Learners’ attitudes towards native and nonnative English speaking instructors = Thái độ của người học đối với giáo viên bản ngữ và giáo viên người Việt

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

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

FACULTY OF POST- GRADUATE STUDIES

M.A MINOR PROGRAMME THESIS

Field: ENGLISH TEACHING METHODOLOGY Code: 60.140.111

Supervisor: Dr DƯƠNG THI ̣ NỤ

Hanoi, 2014

DECLARATION

I declare that the thesis entitled “Learners’ attitudes towards native and

nonnative English speaking instructors” is the result of my own research and the

substance of this thesis has not, wholly or in part, been submitted for a degree to any universities or institutions

Hanoi, March 2014

Lê Thị Phượng

Also, my special thanks are sent to all the lecturers who have been teaching K20

MA course in Vietnam National University, Hanoi – University of Languages and International Studies, and the post-graduate staff for their legitimate contributions to the success of the course

Last but not least, my deepest appreciation goes to my friends Doan Minh Mao, Bich Nguyen, Oanh Nguyen as well as my mother and my parents-in-law for their enduring love, continued support and encouragement that helped me to finish the thesis

Hanoi, March 2014

Lê Thị Phượng

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

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

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 instructors 29 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

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

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

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

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

non-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:

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 native teachers in ELT, and some studies on students‟ attitudes towards native and non-native instructors

non 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

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

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

difficulties, accents and target cultural competence seems to be the two most difficult

1.2 Native and non-native teachers

Medgyes (1992) has brought up the controversy of whether a non-native speaker can ever become a native speaker or not He suggests that a non-native speaker‟s competence is limited, and that only a reduced group can reach near-native speaker‟s competence, “but sooner or later they are halted by a glass wall” (1992: 342) On the other hand, Greenbaum ( in Kachru 1985) argues that, “ There

is no doubt that non-native speakers can acquire native-like proficiency in English

as an additional language, whether they belong to the “outer circle” (ESL) or the

“expanding circle” (EFL)” (31)

Reves and Medgyes (1994) administered a questionnaire to ELS/EFL teachers in ten different countries to study their views on the differences between the teaching of NESTs and NNESTs These teachers indicated several points about NESTs‟ teaching behaviors: 1) NESTs are thought to be less prepared and show less empathy towards students‟ language struggles; 2) NESTs generally are not familiar with how language are learned; 3) NESTs tend to be more successful with advanced learners From the researcher‟s experience, she strongly agrees with number (1) and number (2) During the time working with some native teachers at EQuest Academy, I had a chance to observe their classes and found that most of them did not prepare the lessons carefully and they seemed to lack patience with students if students could not fulfill their homework

Studies of teachers‟ self-perceptions of their abilities in the ESL field have different results According to Reves and Medgyes (1994) in an EFL setting supports the idea that NNS teachers may feel “deficient” in their language skills 84% of NNSs admitted to having language difficulties, and only 25% of subjects stated that language difficulties had no adverse effect on their teaching In their research, Samimy and Brutt-Griffler (1999) applied the Reves and Medgyes (1994)

to survey and interview 17 NNS graduate students who were either pursuing a MA

or Ph.D in TESOL at a university in the U.S Similarly to Reves amd Medgyes (1994), more than 2/3 believed that their own language difficulties affected their teaching Nearly 90% of the subjects perceived a difference between NESTs and NNESTs They regarded the former group as being fluent, accurate, using different techniques, methods and approaches, being flexible, using controversial English, providing positive feedback to students, and having communication (not exam preparation) as the goals of their teaching Meanwhile, NNESTs were perceived as relying on textbooks, applying differences between the first and second languages, using the first language as a medium of instruction, being aware of negative transfer and psychological aspects of learning, being sensitive to the needs of students, being more efficient, knowing the students‟ background, and having exam preparation as the goal of their teaching However, while they perceived that NESTs and NNESTs each possessed strengths and weaknesses, they did not consider the native speaking teachers superior to their NNS counterparts Whereas Reves and Megyes (1994) focus on the differing levels of language proficiency and their effects on teaching practices, the differing teaching practices identified by Samimy and Brutt-Griffler (1999) may be attributed to cross- cultural differences

