Research into Teachers’ (Dis)Respect for Learners: A Cross-Cultural Study of English Language Teachers’ and Learners’ Perceptions

A safe learning context begins with teachers-students respectful interaction. This qualitative study drawing on the premises of grounded theory (GT) examined native and nonnative English language teachers’ and learners’ (n = 114) perceptions of teachers’ (dis)respect for learners. Content analysis of focus groups and online interviews revealed three overarching themes: (1) teachers’ interpersonal characteristics, (2) teachers’ insightfulness, and (3) teachers’ occupational attributes. Overall, 14 subthemes emerged. An important finding was that politeness, learners’ self-esteem, and care were the most recurrent subthemes, respectively, raised by all four groups of nonnative teachers (NNTs), nonnative learners (NNLs), native teachers (NTs), and native learners (NLs). Moreover, politeness, care, learners’ self-esteem, dedication, and interest were the five culture-general components of teachers’ (dis)respect for learners because they were mentioned by both natives and nonnatives. Conversely, other subthemes could be considered as culture-specific components because they were raised by either natives (fairness, encouragement, appreciativeness, kindness, punctuality, and learners’ freedom) or nonnatives (helpfulness, patience, and learners’ individuality). Furthermore, the three above-mentioned themes were common to all participants. Therefore, given this diversity within universality, we proposed a cross-cultural model of teachers’ (dis)respect. The pedagogical implications are discussed.

Translingual transcultural competence: student agency, teacher guidance, and program support

An increasingly interconnected world requires people to become versatile communicators in a variety of different settings. Language centers have a critical role to play in this process by offering language and culture training in multiple languages to students, professionals and the wider community alike. They may do so from the perspective of developing plurilingual pluricultural competence, translingual transcultural competence or intercultural communicative competence and intercultural citizenship. This paper takes as its framework translingual transcultural competence, which not only reflects the current trend of transnationalism and diasporic communities, but also emphasizes the need to be critically aware, culturally reflective and socially sensitive. In order to better understand affordances and challenges in developing this competence, or set of competences, the author surveyed and interviewed students and teachers at one university-affiliated language center offering 30 languages besides German as the main language of study. Students at all proficiency levels as well as native and non-native teachers of the language taught were included in the study. Whereas the student survey investigated awareness and attitude, identity and community as well as the autonomy and agency of students in the program, teacher interviews provided insights into program parameters, classroom pedagogy and out-of-class projects. Findings from the study indicate a strong foundation in multicompetence thinking with some challenges in developing the transcultural component.

Predictors of Teachers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching EFL: An Examination of “Nativeness” and Teachers’ Training

The study aimed to establish the link between teacher training and “nativeness” on teachers’ self-efficacy in teaching English as a second language. By applying a teacher’s sense of efficacy scale, we measured the self-efficacy of a total of 281 foreign teachers in Chengdu, China. We adopted MANOVA and tested the influence of “nativeness” and teachers’ training on teachers’ self-efficacy. Our analysis shows that while being a native speaker does not necessarily influence a teacher’s self-efficacy, trained teachers have higher self-efficacy than untrained teachers. Thus, the current study lends credence to the view that language proficiency should not be allied with being a language teacher. Instead, educational administrators and policymakers should focus on language teachers’ professional development rather than emphasizing the native/non-native teachers’ distinction.

Students’ perceptions towards native and non-native english speaker teachers

There was an argument that native English teachers have many advantages than non-native English teachers and students preferred native to non-native teachers; however, the argument had to be assessed. Many researchers had been exploring students’ perceptions of native and non-native English teachers worldwide in formal education institutions. This study aimed to explore students’ perceptions of native and non-native English teachers in a non-formal education institution. This was a qualitative study based on a descriptive approach conducted using three instruments: close-ended questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and documentation. The study revealed that native and non-native English teachers had their own specific roles in the Indonesian context. Students needed native more than non-native teachers because the latter were bilingual having the same mother tongue as them, and they enabled a successful learning process because of the effective learning strategies they shared. Also, non-native teachers helped students deal with difficulties and challenges in their learning process.

