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This study investigated the learners’ attitudes towards teaching methods applied in speaking classes by native English speaking and nonnative English speaking instructors in an English center in Hanoi. The research participants included 50 Vietnamese learners of various educational backgrounds. By administering a closedended and selfreport questionnaires as well as semistructured interviews, the study revealed that learners perceive considerable differences in the ways NES and NNES instructor apply teaching methods. Besides, generally NES instructors were perceived as better oral teachers. However, in terms of specific areas in teaching speaking namely grammar and learning strategies, students showed favorable attitudes to NNES instructors. On the other hand, NES instructors are preferred as pronunciation and vocabulary teachers.
i ABSTRACT This study investigated the learners’ attitudes towards teaching methods applied in speaking classes by native English speaking and non-native English speaking instructors in an English center in Hanoi. The research participants included 50 Vietnamese learners of various educational backgrounds. By administering a closed-ended and self-report questionnaires as well as semi- structured interviews, the study revealed that learners perceive considerable differences in the ways NES and NNES instructor apply teaching methods. Besides, generally NES instructors were perceived as better oral teachers. However, in terms of specific areas in teaching speaking namely grammar and learning strategies, students showed favorable attitudes to NNES instructors. On the other hand, NES instructors are preferred as pronunciation and vocabulary teachers. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii ABSTRACT iii TABLE OF CONTENTS iv LIST OF TABLES AND APPENDICES vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS vi PART I: INTRODUCTION 1 1. Rationale of the study 1 2. Aim of the study 3 3. Research questions 3 4. Scope of the study 3 5. Methodology of the study 3 6. Design of the study 3 PART II: DEVELOPMENT 5 CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 5 1.1. The Native Speaker definition 5 1.2. Native and non-native teachers 7 1.3. Previous researches on students’ attitudes towards NESTs and NNESTs 10 1.4. Summary 17 CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY 18 2.1. Research setting of the study 18 2.1.1. An overview of the research site 18 2.1.2. Description of the instructors and the IELTS 5.5 and 6.5 courses 18 2.2. Research questions 19 2.3. Participants of the study 19 2.4. Data collection instruments 19 2.4.1. Questionnaire 19 2.4.2. Semi-structured interviews 20 iii 2.5. Data collection procedure 21 2.6. Data analysis procedure 22 2.7. Summary 23 CHAPTER 3: DATA ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS 24 3.1. Differences between NES and NNES instructors 24 3.1.1. Native English Speaking Instructors’ teaching methods 24 3.1.2. Non-native English Speaking Instructors’ teaching methods 27 3.1.3. Comparing results 29 3.2. Learners’ attitude towards native and non-native English speaking instructors29 3.2.1. Teaching Pronunciation 31 3.2.2. Teaching Vocabulary 32 3.2.3. Teaching Grammar 34 3.2.3. Teaching learning strategies 35 3.2.4. Other findings 36 3.3. Summary 38 PART III: CONCLUSION 39 1. Recapitulation 39 2. Implications of the study 39 3. Limitations of the study and suggestions for further study 40 REFERENCES 41 APPENDIX iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Responses for NES instructors’ teaching method – as seen by the learners 24 Table 2: Responses for NNES instructors’ teaching method – as seen by the learners 27 Table 3: Preference to NES instructors for specific areas 29 Table 4: Preference to NES instructors for specific areas 30 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS M.A: Master of Art L2: Second language L1: First language NS: native speaker NNS: nonnative speaker NES: Native English speaking NNES: Non-native English speaking NESIs: Native English speaking instructors NNESIs: Non-native English speaking instructors NESTs: Non-native English speaker teachers NNESTs: Non-native English speaker teachers CEFR: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages 1 PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Rationale of the study It is widely recognized that English is an international language and is now used as a main tool for global and intercultural communication around the world. As a result, there is an increasing number of people trying to master this language. In Vietnam, many students try to enhance their English competence by taking part in English courses, which results in the increasing influx of foreign teachers coming to Vietnam to teach English. However, the role of native speakers and nonnative speakers as instructors of English has been a controversial issue in recent years. Despite the fact that non- native