The study “ Native and non-native English teachers: investigation of the construct and perceptions‟ (2001) was carried out by Ofra Inbar- Lourie at TEL Aviv University in Israel Apart from aiming at figuring out the reasons why some teachers in Israel perceived themselves as native of English and the effects of the native versus non-native distinction on the pedagogical perceptions of the teachers, Inbar-Lourie also specifically sought to discover if there were differences in perceptions between teachers who claim to be native of English and those who do not, with respect to the following factors: differences between NSETs and NNSETs and status of the English language; English teaching in Israel; and English teaching and assessment methods I just mention the results for the latter aim which is relevant to the topic of this passage The study indicated that differences between

NS and NNS teachers could be detected only in some categories, mainly the

superiority of the NS teachers, the degree of confidence in teaching specific language fields, and in student-teacher relations The researcher found no difference

in perception categories relating to teaching and assessment practices, defining students‟ knowledge of English, goals of teaching English as well as the status of the English language In fact, the perception differences in these areas happened not from the teachers‟ status as NS or NNS but from personal and professional variables such as country of birth, length of residence in the country, school level, and perceived type of school NNS teachers reported having better relations with students and feeling more confident in using the L1 to facilitate teaching

The last study that I shall review is “Self-awareness in NNS EFL primary and secondary school teacher” conducted by Llurda and Huguet (2003) Their purpose was to investigate the self-awareness of 101 NNESTs in primary and secondary in a Spanish city They administered a set questionnaire orally in one-on-one interviews with the subjects, the researchers aimed to determine how the subjects perceived their own language skills, how these skills affected their teaching, and how the skills had evolved over time; the participants‟ teaching ideology as expressed through their preferences for designing a language course and their goals as language teachers; and the participants‟ positions in the NS- NNS debate, specifically with respect to the preference for NSs or NNSs as language teachers, and the need for cultural knowledge on the part of English teacher In term

of language skills, they found that the secondary teachers showed more confidence

in their skills than primary teachers, especially in general proficiency, grammar knowledge of grammatical rules and reading comprehension Although primary teachers admitted that they did experience certain difficulties in teaching English, they did not attribute these difficulties to their proficiency in English In the case of language courses and language teaching goals, 86% of the primary teachers chose communicative functions and topics as the foundations for language courses Only half of the secondary teachers did so although 38.1% of them opted for language structures and habit creation than their primary counterparts Regarding teaching

goals, almost all the primary teachers accounting for 97.2% preferred communicative strategies while only two-thirds of the secondary teachers did so

An interesting point should be noted is that the primary teachers appeared to be more influenced by the native speaker fallacy, half of them stating that they would definitely recruit more native speakers than non-native speakers for a language school As for secondary teachers, nearly two thirds chose to hire equal teachers from both groups Indeed, most of the secondary teachers (65.6%) believed that being a non-native speaker was an advantage

1.3 Previous researches on students’ attitudes towards NESTs and NNESTs

In fact, earlier studies assumed such a bias against non-native speakers and explored possible reasons behind it To start with, Medgyes (1992) focused on the

UK, stated that program administrators preferred native speakers because they were

“aware that international students studying in Britain preferred to be taught by native-speaking English teachers This demand would have to be satisfied by the school principal….” (p 344) Cook (2000) agrees with Medgyes and believes that the main reason for administrators not hiring NNESTs is their perception that ESL students who enroll in their language course expect NESTs Thus, according to these papers, NNESTs are not hired because program administrators believe that students do not want them

Nevertheless, studies of ESL studies‟ perceptions do not corroborate these beliefs In one study of students‟ perceptions, Cook (2000), using data collected through a questionnaire survey, reports,

