Relationships between Native and Non-native English-speakers for Missions
Abstract
In the field of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), a “Native English-Speaking Teacher” (NEST) is an English teacher whose first language is English—typically someone from a country whose national language is English. A “Non-Native English Speaking Teacher” (NNEST) is an English teacher who has learned English as a second or foreign language (i.e., a Brazilian who teaches English or an Indonesian who teaches English). I became interested in these teacher identities as I developed a language institute as part of our mission’s seminary in Brazil, and noticed the positive working relationships between the Brazilian English teachers and the native English-speaking short-termers on staff. I wondered to what extent these relationships were central to the school’s successful English program. I thus started on a path of research and discovery.
