Native vs non-native teacher.

 

  I  have  met  several  people/prospective  students  who  have  asked  me  whether  it  makes  a  difference  if  one  is  taught  a  foreign  language  by  a  native, or  non-native  speaker  of  the  target  language. In  other  words, is  it  better  to  have  a  native  or  non-native  speaker  of  a   language  as  a  teacher?. The  answer  I  have  always  given  is  that  it  doesn’t  matter  whether  the  teacher  is  a  native  or  non-native  speaker  of  the  language. The  important  thing  is  for  the  teacher  to  be  qualified, to  have  a  complete  grasp  of  the  language  they  teach.

   From  my  own  personal  experience, I  have  been  taught  by  both  native  and  non – native  speakers (eg when I learnt Spanish). But  the  one  thing, and  the  most  important  that  they  had  in  common  was  that  they  were  accomplished  professionals. When  I  say  accomplished  professionals, I  mean  qualified  in  their  trade. They  were  teachers  who  were  very  competent  in  their  area  of  expertise, in  this  case  foreign  languages. So, to  any  prospective  students, the  take  away  message  is  that  it  shouldn’t  matter  whether  one  is  a  native  speaker  or  not. The  determining  factor  should  be  whether  or  not  the  teacher  is  qualified  to  teach  the  target  language.

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