Korean college students' perceptions of nonnative English teachers

Abstract

Since the notion of World Englishes attracted growing attention, thedichotomy between native speakers (NS) and nonnative speakers(NNS) has been challenged. Nonetheless, the belief that NS teachersare superior to NNS teachers still persists. Against this background,this study investigated how Korean college students perceived NNSEnglish instructors and whether students' experiences with NNSteachers and English proficiency level influenced their perception. Datawere collected from 472 students enrolled in communication-orientedEnglish courses through questionnaires. Data analysis revealed thatKorean college students generally had favorable perceptions of NNSinstructors. Moreover, findings revealed that students perceivedgrammar teaching to be NNS instructors' greatest strength whileculture teaching to be their biggest weakness. The study also foundthat the students who had learned from NNS instructors, had morepositive views of NNS than the students who had not had anyrelevant NNS teaching-learning experiences. Similarly, lower levellearners' perception was found to be more positive than higher levellearners' perception.