This document summarizes a presentation on a research article that questions the distinction between native and non-native English speakers. It discusses how applied linguistics is redefining these concepts. While initially there was a fixed dichotomy, several researchers have critically examined the theoretical foundations and questioned if the distinction is necessary. The presentation outlines research showing non-native teachers can successfully teach English. It argues that both native and non-native teachers need training, and that the goal of English language teaching is developing users of the language rather than approximating native speakers. Overall, it advocates moving beyond the native/non-native distinction to a more nuanced understanding of all language users.

1. APPLIED LINGUISTICS
DECLINE AND FALL OF THE NATIVE SPEAKER
An article written by Enric Llurda
Presented by:
Yunita Wulansari
(157835465)

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
1. Introduction
2. Research on Non-native Speaking Teachers
2.1. Is There Anything Wrong with NS Teachers?
2.2. Outcomes of Research
2.3. Internal Diversity among Native and Non-native Speakers
3. Critical Approaches to Language Teaching: The Decline and Fall of the
NS
4. Final Remarks

3. 1. Introduction
• The field of applied linguistics has lately been questioning and thus
redefining the concepts of ‘native speaker’ (NS) and ‘non-native speaker’
(NNS).
• Initially, a fixed dichotomy involving the two categories was accepted, used
and exploited in research on second language acquisition.
• Such a distinction has been questioned in the literature. Several
researchers (Rampton, 1990; Davies, 1991, 2003; V. Cook, 1999; Liu, 1999;
Brutt-Griffl er and Samimy, 2001; Piller, 2002) have critically looked at the
theoretical foundations of the NS/NNS distinction, and pondered whether
or not there is any reason to continue establishing a separation between
native and non-native speaker.
• Davies (2003) acknowledged one single element that could be used to
mark a NS and differentiate it from a NNS: acceptance as such by a
significant portion of members of a speech community.

4. • Paikeday (1985) states that the term ‘language user’ may be more
adequate and less tendentious.
• V. Cook (2002) also proposes the substitution of ‘L2 user’ for ‘L2
learner’, pointedly claiming that many ‘L2 users’ can no longer be
considered perennial learners of the language, as they have full right
to be considered legitimate users of an L2 variety of the language.
• This is in line with the role of English as a Lingua Franca at
international levels, and the need for all English users to interact in a
mutually intelligible way, thus rendering the labelling of ‘native’ and
‘non-native’ useless, and bringing a new dimension of proficiency at
the international level.
• However, this new understanding has not been able to change the
view of NSs superiority over the NNSs

5. 2. Research on Non-native Speaking Teachers
• The question of native vs. non-native identity of language teachers
has probably been long present in the mind of language educators,
though it was not researched until Peter Medgyes devoted his
attention to NNSs in ELT (Medgyes, 1992, 1994)
• Before the research, native speakers were considered ideal for
promoting natural and spontaneous communication, and therefore
when available they should naturally be preferred over non-natives.
Only in contexts where natives were scarce or non-available would
non-native teachers be considered acceptable. This was the case of
ELT in ‘expanding circle’ countries
• The notion of ‘the native teacher as the ideal teacher’ was equivalent
to the notion of ‘the monolingual native speaker as the ideal speaker’.

6. • Based on this situation, Medgyes (1992, 1994) introduced the
question that challenged the assumptions: who is worth more as a
language teacher, the native speaker or the non-native speaker?
• This point had already been raised in an influential language teaching
forum like TESOL with their ground-breaking statement on Non-native
Speakers of English (TESOL, 1991). This was the first time NNSs were
the object of research and were mentioned in academic literature.
• In the last few years, visibility among the research community has
been granted by an increasing number of papers dealing with NNESTs,
and more specially by the publication of books exclusively centred on
the study of NNESTs (Braine, 1999; Kamhi-Stein, 2004;Llurda, 2005).

7. • The research has so far come up with some relevant findings. These
include very diverse aspects that range from students’ general
openness and acceptance of non-native teachers, to teachers’ self-
perceptions and characteristic lack of self-confidence.
• Jenkins (2007) reveals that language teachers and researchers’ lack of
positive attitudes towards English as a Lingua Franca.
• Llurda (2004) has argued for the importance for NNESTs to adopt the
formulation of English as an International Language or English as a
Lingua Franca in order to develop a positive self-image and feel
rightfully entitled to teach a language that is not their mother tongue.
• However, it seems that many NNESTs still refuse to embrace such an
approach to ELT.

