The discursive construction of “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” English teacher identities in Japan

Abstract

Over the last several years, teacher identity has become a prominent area of research in the fields of English Language Teaching (ELT) and applied linguistics. One aspect of teacher identity, that of “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” identity, has become especially prevalent. Building on Phillipson’s (1992) concept of linguistic imperialism, Holliday (2005, 2006) identified an ideology of native-speakerism in the ELT industry that marginalizes those teachers that are seen as being “non-native speakers” of English, whilst at the same time privileging “native speaker” teachers and Western teaching methodologies. Taking a poststructuralist approach to identity as something that is fluid, unfixed and discursively constructed, this study aims to identify how and by whom “native speaker” and “non-native speaker” identities are constructed, and how these constructions are either resisted or embraced by teachers. This exploration of identity construction was carried out using the methodology of linguistic ethnography (LE) in order to collect a variety of data at one research site in Eastern Japan. This data set included classroom observations, fieldnotes, teacher interviews, student interviews, photos and institutional online media. Once the data was collected, Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA) and intersectionality were used as analytical tools. The study found that macro discourses in the Japanese context, as well as institutional processes were powerful forces in perpetuating native-speakerist discourses and ascribing identity labels. However, in self-identification and in interactions with students, the picture was found to be more nuanced, with a complex picture of identity construction emerging that questioned the binary nature of the “native speaker/non-native speaker” duality. This complexity rested on an understanding of the intersectional nature of identity construction, and the importance of taking into account the intersectionality of a variety of identity markers when researching language teacher identity.