Job Discussion Forums

[Ger]

My argument to the woman who offered you a low salary because you are not a native-speaking English person is that English is the lingua franca (i.e., a medium of communication between peoples of different languages) therefore a Chinese person from Beijing speaking in English with someone from Korea, Japan, India, amongst other places, needs practice learning English from a teacher from Poland. Tell her that she should pay you more than she pays others because the likelihood of her students speaking English with non-native-English-speakers is greater than it is with them doing business with native-English speakers!!

[Syndrome057]

Me thinks someone owes us an email addy........

Come on guys... this could be a fun little exercise! Have your older students participate in the madness..... post results, etc.

Safari

[Nauczyciel]

Ger,

I appreciate your comment, but don�t agree with it. What I think doesn�t hold water in your post (though I am grateful for your good intentions) is that it suggests that English spoken by non-native speakers is doomed to be different (=worse) from that of native speakers. It�s better to have non-native EFL teachers, which will make it easier for students to communicate with other non-native speakers. Well, I don�t subscribe to this point of view, because it implies that English spoken by Koreans, Poles, Swedes or Arabs is more less the same. I am aware of the fact that the number of non-native speakers of English outweighs that of native speakers, so the chances of e.g. me talking to a non-native are high in comparison with the chances of talking to a native (that�s a fact of life � in Poland I�m working or used to work with an Indian, Kenyan, Israeli, Spaniard, Poles and only one Londoner). It doesn�t mean though that it�s good to go ahead and create a world where non-natives learn English from other non-natives having no contact at all with native or native-like English! Do you want more versions of Chinglish? Well, I don�t. And although I believe that students should have contact with more than just so-called standard accent, I think that they must have sort of exemplar which they could resort to and which they could strive for. If they get stuck in the maze of non-native Englishes, the very aim of language education, that is communication, will be lost. Having no frame of reference, non-native speakers of English from around the world will in the end stop being able to communicate even among themselves.

[Ger]

Nauczyciel

Figuratively speaking, I gave you an emerald with diamonds, and you told me that my intentions were good, but the gift is "doomed" to be useless compared with ready cash. If my analogy is flawed tell me won't you.

[Nauczyciel]

From my point of view, your analogy has nothing to do with my reasoning. I used to share the idea that "non-nativespeakerness" is a virtue just because students are more likely to speak to other non-native speakers than to born Americans, Brits etc. Now I think it's wrong and I would never use it trying to persuade any employer to hire me. What I do believe is a strength of non-natives is that we experienced it personally what it feels like to learn English and thus we can sympathize with our students' needs a little bit better than native speakers (it's a very general statement). Besides that, we have to put a lot of effort to actually draw level with native speakers. I've had non-native teachers as well as native ones and I am sure I wouldn't do better having been taught exclusively by non-native English teachers.

Is the above flawed?