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Employment of English Language Teachers in an EFL Context: Perspectives From School Administrators
Contratación de docentes de inglés en un contexto de inglés como lengua extranjera: perspectivas de administradores escolares
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v21n2.72648Keywords:
Expatriate teacher, hiring criteria, native-speaker-English-teacher, native-speakerness, nonnative-speaker-English-teacher (en)criterios de contratación, docente de inglés nativo, docente de inglés no nativo, docente extranjero, hablante nativo (es)
This paper presents a study on the employment criteria used by school administrators and their views on the strengths and weaknesses of local teachers and expatriate teachers. This study aimed to provide a perspective on the issue from an English as a foreign language context. Questionnaires collected from administrators of 94 private primary and high schools in Istanbul were analyzed. Although being a native speaker of English ranked seventh out of the eight criteria, the presence of expatriate teachers in a school was considered important. In addition, participants from schools that employed both expatriate and local teachers attributed more importance to the native-speakerness criterion. Finally, administrators found local teachers more knowledgeable in teaching methods, whereas expatriate teachers were perceived as better in language use.
Este artículo presenta un estudio sobre la importancia de ser hablante nativo de inglés en las decisiones de los administradores escolares en cuanto a la contratación de docentes de inglés. Este estudio tuvo como objetivo proporcionar una perspectiva sobre el tema desde un contexto donde el inglés es lengua extranjera. Se analizaron los cuestionarios recopilados de administradores de 94 escuelas primarias y secundarias privadas en Estambul. Aunque ser un hablante nativo de inglés ocupó el séptimo lugar entre los ocho criterios, la presencia de docentes extranjeros en una escuela se consideró importante. Además, los participantes de las escuelas que empleaban tanto docentes extranjeros como locales atribuyeron más importancia al criterio de hablantes nativos. Finalmente, los administradores encontraron que los docentes locales tenían más conocimiento en los métodos de enseñanza, mientras que los docentes extranjeros eran percibidos como mejores en el uso del lenguaje.
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