MANIFESTATIONS OF NATIVE SPEAKERISM IN TURKISH PRIVATE LANGUAGE SCHOOLS: A MIXED-METHODS STUDY

Date

2025-9-22

Author

Alageyik, Şevval Nur

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Native speakerism is a variably defined ideology in English Language Teaching (ELT) and it has brought discussions about the ideal English teacher. This study addresses the manifestation of native speakerism specifically within private language schools in Türkiye. The main aim of this research is to explore recruitment practices, student preferences, and teacher experiences. Adopting a multiphase mixed-methods design, this study utilized quantitative data collection through questionnaires with 70 recruiters and 80 young adult students from private language schools. Qualitative data were gathered through thematic analysis of 53 online job advertisements and semi-structured interviews conducted with four participants from each group recruiters, NESTs, NNESTs and students. Findings reveal native speakerism is multi-layered: job advertisements explicitly favor native English-speaking teachers (NESTs), particularly from Inner Circle countries, often alongside professional qualifications. Recruiters, while valuing educational background and experience, apply double standards, more consistently requiring pedagogical degrees from non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs). Students exhibit balanced preferences, valuing native speakers for authenticity and fluency, but non-native teachers for grammar explanation and empathy, often preferring a co-teaching model. Teachers, especially non-native ones, report systemic marginalization, identity insecurity, and unequal career opportunities. This study concludes that native speakerism is not seen as pedagogical superiority, rather, a marketing signal, highlighting the native speaker fallacy driven by historical ideologies and neoliberal market forces within Türkiye's private language education sector.

Subject Keywords

Native speakerism, private English language schools, recruitment and hiring practices, neoliberalism

URI

https://hdl.handle.net/11511/115687

Collections

Graduate School of Social Sciences, Thesis