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What Does it REALLY Mean to be a Native Speaker? Decoding the Nuances
Are you curious about the term "native speaker"? Do you wonder what truly sets a native speaker apart, and why it's such a sought-after attribute in various fields? This comprehensive guide delves deep into the intricacies of what it means to be a native speaker, exploring the linguistic, cultural, and social aspects beyond simply being born in a specific country. We'll dissect the myths, address the complexities, and help you understand the significance of this often-misunderstood term.
What Defines a Native Speaker? Beyond Birthplace
The simplest definition of a native speaker is someone who acquired a language from birth, primarily through exposure within their family and immediate community. However, this simplistic definition fails to encompass the multifaceted reality. A true understanding requires delving into several key aspects:
2.1. Acquisition vs. Learning: The Crucial Distinction
The key difference lies in how the language was acquired. Native speakers acquire their language naturally, subconsciously absorbing grammar and nuances through immersion. This process is significantly different from formal language learning, where grammar rules and vocabulary are explicitly taught. While learned fluency can be incredibly high, it often lacks the intuitive grasp of idiom, colloquialisms, and subtle cultural references that characterize native speech.
2.2. The Role of Early Childhood Exposure
Early exposure to a language is paramount in shaping native fluency. The critical period hypothesis suggests that language acquisition is most effective during childhood. This isn't to say that adult language learners can't achieve high proficiency, but the neural pathways formed during early language acquisition differ, often resulting in a more natural-sounding and intuitive command of the language.
2.3. Beyond Fluency: Cultural Understanding
Being a native speaker transcends mere grammatical accuracy and vocabulary. It encompasses a deep understanding of the cultural context in which the language operates. This includes implicit knowledge of social norms, humor, unspoken rules, and the myriad ways language reflects and shapes cultural values. This cultural fluency is often overlooked but is crucial for genuine communication.
The Myth of the "Perfect" Native Speaker
It's essential to dispel the myth of the perfect, flawless native speaker. Everyone, regardless of their native language, makes mistakes, uses informal language in certain settings, and has their own unique idiolect (individual speaking style). The ideal of a flawless native speaker is an unrealistic benchmark. What truly matters is effective and appropriate communication, considering the context and audience.
Native Speakers in Professional Settings: Demand and Implications
The demand for native speakers is high in various fields, particularly in areas requiring nuanced communication:
3.1. Translation and Interpretation: Accuracy and Nuance
Native speakers are essential for accurate and culturally sensitive translation and interpretation. They possess the deep understanding of idiom and context needed to convey the true meaning and intent of the source material. A non-native speaker, no matter how proficient, might miss subtle nuances that could alter the entire meaning.
3.2. Language Teaching: Authenticity and Cultural Sensitivity
Native speakers often bring authenticity and cultural awareness to language teaching. They can model natural pronunciation, introduce colloquialisms, and share cultural insights that enhance the learning experience. However, effective language teaching also requires pedagogical skills and an understanding of language acquisition processes, not just native fluency.
Beyond the Label: Embracing Linguistic Diversity
The term "native speaker" should not be used to create hierarchies of linguistic ability. While it acknowledges a specific path of language acquisition, it's vital to recognize and celebrate the diverse linguistic landscape. High proficiency in a language, regardless of how it was acquired, should be valued and respected. Focusing solely on the label of "native speaker" can be exclusionary and undervalue the impressive skills of non-native speakers.
Conclusion
Understanding the nuances of "native speaker" moves beyond a simple definition of birthplace. It involves acknowledging the complex interplay of language acquisition, cultural understanding, and communication effectiveness. While native fluency offers undeniable advantages in certain professional fields, it's crucial to avoid perpetuating unrealistic expectations and celebrate the linguistic diversity and competence of all individuals, regardless of their language acquisition journey.
FAQs
1. Can someone who learned a language fluently as a child be considered a native speaker? Yes, if the language was acquired naturally through immersion from a young age, mirroring the acquisition process of a native speaker.
2. Is it possible to achieve native-like fluency as a non-native speaker? Yes, but it requires significant dedication, immersion, and often years of practice. However, true native-like fluency might remain elusive due to the differing pathways of language acquisition.
3. Why is the "native speaker" label important in certain professional contexts? In fields like translation, interpretation, and language teaching, the implicit cultural understanding and intuitive grasp of the language often associated with native speakers are highly valued.
4. Are accent and pronunciation the only markers of a native speaker? No, accent is just one aspect. Native fluency also includes a deep understanding of grammar, idiom, cultural context, and pragmatic aspects of communication.