The NS teacher was preferred by 18% of Belgian 15-year-olds, 44% of English children, and 45% of Polish children Looked at in reverse, 47% of Belgian, 32% of English, and 25% of Polish children preferred non-natives, the rest having no preference (p.331)

In discussing these results, he states, “Nowhere is there an overwhelming preference for NS teacher Being an NS is only one among many factors that influence students‟ views of teaching” (p.331) This, his study shows that students

do not simply prefer teachers based on their status as on their status as a native or a non-native speaker, but rather their preferences are more complex However, while Cook‟s work shows that students may not have a clear preference for either NESTs

or NNESTs, his work does not explore the reasons for these diverse views

In another study of students‟ perceptions, by collecting qualitative data from classroom discussions, interviews and analysis of autobiography writings of student participants in a graduate TESOL program, Samimy and Bruff- Griffler (1999) found that students saw NESTs as being fluent and accurate; using different techniques, methods, approaches and authentic English; giving positive comments

on students and having communication as the goals of their teaching Meanwhile, participants viewed NNESTs as depending on textbooks; using mother tongue as a medium of instruction; understanding students‟ background; being sensitive to the needs of the students and having exam preparation as the target of their teaching In spite of these differences, students did not consider NESTs superior to their nonnative counterparts

Likewise, Mahboob‟s research in 2003 which aimed at evaluating ELS students‟ attitudes towards NS and NNS teachers in the United States and investigating factors that influence students‟ perceptions of their teachers showed that ELS in America did not display a clear preference for either NS or NNS teachers Mahbbob used the novel and more insightful “discourse-analytic” technique, asking 32 students enrolled in an intensive English program to provide written responses to a cue that solicited their opinions on NS and NNS language teachers The student essays were coded individually by four readers who in turn classified the students‟ comments according to linguistic factors namely oral skills, literacy skills, grammar, vocabulary, culture, teaching styles including ability to answer questions, teaching methodology, and personal factors (experience as an ESL learner, hard work, affect) Based on an analysis of students‟ essays, he reports that students find strengths in the way NNESTs teach them when compared

to NESTs This is an important finding and shows that students are not nạve and do

not necessarily buy into the “native speaker fallacy” (Phillipson, 1992) that only native speakers can be good language teachers Both NS and NNS teachers received positive and negative comments In the case of NS teachers, the majority

of positive comments related to oral skills, vocabulary and culture Negative comments on native speaker teachers related to grammar, experience as an ESL learner, ability to answer questions, and methodology To the NNSTs, experience as

an ESL learner earned the most number of positive comment, followed by grammar, affect, oral skills, methodology, hard work, vocabulary, culture, ability to answer questions, and literacy Oral skills and culture were seen as their negative comments The findings of this study demonstrate that the importance given to the

“native English speaker” hiring criterion by program administrators is not shared by students As Maboob said “ both NESTs and NNESTs working collaboratively can provide a better learning environment to ESL students”

Ketch and Santatn- Williamson (2002) examined the attitudes of 56 ESL students towards NESTs and NNESTs in America Data were collected by means of

an attitude survey questionnaire and using audio-taped passages read by 3 native and 3 nonnative English speakers, the researchers found that the students were in most cases could not distinguish a native English speaker from a nonnative speaker, and an interesting thing to note is that the attitude towards teachers with different accent is not correlated with whether a speaker‟s accent is native or nonnative, but instead is correlated with the students „perception of whether speaker is native or nonnative Students viewed a perceived native speaker more favorably than a perceived NNS Although students showed a preference for a native instructor in terms of teaching speaking, listening and pronunciation, they quoted two main advantages of NNESTs, namely better source of motivation since they could show students possibility of reaching a higher level of proficiency, and NNESTS had same difficulties in learning a second language as the students themselves

