As discussed an increase in awareness of World English does not influence preference for NES or NNES teachers (Choi, 2007; Jin, 2005). Although teacher preferences essentially remained the same in pre and pos, the responses paint a complex picture that is often not considered in the discussion of World English . For example, Kirkpatrick states advantages and disadvantages for exonormative and endonormative models of English with regard to native and non-native teachers and as summarized in Table 7.1.
Table 7.1: Advantages and disadvantages of NS and NNS teachers (Kirkpatrick, 2007, pp. 184-193).
Teacher Advantages
Native Speaker • First hand knowledge of culture and language can prepare students who want to visit inner circle countries
Teacher Disadvantages
• High demand leading to hiring of inadequately trained NETS
• Makes students feel that English is unattainable if the goal is achieving NS norms.
Non-Native Speaker Disadvantages
• Have first hand experience in learning the language they are teaching.
• Familiar with educational, social, and cultural norms of their students and education system
Non-Native Speaker advantages
• Self-confidence and value are undermined in an exonormative
model.
Although Kirkpatrick’s points are true, they are incomplete and may serve to further a dichotomy between native and non-native teachers. As outlined in Section, a majority of respondents indicated that their preference for NS or NNS teacher depended on the circumstances. Some stated that NNS teachers were preferable for test preparation courses such as TOEIC or grammar, while NS teachers were preferable for conversation, speaking, and listening. Others contend that they have had positive and negative experiences with both NS and NNS teachers, and thus were more concerned with the teacher’s ability than anything else. The second largest group of respondents selected NS teachers as their preferred choice. Some of their responses reflect the advantages shown in Table 7.1. Other responses reflect participants’
beliefs of inner circle countries as being the sole authority of English. A small percentage of respondents opted for NNS teachers for the reasons shown in Table 7.1. Therefore, widely held views by academics regarding the advantages and disadvantages of exonormative and endonormative models may not fully reflect the views of the communities of which they study.
