i
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD NATIVE AND NON
NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
OF SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Nurul Utami
112009088
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
i
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD NATIVE AND NON
NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
OF SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Nurul Utami
112009088
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
FACULTY OF LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE
SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
ii
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD NATIVE AND NON
NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT
OF SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
THESIS
Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of
Sarjana Pendidikan
Nurul Utami
112009088
iii
COPYRIGHT STATEMENT
This thesis contains no such materials as has been submitted for examination in any course or accepted for the fulfillment of any degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and my belief, this contains no materials previously published or written by any other persons except where due reference in made in the text.
Copyright@2013. Nurul Utami and Prof. Dr. Gusti Astika, M. A.
All rights reserved. No part of this thesis may be reproduced by any means without the permission of at least one of the copyright owners or the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
iv
PUBLICATION AGREEMENT DECLARATION
As a member of the Satya Wacana Christian University academic community, I verify that:
Name : Nurul Utami
Student ID Number : 112009088
Study Program : English Department
Faculty : Faculty of Language and Literature
Kind of Work : Undergraduate Thesis
In developing my knowledge, I agree to provide Satya Wacana Christian University with a non-exclusive royalty free right for my intellectual property and the contents therein entitled:
STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS TOWARD NATIVE AND NON NATIVE ENGLISH TEACHERS IN ENGLISH DEPARTMENT OF SATYA WACANA CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY
along with any pertinent equipment.
With this non-exclusive royalty free right, Satya Wacana Christian University maintains the right to copy, reproduce, print, publish, post, display, incorporate, store in or scan into a retrieval system or database, transmit, broadcast, barter, or sell my intellectual property, in whole or in part without my express written permission, as long as my name is still included as the writer.
This declaration is made according to the best of my knowledge.
Made in : Salatiga
Date : 26 Juni 2013
Verified by signee,
Nurul Utami
1
While the majority of English teachers in ELT are non native English teachers, there is a controversial issue that the best teacher of English is a native speaker with the belief in the superiority in language proficiency and competency. More specifically, a total number of non native English teachers are greater than native English teachers in EFL context. This study examined students’ perceptions towards native and non native English teachers in English Department of Satya Wacana University. The findings revealed favorable perception towards both native and non native English teachers. Overall the students did not show significant preferences that favored native English teachers over non native English teachers regarding the five aspects of language teaching: (1) competence in the target language, (2) competence in teaching language skill, (3) cultural aspects, (4) personal aspects, and (5) classroom atmosphere. Despite of that, they realized that both native and non native English teachers had their own strengths even in equal proportion.
Key words: Native-speaker teachers (NS), Non-native speaker teachers (NNS), Students’ perception.
INTRODUCTION
Background of the study
2 than non native speaker teachers. Likewise Canagarajah (1999) believes that “according to which native speakers of English are automatically the best teachers of the language”. Whatever the view adopted on the topic, it remains incontrovertible that the native-nonnative issue still arises tremendous interest in the field of ELT. And, although, numerous studies have been conducted into the matter, few have focused on the perceptions of teachers and students themselves (Moussu, 2000).
3 teachers who use interesting and varied teaching methods, they are not preferred as their grammar teachers. On the other hand, non native English teachers are preferred by students as their grammar teachers who show care for their students, but are perceived to use mundane teaching methods. It is noteworthy that the results of the study also draw attention to the range and diversity of comments made by students about native and non native English teachers, thereby underscoring the complexities of the issues surrounding non native English teachers. From those findings, we can see that issue of native and non native English teachers is still unsteady, indeed can be said contradictory to support the common perception that native English speakers are better teachers than non native English teachers.
4 question to be answered was: “What are students’ perceptions toward native and non native English teachers in English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University?”