5. What's the best way to improve my fluency in a language? Immersion, consistent practice, exposure to authentic materials (books, movies, conversations), and interaction with native speakers are all crucial for improving fluency.
| native speaker: Native Speaker Chang-rae Lee, 1996-03-01 ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS The debut novel from critically acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of On Such a Full Sea and My Year Abroad. In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away. Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has shaped him as a natural spy. But the very attributes that help him to excel in his profession put a strain on his marriage to his American wife and stand in the way of his coming to terms with his young son's death. When he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician, his very identity is tested, and he must figure out who he is amid not only the conflicts within himself but also within the ethnic and political tensions of the New York City streets. Native Speaker is a story of cultural alienation. It is about fathers and sons, about the desire to connect with the world rather than stand apart from it, about loyalty and betrayal, about the alien in all of us and who we finally are. |
| native speaker: Native Speaker Chang-rae Lee, 1995 Against the turbulent background of New York City politics and growing ethnic tensions, Park must finally come to emotional terms with his American wife and the loss of their son, and with his belated recognition of who he is. |
| native speaker: The Native Speaker Alan Davies, 2003-01-01 Linguists, applied linguists and language teachers all appeal to the native speaker as an important reference point. But what exactly (who exactly?) is the native speaker? This book examines the native speaker from different points of view, arguing that the native speaker is both myth and reality. |
| native speaker: Native Speaker Chang-rae Lee, 1996-03-01 ONE OF THE ATLANTIC’S GREAT AMERICAN NOVELS OF THE PAST 100 YEARS The debut novel from critically acclaimed and New York Times–bestselling author of On Such a Full Sea and My Year Abroad. In Native Speaker, author Chang-rae Lee introduces readers to Henry Park. Park has spent his entire life trying to become a true American—a native speaker. But even as the essence of his adopted country continues to elude him, his Korean heritage seems to drift further and further away. Park's harsh Korean upbringing has taught him to hide his emotions, to remember everything he learns, and most of all to feel an overwhelming sense of alienation. In other words, it has shaped him as a natural spy. But the very attributes that help him to excel in his profession put a strain on his marriage to his American wife and stand in the way of his coming to terms with his young son's death. When he is assigned to spy on a rising Korean-American politician, his very identity is tested, and he must figure out who he is amid not only the conflicts within himself but also within the ethnic and political tensions of the New York City streets. Native Speaker is a story of cultural alienation. It is about fathers and sons, about the desire to connect with the world rather than stand apart from it, about loyalty and betrayal, about the alien in all of us and who we finally are. |
| native speaker: The Emergence of the English Native Speaker Stephanie Hackert, 2012-12-06 The native speaker is one of the central but at the same time most controversial concepts of modern linguistics. With regard to English, it became especially controversial with the rise of the so-called New Englishes, where reality is much more complex than the neat distinction into native and non-native speakers would make us believe. This volume reconstructs the coming-into-being of the English native speaker in the second half of the nineteenth century in order to probe into the origins of the problems surrounding the concept today. A corpus of texts which includes not only the classics of the nineteenth-century linguistic literature but also numerous lesser-known articles from periodical journals of the time is investigated by means of historical discourse analysis in order to retrace the production and reproduction of this particularly important linguistic ideology. |
| native speaker: Native Speakers and Native Users Alan Davies, 2013-08-01 'Native speakers' and 'native users' are terms traditionally used to differentiate between speakers who have acquired a language from birth and speakers who have learnt a second language. This book highlights the problems associated with making such a clear cut distinction. By analysing a range of literature, language uses and proficiency tests, Davies argues that there is no significant difference between native speakers and native users, and emphasises the importance of the Standard Language. Whilst individual native speakers may vary considerably, the academic construct of the native speaker is isomorphic with the Standard Language which is available to both native speakers and native users through education. In this book, Davies explores the 'native user' as a second language speaker who uses language with 'native speaker' competence. This book will be of significant interest to students and researchers working in the fields of second language acquisition and applied linguistics. |
| native speaker: Not Like a Native Speaker Rey Chow, 2014-09-23 Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering historical experience of being caught among unequal languages, is the subject of Rey Chow's book. A diverse group of personae, never before assembled in a similar manner, make their appearances in the various chapters: the young mulatto happening upon a photograph about skin color in a popular magazine; the man from Martinique hearing himself named Negro in public in France; call center agents in India trained to Americanize their accents while speaking with customers; the Algerian Jewish philosopher reflecting on his relation to the French language; African intellectuals debating the pros and cons of using English for purposes of creative writing; the translator acting by turns as a traitor and as a mourner in the course of cross-cultural exchange; Cantonese-speaking writers of Chinese contemplating the politics of food consumption; radio drama workers straddling the forms of traditional storytelling and mediatized sound broadcast. In these riveting scenes of speaking and writing imbricated with race, pigmentation, and class demarcations, Chow suggests, postcolonial languaging becomes, de facto, an order of biopolitics. The native speaker, the fulcrum figure often accorded a transcendent status, is realigned here as the repository of illusory linguistic origins and unities. By inserting British and post-British Hong Kong (the city where she grew up) into the languaging controversies that tend to be pursued in Francophone (and occasionally Anglophone) deliberations, and by sketching the fraught situations faced by those coping with the specifics of using Chinese while negotiating with English, Chow not only redefines the geopolitical boundaries of postcolonial inquiry but also demonstrates how such inquiry must articulate historical experience to the habits, practices, affects, and imaginaries based in sounds and scripts. |