8. 2.1 Is There Anything Wrong with NS
Teachers?
• The aim of this research is not to show the ‘inadequacy’ of NSs and
an alleged ‘superior quality’ of NNSs as teachers.
• This research is conducted to prove that the condition of being native
speaker solely doesn't make someone a good language teacher.
• What is important here is to accept that all teachers, NS or NNS, need
pedagogical training and knowledge of the language being taught
(Derwing and Munro, 2005).

9. 2.2 Outcomes of Research
Several researchers who have used two major arguments to eliminate
the separation between native speakers and non-native speakers in
language teaching, they are:
• minimizing any perceived differences between the two groups
• vindicating the role of the non-native speaker as a rightful language
teacher

10. (a) Minimizing perceived differences between NSs and NNSs
There were several speakers who have difficulty categorizing
themselves whether they are native speakers or not.
clear non-nativeness (e.g., a learner of English as a foreign language at the
beginner level)
Extreme English nativeness (e.g., a monolingual speaker of standard American or
British English)
Intermediate
area

11. • Liu argues: ‘if we perceive all ESL professionals on a NS–NNS
continuum, then it is their competence and professional growth that
will define their professionalism’ (Liu, 1999: 175).
• Thinking in terms of language users rather than language learners (V.
Cook, 2005) strengthens the above argument, as there is no longer
the need to focus on native speaker models in language teaching.
• In this respect, the formulation of English as an International
Language (Sharifian, 2009) or English as a Lingua Franca (Seidlhofer,
2004) comes in handy.
• A language that is truly international is not owned by any group of
speakers (Widdowson, 1994) and competence is based on the
capacity to use language forms that are intelligible for the global
community (Modiano, 1999).

12. (b) Vindicating the role of non-native speakers
in language teaching
• Recent research on NNESTs has additionally shown that language
teaching can be successfully performed by non-native teachers.
• This has minimized the importance of an absolute knowledge of
standard and colloquial language forms.
• NNESTs have shared the same experience as language learners with
the students.

13. There are advantages of NNESTs reported mainly by Medgyes (1994: 51),
Tang (1997: 579) and Seidlhofer (1999: 235–242), they are:
• They are a model for imitation
• They can successfully teach strategies for language learning
• They have a high level of awareness of the language and can supply
information about it
• They can anticipate the difficulties that will appear in the learning process
• They can be more empathetic to the needs and problems of students
• They often have the same mother tongue as their students, which allows
them to use it when necessary, and act as mediators between different
languages and cultures
• They have more familiarity with the local context, and specifi cally with the
syllabus and examination procedures.

14. 2.3 Internal Diversity among Native and Non-
native Speakers
• NSs and NNSs are too often opposed to each other without
consideration of internal differences.
• Holliday (2005) remarks, NNSs have often been reduced to a single
homogeneous group in many discussions, disregarding their complex
reality to a simple stereotype.
• Holliday calls this practice ‘native speakerism’, which constitutes one
manifestation of the more general phenomenon of culturism and,
eventually, racism.
• Acknowledging the existence of internal diversity within a group is the
first step to accept their complexities and understand their particular
circumstances.

15. • There are some distinctions that need to be established in the field of the
native speakers.
 Well trained vs ‘backpackers’
The term ‘backpackers’ refers to those who spend one or two years
teaching English in a foreign country without any previous training,
experience or knowledge of the local language and culture (Árva and
Medgyes ,2000)
 Multilingual vs monolingual
Multilingual speakers have knowledge/experience of the acquisition
of the content (second language) in formal contexts (Ellis, 2006: 3).
Monolingual NSs do not have that experience. According to Ellis
(2006: 4) their experience of language learning ‘is in the babyhood
and the process of learning is not accessible for examination by the
speaker’.

16. In his discussion of the goals of ELT, V. Cook (2007: 226) points out
that:
(they) include benefits for the learner’s mind, such as those gained
through the manipulation of language; benefits for the learner’s
future career; opportunities to emigrate; and the effects on society
whether through the integration of minority groups, the creation of
a skilled work-force, the growth of international trade.
• None of those goals stated by Cook above involve the need to
approximate native speakers.
• Cook demonstrates that what ELT is really concerned with is the
development of the L2 user
• he different languages spoken by a multilingual person combine in
their mind in a way that creates a new complex system in which both
languages interact (Grosjean, 1989).