LITERATURE REVIEW
English as a global language
5 English education has become important and popular in Indonesia. It has growing number of schools range from kindergarten to university level which use English as the medium of instruction (Dardjowidjojo, 2002, as cited in Zacharias, 2006, p.48). It is not surprising fact since the government have supported the development of English education. In 1994, the Ministry of Education embedded ELT from grade four of elementary level in public schools in the new curriculum. Also, the number of English courses rapidly increases as a result of high interest of people in learning English. English is viewed by many people in Indonesia, for instance, as a requirement imposed by globalization (Zacharias, 2006; Yuwono, 2005). In addition, as proposed by Diah (1982), English in Indonesia is also used as an international medium of communication, science and technology and is used as sources for lexical development of Bahasa Indonesia as a modern language (as cited in Lowenberg, 1991, p.26).
Native and Non Native Teachers
6 other words, people can be said as native speakers depending on the first language they learnt when they started to learn how to speak - when they were children to be precise.
Another view about the definition of native speaker is explained by Kramsch (1993) as cited in Sung (2010), the native speaker status is determined by ‘acceptance by the group that created the distinction between native and non native speakers’. Within this definition, marking a person as a native speaker is supposed to be changeable depending on the people agreement around them. At this point, a group of people can be able to have different agreement to others to decide a person as a native speaker. Lastly, Mahboob (2005) gives another explanation related to native speaker definition that native English speakers are seen as “white people” who are born and raised in the Inner Circle countries, such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada. This definition seems to be generalized to all white people were born and raised in inner countries must be native speakers without considering about the language use itself. Since language is dynamic, it is possible for some of them not to use the real English language. On the whole, those descriptions of native and non native English teachers are still difficult to be well-defined because they implicitly do not even engage in similar understanding. For the same reason, Sung noted (2010) that it is problematic to define who is a native speaker and who is not.
Strength and Weakness of Native and Non Native Teachers
7 on the distinctive characteristics between native and non native English teachers to reveal their advantages and disadvantages.
8 Finally, foreign teachers are flexible in evaluating students’ performance. Sometimes, the evaluation has no fixed criteria (Li, 2005; Wu, Shao & Wang, 2005).
Regarding the advantages of non native English teachers, it can be said that the disadvantages of non native English teachers will be placed in the advantages of non native English teachers. As an illustration, a limited knowledge of students’ background seeing as native English teachers’ disadvantage can be the advantage for non native English teachers. McKay (2002) strongly argued that strength of non native teachers as bilingual teachers need to be recognized in English teaching, particularly their familiarity with the local culture. Seidlhofer (1999) also supported this argument as he found the main advantage of being non native English teachers is that they share their students’ L1, their confidence based on the shared language and culture with their students even though it is coupled with a lack of confidence they have about themselves as speakers of English. To this end, non native English teachers also receive their disadvantages. Another disadvantage of non native English teachers is non native teachers’ limited knowledge of English caused to favor isolated practice of linguistic elements or in poor linguistic contexts (Barrios, 2002:48). Apparently, that limitation is not occurring continuously unless the non native English teachers had stopped learning to the target language.
The Existence of Native and Non Native Teachers in ELT
9 environment. While the majority of English teachers around the world are non native speakers, numerous cases of discrimination against nonnative Englishteachers have been reported in the literature (Braine, 1999). In addition, Sung (2010) said that despite the vast number of non native teachers of English in the world, numerous cases of discrimination against non native English teachers have been reported, especially in employment (e.g. Braine, 1999) and native English teachers are preferred over non native English teachers when employment decisions are to be made. Since English language is a foreign language in Indonesia, it means non native English teachers are major group of English language teachers here. Therefore, it can be worrying if their opportunity to present and apply their competence in teaching English distracted by discrimination in employment acceptance.
10 is not the main requirement of achievement in teaching language competence. However some students in ELT do not aware about there is the same chance for native and non native English teachers to be ideal language teachers since sometimes they have their own perceptions toward their language teacher. Sometimes it is only based on the prejudice to native and non native speaker teachers which formed in students’ perception. Therefore, a commonly used excuse for the discrimination against non native English teachers is that students prefer to be taught by native speakers (Braine, 1999). From that statement, it is clear that students’ perception could influence the existence of non native speaker teachers in teaching environment especially their existence in language classroom.
