Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Is a native english speaker a better teacher?

Good Essays
462 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Is a native english speaker a better teacher?
A native speaker is a person who has spoken the language from the earliest childhood. It other words, It is known as ‘Mother Tongue’. Is it true that a native English speaker makes a better English teacher? The answer is no. Not all native English speakers make a better teacher.
Being an English teacher, you must not only know how to speak in English, but to know how to teach. According to Justin Murray, the most important characteristic of being any teacher is to know how to teach to the level of their student, to be passionate about it and willing to put efforts in to preparing a good class.
English doesn’t have to be your first language to be able to be a better English teacher as long as you are able to speak fluently. Not all native English speakers are good at their grammars, or vocabulary. To be a better English teacher, you have to be good at your grammar, pronunciation and have a strong vocabulary. These can all be learned by classes.
According to Jim Ross (EBC TEFL course), the non-natives have two virtually guaranteed advantages over native English speakers. Their spelling and understanding of English grammar are usually better. Both of which are skills that are essential for being a good English teacher. They’ve also learned English as a foreign language and therefore can relate much more closely to the teaching process. They’ve lived through the process by attending courses and lessons whereas a native English speaker hasn’t.
Jim Ross also stated that the native English speakers’ advantages are that they have a much higher comfort level and a wider vocabulary but the fundamental problem is that they know how to construct sentences but cannot explain why. This is basic to all language teaching as no-one can communicate in any language without understanding how its components fit together.
According to Tara Arntsen, most non- native speakers are trained teachers either in their country or the country they teach in. This proved that they often will have much more teaching experiences than native speakers. Without training in classroom management and lessons In English grammar, native speakers cannot be effective ESL instructors. As what Jim Ross also mentioned, they may be able to speak the language but explaining it is an entirely different matter.

In conclusion, training, passion, knowledge and efforts are very important aspects of being a better teacher whether it is the native language or not. When your native language is English doesn’t make you a better teacher if you do not undergo training or grammar lessons to be able to understand why or how each sentence is structured that way. Therefore, native English speakers are not necessarily makes a better English teacher.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Comm/155 Research Paper

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages

    As an English instructor I carry out one of the most vital jobs to the general public. As an educator of English studies, I educate juvenile minds how to read, write, spell, think seriously and use correct grammar. As a teacher I show my interest for literature, writing, grammar and vocabulary. Like most teachers they work with individuals from a? wide variety of ethnic backgrounds which can present a challenge because of the verbal communication barriers. By having so much variety this offers a huge opening to use foreign arts skills to construct, study and distribute information from different point of views and thoughts.…

    • 385 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    307). The first speakers or fluent speakers are the ones we should turn to in order for change to happen in the immersion schools. They are the ones that will give you the correct terminology and also give you the history related as why we say or do certain activities. Shelia Nicholas states, “I can see that any Native speaker has a responsibility for keeping the language alive” (2005, p. 44). I agree with that because they are the ones who should educate the non-native speaking teachers and determine if they are qualified to teach in the Natives…

    • 783 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Best Essays

    It is vital that you as the teacher should be able to change their lesson plan in order to meet the prerequisite of the learners who are not English language speaker. An educator must offer materials in the learner’s home language and to enable ensure that the English second language learner have the same chance that the rest of the learners in the classroom have. The educators must allow for these leaners to obtain language aptitudes in their home language spell as in English. We must be willing to do what we requirement to do to achieve these objectives for our learners. The learners must also be allowed to share their experience in their experiences in their home language and when you allow this happen you are provided them the chance to be comfortable and that is when they obtain language competencies in English. Books and other choices for language development must be in the classroom’s environment. Make sure that the classroom equipment is labeled in English as well as the child’s native home language. When you do this you are assuring these learners that they have something to communicate about and when they feel this language acquisition happens. With learners who have specials essential, the educator should be sure that she creates accommodations for the children. When you know that a learner has special requirements. Adjustments must be created to contain them in the everyday activities of the classroom. The initial stage in…

    • 1255 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Good Essays

    In contrast to much of the mainsteam of America, as ESL professionals, teachers are trained…

