Message from the Outgoing Chair
Brock Brady, American University, bbrady@american.edu
As outgoing chair of the NNEST Interest Section, I have been asked to provide a “goodbye” piece for this issue of the NNEST Newsletter, even though this seems to put me in the role of the traditional caricature—that of a wizened old man of the previous year (e.g., 2008) handing the world off to the smiling baby of 2009. In that role, let me say a deep thank you to everyone who helped us transition from being a caucus to an IS. However we may feel about the need to make that change, I think it has been an extremely positive change, one that gives the NNEST movement more prominence, one that has made the entity more effective, and one that will position NNEST research in the vanguard of studies such as World Englishes, English as a lingua franca/international language, and social literacies. I think we are also extremely lucky to have an incredibly eager, dynamic, and well-versed team as our first elected group of IS leaders. Your vote has put the IS in very capable hands.
But let me venture forth from my hands-off role to make a suggestion about how we might think about going forward—regarding the name conundrum (i.e., NNEST or something else?). In our field it is becoming increasingly clear that the dichotomous quality of the NNEST/NEST distinction cannot begin to capture the diversity of experiences and backgrounds that English language teachers bring to our profession. There is also a growing body of research in our field that suggests that it may matter less whether you are an NNEST or a NEST and more what your linguistic, cultural, and professional background is. For example, a monolingual English speaker with significant cross-cultural or cross-socioeconomic-class experience may well have strengths when teaching English language learners that a monolingual speaker with limited cross-cultural experience lacks. From the other end of the continuum, an NNEST in an EFL setting who has limited cross-cultural experience and limited opportunities to use English in authentic communication, though perhaps effective in some local contexts, will lack the insights and awareness needed to make him or her an effective English language teacher in many other teaching contexts. On the other hand, someone identified as an NNES teacher, who, though not having English as a home language, is nevertheless bi- or multilingual or someone who has had the opportunity to live in other cultures (where other varieties of English or even other languages were dominant) would likely be very competent in a wide variety of English language teaching contexts. Add to this experiential perspective professional education and training, and breadth and length of teaching experience, and it is apparent that from a purely descriptive perspective, the NNEST/NEST dichotomy has difficulty capturing such complexities.
So as our research has shown us this continuum of linguistic, cultural, and professional experience and how it affects professional competence, it may make sense to take a cue from second language writing studies and begin to consider terms such as multilingual-cultural language teacher and multilingual-cultural English teacher. Let me propose as well that for the sake of manageability, we simplify the terms to multilingual language teacher/multilingual English teacher (and we agree to assume the multicultural element within). That English for academic purposes has already begun speaking of multilingual writers and multilingual readers supports these terms, and the emphasis on cultural and linguistic diversity as being a strength (with professionalism implied in the term teacher) certainly concurs with both our research and our values.
One possible disadvantage to a term such as multilingual/multicultural English teacher is that it can include teachers like myself who have self-identified as native English speakers (and there are those who argue, with justification, that no matter how multilingual/multicultural you might be, teaching your native language is a different orientation than teaching English when you do not perceive it as your native language). Other disadvantages brought forward include using NNEST as a term of empowerment, and the concern of reference in NNEST studies: If we change the name, wouldn’t the research base become fragmented?
Also, there is the matter of advocacy. As long as there are those who discriminate against those whom they perceive as NNESTs, as long as native speakerism is an active ideology, we will need to use this term that has unrightfully been imposed, in order to dispossess it of stigma. Thus, NNEST remains the appropriate term for education, awareness raising, and advocacy.
Nevertheless, in research, we could begin to use a term such as multilingual English teacher (or something that is similarly less essentializing) along with NNEST so that the historic body of research remains fully recoverable. Such a transition could occur over many years. After all, the transitions from Negro to Black and later to African American occurred in the United States through the juxtaposition of the old and new terms and were finally effected only in the fullness of time.
In the meantime, education/advocacy efforts (supported by research), while continuing to use NNEST as a term, can emphasize that multilingual teachers with rich multicultural experience and thorough and appropriate professional education are those best positioned to effectively teach English in our increasingly multilingual, multicultural global society—regardless of their home language. Then as native speakerism is found to be increasingly untenable, the NNEST label can be retired.
Thus (as it should be) education can follow research, and over time, at a staggered pace, a more descriptively accurate term (such as multilingual English teacher) can replace the NEST/NNEST dichotomy, first in research and then increasingly in advocacy.
But hey, remember that I’m the old, wizened 2008 guy. It is for members to decide how we go forward. I know that the best that I’m offering here is simply another framework to look at resolving the name game.
Thanks for all your support in the past year,
Brock
NNEST Newsletter June 30, 2009 Volume 11 Number 1: Table of Contents
