CHALLENGING THE NATIVE AND NONNATIVE ENGLISH SPEAKER HIERARCHY IN ELT: NEW DIRECTIONS FROM RACE THEORY

Abstract

Over the past decade, English Language Teaching (ELT) scholars have shown an increased interest in exploring the intersections of racism and native speakerism, leading to more articles, special journal issues, and edited collections dealing with this topic. While this work has been valuable, it has largely been limited to considering one's appearance, nonnative speaking status, and the connection between the two. In this article, the author argues that we can draw more extensively on theories of difference developed by race theorists to better analyze and deconstruct the hierarchy between native and nonnative speaking professionals in ELT. Drawing on work by ELT and race theorists, the author applies Harris' (1993) theory of “whiteness as property” to make the argument that ELT scholars need to draw more extensively on race theory in order to challenge the inequalities present in ELT.

Notes

¹ Kachru (1996) developed the widely utilized yet criticized notion of inner, outer, and expanding circles when describing the spread of English. Inner circle nations, which are home to “native user[s] for whom English is the first language in almost all functions,” include the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Outer circle nations, which are home to “nonnative user[s] who use an institutionalized second-language variety of English,” include India, Singapore, South Africa, Jamaica, and Pakistan. The expanding circle refers to countries where English is used mainly by nonnative users “who considered English as a foreign language and uses it in highly restricted domains” and includes countries such as China, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, and Nepal (Kachru, 1986, p. 19; 1990, p. 4). While finding the concept useful in discussing different users of English, scholars have critiqued Kachru's circles for being limiting and inaccurate. For instance, Motha (2006b) has argued that they are racialized because they “other” countries like Jamaica and South Africa by placing them in the outer circle even though English has been institutionalized in these countries and most of their citizens speak some form of English as their first language (p. 509).

²According to van Dijk, strategies of denial include labeling the mainstream as moderate and attributing racist acts to extremists like White supremacists. Another strategy includes portraying anti-racists as the enemy, unfairly accusing an “innocent” victim of making a racist comment or conducting a racist act.

³ Harris (1993) wrote that “Passing is well known among Black people in the United States and is a feature of race subordination in all societies structured on white supremacy” (p. 1712). She used a narrative of her Black grandmother “passing” as a White woman in order to gain employment in the 1930s at a major department store in Chicago. Despite progress made on racial issues in the United States and elsewhere since the 1930s, Harris explained that it is “not an obsolete phenomenon” as it can still make economic sense to deny one's skin color.

⁴Race theorists like Leonardo (2002) have written that White people need to engage in race treason by examining and acknowledging the many forces that have put them in a position of power and subsequently working to deconstruct them. Similarly, linguistic treason would involve native speakers of English acknowledging their position of power and examining the way they have earned and continue to earn that power, while subsequently seeking ways to challenge their position of privilege in ELT.