Native-Phobia

Mr. HASSAN EL OTMANI is a Non-Native English teacher currently working in Saudi Arabia. He has been teaching English for 4 years in Morocco and Saudi Arabia. His main interests are Education, Teaching, Academic Writing and Professional Development.

Saudi Arabia

As any other non-native English teacher, I have been suffering from the dominance of native speakers in the English teaching industry worldwide. As I search job offers either on Facebook pages or EFL/ESL websites, I always come across the following statements ‘’only native speakers can apply / a native speaker required…’’

What is worse is that the salaries offered to these native speakers are either double or triple of what’s offered to non-native speakers. And that’s if non-native teachers are lucky to find a teaching job that requires only a native level speaker which happens only once in a blue moon.

I don’t want you to think that I am taking this concern personally. It’s just that I want to address a concern that is common among all non-native speakers who are doing their best to professionally develop themselves to become the best in the domain of the English language teaching.

I understand that native speakers can speak the language naturally, but that does not mean that they can spontaneously teach it. In fact, it’s proven that non-native speakers can teach the language better than anyone else because they have fully studied not only the language but also the methodologies and approaches of teaching it. 

I am a Moroccan Citizen; I am currently working in Saudi Arabia, and I have been working here for over two years. I have worked with many different teachers from different backgrounds and nationalities, and I have observed them teaching. And all I can say is that non-native speakers work under terrible conditions, are getting low salaries, and are living in awful accommodations whereas, native speakers get the best of everything just because they are natives.

I have done research about the teaching jobs advertised on the internet and found out that almost 70 percent of all jobs advertised are for native English speakers. And don’t be surprised if your application for a job in any country, especially Asian countries, is rejected simply because you are not a native. 

All the above-mentioned points have made non-native speakers think about changing their domain to something that will acknowledge their vast talents and abilities since most employers consider native speakers as the golden standard of spoken and written language whereas non-native speakers are being considered as inferior educators due to the lack of this innate linguistic skill.