| native speaker: The Native Speaker Rajendra Singh, 1998-04-20 Ten articles authored by linguists explore not only the cognitive terrain of what constitutes a native language, but also the socio-historical implications of constructed definitions of a mother tongue. Among the issues examined are whether nativity in language can be said to constitute a mother tongue, whether proficiency and creativity in a language are indicative of the speaker's nativity, social empowerment through language, and language purity and linguistic corruption. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR |
| native speaker: The Native Speaker Concept Neriko Musha Doerr, 2009-12-22 The native speaker is often thought of as an ideal language user with a complete and possibly innate competence in the language which is perceived as being bounded and fixed to a homogeneous speech community and linked to a nation-state. Despite recent works that challenge its empirical accuracy and theoretical utility, the notion of the native speaker is still prevalent today. The Native Speaker Concept shifts the analytical focus from the second language acquisition processes and teaching practices to daily interactions situated in wider sociocultural and political contexts marked by increased global movements of people and multilingual situations. Using an ethnographic approach, the volume critically elucidates the political nature of (not) claiming the native speaker status in daily life and the ways the ideology of native speaker intersects and articulates, supports, subverts, or complicates various relations of dominance and regimes of standardization. The book offers cases from diverse settings, including classrooms in Japan, a coffee shop in Barcelona, secondary schools in South Africa, a backyard in Rapa Nui (Easter Island), restaurant kitchens, a high school administrator's office, a college classroom in the United States, and the Internet. It also offers a genealogy of the notion of the native speaker from the time of the Roman Empire. Employing linguistic, anthropological and educational theories, the volume speaks not only to the analyses of language use and language policy, planning, and teaching, but also to the investigation of wider effects of language ideology on relations of dominance, and institutional and discursive practices. |
| native speaker: More Than a Native Speaker Donald B. Snow, 2006 Learning the craft of English language teaching by trial and error can take a long time and involve considerable emotional wear and tear on teachers and students. This book accelerates the process by offering a non-technical introduction to English teaching geared toward native-English-speaking teachers working outside their home countries. This revised edition includes an expanded discussion of student directed language learning, workbook activities for volunteer teachers enrolled in courses or studying the book individually, and a full array of culture-based discussion topics for use as supplementary activities or core material for an English course. The book includes 16 chapters, organized as follows: Chapters 1-6 cover issues of classroom survival: basic principles of language learning and teaching and course and lesson planning. Chapters 7-14 discusses the language skills of listening, speaking, reading, writing, vocabulary, and grammar; the role of culture in language teaching; and some of the problems that recur in EFL classrooms. Chapter 15 addresses adaptation to life in the host country. Chapter 16 suggests paths for volunteers who become interested in being professional language teachers. This book also includes useful appendixes with a starter kit for course planning, culture-topic activity ideas for oral skills classes, and print and Internet resources for teachers and students. |
| native speaker: The Changing Face of the “Native Speaker” Nikolay Slavkov, Sílvia Melo-Pfeifer, Nadja Kerschhofer-Puhalo, 2021-11-22 The notion of the native speaker and its undertones of ultimate language competence, language ownership and social status has been problematized by various researchers, arguing that the ensuing monolingual norms and assumptions are flawed or inequitable in a global super-diverse world. However, such norms are still ubiquitous in educational, institutional and social settings, in political structures and in research paradigms. This collection offers voices from various contexts and corners of the world and further challenges the native speaker construct adopting poststructuralist and postcolonial perspectives. It includes conceptual, methodological, educational and practice-oriented contributions. Topics span language minorities, intercomprehension, plurilingualism and pluriculturalism, translanguaging, teacher education, new speakers, language background profiling, heritage languages, and learner identity, among others. Collectively, the authors paint the portrait of the changing face of the native speaker while also strengthening a new global agenda in multilingualism and social justice. These diverse and interconnected contributions are meant to inspire researchers, university students, educators, policy makers and beyond. |
| native speaker: Is it better to learn English from a native or a non-native speaker teacher? Clara Winterfeld, 2018-04-12 Essay from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, , language: English, abstract: For decades, there has been a widespread assumption in the field of English language education that native speakers are better teachers. They are said ‘to speak “unaccented” English, understand and use idiomatic expressions fluently, and completely navigate the culture of at least one English-dominant society. As a result, nonnative English-speaking educators have found themselves often implicitly, and sometimes explicitly discriminated against’ native speakers of English. Around the world 80 per cent of English language teachers are non-native speakers of English. But native speakers of English are usually given more value: they find it easier to get a job as an English teacher and get in general better payed. They are seen as belonging to a higher professional status than non-native speakers. It is said that as native speakers grew up speaking English they are more acquainted with the language and with that provide a better language education to their students. |
