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 English-speaking 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. Adapted from the source document