How TESOL Professionals Educate Nonnative English-Speaking Teachers

This paper reports the results of a survey of California TESOL educators about issues related to nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs). A good deal of research suggests that NNESTs are as effective, if not more so, than native Englishspeaking teachers (NESTs) and that their treatment in today’s work world should be reconsidered; in addition, much research has interrogated the “native/nonnative” dichotomy itself, that is, whether we should or even can believe in “native speakers” and “nonnative speakers” of English. What seems to be missing, however, is a discussion of what graduate TESOL educators should be doing with nonnative English-speaking master’s students, how they already interact with them, and if and how they treat them in any way “differently.” The survey, conducted by 2 professors in a MA TESOL program, asked TESOL educators in California about how they work with and teach future teachers of ESL or EFL who are both native speakers and nonnative speakers.