| native speaker: The Native Speaker is Dead! Thomas M. Paikeday, Noam Chomsky, 1985 |
| native speaker: The Native Speaker Concept Neriko Musha Doerr, 2009 Presents a fresh look at the 'native speaker' by situating him/her in wider sociopolitical contexts. Using anthropological frameworks and ethnographic data from around the world, this book addresses the questions of who qualifies as a 'native speaker' and his/her social relations in the regime of standardization in multilingual situations. |
| native speaker: A Festschrift for Native Speaker Florian Coulmas, 2017-12-04 |
| native speaker: The Accidental Asian Eric Liu, 1999-09-07 Beyond black and white, native and alien, lies a vast and fertile field of human experience. It is here that Eric Liu, former speechwriter for President Clinton and noted political commentator, invites us to explore. In these compellingly candid essays, Liu reflects on his life as a second-generation Chinese American and reveals the shifting frames of ethnic identity. Finding himself unable to read a Chinese memorial book about his father's life, he looks critically at the cost of his own assimilation. But he casts an equally questioning eye on the effort to sustain vast racial categories like “Asian American.” And as he surveys the rising anxiety about China's influence, Liu illuminates the space that Asians have always occupied in the American imagination. Reminiscent of the work of James Baldwin and its unwavering honesty, The Accidental Asian introduces a powerful and elegant voice into the discussion of what it means to be an American. |
| native speaker: The Native Speaker is Dead! Thomas M. Paikeday, Noam Chomsky, 1985 |
| native speaker: Native or Non-native speakers. Who are the better English teachers? Svenja Christen, 2010-01-25 Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Miscellaneous, grade: 1, , language: English, abstract: In today’s globalised world language knowledge becomes more and more important for good and skilled communication. Especially the knowledge of one language – the world language English – is necessary to be competitive and able to communicate worldwide. The status of English as a world language is obviously due to its large amount of native speakers all over the world, but also its simplicity in grammar, structure and vocabulary makes it to one of the most important languages in the world. There are approximately 380 million native speakers of English and more than 700 non-native speakers of English all over the world, which results in large parts of today’s communication taking place in English. Thus good English language knowledge is a precondition for many jobs and educations. This places great importance on today’s English language education. It has to be of high quality and learners have to acquire the language as good and as fast as possible. But who can perform the job of an English teacher best? There has been lots of discussion in the past years about whether native or non-native speakers are better at language teaching. Due to globalisation also the amount of English teachers available is rising steadily. Today’s English teachers come from a broad range of different countries and thus have differing cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Those backgrounds have again influence on the teachers’ teaching styles and methods and their general understanding of the teaching context and their students. Moreover, today’s English teachers have different levels of knowledge of the target language and culture. In this paper, I will thus have a look at the following question: Native speakers of English or non-native speakers of English – who are the better English teachers? Native speakers, on the one hand know their language perfectly, faultlessly and naturally. Non-natives on the other hand are more familiar with the students’ language learning process and have a better understanding of the learners’ needs. Thus, who is the ideal language teacher for the challenging task of teaching the world language English? |
| native speaker: The Grammar Bible Michael Strumpf, Auriel Douglas, 2004-07-15 A comprehensive, practical reference guide to the idiosyncrasies of the English language No one knows grammar like Michael Strumpf. For over a quarter of a century, as creator and proprietor of the National Grammar Hot Line, he helped thousands of callers from every corner of the globe tackle the thorniest issues of English grammar. Now, in The Grammar Bible, he has created an eminently useful guide to better speaking and writing. Unlike other grammar manuals, The Grammar Bible is driven by the actual questions Professor Strumpf encountered during his years of teaching and fielding phone calls from anxious writers, conscientious students, and perplexed editors, including such perennial quandaries as o Where do I put this comma? o What case should this pronoun be in? o How do I form the possessive of Dickens? Professor Strumpf explains these and other language issues with wit and wisdom, showing how to speak more clearly and write more impressively by avoiding common errors and following the principles of good grammar. Whether you need a comprehensive review of the subjunctive mood or simply want to know which form of a verb to use, The Grammar Bible is a practical guide that will enlighten, educate, and entertain. |
| native speaker: A Festschrift for Native Speaker Florian Coulmas, 1981 No detailed description available for A Festschrift for Native Speaker. |