Similar Studies
11 perceptions toward their native and non native English teachers since their perceptions do not only allow the non native speaker teachers with little acceptance in teaching employment but also contribute to their achievement in language learning. Some studies have focused on students’ perceptions towards non native and native teachers. Xiaoru (2008) found that since Chinese learners learn English as a foreign language and lack the opportunity to be exposed to the target language, the prevailing conviction among language learners is that the best teacher of English is a native speaker with the belief in the superiority in language proficiency and competency. However, more and more research shows that nonnative English speaker teachers have certain advantages by being able to anticipate their students since they went through the process of acquiring the foreign language themselves problems and empathize with difficulties, since they went through the process of acquiring the foreign language them selves. As found by Liu and Zhang (2007), the students perceive both native English teachers and native English teachers hardworking and competent. However students believe that their foreign teachers are more flexible than the Chinese teachers in evaluating the students’ achievement. With regard to the teaching results, the students believe they benefit more from courses taught by Chinese teachers as non native English teachers.
13 1992). Thus, it would be hard to conclude that this result provides counter-evidence against a common belief that native English teachers are better equipped in terms of target culture knowledge and the teaching of it.
Based on the discussion above, this study was conducted to answer this following research question: “What are students’ perceptions toward native and non native English teachers?” More specifically, the present study was designed to describe students’ perception towards native and non native English teachers in English Department of Satya Wacana Christian University and how they perceive native and non native English teachers’ differences in language learning.
14 THE STUDY
Context of the study
The setting of the study was in Satya Wacana Christian University. It is located in the small town of Salatiga, Central Java, Indonesia. Moreover English Department students in that university were the subject of this study. English Department employs both native and non native speakers as teachers, so the students in this faculty have the experience being taught by both native and non native teachers and would be able to provide some insights about their ideas related to native and non native teacher.
Participants of the study
15 Research Instrument
16 Data Collection
The questionnaire underwent piloting to explore the potential problems that might exist such as questions that might be confusing or difficult to understand. The piloting was done before distributing the questionnaire to the participants of the study. The piloting involved approximately ¼ of the total participant; 10 students. After that, the result of the piloting was used to revise some questions of the questionnaire. For example I changed the questions that tended to be omitted or left unanswered by the participants. This piloting was done to make sure that all of the questions in the questionnaire were understandable.
To collect the data, I met the participants one by one in English Department building since they spent most their time to study here. Before I gave the questionnaire, I asked them whether they had ever been taught by a native teacher or not. If they answered they had not, I left them and found other participants. If they said they had, I asked for their willingness to fill in the questionnaire. After I knew that they were willing to fill in the questionnaire, I distributed the questionnaire then asked them to fill out it. I would wait for them to fill the questionnaire then collected it soon as they had finished.
Data Analysis
17 each item. And then I changed them into percentage to see how many participants selected each option, and then put the results in a table based on the categories. The last step was to put them in figures.
FINDING AND DISCUSSION
This research used a descriptive method. Therefore, the data used for this research were from the result of a questionnaire. The following results were based on the questionnaire. There were five categorizations of the findings on students’ perceptions; (1) competence in the target language, (2) competence in teaching language skill, (3) cultural aspects, (4) personal aspects, and (5) classroom atmosphere.
Competence in the target language
Students were asked to respond to two items regarding their perceptions about their native and non native English teacher’s competence in the target language. More specifically, they were asked to what degree they thought their teacher was a fluent English speaker (Item 1) and their teacher was their ideal model for English pronunciation (Item 2).
18 that more students who agreed that native English teachers had competence in the target language regarding those two items; a fluent English teacher and an ideal model for English pronunciation.
Figure 1. Competence in the target language
19 speaking (64.5%) indicates a high proficiency in English and ability to use English functionally are the strengths observed in native speaker teachers.
