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Key words:
TESL, TEFL, Lingua Franca, native and non-native teachers of English,
ESL/EFL speakers, ELT, CLT, communicative competence, language instruction, the
‘inner’ circle, the ‘outer’ circle, the ‘expanding’ circle
Introduction
The spread of the English language, which led it to become a global language, is due
to a number of political, religious, cultural, economic, technological, and educational
factors. In the course of its growth it is the emergence of the British Empire as the
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greatest power of its age and the USA as the greatest economy of this age which play
a vital role in its spread and popularity. As a global language, it has reached a high
status in the role that it plays in a multi-cultural setting. David Crystal (2003) has
commented that '' there has never been a language so widely spread or spoken by so
many people as English'' (cited in Graddol, 1997). According to the British Council,
English is spoken as the first language by around 375 million speakers, as the second
language by another 375 million speakers, as a foreign language by about 750 million
speakers, and has official or special status in at least 75 countries with a total
population of over 2 billion. The global community of English speakers is
represented by Kachru (1985) in terms of three circles. The 'inner' circle represents
the native speakers; the 'outer circle' consists of second-language speakers in
countries like India. The 'expanding circle' was the ever-increasing number of people
learning English as a foreign language(cited in Graddol, 2006).Thus, nonnative
speakers(NNS) are claimed to outnumber their native speaker(NS)counterparts by
three to one (Crystal 2003).
Impact of English as a “Lingua Franca” to non-native teachers of English
The English language has contributed to the speakers of English by providing them
with a Lingua Franca that enables them to communicate with each other. In return,
the ESL/EFL speakers contribute not only by increasing the number of the speakers,
which makes it a global language, and the non-native teachers of English but also by
providing a good source of income to the native speakers. Producing teaching
materials, conducting training programmes, sending experts and advisors, developing
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language tests, establishing language teaching institutions are some examples of such
a source of income. In practice, teaching and speaking English differs from a country
to another. Many scholars (Braine, 2005; Crystal, 2003; Graddol, 2006; Moussu and
Llurda, 2008) have attempted to account for teaching of English as a second/foreign
language, the roles played by non-native teachers and so on. Having read the
manuscripts of his previous anthology Non-Native Educators in English Language
Teaching (1999), Braine contemplated a follow-up book consisting of experiences of
these teachers from around the world. The book edited in 2005, includes chapters
from Brazil, China, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan,
Lebanon, Poland, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, and Turkey. All the chapters
follow a consistent pattern, first describing the history of English language teaching
in a particular country, then the current ELT curriculum, followed by the biography
or the autobiography of an English teacher of that country. Among these countries,
India is a colossus in more than one sense. It has the second highest population in the
world, the most number of official languages (18) and ''major'' languages (350) found
within one country, and probably the largest number of non-native speakers of
English (Crystal, 1999 cited in Braine, 2005). Although exact estimates of English
speakers are difficult to come by, most linguists (ibid) agree that about 4% of the
Indian population—37 million by current figures—speaks English. However, a
survey commissioned in 1997 by the local magazine, India Today, indicated that
almost one third of Indians claimed to understand English, although only 20% of the
populations claimed to speak it confidently (cited in Braine, 2005). The Indian role is
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not limited to expanding learning, teaching, and using of English but the Indian
researchers contribute effectively in identifying the hindrances encountered in the
various aspects of teaching spoken English and providing or suggesting fruitful
solutions. In 1999, a National Seminar was organized at the Central Institute of
English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad, India with the purpose of covering a
wide range of topics encompassing related aspects of teaching spoken English at
college level. Most of the fifteen items presented deal with certain practical and how
they are tackled by teachers. A central point that characterizes the non-native
English-speaking teacher literature is the debate on native/non-native distinction. A
question raised has always been, 'who is best qualified to teach English – the native
or the non-native teacher?' (Shin,2008). Many studies (Braine 1999; Kamhi-Stein
2004;Widdowson 1994) have described the relative strengths and weaknesses of
native and non-native teachers. Others (Rampton 1990; Davies 1991; Kachru and
Nelson 1996; Amin 2004; Cook 1999; J. Liu 1999; Lazaraton 2003) have presented
the contradictory views on the native/non-native distinction or contend that the
native/non-native label is too simplistic and that it fails to capture the rich
complexities associated with being a user of a language (cited in Shin, 2008). For
Widdowson (ibid), native speakers are assumed to be superior in linguistic
competence as compared to non-native speakers and are considered owners of proper,
authentic English. He suggests that teaching English is not a biological quality but a
craft, a skill that has to be learned and mastered. In addition, he states that when the
emphasis moved from the contexts of use to contexts of learning, the advantage that
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native speaker teachers have disappears. He also notes that giving priority to the use
of authentic, naturally occurring in English for instructional purposes privileges
native speaker teachers, making them ‘custodians and arbiters not only of proper
English but of proper pedagogy as well’
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