17. 3. Critical Approaches to Language Teaching:
The Decline and Fall of the NS
• There has been a serious concern about the process and the
methodology used in teaching a language, including what a teacher
needs to be able to do inside the classroom. This has often involved a
reaction to the traditional grammar-translation method and an
appraisal of native speakers as providers of input and capable of
naturally using the language in the classroom.
• Unfortunately, this reaction to traditional language teaching did also
bring a discredit and a rejection of aspects of language teaching that
might prove useful and effective in many classrooms, such as the use
of the L1 in the language classroom (V. Cook, 2001; Macaro, 2005),
the use of translation as a pedagogical tool (G. Cook, 2007), or the
development of learners’ language awareness (Cots, 2008).

18. • Successful teaching will come out of the balanced combination of the
two factors: command of the language as well as training and ability
to teach it, so it doesn’t depend on whether the teacher is a native
speaker or not.
• However, NNESTs are still facing ‘discrimination’.
• As claimed by Flowerdew (2000,2001), the voice of NNSs’ has often
been silenced in influential professional and research forums. And as
Jenkins (2007) demonstrates, their concerns are still fairly invisible in
many professional publications addressed to the international
language teaching community. Also, there is widespread reluctance
towards accepting the new discourse (Holliday, 2005).
• Thus, Llurda stated that NNESTs are still marginalized and perceived
as non-relevant by the majority of the language teaching community.

19. 4. Final Remarks
Sifakis (2004) makes a useful distinction between three areas in the
debate surrounding EIL: ‘theory’, ‘reality’ and ‘application’.
• ‘Theory’ is concerned with the delineating and defining of the EIL
paradigm.
• ‘Reality’ is related to observations of actual EIL communication and
an understanding of the various cognitive and communicative
processes involved.
• ‘Application’ is related to the teaching of EIL and refers to those
pedagogical considerations that the EIL teacher should be aware of.
(Sifakis, 2004: 238)

20. • This distinction is very useful to separate the range of influence of recent
innovative ideas in applied linguistics, i.e., the native speaker/non-native speaker
distinction.
• The theory domain, has taken us a long way from Chomsky’s reference to ‘the
idealized native speaker’ (Chomsky, 1965: 24), to the current critical views on
‘nativeness’, ‘the ownership of a language’, ‘competence’, etc.
• However, reality in EIL and on NS–NNS language teaching performance remains
elusive and short of systematic descriptions that factually account for what
actually happens in everyday EIL interactions and language classes involving
native and non-native speaking teachers.
• In application, there is a great divide between theory and practice, or between
researchers’ ideas and practitioners’ views ( Jenkins, 2007; Llurda, 2009) in the
terms of the non-ownership of English by native speakers (Widdowson, 1994),
the concept of the L2 user as opposed to the L2 learner (V. Cook, 2002, 2005), or
the importance of aiming at a fully intelligible level of competence in the study of
foreign language rather than an impossible native model.
• Such a divide must be interpreted in line with Markee’s argument regarding
research innovations, before they are finally allowed to permeate into the
general ‘common sense’ opinion (Markee, 1997).

21. • The idea of ‘native speakerism’ has been attacked by current critical
research on language teaching, because it ignores the diversity and
complexity of a language.
• This understanding remains strong because it is supported by
thousands of teachers and laypeople who still believe that the
monolingual native speaker is ideal speaker.
• Contemplating all language users, both native and non-native, as
collaborators in a context of increasing international communication,
and advancing from theory to practice in the understanding of the
implications for teaching English as an international language, are the
best way to comprehend the complexity and diversity in our
profession.

22. References
• Árva, V. and P. Medgyes (2000), ‘Native and non-native teachers in the classroom’, System,
28, (3), 355–372.
• Chomsky, N. (1965), Aspects of The Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
• Cook, G. (2007), ‘A thing of the future: Translation in language learning’, International Journal
of Applied Linguistics, 17, (3), 396–401.
• Cook, V. J. (ed.) (2002), Portraits of the L2 User. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
• Cook, V. J. (2005), ‘Basing teaching on the L2 user’, in E. Llurda (ed.), Non-native Language
Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges, and Contributions to the Profession. New York: Springer, pp. 47–62.
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curricula’, in J. Cenoz and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education.
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23. • Derwing, T. J. and Munro, M. J. (2005), ‘Second Language Accent and
Pronunciation Teaching: A Research-Based Approach’, TESOL Quarterly, 39,
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24. • Holliday, A. (2005), The Struggle to Teach English as an International Language. Oxford:
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27. THANK YOU