English speaking ( NES) instructors around the world outnumber the native English speaking (NNES) instructors by far ( Samimy & Brutt- Friffler, 1999), numerous cases of discrimination against NNES instructors have been reported and NES instructors are preferred over NNES instructors when they are applying for the same position (Braine, 1999). Indeed, there is a stereotype that native English speaking instructors are the ideal language instructors. According to Wong (2009), many employers of private language centers and public schools in non- English speaking countries, especially in Asia, have begun recruiting NESIs to teach at their centers or schools. These schools or centers often put emphasis on having NESIs as their strength. According to the researcher’s observation the findings from these studies may, to some extent, be similar to the situation of her teaching context. It is not uncommon to see some native speakers with different backgrounds and in different study areas going to Vietnam to teach English to make money when they travel overseas. In fact, as cited in “Native English-speaking teachers in Vietnam: Professional identities and discourses of colonialism” by David Bright (2012), in Vietnam, NES teachers including those with minimal or no qualifications or teaching experience, enjoy greater access to jobs with vastly superior benefits and 2 conditions than do many Vietnamese English teachers who have completed higher degrees in Western English-speaking countries. It is not rare to see advertisements from private language centers and schools emphasizing on having NES instructors as one of their competitive advantages. As indicated in “Are native speakers “good” language instructors? A case study of untrained ESL tutors” (2009), to show the world’s strong preference for native English teachers, Moussu (2006) reports that in a quick visit of a famous international ESL website, she found the majority of the ESL jobs listed on the job board were offered to native English teachers only. Through a doctoral research namely “ Status of non-native English teachers as ESL teachers in the USA”, Mahboob found that the number of NNS teachers teaching ESL in the United States is low (only 7.9% of the teachers employed at these programs), and that this low figure is disproportionate to the high number of NNS graduate students enrolled in MA TESOL and similar teacher-education programs. Mahboob attributes the low figure to the preference given by most (59.8%) program administrators to “native English speakers” in hiring practices. According to Braine (1999), a commonly- used explanation for the discrimination against NNES teachers is that students prefer to be taught by native speakers. However, it is still doubtful whether students do show a preference for NES teachers. While researchers have explored problems related to native speaking versus non-native speaking instructors at length in recent years, language educators and researchers in Vietnam have been quite silent on this topic. Specifically, Walkinshaw and Duong (2012) is the only study which investigated the relative value perceived by Vietnamese EFL students from tertiary institutions to native and non-native teachers. However, as the authors suggested that research should be conducted in other educational contexts such as high schools or private language institutions may increase the findings’ generalisability. As a result, it is worthwhile to explore the problems from the students’ perspective in order to ascertain whether students prefer native English-speaking teachers over non-native counterparts. 3 Moreover, it is also worth finding out the differences in teaching methods between the two groups of teachers. For such reasons I choose “Learners’ attitudes towards native and nonnative English speaking instructors” which was conducted at a private English center as a theme for my thesis. 2. Aims of the study This study is carried out with the aim to identify the differences between native and non-native English speaking instructors as perceived by students, with regard to instructors’ teaching behavior in speaking classes. 3. Research questions To achieve the aim mentioned above, the following research questions were raised for exploration: 1. What do learners perceive as the differences between native and non- native instructors with respect to their teaching methods through speaking lessons? 2. Do learners perceive NES instructors superior to their nonnative counterparts? 4. Scope of the study This study focuses on students studying IELTS courses at EQuest Hanoi. Particularly, this minor thesis only refers to the categorization of the students' attitudes towards the differences between NES and NNES instructors with regard to their teaching behaviour in speaking lessons. 5. Methodology of the study Since my minor thesis is an empirical research, I choose quantitative and qualitative research methods. To be more specific, I will collect qualitative data using semi-structured interviews as well as quantitative data using closed questions. 