    • 973 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Statistics

    • 10639 Words
    • 43 Pages

    More and more teachers find themselves teaching students from increasingly diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds. In a recent report (National Center for Education Statistics, 2002), 42% of the teachers surveyed indicated that they had English Language Learners (ELLs) in their classroom, but only 12.5% of these teachers had received more than eight hours of professional development specifically related to ELLs (NCES, 2002). The significant achievement gap between language minority and language majority students (Moss & Puma, 1995), along with an educational climate that encourages inclusionary practices rather than separate, specialized programs, make it imperative that teacher preparation programs examine the knowledge, skills, and dispositions that mainstream teachers need to develop in order to work effectively with both ELLs and fluent Ester J. de Jong and English speakers (Echevarria, Vogt, & Short, 2004). Candace A. Harper are The purpose of this article is to present a frameprofessors in the School work that identifies areas of expertise necessary for of Teaching and mainstream teachers to be prepared to teach in classLearning of the College rooms with native and non-native English speakers. of Education at the Currently, explicit attention to the linguistic and University of Florida, cultural needs of ELLs is lacking in most teacher Gainesville, Florida. 101…

    • 10639 Words
    • 43 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The number of ESL students in U.S. public schools has almost tripled over the last decade (Goldenberg, 2006). In 2004 Crawford observed that one-fourth of the school-age students in the United States were from homes where a language other than English was spoken. The school-age population (K–12) will reach about 40% ESL in about 20 years (Center for Research on Education, Diversity, and Excellence, 2002). Between 1990 and 2000, the number of Spanish speakers increased from about 20 to 31 million (U.S. Census Bureau, 2001). The Census Bureau report also showed a significant increase in the number of speakers from other linguistic groups, particularly Chinese and Russian. Individuals at all ages enter school to learn the English skills they need to learn, gain employment and participate in society. Planning for their…

    • 4939 Words
    • 20 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Learners from different background and surroundings have different perceptions towards learning English. Their surroundings contribute to their more or less of understanding of towards English language learning. From urban to rural settings, most schools are in charge for educating English language to students. In relation to that matter, teachers of English language in schools are also facing several difficulties in teaching English in the classroom.…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Regardless of where you teach in the California and the United States as a whole, chances are you have a handful of students for whom English is not their native language. In many schools, classrooms are predominantly English Language Learners (ELL). For many ELL students, school can represent a challenging daily task. The inability to communicate in their native language and expectations for academic success add additional pressures to their adolescent lives.…

    • 1811 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Garnerd

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages

    native language, and perhaps other languages, to express what’s on your mind and to understand other people. These learners have highly developed auditory skills and often think in words. They like reading, playing word games, making up poetry or stories. They can be taught by encouraging them to say and see words, read books together. Tools include computers, games, multimedia, books, tape recorders, and lecture. The can become…

    • 1210 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    References: Canagarajah, A.S. (1999). Interrogating the “native speaker fallacy”: Non-linguistic roots, non-pedagogical results. In B. Braine (Ed.), Non-native educators in English language teaching (pp. 77-92). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.…

    • 6182 Words
    • 17 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    English is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world and, because it is the preferred language for international commerce, English as a Second Language (ESL) schools exist in most industrialized countries. Even though English grammar is part of the high school curriculum in many countries, many nonnative speakers need extra training to be able to communicate effectively.…

    • 2801 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    English is spoken as an official language in the world. Therefore, many international students come to America to study English. Because Hawaii does not have a serious racism problem, many Asians choose Hawaii for study abroad. Kapiolani Community College has many international students. Those international students have to take the same courses as native English speakers to get a college degree. International students should get some advantages because they are ESL students. However, some teachers have a same expectations of non-native speakers as native speaking students.…

    • 654 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The understanding of the native speakers' language is the international problem for our people. Our secondary schools teach the students only the bases of the English language. Our universities do not prepare them to the British streets, accommodations, pubs where people use their own language, the language that differs from that of their parents. They use other words- they use slang. None of the most advanced and flexible ways of teaching English of any country can catch modern quickly developing English.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    As Wenden (1985) reminds us, there is an old proverb which states: “Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach him how to fish and he eats for a lifetime”. Applied to the language teaching and learning field, this proverb might be interpreted to mean that if students are provided with answers, the immediate problem is solved. But if they are taught the strategies to work out the answers for themselves, they are empowered to manage their own learning. Teacher factor is important in increasing the interest of the students in the English language. They give motivation to the students for them to acquire English language easily…

    • 2849 Words
    • 12 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Since the role of English as a language of international communication has been widespread quickly…

    • 2461 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Better Essays