Reflections on Pseudo-Native-Speakerism

Date

2023-06-16

Author

Tezgiden Cakcak, Sebahat Yasemin

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Pseudo-native-speakerism is a malign new form of native-speakerism (Holliday, 2005) that has recently emerged in private schools in Turkey, which markets non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) to increase their profitability. Pseudo-native English-speaking teachers (pseudo-NESTs) are forced to lie about their linguistic and cultural background and/or given fake English names. Because these institutions follow English-only policies, pseudo-NESTs are forced to behave as if they do not speak or understand Turkish. They are not allowed to interact in Turkish even among themselves during the breaks. Teachers, mostly novice, who accept this indecent proposal, feel honored in the first place having found a position in the shortage of jobs and being recognized with their acquired linguistic capital (Tezgiden-Cakcak, 2019). After playing this scripted role for some time, they start feeling abused and they usually look for more humane work conditions. This paper tells the stories of alienation and frustration of two local pseudo-NESTs from Turkey. Interpreting their dehumanizing condition from a critical theoretical perspective, this paper argues that this ill-formed practice growing out of the greed of private institutions for more profit needs to be problematized, analyzed and challenged before it becomes further normalized in and out of Turkey. For the well-being of NNESTs and for the genuine human connection between teachers and students not to be lost, all scholars and practitioners in the field of English language education should be well-informed about these policies and resist them both individually and collectively.

Subject Keywords

Pseudo-native-speakerism, NNESTs, Narrative

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/107609

Collections

Department of Foreign Language Education, Conference / Seminar