| native speaker: On Such a Full Sea Chang-rae Lee, 2014-01-07 “Watching a talented writer take a risk is one of the pleasures of devoted reading, and On Such a Full Sea provides all that and more. . . . With On Such a Full Sea, [Chang-rae Lee] has found a new way to explore his old preoccupation: the oft-told tale of the desperate, betraying, lonely human heart.”—Andrew Sean Greer, The New York Times Book Review “I've never been a fan of grand hyperbolic declarations in book reviews, but faced with On Such a Full Sea, I have no choice but to ask: Who is a greater novelist than Chang-rae Lee today?”—Porochista Khakpour, The Los Angeles Times From the beloved award-winning author of Native Speaker,The Surrendered, and My Year Abroad, a highly provocative, deeply affecting story of one woman’s legendary quest in a shocking, future America. On Such a Full Sea takes Chang-rae Lee’s elegance of prose, his masterly storytelling, and his long-standing interests in identity, culture, work, and love, and lifts them to a new plane. Stepping from the realistic and historical territories of his previous work, Lee brings us into a world created from scratch. Against a vividly imagined future America, Lee tells a stunning, surprising, and riveting story that will change the way readers think about the world they live in. In a future, long-declining America, society is strictly stratified by class. Long-abandoned urban neighborhoods have been repurposed as highwalled, self-contained labor colonies. And the members of the labor class—descendants of those brought over en masse many years earlier from environmentally ruined provincial China—find purpose and identity in their work to provide pristine produce and fish to the small, elite, satellite charter villages that ring the labor settlement. In this world lives Fan, a female fish-tank diver, who leaves her home in the B-Mor settlement (once known as Baltimore), when the man she loves mysteriously disappears. Fan’s journey to find him takes her out of the safety of B-Mor, through the anarchic Open Counties, where crime is rampant with scant governmental oversight, and to a faraway charter village, in a quest that will soon become legend to those she left behind. |
| native speaker: How Friendly are the Natives? Rias van den Doel, 2006 |
| native speaker: Teaching pronunciation. The role of the native speaker Taylor Bruhn, 2015-11-13 Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, RWTH Aachen University, language: English, abstract: One of the most investigated topics in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is the concept of the native speaker (cf. Cook 2008, James and Leather 1996). There is a roiling debate on the meaningfulness of the native speaker as the target of teaching pronunciation. Following Gonzáles-Nueno (1997), the ultimate goal in teaching is to make the student “sound like a native speaker” (261). On the other side, Abercrombie (1991: 93) argues in favour of the comprehensibility. The main goal of teaching L2 (second language) pronunciation is therefore to sound “comfortably intelligible” (ibid.) In this paper I will discuss the reasonableness of teaching native-like pronunciation. Should the native-speaker be the target of teaching pronunciation? What are conceivable disadvantages? In a first step, it is essential to give a definition of the native speaker. Secondly, in chapter 3.1, these definitions will be analysed with regard to the research question. Chapter 3.2 analyses the general goals of teaching a second language. These goals will be referred to the issue of teaching L2 pronunciation. Furthermore, I will provide a survey from Waniek-Klimczak (2002) about students’ attitudes towards the issue of accent, pronunciation in general, and pronunciation teaching and compare the results with the general goals of L2 teaching. Chapter 3.3 will focus on the concept of Received Pronunciation (RP). I will analyse the advantages and disadvantages of teaching RP to L2 learners. As a last point, I will take up Major’s (2001: 28) statement that everybody speak an interlanguage and discuss it. In the conclusion I will summarize the results of the analysis and try to give a final statement. |
| native speaker: Mother Tongues and Nations Thomas Paul Bonfiglio, 2010-06-29 This monograph examines the ideological legacy of the the apparently innocent kinship metaphors of “mother tongue” and “native speaker” by historicizing their linguistic development. It shows how the early nation states constructed the ideology of ethnolinguistic nationalism, a composite of national language, identity, geography, and race. This ideology invented myths of congenital communities that configured the national language in a symbiotic matrix between body and physical environment and as the ethnic and corporeal ownership of national identity and local organic nature. These ethno-nationalist gestures informed the philology of the early modern era and generated arboreal and genealogical models of language, culminating most divisively in the race conscious discourse of the Indo-European hypothesis of the 19th century. The philosophical theories of organicism also contributed to these ideologies. The fundamentally nationalist conflation of race and language was and is the catalyst for subsequent permutations of ethnolinguistic discrimination, which continue today. Scholarship should scrutinize the tendency to overextend biological metaphors in the study of language, as these can encourage, however surreptitiously, genetic and racial impressions of language. |
| native speaker: Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching George Braine, 2013-10-08 The place of native and non-native speakers in the role of English teachers has probably been an issue ever since English was taught internationally. Although ESL and EFL literature is awash, in fact dependent upon, the scrutiny of non-native learners, interest in non-native academics and teachers is fairly new. Until recently, the voices of non-native speakers articulating their own concerns have been even rarer. This book is a response to this notable vacuum in the ELT literature, providing a forum for language educators from diverse geographical origins and language backgrounds. In addition to presenting autobiographical narratives, these authors argue sociopolitical issues and discuss implications for teacher education, all relating to the theme of non-native educators in ETL. All of the authors are non-native speakers of English. Some are long established professionals, whereas others are more recent initiates to the field. All but one received part of the higher education in North America, and all except two of the chapters are at least partially contextualized in North America. Particularly relevant for non-native speakers who aspire to enter the profession, graduate students in TESOL programs, and teacher educators, the unique nature of this book's contributors and its contents will interest researchers and professionals in applied linguistics generally and in ELT, and all those who are concerned with the role of non-native speakers in English-language teaching. |
| native speaker: Native Speakers and Native Users Alan Davies, 2013-08 'Native speakers' and 'native users' are playing the same game, sharing, as they do, the model of the Standard Language. |
| native speaker: (En)Countering Native-speakerism Adrian Holliday, Pamela Aboshiha, Anne Swan, 2015-09-29 The book addresses the issue of native-speakerism, an ideology based on the assumption that 'native speakers' of English have a special claim to the language itself, through critical qualitative studies of the lived experiences of practising teachers and students in a range of scenarios. |
