THERE is a big industry in English language education that exploits nations that still want native-speakers to be employed as teachers. This form of linguistic imperialism ought to have been put to a stop long time ago but many uninformed people continue to subscribe to it and these organisations make huge profits.
This notion of native-speaker needs to be interrogated and debunked. It is a fallacy that people whose mother tongue is the English language will make better English language teachers in second and foreign language learning contexts.
Who we need are trained teachers who are competent users of English and have the appropriate pedagogy to teach in the diverse Malaysian educational contexts, irrespective of race.
Linguist T. M. Paikeday declared that the concept of native speaker is dead and other leading linguists concur that it is a problematic label. It is those who stand to gain from furthering their own agenda that give currency to the native-speaker notion and label.
The problem with the native speaker label is that it is judgmental and discriminatory. It creates a dichotomy between the native speaker and the non-native speaker teachers, presenting the latter in a less favourable light in the English language profession.
If we are looking for trained and qualified teachers to support our local teachers, we should look at the qualifications in English language teaching and not at their genes.
We should judge them for their competence as teachers and not be fooled by stereotyped appearance and physical traits.
My own stand on this issue, from my experience of working with foreign English language teachers in Malaysia, is ambivalent.
I have seen dedicated and diligent foreign English language teachers. Some of these have continued to stay on in the country and renew their working contracts.
At the same time, I have seen many who have little knowledge about the language, especially grammar and are often are unable to explain simple grammar rules to students. Their pedagogical skills too are suspect. Yes, they may have fluency and accuracy but often lack knowledge about their mother tongue.
When I was teaching in schools, a “native speaker” colleague will often interrupt my classes asking me questions such as “Why is it grass ‘is’ and not grass ‘are’? She had no knowledge of nouns, let alone countable and uncountable nouns! Her students would look on in amusement.
The worst scenario was at a local conference when a foreign presenter sitting next to me informed me that he had just been given a job to train Malaysian teachers. He had worked in a university most of his life, and had not stepped into a classroom. He went on to say that he was looking forward to learning new things in Malaysia. To this, I told him that it looks like Malaysian taxpayers are paying you a lot of money for you to learn about our education system.
Let us give credit to the many Malaysian teachers who have been role models to their students and have contributed to their students’ success in mastering the English language. There is also no denying that we have had foreign English language teachers who have been worth the money they were paid. But this has not always been the case. For many, we have provided a well-paid holiday in the exotic East.