David Lasagabaster together with Juan Manuel Sierra (2005) attempted to examine the pros and cons of having a native speaker teacher Two questionnaires

including both close and open were administered to 76 university students in the age range of 18-36, with a mean of 19.7 The close questionnaire regard the following: language skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, learning strategies, culture and civilization, attitudes and assessment, and this with respect to primary, secondary and tertiary education, as differences exist among teachers of different educational levels (Llurda & Huguet, 2003) Students were given a five-point Likert scale with regard to each of the 42 statements in the questionnaire As for the open questionnaire, students are encouraged to express their opinion freely in the small group Their students were clearly concerned about the benefits of a native speaker teacher in pronunciation and culture Paradoxically enough, when students commented on the negative aspects of a native speaker teacher, 8 groups out of 17 groups admitted that a native accent brought about intelligibility problems, in fact the top negative aspect in the open questionnaire When the participants spent their time reflecting and debating on the advantages of having a non-native speaker teacher, the results (70% of the groups) clearly showed that students highly valued the NNSTs as a resource of learning strategies throughout the process of learning English In general, the researchers found that university students preferred NESTs

in respect to pronunciation, culture and civilization, listening, vocabulary and speaker whereas they showed a preference for NESTs in terms of grammar and strategies One thing should be noticed is that 7 groups expressed their preoccupation about the lack of professional qualifications and ability to deal with the teaching of grammar on the part of NSTs Yet, they did not show any preference for NESTs or NNESTs in the other areas such as reading, assessment, attitudes towards English speaking countries and attitudes towards the learning of English When they were given the possibility of having both a native speaker teacher and a non-native speaker teacher, the percentages were even higher 71.6% These results coincide with Medgyes‟s (1994) conclusion, when he stated that had his students been given the latter option in his questionnaire, it would have been the most popular choice In Llurda & Huguet (2003), Catalan non-native teachers also

preferred this option when they were asked how many NNSTs and NSTs they would hire if they owned their own language school, with the particularity that primary teachers were much more favourable of NSTs than secondary teachers Lasgabaster and Sierra‟s study is important in that it looks at students‟ perceptions towards NESTs and NNESTs with respect to different aspects of language teaching and in relate to different levels of education Thus, their study goes deeper than the question of students‟ preference for NS or NNS teachers in general

According to Moussu in “English as a second language student‟ reactions to nonnative English speaking teachers” (2002), 84 students from Brigham Young University, Utah, USA expressed positive attitudes toward NNS teachers at the beginning of the semester course and students opinions were even more positive by the end of the semester To be more specific, analysis of the data shows that from the beginning of the semester, the students had positive attitudes towards their NNS teachers The Korean and Chinese students expressed negative feelings toward their NNS teachers more frequently than other students Time and exposure to the teachers only made their opinions more positive by the end of the semester For instance, to the question “Would you encourage a friend to take a class with this non-native English-speaking teacher?” only 56% of the students had answered

“yes” at the beginning of the semester By the end of the semester, 76% had answered “yes” to the same question

Another Master‟s thesis on students‟ attitudes towards NNS English teacher was carried out by Kristy Liang in 2002 To put in it more details, the study was designed to investigate 20 ESL students‟ attitudes towards six ESL teachers‟ accent and the features of these teachers‟ speech that contribute to the students‟ preference for teachers Five of the teachers were NNSs from different language backgrounds and the other was a native speaker I was impressed by the method that the author used as well as the research‟s results The students were asked to listen to brief audio recordings delivered by the six NNS English teachers and rated the teachers‟ accents according to a scale if preference Data was collected through

questionnaires which included information on the students‟ background, their beliefs about teaching, and their ranking and preferences The results indicated that although the students rated pronunciation/ accent in the ESL teachers‟ speech as very important, pronunciation/ accent did not influence the students‟ attitudes towards their previous NNS English teachers in their home countries The student held generally positive attitudes toward the teachers in their home countries, and believed that pronunciation/ accent was not as relevant as it appeared in the first place Further, personal and professional features as derived from the teachers‟ speech, such as “being interesting”, “being prepared”, “being qualified”, and “being professional”, played a role in the students‟ preference for teachers

