NESTs and NNESTs linguistic features’ impact on the Mexican context

Abstract

"This study explores and contrasts the perceptions of Mexican EFL learners’ and teachers towards the issue of nativeness in ELT. It explores findings from two surveys: One conducted to English learners and the other conducted to native and non-native English teachers. Additionally, it further explores on perceptions through follow-up interviews. The results of the study show that overall both NNESTs and NESTs in Mexico feel comfortable with their linguistic and sociocultural knowledge of English. This comfort influenced their teaching decisions. Additionally, teachers in the study expressed that their mother tongues (English or Spanish) had a positive impact in their teaching practices. However, NESTs expressed that being able to switch from English to Spanish was something that put NNESTs in a more advantageous place than NESTs. On the other hand, NNESTs expressed that NESTs were usually favored in teaching positions or salaries due to their mother tongues and backgrounds. All teachers considered academic training in ELT as vitally important. Finally, beginner learners leant towards non-native teachers while more advanced learners had a preference for native teachers".