Justify the efficiency of a non-native speaking teacher in the efl classroom
...agogy, a complete understanding of English and deep knowledge of the acquisition process of a foreign language. It is time to recognise the strengths of these professionals, non-native teachers, which are often undervalued and some of them even unknown. However, we can nowadays appreciate a kind of change in this attitude and gradually both professionals and students are beginning to respect the work and abilities of the non-native teachers. Not only are they starting to be valued by others but they are also learning to appreciate themselves, what they do and what they have. What about the relationship between the non-native teachers and the students? Is it improving at the same time that their virtues and merits are being valued? Something unquestionable and widely believed by teachers is that the relationship between non-natives and their pupils is often really satisfactory, perhaps because they understand better the process their students are going through. Mainly, since they have themselves gone through that process and they were once like their students. What is more, we can not forget that they are aware of a lot of things that native teachers might possibly overlook as they have not experienced them themselves. For example, the learners’ needs, the language problems the students might come across or the common mistakes they usually make. This better knowledge of their students results in a more comfortable atmosphere and in the students feeling more confident with a non-native teacher. The students realise that they can benefit from their teachers’ experience and that they can be provided with a wide range of efficient learning strategies. The fact that they both share the same mother tongue improves their relationship even more. The sharing of the students’ mother tongue by the non-native teacher, could be regarded as a very useful and valuable resource in the foreign language classroom. First and most importantly since it facilitates the relationship between the teachers and the students, helping and enriching their learning. As John Harbord indicates in his article about the use of the mother tongue in the classroom (ELT Journal 46/4: 350-355), it can help the teachers, for instance, to explain grammar, to give instructions, to give meanings or to assist the students with their doubts. Secondly, as it is a resource that may help to bring the pupils’ cultural background into the classroom while relating it with the English one. Duff, has expressed a similar view suggesting that the students’ mother tongue should be used to help increase the students’ and teachers’ awareness of the inevitable interaction between the mother tongue and the target language that occurs during any type of language acquisition (qtd. John Harbord 355). And lastly, because the mother tongue constitutes an essential capacity of the students and therefore, it should be present in any educational activity they take part in. Despite these three arguments for using their mother tongue in the classroom, something should ne...