6. Design of the study The study is intended to consist of three parts as follows: 4 Part I is the Introduction which give reasons for choosing the thesis, aims and objects and scope of the study as well as the methodology of the study. Part II is the Development which will be divided into three chapters: - Chapter I: Literature review provides concepts of native speaker, native and non- native teachers in ELT, and some studies on students’ attitudes towards native and non-native instructors. - Chapter II: Methodology provides the readers with the data collection instruments. Detailed information about the research procedure and the participants of the study is also presented. - Chapter III: Data analysis and findings presents and analyzes the data collected from the questionnaires and from students’ interviews. Part III is the Conclusion which reviews the study, presents the suggestions for the teachers, the limitations of the study and suggestions for further study. Following part III is the References and Appendices. 5 PART II: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1. The Native speaker definition It is difficult to define what it means to be a native speaker of a language, especially with respect to English. In this passage, I will review some definitions of the native speaker based on some research in the fields of Second Language Acquisition and language teaching. In “Language” (1933), Bloomfield states “ The first language a human being learns to speak is his native language; he is a native speaker of this language”. In other words, a native speaker of English is traditionally defined as someone who speaks English as his or her native language, also called mother tongue, first language. The next question is what qualifies someone as a native speaker? According to Davies in “ The native speaker in applied linguistics” (1991), the word “ native” suggests that an individual is a “native speaker of a language by virtue of place or country of birth” which means that the individual acquired the language from birth. However, as stated by Lee (2010), this is insufficient in determining whether an individual is a native speaker of a language, or not, since individuals can be resettled to other places in childhood, as in the case of children who immigrate or are adopted in early childhood. Brutt-Gruffler and Samimy (2001) recommends that “nativeness” constitutes a socially constructed identity rather than a linguistic category. Pronunciation is reported to play such an important role in determining native identity:” Pronunciation may most obviously provide clues for non-native status since it is formed in early age and may be the least conscious element is speech” ( Gimson, in Paikeday, 1985: 23). To Kramsch, the native speaker status is determined by “acceptance by the group that created the distinction between native and nonnative speakers’ (1997: 363). Whether international speakers of English are 6 considered as “native” or “non-native speaker” depends on various social parameters, such as the preconceived notions of what native speakers should look like or sound like (Bruitt-Griffler & Samimy, 2001). Lee (2010) isolated six defining characteristics of a native speaker that a number of researchers in the field of Second Language Acquisition and language teaching support as follows: 1. The individual acquired the language in early childhood (Davies, 1991; McArthur, 1992; Phillipson, 1992) and maintains the use of the language (Kubota, 2004; McArthur, 1992), 2. the individual has intuitive knowledge of the language ( Davies, 1991; Stern, 1983), 3. the individual is able to produce fluent, spontaneous discourse ( Davies, 1991; Maum, 2002; Medgyes, 1992), 4. the individual is communicatively competent (Davies, 1991; Liu, 1999; Medgyes, 1992), able to communicate within different social settings (Stern, 1983), 5. the individual identifies with or is identified by a language community (Davies, 1991; Johnaon & Johnson, 1998; Nayar,1998) 6. the individual does not have a foreign accent ( Coulmas, 1981; Medgyes, 1992; Scovel, 1969, 1988). The question is that whether a nonnative speaker can become a native speaker . As Lee concluded in his paper named “ The Native Speaker: An Achievable model?”, it is impossible for any learner of a language, after the critical period, to become a native speaker unless he or she is born again. It is impossible because in order to be considered as a native speaker of a language, a person must satisfy the one most salient criterion-acquire the language in early childhood and maintain the use of that language. According to Phillipson (1996), a nonnative speaker, through effective training, can acquire most of the elements that define a native speaker. Medgyes (1992), however, pointed out many aspects of linguistic competence pose tremendous challenges for nonnative speakers. Among these