| native speaker: Not Like a Native Speaker Rey Chow, 2014-09-30 Although the era of European colonialism has long passed, misgivings about the inequality of the encounters between European and non-European languages persist in many parts of the postcolonial world. This unfinished state of affairs, this lingering historical experience of being caught among unequal languages, is the subject of Rey Chow's book. A diverse group of personae, never before assembled in a similar manner, make their appearances in the various chapters: the young mulatto happening upon a photograph about skin color in a popular magazine; the man from Martinique hearing himself named Negro in public in France; call center agents in India trained to Americanize their accents while speaking with customers; the Algerian Jewish philosopher reflecting on his relation to the French language; African intellectuals debating the pros and cons of using English for purposes of creative writing; the translator acting by turns as a traitor and as a mourner in the course of cross-cultural exchange; Cantonese-speaking writers of Chinese contemplating the politics of food consumption; radio drama workers straddling the forms of traditional storytelling and mediatized sound broadcast. In these riveting scenes of speaking and writing imbricated with race, pigmentation, and class demarcations, Chow suggests, postcolonial languaging becomes, de facto, an order of biopolitics. The native speaker, the fulcrum figure often accorded a transcendent status, is realigned here as the repository of illusory linguistic origins and unities. By inserting British and post-British Hong Kong (the city where she grew up) into the languaging controversies that tend to be pursued in Francophone (and occasionally Anglophone) deliberations, and by sketching the fraught situations faced by those coping with the specifics of using Chinese while negotiating with English, Chow not only redefines the geopolitical boundaries of postcolonial inquiry but also demonstrates how such inquiry must articulate historical experience to the habits, practices, affects, and imaginaries based in sounds and scripts. |
| native speaker: The Non-native Teacher Peter Medgyes, 2021-10-08 Péter Medgyes’ voice was the first and one of the most prominent speaking out for many teachers whose first language is one other than English, whose own voices had been silenced after almost a century of systematically being considered failed native speakers, deficient communicators and second-best teachers. |
| native speaker: Language Proficiency in Native and Non-native Speakers Jan H. Hulstijn, 2015-02-15 This book, written for both seasoned and novice researchers, presents a theory of what is called Basic and Higher Language Cognition (BLC and HLC), a theory aimed at making some fundamental issues concerning first and second language learning and bilingualism (more) empirical. The first part of the book provides background for and explication of the theory as well as an agenda for future research, while the second part reports on selected studies of language proficiency in native speakers, as well as non-native speakers, and studies of the relationship between literacy in a first and second language. Conceptual and methodological problems in measuring language proficiency in research on second language acquisition and bilingualism are also discussed. Further, the notion of levels of language proficiency, as rendered by the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), is critically examined, suggesting ways of empirically investigating a number of questions that the CEFR raises but is not capable of answering. |
| native speaker: The Grammar Book Marianne Celce-Murcia, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Howard Alan Williams, 1999 In this highly acclaimed revision, grammatical descriptions and teaching suggestions are organized into sections dealing with Form, Meaning, and Use. THE GRAMMAR BOOK, Second Edition helps teachers and future teachers grasp the linguistic system and details of English grammar, providing more information on how structures are used at the discourse level. |
| native speaker: Non-Native Language Teachers Enric Llurda, 2006-06-09 As non-natives are increasingly found teaching languages, particularly English, both in ESL and EFL contexts, the identification of their specific contributions and their main strengths has become more relevant than ever. This volume provides different approaches to the study of non-native teachers: NNS teachers as seen by students, teachers, graduate supervisors, and by themselves. It contributes seldom-explored perspectives, like classroom discourse analysis, and social-psychological framework to discuss conceptions of NNS teachers. |
| native speaker: The Notion of the Native Speaker Put to the Test: Recent Research Advances Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes, Cristina Suarez-Gomez, Mila Vulchanova, Antonella Sorace, Valentin Vulchanov, 2022-04-21 |
| native speaker: Exploring Language Frameworks Evelina D. Galaczi, Cyril J. Weir, 2013-01-10 This book explores the impact of language frameworks on learning, teaching and assessment, viewed from the perspective of policies, procedures and challenges. It brings together a selection of edited papers, based on presentations given at the 4th International Conference of the Association of Language Testers in Europe (ALTE) held in Kraków, Poland, in July 2011. The selected papers focus on the conference's core themes as follows: the effect of frameworks on teaching, learning and assessment; the value of frameworks for teachers, learners and language policymakers; the contribution of frameworks towards describing particular languages. |
| native speaker: Multiple Affordances of Language Corpora for Data-driven Learning Agnieszka Leńko-Szymańska, Alex Boulton, 2015-05-15 In recent years, corpora have found their way into language instruction, albeit often indirectly, through their role in syllabus and course design and in the production of teaching materials and other resources. An alternative and more innovative use is for teachers and students alike to explore corpus data directly as part of the learning process. This volume addresses this latter application of corpora by providing research insights firmly based in the classroom context and reporting on several state-of-the-art projects around the world where learners have direct access to corpus resources and tools and utilize them to improve their control of the language systems and skills or their professional expertise as translators. Its aim is to present recent advances in data-driven learning, addressing issues involving different types of corpora, for different learner profiles, in different ways for different purposes, and using a variety of different research methodologies and perspectives. |
