Abstract:

As English language has long been the de facto lingua franca in the fields of world trade, technology, and academia, the demand for Native English Speaking Teachers (NESTs) to teach English, as well as various subject content knowledge in English in countries whose official language is not English, has steadily been on the rise. Despite a large number of these teachers making an impact on students’ learning in an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context, their roles have traditionally been commodified and limited to transmitting cultures of the English-speaking countries as well as advancing EFL learners’ communicative speaking skills through engaging activities. The common hiring practices, which have privileged NESTs’ white native speaker status from inner-circle countries without requiring prior training in teaching, have in part perpetuated these narrowly-predefined roles (Jeon, 2009; Ruecker & Ives, 2014; Shi, 2009; Sim, 2014). These diminished roles pose problems to especially those EFL NESTs who aspire to make a teaching career out of their EFL teaching experience. They also negatively impact teacher identity and development, which directly affects student learning. Given that both NESTs and Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) play a critical role in students’ English education, it is imperative that we examine EFL NESTs’ experiences and teacher identity.

This case study illustrates experiences of two NESTs in South Korea that were enrolled in an online graduate teacher certification program in the U.S.A. Within the language teacher identity frameworks (Yazan, 2018), I address the question around how NESTs navigate their assumed roles and negotiate their professional aspirations in an EFL context. The study is situated around three strands of previous literature: EFL teacher education with foci on issues around NESTs and NNESTs (Chun, 2014; Rao, 2010; Shi, 2009) and NESTs in South Korea (Jeon, 2009; Sim, 2014) as well as language teacher identity and advocacy in TESOL (Yazan, 2018).

The qualitative analysis of the data revealed that the two NESTs problematized the constructs that defined who they were and what they were supposed to be doing in the South Korea EFL context: superiority, fun, as well as periphery and exclusion. Against the assumed roles and positionalities, they made efforts to gain legitimacy as teachers by finding their niche as literacy teachers as well as seeking collaboration and taking on leadership positions.

These findings could potentially revitalize the old educational area: teacher education for NESTs particularly in the EFL teacher education context. This study could also contribute to expanding what we currently know about teacher identity in TESOL.

The presentation will be of interest to the ICERI international audience, especially for those looking to research English education in non-native countries. In this virtual presentation, I will add visual content showing the growing number of native English-speaking educators, specifically in South Korea. Not only will I introduce the various resources our interviewees use to teach in the classroom, but also the effects of the education these native speakers provide for students and how it differentiates from the content students learn from their native Korean teachers.

Keywords:

Education, South Korea, English, native.