The Myth of the Native Speaker as a Model of English Proficiency

Abstract

Although academics generally take a neutral position on the pros and cons of native speaker (NS) and non-native speaker (NNS) teachers of English, the general public perceives NS teachers as preferable because they provide a 'better' model of English. Even ignoring the arguments favouring NNS models in English as an International Language, many NS teachers do not provide a truly proficient model of English. Based on an analysis of a corpus of informal NS teacher writing, their English proficiency is dubious. The findings cast doubt on the usefulness of recent proposals to employ more NS teachers in Thai schools.