of seminal book, “the
native speaker is dead!” ( Paikeday 1985 ). Ferguson formulated this radical
approach as follows : “the whole mystique of the native speaker and the mother
tongue should probably quietly dropped from the linguist’s set of professional
myths about language” (1982).
NNESTs
are in possession of certain unique features that NESTs lack and those unique
features of theirs are enough to make NNESTs on a step ahead from the NESTs
when it comes to ELT. Those bright sides of being a NNEST are they can provide
a better learner model, teach language learning strategies more effectively,
supply more information about the English language, better anticipate and
prevent language difficulties, be more sensitive to their students, and the
last but could not really say that it is the least is that the benefit from
their ability to use the students’ mother tongue being one of those bright
sides a NNEST has.
Peter
Medgyes claimed in his writing about “When The Teacher is a Non Native Speaker”
that while NESTs make better language
models, non NESTs can provide better learner models. In terms of a
language model, non NESTs are relatively hindered, since they are learners of
English just like their students, albeit at a higher level. So that is to say
it safe that NNESTs can provide a better learner models. NNESTs are also
claimed that they can teach language learning strategies more effectively since
they are successful learners of English that are supposed to be conscious
strategy users, able to tell which strategies have worked for them and which
have not. On the other hand, NNESTs supply more information about the English
language than NESTs do. As in a research that has been done before that is
shown in the writing of Medgyes, the research shows that Non NESTs were found
to be more insightful than NESTs were because of the differences both have in
between for the process of mastering the English language. Stating the obvious,
Non NESTs must have amassed a wealth of knowledge about the English language during
their own learning process to the point where they have deeper insights into
what is easy and difficult in the learning process.
Looking
on the other part of the bright sides of being a NNEST is that they tend to
better anticipate and prevent language difficulties knowing of the fact that
they have once ever in the same springboard as the students, that is to say non
NESTs are intrinsically more perceptive about language difficulties than NEST
are. They have what can be called as a “sixth sense” when it comes to ELT.
Therefore, non NESTs stand a good chance of preventing linguistic problems than
the NESTs do. On the other side, NNESTs are more sensitive to their students
while NESTs need to learn the language of the host country first to have this
one bright side as a teacher. NNESTs can be more responsive to the students’
real needs and they have that realistic set aims for the students.
The
other thing is the benefit from NNESTs ability to use the students’ mother
tongue being one of those bright sides a NNEST has in which it becomes the most
genuine vehicle of communication between NNESTs and their students. That is to
say, NNESTs stand a great chance when it comes to ELT when they can serve
better in the teaching process with the bright sides of theirs.
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