| native speaker: Language and Mobility Alastair Pennycook, 2012-06-22 This book looks at language in unexpected places. Drawing on a diversity of materials and contexts, including farewell addresses to British workers in colonial India, letters written from parents to their children at home, a Cornish anthem sung in South Australia, a country fair in rural Australia, and a cricket match played in the middle of the 19th century in south India, this book explores many current concerns around language, mobility and place, including native speakers, generic forms, and language maintenance. Using a series of narrative accounts – from a journey to southern India to eating cheese in China, from playing soccer in Germany to observing a student teacher in Sydney – this book asks how it is that language, people and cultures turn up unexpectedly and how our lines of expectation are formed. |
| native speaker: Language and Culture David Nunan, Julie Choi, 2010-05-07 This state-of-the-art exploration of language, culture, and identity is orchestrated through prominent scholars’ and teachers’ narratives, each weaving together three elements: a personal account based on one or more memorable or critical incidents that occurred in the course of learning or using a second or foreign language; an interpretation of the incidents highlighting their impact in terms of culture, identity, and language; the connections between the experiences and observations of the author and existing literature on language, culture and identity. What makes this book stand out is the way in which authors meld traditional ‘academic’ approaches to inquiry with their own personalized voices. This opens a window on different ways of viewing and doing research in Applied Linguistics and TESOL. What gives the book its power is the compelling nature of the narratives themselves. Telling stories is a fundamental way of representing and making sense of the human condition. These stories unpack, in an accessible but rigorous fashion, complex socio-cultural constructs of culture, identity, the self and other, and reflexivity, and offer a way into these constructs for teachers, teachers in preparation and neophyte researchers. Contributors from around the world give the book broad and international appeal. |
| native speaker: Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing Lyle F. Bachman, 1990-06-14 Offers a discussion of the basic concerns which underlie the development and use of language tests. Presenting a synthesis of research on testing, this book is useful for students on teacher education courses. It is also helpful for those professionally involved in designing and administering tests, acting as a complement to 'how to' books. |
| native speaker: Second Language Learning and Language Teaching Vivian Cook, 2013-11-26 The fourth edition of this classic textbook has been revised to reflect recent developments in language teaching and learning yet retains the basic structure and approach so popular with its readers. Teaching and learning content has been updated, particularly taking into account the rise of task-based learning, Conversational Analysis and social models of second language acquisition, changes in national syllabuses and examinations and the increasing controversy over the role of the native speaker target. Each chapter has been revised to stand alone, enabling the text to be taught and studied out of sequence if preferred. A set of focussing questions has also been added to each and further reading sections have been updated. In addition, icons appear throughout the text signalling where extra information - summaries, data, lecture notes, test batteries and more - can be found on the author's accompanying website, www.routledge.com/cw/cook. Second Language Learning and Language Teaching remains the essential textbook for all student teachers of modern languages and TESOL as well as applied linguistics. |
| native speaker: Success on your Certificate Course in English Language Teaching Caroline Brandt, 2006-07-04 `Extremely comprehensive and well written in terms of style – accessible to the reader, but intelligent and expressing some fairly subtle concepts. Would that more ELT practitioners could do the same!... Certainly a good read for those thinking about and also those engaged in initial training – or even post initial training stage′ - Jenny Pugsley, Head of TESOL, Trinity College London ′It’s essential reading whether you are simply curious about what is involved in training in ELT, need advice on choosing the right course, have already enrolled and want to make the most of your course, or are a new teacher just starting out. It’s a book I wish I’d had when I was starting out in my ELT career, and that I wish had been available to many of the course participants I have tutored′ - Lyn Strutt, ELT author and Chair of the British Council Families Association Each year, thousands of people all over the world take one of the hundreds of available short pre-service courses that lead to the award of a certificate in English Language Teaching (ELT) or Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Caroline Brandt′s book is an invaluable guide to anyone thinking of enrolling on one of these courses. With a clear and concise structure that follows your general interest in TESOL right through to the intricacies of the course itself, it can be used from initial research stages to final qualifications, and beyond. Brandt′s decades of experience in this field across the globe shine through. Chapters include: -introducing English Language Teaching -becoming qualified -knowing your certificate course -getting started -learning -working together -being qualified. Throughout the book there are snapshots of students′ experiences in their own words, and summaries of key points for you to take with you - whether into the next stage of learning or the next day′s teaching. The chapters are stand alone resources as well as the building blocks to becoming a fully-qualified English Language teacher. The book is supported by a companion website, which provides quizzes to test understanding of each chapter, lesson plan proformas, a full glossary and annotated website links. |
Liu Notes of Native Speaker - IB ENGLISH A: LANGUAGE AND …
“Notes of a Native Speaker” by Eric Liu. Eric Liu is a fellow at the New American Foundation and writes for MSNBC. This selection is taken from his collection of personal essays, The …
How “Native” Are Heritage Speakers? - Harvard University
Native speakers are hard to define, and in many ways they are a myth if one embraces uncritically the Chomskyan conception of a native speaker (Paikeday, 2003). But for some reason the …
