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Native/non-native, does it really matter? Teachers’ and students’ perceptions of English language teachers

This study investigates students’ and teachers’ attitudes towards native and non-native English language teachers in a Spanish educational setting. The aim of this study is not only to compare Spanish and English opinions, but also discover the perceived advantages and disadvantages of both types of teacher in a context where English is taught as a foreign language. The data was collected by means of a direct questionnaire, consisting in 14 questions in which participants were asked to rank their opinions on a five-point Likert scale. Furthermore, supplementary individual interviews, consisting in 7 open-ended questions were conducted with both teachers and students. A total of 184 questionnaire responses were obtained and analysed using a t-test, and further complemented with 26 individual interviews that were completed to elicit further information. The results obtained show that students perceive the native teacher to possess advantages over the non-native teacher with regard to pronunciation and culture, but not with regard to the teaching of grammar. The native teacher is therefore seen as necessary for practicing conversation, whereas the non-native is thought as necessary for teaching the written aspects of the language. It was concluded that teachers and students expressed a need for both types of teacher in the language learning process, as they are seen to complement one another.