selah comments

Posted in: Ideally, should English teachers at schools in Japan be native speakers? Can non-native English speakers do just as well or better? See in context

I agree with Cleo's statements. I feel that teachers - especially at the "beginner" levels of a language - are best when they're non-native speakers of that language. Fluent, but not native. Here's why:

I studied Japanese with two professors. One was a native speaker and was excellent at teaching the pronunciations, but wasn't fluent in English and couldn't answer a lot of my questions. When I wanted to ask "Why do they do this?" the answer basically came down to "because that's how it is". But the other was an American who had lived in Japan for 10 years (he was fluent in Japanese), and he was one of the best professors I ever had because he would stop to explain why something was the way it was, from the perspective of an English speaker. He knew all those answers.

My French studies were under native speakers only, but I feel the same way. I struggled with the comprehension a bit, but since the pronunciation is such an integral part of meaning in that language, having a native-speaking French professor was a necessity. My native-Japanese teacher was wonderful at teaching us correct usage and pronunciation, and I liked that a lot, but my comprehension of the language didn't open up till I studied under the non-native speaker.

So if you have levels of the language, my opinion is that a non-native speaker who has studied another foreign language and knows how to answer the "why"s is best for the lower levels, where you're learning vocabulary and how to navigate the language. Naturally they do need to be fluent in that language though, because you don't want to run into problems with students learning things wrong and having to be retaught later. But higher levels benefit more from someone who was born in that language/culture, who can fine-tune pronunciation, be more strict with saying things correctly, and turn out students who comprehend both the mechanics AND the meaning.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Recent Comments

Popular

Articles, Offers & Useful Resources

A mix of what's trending on our other sites


©2024 GPlusMedia Inc.