Students’ Attitudes towards Native and Non-native English Teachers in the Thai EFL Tertiary Context

Abstract

This study explores the attitudes of 147 Thai undergraduate university students towards native English teachers (NETs) and non-native English teachers (NNETs) in various areas of English language instruction, namely: fluency, cultural knowledge, empathy, grammar, learning materials, classroom relationships, and motivation. Quantitative and qualitative data were gathered through an online questionnaire. Findings have shown that participants remained neutral in all areas of language instruction except for fluency and cultural knowledge, whereby they exhibited preferences in favor of NETs. Moreover, the results revealed that the participants mostly referred to teachers’ personal pedagogical skills and knowledge, attributing to the quality of their teaching performance, which justified the participants’ choices in favor of neutrality. These findings suggest that all teachers should be evaluated based on their personal pedagogical skills and knowledge rather than on their first language(s) backgrounds and/or nationality. Moreover, the findings suggest that both groups of teachers should be given opportunities to enhance their teaching expertise by redirecting their attention towards the diverging and multifaceted roles that a teacher plays.