The Comparative Study of Native and Nonnative English Speaking Teachers’ Interaction in College English class from the Students’Perspective

张文秀

【Abstract】The Nonnative English Speaking Teachers （NNETs） Scheme has been in place for over 20 years in the colleges in China and yet Native English Speaking Teachers （NETs） have appeared in the colleges in recent years. In such a condition， this article reports a comparative study of NETs and NNETs interaction in college English class from the students perspective. Data were collected from two postgraduate classes who were both taught by the NET and the NNET in Tianjin Foreign Studies University in China with the methods of interviews. Results showed that the NETs interaction makes the students more active and relaxed in the class.

【Key words】NETs； NNETs； Interaction

I. Introduction

In English teaching， both NETs and NNETs play an important role. In recent years， the number of NNET is steadily increasing. In order to know more about the advantages and disadvantages of these two kinds of teachers. This study explored the advantages and disadvantages of the NETs and NNETs interactions in the English class in order to enhance the teachers ability to interact with the students. In that way， it could help the teacher to make a good effect of the in-class content which means the students could take in the content the teachers convey to them better. Meanwhile it will contribute to the domain of the studies about the comparative of the NETs and the NNETs. The research question is what the advantages and disadvantages of the NETs and of the NNETs interaction in English class.

II. Related research

A “native speaker” refers to “a person who has spoken a certain language since his or her early childhood” （Christophersen& McTrthur， 1992， p.257）. “Native” also can be defined as “native belonging to or being the place of ones birth”， and “native English speaker” refers to “the people who learn English as the first language” （Christophersen& McTrthur， 1992， p.258）. Even though native English speaking teachers are considered as the ideal English teacher， the non-native ones are regarded as less capacity in English language teaching. Medgyes （2001） agreed that both of them have their advantages， and he listed the six advantages of non-native English speaking teachers， called bright sides of being a non-native English speaking teachers. More detailed advantages and disadvantages of the NETs and of the NNETs interaction in English class needs more exploration.

III. Methodology

The present study employed qualitative research methods. The instruments for data collection included interviews and class observation. 22 first-year English postgraduates from different majors at Tianjin Foreign Studies University （TFSU） participated in the study. Data was collected in qualitative way which means conducting interviews from the participants. Data analysis will base on the written data from the observation protocols as well as the students answers to the interview questions. The audio portion of the interviews data were transcribed and subsequently coded. And the answers are codified by the author into more detailed sub-categories， so that it is easier to look at.

IV. Findings and discussions

The primary aim of the present study was to explore the advantages and disadvantages of the NETs and the NNETs interaction in English class. The discussions of the present study are summarized as the following points.

First， the interviews indicate that there are mainly three advantages of the NETs interaction in English class： 1） the forms of NETs interaction are various； 2） the frequency of the interaction in the class is higher； 3） the emotion of the NET is passionate when he interacts with the students.

Second， it can be concluded that the students didnt talk much about the disadvantages about the NETs interaction in English class. But it cannot be ignored to what the students had said.

Third， the local teachers advantages could remedy the foreign teachers weaknesses. Also we can find some points which we have never thought about before. From the answers of the students， we can see that students can understand what the local teachers convey to them clearly.

V. Conclusion

The findings indicate that compared to the NNETs， the Chinese-English teachers have a long way to go in the aspect of interaction. We have our own advantages. But we also have many weaknesses to remedy. In this domain， we still need to explore new angel to do more studies. From the comparative study of the NETs and NNETs interaction in the class， it could offer some suggestions to the teachers pedagogy in the class.

References：

[1]Chomsky，N.The Aspects of Theory of Syntax[M].MIT Press，1965.

[2]Medgyes，P.The Non-native Teacher[M].Ismaning，Germany： Heuber，2001.