| With the development of globalization, English has become an internationallanguage; English fever in China also has an unusual manifestation. English has beengained more and more attention in China, so more and more qualified Englishteachers are needed in the field of English Language Teaching. With more foreignteachers entering and participating in English teaching in China, two groups ofEnglish teachers become the two major camps: the dichotomy ofnative-English-speaking teachers (NEST) and nonnative-English-speaking teachers(NNEST). The two groups of teachers have their own features of language proficiencyand teaching practice, these features have an important influence to their teachingability.Foreign academicians have paid attention to the issue of NESTs and NNESTs.They have different viewpoints about the two groups of teachers’ teaching ability. Thenative English speaking teachers’ teaching ability has been affirmed by scholars,especially in spoken English and the relationship between teachers and students. Butmore and more researchers find NNESTs and NNESTs have the same opportunities inthe teaching practice. In contrast, the research related to this issue in China is limited.Most researches compare the two groups of teachers from the perspective of teachers,while this research studies this issue from the perspective of students. This studycompares the two groups of teachers’ teaching ability from the students’ perspective,students as the learning leader have their own opinions about their English teachers.This study contributes to enhance the understanding between NESTs and NNESTsand improve their teaching ability. Based on the previous research, this study uses quantitative method to survey thecollege students’ evaluation about their English teachers. This research compares thetwo groups of teachers’ teaching ability from the following aspects—teachingcognitive ability, teaching operating ability, teaching monitoring ability. One hundredcollege students from two universities participate in the survey questionnaire, and fivecollege students attend the interview.The result of the research coincides with the expected result. The study confirmthat except the following four items—interesting class design, encouraging theactivity of students, English level can be accepted by students and interaction withstudents. NESTs center on the practice and students’ interests. Most students think theclasses of NESTs are lively, while the traditional Chinese teaching methods makestudents feel boring. NNESTs get higher evaluation than NESTs in all the other items—knowing students’ learning level, knowing teaching program, analyzing text,knowing students’ character, teaching learning strategies, communicating withstudents after class, be sensitive about students’ needs and questions and solvingstudents’ problems. As the differences of culture, the NESTs do not care teachingprogram and textbook, their teaching is random. Students reflect they need thesystematical knowledge; NNESTs are better at this teaching ability. The use ofChinese benefits the students’ learning. Because of lack of Chinese, NESTs alwaysbring misunderstandings in their teaching process. As not knowing Chinese cultureand Chinese, there are many barriers in the communication between students andNESTs. It is the reason that why NESTs can not learn students’ learning level.Moreover, as English is NESTs’ mother tongue, they do not have gone through thecomplex process of acquiring English as an English learner, they can not clear knowhow to teach the learning strategies which the students really need. NNESTs havelearned the phonetics, vocabulary and grammar in a bottom-up process, they haveawareness of the English learning strategies and able to explain it. NESTs’ excellentlanguage ability contributes to their higher evaluation in the item of English level canbe accepted by students. NNESTs can not come over them anyway. According to thecomparison, eaching cognitive ability and teaching monitoring ability are NNESTs strengths, while the NESTs and NNESTs have their own features in teachingoperating ability.The NESTs and NNESTs have different advantages and disadvantages on theirteaching ability. It is necessary to develop their professional training. School shouldencourage the two groups of teachers learn each others’ strengths and supposeNNESTs improve their oral English from any way. School can organize some meetingto improve the collaboration and communication between NESTs and NNESTs. Whatmore, school should recognize the two groups of teachers’ constraints and strongpoints, and assign the two groups of teacher properly for different courses to enhanceteaching effectiveness.This study provides comprehensive understanding of NESTs and NNESTs, andhelp the teachers cognize their advantages and disadvantages of teaching ability. Thetwo groups of teachers compensate each others’ deficiency to improve their teachingability and improve their teaching quality. |
