The first part of this Native versus Non-Native English Teachers series dealt with the most common arguments of native teachers against non-natives. These complaints are related their language skills- accent, pronunciation, grammar and cultural knowledge.
(See Part 1 here)
On the other hand, non-natives' most common defense are related more on native teachers' view and attitude of ESL teaching. I'm not a native speaker so I don't know what's going on in a native speaker's mind. I can only offer possible explanations why native teachers are perceived in a certain way and why perceptions are not always the reality.
1. Many native ESL teachers are not certified teachers.
There was a time in ESL history when any Native-looking person can teach English. As long as you're white, blonde and can utter English words, you can find an ESL teaching post. But this has changed in recent years. A Bachelors degree is now a minimum requirement. Gone are the days when anyone can teach English.
As for teaching certifications, more and companies are demanding short course teaching certificates from applicants. If not a teaching certificate, then at least a teacher training. Here in Japan, many ALT's are not certified teachers but they are required to undergo teacher training during the year. These short courses and training will never be equivalent to teacher education but they are extremely helpful. Ideally, ESL teachers should have theoretical and practical knowledge of teaching. But I also think that even without theoretical knowledge, ESL teachers will get a sense of what works and what doesn't. Students' response and progress are quick gauges to know whether a teacher is effective or not. Teaching is a skill that can be learned, developed and improved. As I've mentioned in Part 1 "Only those who take English teaching lightly will not strive to improve on <insert whatever needs to be improved.>"
2. Many native ESL teachers do not care about teaching grammar.
I've personally heard several times how native teachers make fun of teaching grammar. A lot of them mention how they don't even know what's an adjective or an adverb or conjunctions, etc. Some are probably joking but some are really serious about this. Hence, they don't want to be bothered to teaching it. They think grammar is something that will come naturally if only an ESL learner will try to use English. This view is understandable since native speakers acquired the language in childhood without formal grammar lessons. Grammar is polished when they go to school. I feel the same way with my first language- Filipino. Grammar seemed natural and became more refined when I formally studied it in school.
However, it's different for second language learners. Grammar serves as the backbone of the language. As someone who was once learning English, it's through grammar that English made sense to me. Words are like puzzle pieces and grammar serves as guide to complete the puzzle. Without grammar, it would be harder to complete the puzzle. English has already a lot of exceptions that if teachers don't bother teaching grammar, ESL learners would just be memorizing words and phrases but not fully learning how to string sentences on their own.
I'm sure that other native teachers care about teaching grammar. I'm just raising this point because I've personally heard and seen a disregard for teaching grammar. Even in various fora, teaching grammar is not a priority. Some natives assume that they are teaching as long as the students are spewing English words.
3. Many native ESL teachers do not treat teaching as a career.
A lot of native ESL teachers are stereo typically young, single and carefree. They're teaching ESL either to travel around the world or they can't find a job in their own countries. Hence, they're not planning to stay on their posts for a long time. Some also tend to treat ESL teaching as a job just to get by but not really as a career. I've met a lot of native teachers here and they fall in one of the categories. But there are still some who are happy with being an ESL teacher and they wanted to keep on teaching for a long time. There may be some truth in the stereotype but not all native teachers are part of the stereotype. There's also nothing wrong if people do not treat teaching as a career as long as they're doing their jobs well.
For the last post:
Part 3: Who is the Better Teacher- Native or Non-Native?