I think it was not surprising results that the native English teachers had greater strength in fluency and pronunciation compared with the non native English teachers. The reason is native English teachers do not only use English language as the target language in language classroom, but also use English language as their mother tongue. From this point, they have more and more opportunity to use English to communicate more frequently compared with non native English teachers. As we know that the more we use a language orally, the more fluent we will be. To illustrate, if we master a language but we seldom use it orally, it will reduce our fluency in that language. Sometimes it makes us difficult to speak appropriately what are in our mind even though we have already known what they are. In sum, this is a challenge for non native English teachers since they have less opportunity to use the target language orally compared to native English teachers. Hence they need to create that opportunity by themselves to use the target language orally through practice it continuously to maximize frequency of the target language usage.
Competence in teaching language skill
20 (e.g., speaking listening well (Item4), teach reading well (Item 5), explain vocabulary effectively and without difficulty (Item 6), and are able to answer their questions (Item 7).
As shown in Figure 2 that 85% (64%+21%) students agreed that non native English teachers had competence in teaching language skill. Furthermore 88.6% (57%+31.6%) agreed that native English teachers had competence in teaching language skill. From the results, there were no significant differences of perceptions toward native and non native English teachers related to their competence in teaching language skill regarding those five items.
22 Cultural aspects
Students were asked to respond to two items regarding their perceptions about their native and non native non native English teacher’s cultural aspects. More specifically, they were asked to what degree they thought their native and non native teacher was knowledgeable about the culture of English speaking countries (Item8) and often provided cultural information of English speaking countries in class (Item 9).
It can be seen in Figure 3 that 65% (58%+7%) students agreed that non native English teachers had knowledge of the target culture and competence in teaching it. Moreover 89% (42.5%+46.5%) students agreed that native English teachers provided cultural aspects in language teaching. Based on those results, there is a significant difference related to cultural aspects taught in language classroom by native and non native teachers. It can be concluded that non native English teachers provide less cultural information in language teaching rather than native teachers.
24 For that reason, it is easier for the native English teachers to reveal and explain cultural information related to context of the language. It is important for students to know about it since language context can affect language meaning.
Personal aspects
Students were asked to respond to four items regarding their perceptions about their native and non native English teacher’s personal aspects. More specifically, they were asked to what degree they thought their native and non native English teacher they feel comfortable talking with the respective teachers (Item10), the respective teachers often used Indonesian language in class (Item 11), the respective teachers’ English learning experience was helpful for their English learning (Item 12), and they want to be as good as their respective teachers in English (Item 13).
25 Figure 4. Personal aspects
26 I agree that non native English teachers had higher preference in personal aspects compared to native English teachers. That is because the non native English teachers have experienced language learning through the same way like the students; that is in the classroom not in the real world. They know which part worked and which one did not work in that language learning since they have experienced a process of trial and error in the same way. Hence they could share and give suitable advice for students. They also realize and understand students’ difficulties in learning the target language since they experienced the same difficulties in the past. Likewise they know how to guide students to construct the new understanding of the context of the target language since it is definitily different from their current understanding of their L1. From this situation, it is easier for the non native English teachers to guide the students put the new understanding after the current one by using their L1 and illustrate it in their L1 context.
Classroom atmosphere
Students were asked to respond to two items regarding their perceptions about classroom atmosphere in their native and non native teachers. More specifically, they were asked to what degree they thought they were expected to be attentive (Item14), and the class atmosphere tended to be quite flexible (Item 15).
27 the students agreed that students were expected to be attentive and the class atmosphere tended to be quite flexible on native teachers. From those results, we can see that there were no significant different results concerning classroom atmosphere in native and non native English teachers’ classroom.