Chen 637 f IMPERSONATION DISAPPEARING ACTS AND IN …
Native Speaker explores its preoccupations —with the conventions of genre and of narrative, with racial invisibility and disappearing acts, with linguistic fluency and rhetorical style—on levels …
Heritage Languages and Their Speakers: Opportunities and …
Native speaker competence is typically the result of normal first language acquisition in a predominantly monolingual environment, with optimal and continuous exposure to the …
Native-speakerism in English Language Teaching
speaker teachers (NNESTs), in this book we aim to offer a comprehensive study of native-speakerism in ELT by incorporating other dichotomic issues of “nativeness” versus …
Native Speaker Norms and Teaching English to Non-Natives: …
present a review of literature in native speaker norms’ discussions and their implications in English language learning and teaching. In doing so, in a comprehensive review of the related …
Disinventing Native Speakerism in English Language Teaching …
native speakerism has produced multifaceted adverse effects on global ELT. One of the pernicious effects is the massive dissemination of native speakerist discourses about the …
Who, if anyone, is a native speaker?1 - Language on the Move
It is usually assumed that native speakers have privileged access to their mother tongue: they do not produce errors as non-native speakers do, and if they do, they can identify and correct …
The Native Speaker Ideal in Foreign Language Teaching
Moreover, as a concept, native speaker puts an emphasis on its biological aspects at the expense of its social ones and mixes up language as a device of communication with lan- guage as a …
Native-speakerism: Taking the Concept Forward and …
1. Native-speakerism: Taking the Concept Forward and Achieving Cultural Belief. Adrian Holliday. This chapter maintains that native-speakerism damages the entire ELT profession as well as …
Redalyc.The native speaker and nonnative speaker debate: …
“native speaker” and “nonnative speakers” and secondly, set out some implications for the role of English for Brazil in the ensuing years. My objective here is to present the state of the art with …
The Effect of Foreign Accent and Speaking Rate on Native …
speaker despite any difficulties of foreign accent. The present study investigates the extent to which comprehension of nonnative speech is affected by pronun- ciation, speaking rate, and …
Where Is the Native Speaker Now? - JSTOR
the native speaker is now more covert. Yet by and large research still falls back on the L2 user meeting the standard of native speakers: the monolingual perspective is seen in book titles like …
Exonormativity, Endonormativity or Multilingualism: Teachers’ …
In view of the close relationship between the selection of appropriate ELT instructional models and context-dependent pronunciation goals, Kirkpatrick (2007) presents three different …
The Ideal ‘Native Speaker’ Teacher: Negotiating Authenticity …
In a context where both adults may be categorized as native speakers of Panjabi, what counts as authentic is negotiated in interactions from moment to moment, as students and teachers …
NATIVE SPEAKER OR NON-NATIVE SPEAKER TEACHER?: A …
This controversial tenet, stating that the ideal English teacher is a native speaker, provoked scholars to question its validity. The most cited, probably, in response to this view is Phillipson …
Chang-rae Lee's Native Speaker - JSTOR
Chang-rae Lee's novel, Native Speaker, ranks as one of the best fiction debuts in years, remarkable for its soaring lyricism, scope, and narrative assuredness. Even without its …
Going beyond the Native Speaker in Language Teaching
The indisputable element in the definition of native speaker is that a person is a native speaker of the language learnt first; the other characteristics are incidental, describing how well an …
Advantages and Disadvantages of Native and Nonnative
A native speaker is defined as someone who has been speaking one language as first language since their they were born and brought up(Chomsky, 1965). Therefore, native English-speaking...
Native speaker Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster
The meaning of NATIVE SPEAKER is a person who learned to speak the language of the place where he or she was born as a child rather than learning it as a foreign language. How to use native speaker in a sentence.
Native Speaker - Definition and Examples in English - ThoughtCo
Jul 3, 2019 · In language studies, native speaker is a controversial term for a person who speaks and writes using his or her native language (or mother tongue). Put simply, the traditional view is that the language of a native speaker is determined by birthplace.
NATIVE SPEAKER | English meaning - Cambridge Dictionary
NATIVE SPEAKER definition: 1. someone who has spoken a particular language since they were a baby, rather than having learned…. Learn more.
Language Log » What does “Native speaker” mean, anyway?
May 29, 2021 · Both linguists and non-linguists commonly use the term “native speaker” to describe someone who grew up speaking a particular language and who is fully proficient in that language.
Native Speakerism – what is it and why does it matter?
Jun 29, 2023 · Are the terms ‘native speaker’ and ‘non-native speaker’ appropriate, practical and useful to describe language identity, use and understanding?
The 5 Stages of Becoming a Native-Like English Speaker
Oct 19, 2017 · If your ultimate goal as an English language learner is to become a native-like speaker, it is imminent that you go through these 5 stages at a certain point in time, one way or the other. 1. Conversational Basics. The first steps …
What does "English native speaker" really mean? - 33rd Square
Nov 16, 2023 · According to linguists, a native English speaker is someone who: Acquired English in early childhood (before age 12) Uses English as their primary mode of communication
NATIVE SPEAKER Definition & Meaning | Dictionary.com
Native speaker definition: a person whose knowledge and use of a language is characterized by the fact that it is their first or native language, a language that a person acquires fully through extensive exposure in childhood. See examples of NATIVE SPEAKER used in a sentence.
NATIVE SPEAKER definition and meaning | Collins English …
A native speaker of a language is someone who speaks that language as their first language rather than having learned it as a foreign language.
What Makes Someone a Native Speaker? - Paste Magazine
Feb 24, 2017 · The term “native speaker” is an implication of someone who has “internalized” a language rather than learning it deliberately. “When you’re born, your brain has...
