A Study On English And Non-English Majors’ Perceptions Of The English Teachers With International Background

As an international language, English has been the fundamental medium of international communication owing to its influence in almost every field. In the field of English teaching, teachers are constituted by two groups:native English speaker teachers (NESTs) and non-native English speaker teachers (NNESTs). Recently, many researchers have been doing researches in the field of English teaching on the topic of students’perceptions of NESTs and NNESTs.Within the group of NNESTs in the context of English teaching in China, there are still two different sub-groups:Chinese English teachers without international background (CETWIB), and foreign and Chinese English teachers with international background (ETWIB). A lot of researches have been done on the topic of the comparisons between NESTs and the NNESTs within the group of Chinese English teachers from various perspectives. However, few researches have been done about English major (EM) and non-English major (NEM) graduate students’ perceptions of ETWIB.In light of this, the researcher conducts the research on the topic of EMs’ and NEMs’ perceptions’of ETWIB. This paper reports the outcome of a study carried out in Southeast University-Monash University Joint Graduate School (Suzhou) with 40 EM graduate students and 40 NEM graduate students to obtain a deeper insight into their perceptions of ETWIB. Quantitative and qualitative data are collected by using questionnaire with close-ended questions and open-ended questions.The results reveal that the majority of both EM and NEM graduate students appreciate the teaching styles, teaching methods, teaching contents of the ETWIB and they share similar perceptions of the ETWIB in the dimension of classroom teaching behaviors, classroom management, classroom communicative skills, and teachers’ dispositions. However, their answers to the open-ended questions are somewhat different:EMs’ attitudes are more in depth, while NEMs are more superficial and facial. As for the first open-ended question about the subjects’ deepest impressions on the ETWIB, EMs mention their teaching style (relaxed, harmonious, passionate, creative, humorous, vivid), teaching methods (tutorial discussion, group work, self-learning, and group discussion), teaching contents (up-to-date, extensive and deep), teachers’ quality (broadness and depth of knowledge), and teachers’ disposition (active, humorous, kind and versatile), while NEMs mention only their teaching style (happy, abundant body language), academic spirits (serious about plagiarism), teachers’ disposition (humorous, relaxed, kindhearted, easygoing, patient, and responsible). For the second open-ended question, in terms of the advantages of the ETWIB, both EMs and NEMs agree that these English teachers concentrate more on English practice in English teaching compared with other English teachers in China. But EMs also think that those English teachers with cross-country teaching experiences can share with their learners more broad view in English learning. In terms of the drawbacks of these English teachers, both EMs and NEMs think that they have some kind of accents which may influence their communication in class. Besides, they both think that these English teachers cannot supply as much information of cultural background in English speaking countries as the native ones. EMs also mention some other drawbacks of these English teachers who are not familiar with Chinese educational system and Chinese culture.