Turkish Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Native- Speakerism

Abstract

This qualitative study explores the opinions of 23 preservice teachers onnative-speakerism in the English language teaching (ELT) profession. Theparticipants were asked to respond to a prompt in writing, with reference to thesituation in Turkey. They were at the same time doing a practicum, so they wereable draw on their experiences in their cooperating schools, where foreign teacherswere part of the staff. Their essays reflected a particular concern withdiscrimination in hiring practices and a strong rejection of the native-Englishspeakerteacher (NEST) / non-native-English-speaker teacher (NNEST) divide. Theyalso exhibited an awareness of other paradigms such as a lingua franca (ELF) andWorld Englishes (WE).