A Comparative Study of the Motivations to Teach Chinese Between Native and Non-native Pre-service CSL/CFL Teachers

The present study compared the motivations to teach Chinese between native and nonnative pre-service teachers of Chinese as a second/foreign language (CSL/CFL). The participants included 325 native and 325 non-native Chinese-speaking pre-service CSL/CFL teachers registered in the Masters in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) programs; the teachers were asked to complete a 24-item questionnaire. Two major findings emerged. First, a similar six-factor teacher motivation was observed for both the native and non-native teachers. Second, the two groups showed non-significant differences in their ratings of the importance of cross-cultural value, intrinsic value, altruistic value, and fallback career choice as types of motivation but differed significantly in their ratings of extrinsic value and social influence. These results highlight the differences and similarities in the motivation of the second language teacher and offer insights into the variables at different levels that might influence the motivation of the second language teacher. Teacher motivation is advised to be taken into account in the training and administration of CSL/CFL teachers to alleviate the problems of teacher shortage outside China.

La interculturalidad del español: corrección y adecuación de saludos y direcciones en la evaluación de profesores nativos

This research aims to investigate the presence in textbooks of varied material in terms of geolectal equivalents and its perception by teachers of Spanish as a foreign language. In order to examine potential differences in their approach, a pedagogical framework-based task was designed to study a corpus of 100 ELE teachers’ evaluations (50 from Colombia and 50 from Spain) and examine their consciousness and dissimilarities regarding pragmatic correctness when expressing addresses and greeting headings in electronic messages. The results show that native teachers tend to consider as correct the stimuli of peninsular Spanish or of their own variety, while those representing different geolectal variations of Spanish tend to score very low, even being considered as inter or intralinguistic error.

Non-Native Teachers Investigating New Englishes

While teacher-as-methodology-researcher paradigm in the area of methodology is quite firmly established, teacher-as-language-researcher is less common, especially in teacher training programmes. Much less emphasis is placed on equipping teachers (especially non-natives) with skills of language analysis, hypothesis posing, data retrieval and analysis. The use of ready-made language corpora in preparing classroom data and creating materials is still inadequately covered in teacher training programmes, let alone putting future teachers in the shoes of linguistic researchers observing the changing face of English. The purpose of this paper is to present a case for promoting teacher-as-language-researcher attitudes in the graduate teacher training programme. A case study is presented, in which student teachers were gradually introduced into New Englishes, through existing corpora, text retrieval and compilation, and — finally — do-it-yourself concordancing. The data from questionnaires and teacher diaries will illuminate upon the viability of self-made corpus compilations as a part of 21st century digital literacy.

A Study on Communication Breakdowns between Native and Non-native Speakers in English Speaking Classes

English majored students have a positive influence on intercultural awareness in learning a foreign language. In their classes, they are often asked to discuss some academic matters in British cultural beliefs. Although they have a high level of proficiency in English communication, there often encountered misunderstandings between them when they interpret things or present academic matters. As a result, students cannot achieve plurilingual and pluricultural competence in the course. This paper was conducted to investigate communication problems between Vietnamese learners of English and Native teachers at HUFI. The data were collected from 28 participants who are third-year students and four different lecturers from different countries. The findings revealed that sources were mainly clustered for the following reasons: perceptual and language differences, information overload, inattention time pressures, distraction/noise emotions, complexity in organizational structure, and poor retention. The perceptual and language differences, information overload, and emotions were mainly responsible for the quality of communication. This paper can help students engage in awareness-raising activities that promote understanding in some contacts and discussions.

Effectiveness of English –Speaking Foreign Teachers from the Learners’ Perspective at Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry

Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry (HUFI) is gradually reforming and updating English teaching methods to enhance the learners’ quality. Within this context, foreign teachers are required to teach in English speaking classes with the assistance and observation of native teachers. This study developed factors that foreign teacher influencing the learner’s favour with English. An online google form questionnaire was conducted on participants called students at HUFI. The respondents answer an open-ended questionnaire. The results will benefit English-speaking-foreign teachers (ESFTs) in terms of realizing their strengths and weaknesses. This study aimed to develop solutions to minimize disadvantageous factors and maximize benefits to motivate students toward learning English in classes with foreign teachers.

An Investigation into Factors Affecting Hufi Students Poor English Performance: A Case Study of Non-English Major Third-Year Students at Ho Chi Minh University of Food Industry

It is undeniable that most students learning English as a foreign language at universities face many problems. This study was conducted to explore some reasons that impact HUFI students low English Learning. The subjects of this quantitative research were the third-year students in two classes—each respondent listed 10 reasons why students are poor in English performance. The study's findings revealed some primary factors, including firstly, the majority students stated that they were not confident enough to use English in class because of shyness and concern about making mistakes. Second, students lack fundamental knowledge and skills. Third, students do not have opportunities to practise English with native teachers because of big size classes. Fourth, students are not satisfied with some teachers’ teaching methods. Last but not least, students are not well-motivated, encouraged and instructed to apply some effective learning strategies.