Non Native English

While some non-native English speaking teachers are turned away from a teaching position in an ESL classroom, other schools refuse to hire native speakers. It would appear there is still prejudice concerning language teaching. However, taking the fact that children are more perceptive to language learning at a younger age into account, I will argue that non-native speakers of English are more qualified to teach the English language in an ESL classroom in middle and high school than native speakers are, but they are equally qualified in a university education.

Often people have skewed ideas of what teaching the English language entails, which is where the prejudice against non-native speakers comes from. An example of this prejudice is the

First of all, the usage of a so called ‘standard’ English is outdated. Often sympathizers of Quirk, similar to Purdy, are not aware that the definition of the standard form of English has changed. According to Min Pun, a non-native English teacher in Nepal, the ‘standard’ is: “the variety of English that is held by many to be correct in the sense that it shows none of the regional or other variations that are considered by some to be ungrammatical, or non-standard English.” (Pun, n.d., p. 2) This definition corresponds with the one given in the oxford dictionary. However, there are now more non-native than native speakers of English in the world, non-natives outnumbering natives three to one (Mastin, 2011). Following the definition of Pun and oxford, Standard English should therefore be “International English”. This could be considered a dialect spoken between non-native speakers. The true “standard” form of English as it is perceived by people similar to Purdy will not endure over time. As Eric Anchimbe states "It must be realized that English has become too complex to be tied to the strings of native and non-native statuses" ( Anchimbe, 2006). Secondly, the notion that non-native speakers cannot have a full grasp of the command of idioms, grammar and pronunciation to match that of a native speaker might be true, but is also no longer relevant. Research by the Purdue University has shown that these things are not the most important qualities for helping non-native speakers understand the English language, but rather the fluency and speed rate at which the words are spoken. This is just as easily achieved by non-native speakers as it is by native