All the research above so far has focused on the self-perceptions of students only To fill the need to investigate both teachers and students in a single study, Cheung (2002) conducted a Master thesis at The Chinese University of Hong Kong This research aimed to explore the attitudes of the university students in Hong King towards NS and NNS teachers of English, the strengths and weaknesses of these teachers from the perspective of students, and their capability of motivating the students to learn English Cheung also wanted to determine if there was any discrimination against NNS English teachers in Hong Kong Data was collected through questionnaires, interviews, classroom observations, and post-classroom interviews The questionnaire was distributed to 420 randomly selected undergraduates from a variety of majors at seven universities in Hong Kong Ten students from three universities were also interviewed Besides, Cheung asked twenty-two university English teachers, ranging from head of department to instructor, at six universities The study indicated that both students and teachers saw NS and NNS teachers having their respective strength They stated that native speaker teachers‟ strong points were a high proficiency in English, ability to use English functionally, and the awareness of the cultures of English speaking countries In the case of NNS teachers, the ability to emphasize with students as fellow second language learners, a shared cultural background, and the emphasis

they placed on grammar were the strong points observed Regarding the teacher competency, both students and teachers stated that teachers should be well-informed about the English language, able to make learning relevant and fun, good at motivating students, able to encourage independent learning and thinking, sensitive and responsive to students‟ needs, and able to respect students as individuals with their own aspiration The respondents also cited several shortcomings, including their examination-oriented teaching approach, their limited use of English in class, and the tendency to over-correct students‟ work

By adopting a qualitative approach with the use of open-ended questionnaires, Sung (2010) attempted to explore students‟ perceptions of both NESTs and NNESTs to make a comparison The open-ended questionnaire was distributed to 81 secondary school students in Hong Kong All the questions required the students to indicate a preference for either an NNEST or an NEST in different aspects of teaching, although they may also indicate a neutral position in their answers The author suggests that the students did not necessarily prefer NESTs over NNESTs in every aspect of language teaching namely teachers‟ teaching methods, students‟ understanding of teachers‟ instructions, teachers‟ care for students, teachers‟ pronunciation, teaching of English grammar and teaching of oral English He emphasized that we need to focus on students‟ preference for NESTs/NNESTs in specific areas of teaching, such as pronunciation, grammar and oral skills, so that it is possible for us to understand a more nuanced picture of student‟ perception of NNESTs and NESTs

Up until now, as far as the researcher know, Walkinshaw and Duong (2012)

is the only study which examines a common belief that learners of English as a foreign language prefer to learn English from native-speaker teachers rather than non-native speakers of English with Vietnamese participants Data was collected by using two instruments which were constructed based on Brown‟s framework The first data collection instrument was a rating survey that employed bipolar semantic differential scales and an open-ended self-report questionnaire was the second data

collection instrument The two instruments were distributed consecutively to 50 Vietnamese learners of English at two public universities: 38 females and 12 males All respondents were third year English majors between the ages of 20 and 24, with upper intermediate English language competence They were asked to complete the rating survey and the self-report questionnaire at the end of a normal class period to evaluate the importance of native-speakerness compared with seven qualities valued

in an English language teacher: teaching experience, qualifications, friendliness, enthusiasm, the ability to deliver interesting and informative classes, understanding

of students' local culture, and advanced English communicative competence The findings show that the respondents placed more value on all but one of these qualities than on native-speakerness Moreover, while respondents in the study noted pronunciation as an advantage of learning from a NEST, there are questions about whether second language learners can accurately identify native accents and indeed whether native-like pronunciation is an appropriate goal for second language learners in Southeast Asia who will most often use English with other second language users

As the authors admitted, the study still has some limitations since the data were collected from tertiary institutions only and the gender imbalance in the sample group The authors stated that if research conducted in other educational contexts such as high schools or private language institutions may increase the findings‟ generalisability

