draft 1

The topic I’m interested in is the differences between teachers who teach their native language and those who teach a language they have learned as a foreign language. Much literature has been written about the differences between native and nonnative speakers and the definitions of these terms (especially Davies, 2003), so I am definitely not interested in adding to that. The problem, though, is that so-called nonnative speakers still have a very difficult time finding teaching jobs in ESL or EFL contexts. As Braine (TESOL conference, April 2004) explained, things are moving very slowly and language school administrators are still not convinced that nonnative speakers of English can make good English teachers. Some research has been done about the feelings of those teachers about their perceived abilities and how they thought their students accepted and respected them, but very little has been done about the opinions of the students themselves. What has been done so far is:
- Research on the opinion of ESL students in a US program about their nonnative teachers, at the beginning and the end of a semesters, to verify if exposure to their teachers would make the students realize that they are good teachers (time variable) (Moussu, 2002),
- Research on the opinions of university students learning English in Hong Kong, about their opinions of their native and nonnative teachers (first language variable) (Cheung, 2002),
- Research on the opinions of students, teachers, and school administrators in US ESL programs about their opinions of who was the strengths and weaknesses of native and nonnative teachers (school administrators variable) (Mahboob, 2003).

Most of this research has been done with International TAs and not with nonnative ESL/EFL teachers. Nothing has been done about ESL vs. EFL, and nothing has been done about the variable of time in EFL contexts. Nothing has really been done, either, about the opinions of students about their ESL (or EFL teachers) comparing native and nonnative teachers over time. I believe that the ESL vs. EFL difference is the most important one, since results of such a study could help teachers decide if they have a better chance teaching in an ESL or EFL context and see the pros and the cons of those two different settings. Time is also important, since many students might have a negative impression of their new nonnative teacher but realize later that they are, after all, good teachers. This variable could help convince program administrators of the value of hiring nonnative teachers. Finally, very little research has been done about what teacher and student variables influence the students’ responses (such as first language of the teachers or the students, age, international experiences, etc.). Looking at the variables that influence the students’ responses would be important (for example if students from a certain language or age group respond differently from students from other language or age groups, or if the foreign appearance of a teacher is seen more negatively than a strong foreign accent, for example). Of course, not much can be done about appearance, but much can be done about the classes one chooses to teach, and administrators can assign teachers to the classes where they are the most valued.

What I would like to do is use questionnaires and maybe interviews to ask students in ESL programs and students in EFL programs for their opinions about their nonnative AND native teachers at the beginning of a given year or semester, and then at the end of that year or semester, for example in two programs in the US and two programs in France or one in France and one in Germany. I would then analyze the responses to see what teacher and student variables would make a difference in the opinions of the students, and finally write a set of recommendations for teacher trainers, the ESL/EFL teachers, and language school administrators. My variables would then be:
- ESL vs. EFL
- Native vs. nonnative (I find this variable important because it would allow me to verify that it is really the teachers’ nonnativeness that the students don’t like, and not just the personality of the teachers),
- Beginning vs. end of program
- Students vs. administrators’ opinions

The problems that I see and the questions I have with this research are:
- It will be difficult to compare two very different groups of students (ESL and EFL) and two four different groups of teachers (ESL, EFL, native, and nonnative teachers),
- It will be difficult to work in more than one country, especially if I want to conduct interviews (maybe I could have e-mail “interviews”),
- Do I want to work with the students only, or with the administrators too, or even with the teachers?
- The time variable will not be a problem in the US but other countries won’t have programs that are of the same length,
- What kind of EFL program am I talking about? University students learning English, or independent language programs such as the Wall Street Institute schools that can be found in several countries?