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Are native speaker models so important?

How important is it for students to be learning from a so-called native model of English speaking? It's something that Henrick Oprea raises in his blog, and it provoked this piece from me; far too big to include as a comment on Rick's site! He writes about being unsure about not following a traditional native speaker model, which is fair enough, as debate continues. I've been thinking about this recently though and would like to share some thoughts.

Students all over the world have been following different native speaker models for years, depending on the origins of the teacher. I think it's important to raise the students' awareness of a variety of accent possibilities, including those of other non-native speakers. Research suggests that most learners of English will be communicating with other non-natives, rather than native speakers. So, in terms of teaching, as usual, it depends on the context, and students planning to live in English L1 environments might need a greater focus on 'natural' English, though what exactly this natural English is leads to another debate. Which country will they live in? In which specific area? Let's hypothesise: the UK, in the north. Whereabouts? Perhaps Newcastle, York, Leeds, Carlisle, Manchester, Liverpool, or Hull?! If you don't know these places, just ask anyone who does and they'll tell you that there's a difference between each one! In comparison with the rest of the native English speaking world this is a tiny part, yet it contains a wide variety of accents, just ask the English southerners. Popular jokes and comedy suggest they can't even understand northerners properly, so how exactly can a foreigner be 'trained' to? Have a look at this native speaker model!

Also, it's not just about accents. The teaching of phrasal verbs, idioms and slang, as Rick mentions, is often considered to be the domain of the NEST, something a NNEST doesn't have the knowledge to teach. This attitude informs students' preference and institutions' recruitment. However, what's the point? Which of the following would it be worth teaching, in their slang sense? Plonker, divvy, tool, pillock, cool, sick, rad, bogus, raging, mental, out of it, geezer, dude, chick, babe or minger. In fact, the significance of slang words is not only geographical, but temporal. Merely by listing these words I'm possibly betraying my age as well as 'slanguistic' knowledge! By the way, with regard to idioms, we never say 'raining cats and dogs', really! It's rubbish!

Phrasal verbs are in much more common and standardised usage than idioms and slang, so their importance is greater. However, idiomatic English, including slang, is so diverse, regionally and internationally, that I just don't really see the purpose of focussing on it; raising awareness at higher levels, yes, or explaining if a student notices, but otherwise there are more important things to focus on, despite the fact that some students may think it necessary.

Such a focus on the specifics of accent and dialect surely must wait until a learner has actually gone to live in a particular place, then they can try to immerse themselves in the dialectal specifics of the region. Of far greater importance in my opinion, would be ensuring that the learner has the intercultural competence to cope with their interactions in this new environment. Furthermore, they should have been guided in the use of relevant conversation strategies that will enable them to negotiate understanding in difficult linguistic situations, during which their basic listening abilities may simply not be enough to fully understand the native speaker.

I think that with regard to native accents, slang and idioms, while they make a language truly what it is, the ability and the need to teach them is of little importance in the grand scheme of things, therefore further undermining the relevance and importance of a NEST teacher. So, I guess what I'm saying is that the perceived advantages of being a NEST are really not that advantageous at all. As Rick says, it's about whether or not you are a teacher, and all real teachers know what they're doing and what their students need. What's more, they're always on the lookout for ways of improving. These are the factors that recruiters should be looking for, not what it says on someone's passport.

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