Figure 5. Classroom atmosphere
29 CONCLUSION
The present study examined perceptions of English Department students of Satya Wacana Christian University toward native and non native English teachers with respect to five aspects of language teaching: (1) competence in the target language, (2) competence in teaching language skill, (3) cultural aspects, (4) personal aspects, and (5) classroom atmosphere. On the whole, the results of the study revealed that students did not necessarily prefer native English teachers over non native English teachers based on the previous aspects of language teaching. It was equal value of the results about students’ perceptions toward their native and non native English teachers’ strengths related to competence in teaching language skill and classroom atmosphere. It was also found that students thought their native English teachers were more competence in cultural aspects of the target language with very high percentage compared to non native English teachers. Moreover they had competence the target language close to non native English teachers. Lastly, the study showed that students recognized their native English teachers as having strengths in personal aspects with high preference. In general, the students did not necessarily prefer native over non native English teachers.
30 be considered inferior to native English teachers. Indeed, Davies (1991) suggested “The native speaker is a fine myth: we need it as a model, a goal, almost an inspiration. But it is useless as a measure”. As stated by Zacharias (2006), due to the fact that there is no satisfactory definitions and characterization of the term ‘native speaker’, the goal of English language teaching to achieve native-like competence is no longer relevant. In short, there is no urgent need to compare their differences in ELT. Nonetheless, the common belief of native speaker teachers superiority still exists even in the literature that discusses their differences with the non native English teachers. Zacharias (2006) added that despite all the arguments against the concept “native speaker”, it is still widely believed that nativeness is an important, if not the most important, quality of teachers of English. This is what is referred to as ‘native speaker fallacy’: “according to which native speakers of English are automatically the best teachers of the language” (Canagarajah, 1999). Absolutely there is no more reason for using students’ preference to support native speaker superiority as ‘native speaker fallacy’ while there are some researches showing favorable perceptions toward both native and non native English teachers – even they do not necessarily prefer native over non native English teachers.
32 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
33 REFERENCES
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37 APPENDIX
Questinnaire
Dear Colleagues,
I need your help to be my participants in conducting a study about Students’ Perceptions towards Native and Non Native English Teachers. Please kindly spare a few minutes of your time to fill out this questionnaire. Your answers will not influence your grade. Thank you for your cooperation.
NIM :
PART I
Read each statement concerning how you feel about the class(es) with your Indonesian teacher of English. Please circle the number that best describes the degree of your agreement with each statement. Please refer to the below box in order to know the level of agreement that each number represents.
1 = Strongly Disagree (SD) 2 = Disagree (D)
3 = Agree (A) 4 = Strongly Agree (SA)
I think: SD D A SA
1. My Indonesian teacher of English is a fluent
speaker of English. 1 2 3 4 2. My Indonesian teacher of English is my ideal
model for pronunciation.
4. My Indonesian teacher of English teaches oral skills (e.g, speaking, listening) well.
1 2 3 4
5. My Indonesian teacher of English teaches reading well.
38
8. My Indonesian teacher is knowledgeable about the cultures of English speaking countries.
11. My Indonesian teacher of English often uses Indonesian language in class.
13. I want to be as good as my Indonesian teacher in English.
1 2 3 4
14. I am expected to be attentive in my Indonesian teacher's English class.
1 2 3 4 15. The class atmosphere tends to be quite
flexible in my Indonesian teacher of English class.
39
1. My native English-speaking teacher is a fluent
speaker of English. 1 2 3 4 2. My native English-speaking is my ideal model for
pronunciation. teacher is able to answer the students‘ questions.
1 2 3 4
10. I feel comfortable talking with my native English-speaking teacher.
40 11. My native English-speaking teacher often
uses Indonesian language in class.
1 2 3 4 12. My native English-speaking teacher's
English learning experience/know-how is helpful for my English learning.
1 2 3 4
13. I want to be as good as my native English- speaking teacher in English.
1 2 3 4
14. I am expected to be attentive in my native English-speaking teacher‘s class.
1 2 3 4 15. The class atmosphere tends to be quite
flexible in my native English-speaking teacher‘s class.