1 4 Summary

In summary, the chapter pictures various view points on native and native teachers and its related sections including native speaker definitions, native and non-native teachers in English language teaching Literature review of some previous studies of the same topic is discussed last in the chapter

non-CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY

2 1.Research setting of the study

2.1.1 An overview of the research site

The study was conducted at EQuest Hanoi EQuest is an educational company which was founded in 2003 by a group of young masters and doctoral graduates in the U.S., UK, Australia and Netherlands It provides training and test preparation for standardized international certification, English language courses and study abroad EQuest has eight branches in Hanoi namely Xa Dan, Lo Duc, Nguyen Trai, Hoang Quoc Viet, Nguyen Khang, Lang Ha, My Dinh and An Trach

It also has 4 branches in Ho Chi Minh and one branch in Da Nang city

2.1.2 Description of the instructors and the IELTS 5.5 and 6.5 courses at EQuest Hanoi.

There are 32 full-time Vietnamese instructors and 10 native English speaking instructors in EQuest Hanoi In terms of teachers‟ qualification, all these are described by the school as highly qualified for the job All the native speaker instructors who were teaching the respondents come from Canada, England and the United States They got professional training in linguistics and TESOL certificates from Cambridge ESOL in different countries All Vietnamese instructors graduated from Hanoi University of languages and international studies and Hanoi University and have an IELTS score of at least 7.5 as well as experience of teaching English for more than two years

One IELTS 5.5 or IELTS 6.5 course at EQuest Hanoi lasts about 6 months-

160 hours in which students are taught three lessons per week Each lesson lasts two hours There are four teachers both native and non-native speakers taking turn teaching the same class

non-2 Do learners prefer NES instructors to their nonnative counterparts?

2.3 Participants of the study

A total of 50 learners from 7 IELTS 5.5 and IELTS 6.5 classes in the age range of 15 -34, all native speakers of Vietnamese, participated in the study The reason for selecting those who are studying IELTS course but not other courses was that through this course learners had a chance to study with both Vietnamese and native English speaking instructors All of the participants had done the placement tests at EQuest and they had achieved at least 4.0 IELTS score- equivalent to the low B1 level in CEFR At the time of the research, these participants were studying their last hours of the IELTS course – at the fifth or sixth month

The participants come from groups of different personal background and various provinces in Northern part and Middle part of Vietnam such as Hanoi, Nghe

An, Bac Ninh, Hung Yen, Thanh Hoa, etc They were both students and people Many learners were students who were studying at some universities or high schools in Hanoi Some were working in companies or state organizations They work or study in daytime and come to English classes in the evenings The variety

working-in the participants‟ age, sex, workworking-ing and studyworking-ing places is expected to provide reliability and validity for the study

2.4 Data collection instruments

Data were gained through the students‟ survey questionnaires and structured interviews

semi-2.4.1 Questionnaire

To obtain the objectives of the study, a survey questionnaire has been chosen

as a way of collecting data for the research It was chosen because questionnaire is a valuable tool for researching the attitudes Besides, this tool is also relatively comfortable, time-saving and economical to administer This method was also supposed to be of great advantage in a way that it was easier for the participants to answer the questions and for the researcher to analyze the data when all the participants answered the same questions

The questionnaire consisted of two main parts three-page questionnaire and

it was divided into four sections The cover letter gave a brief rationale for the survey, instructions for the completion of the questionnaire Some of the questions

in the questionnaire were adapted as in Benke (2005) To increase the level of reliability, the researchers‟ own learners were not involved in the survey and personal identification was not required Besides, the respondents could complete and return it within a week since the researcher did not want to interrupt their classes

The first section of the questionnaire contained six questions which asked for learners‟ background information The second and third sections each contained a set of 20 statements, one designed for NES and an identical set for NNES instructors to avoid mechanical and biased answers The respondents were asked about their opinion as regards the teaching methods that teachers apply in speaking lessons focusing on teaching vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation

The participants were given five possibilities (a five-point Likert scale was used) with regard of the 40 statements included in the questionnaire so that they can show their opinion about the issued concerned: Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Neither Agree nor disagree (NAND), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD)

Questions from number 1 to number 14 are designed to compare the teaching methods of the native speaker instructors and their counterparts as seen by the