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Nonnative Speaker English Teachers: Research, Pedagogy, and Professional Growth, George Braine, Routledge,Abingdon, UK & New York (2010). xii+112 pp.

In the field of teacher education, there has been growing interest in nonnative speaker (NNS) teachers. It is by nowwell-documented that nonnative English speakers make up more than 80% of the English as a second language (ESL)and English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers’ workforce (e.g. Canagarajah, 1999). Thus, it is perhaps but notsurprising that there is also growing interest in research studies investigating nonnative English speaking (NNS)teachers. In Nonnative Speaker English Teachers, Braine looks back on and updates his earlier anthological book,Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching, published in 1999. His new book offers an extensive review ofresearch on NNS teachers with specific references to the NNS ‘movement’, which broadly refers to a movementtowards greater emphasis on NNS teachers and their needs, and its development in the area of teaching English tospeakers of other languages. In addition, Braine reviews the available literatures on NNS teachers, including researchon their own perceptions as well as student perceptions of NNS teachers.

In thefirst two chapters, the historical roots of theNNSmovement are reviewed.For those readerswho are not familiarwith the details on the origins and the growth of the NNS movement, Chapter 1, ‘The nonnative speaker movement,’details the historical underpinnings and chronological development of the NNS movement. Chapter 2, ‘The nativespeaker-nonnative speaker divide,’ discusses the native speaker (NS) and NNS debate. In this chapter, Braine exploresthe discrimination against NNS teachers in inner, outer and the expanding English language circles by providing someessential information on some of the challenges faced by NNS teachers. Such challenges for NNS teachers in the innercircle include but are not limited to resistance from employers and preference for native speaker counterparts. NNSteachers in the outer and expanding circles face some other challenges owing to their accent or ethnic differences.

Inspired by the NNS movement, several researchers have investigated the NNS teachers from various perspectivesand these studies are explored in depth in Chapter 3, ‘Research on self-perceptions of NNS English teachers’, andChapter 4, ‘Students’ perceptions of NNS English teachers.’ In Chapter 3, Braine reviews scholarly work that hasfocused on self-perceptions of NNS teachers (e.g. Medgyes, 1994; Andrews, 1994), noting that most of these researchstudies have focused on perceptions of NNS teachers as linked to their pronunciation and accents (e.g. Jenkins, 2005;Sifakis and Sougari, 2005). Research studies reviewed in Chapter 4 concern student perceptions of nonnative speakingEnglish teachers (e.g. Benke and Medgyes, 2005; Kelch and Santana-Williamson, 2002; Moussu, 2002, 2006).

In addition to the research studies that have investigated NNS teachers, life stories of NNS English teachers are alsodocumented in this book. Two examples of such data, ‘An English teacher from the outer circle,’ and ‘An Englishteacher from the expanding circle,’ are presented in Chapters 5 and 6. With the help of these examples, Maria fromMalaysia, a former British colony, and Sihua from China, the most populous country, Braine provides the readers withinsights and details of being an English teacher in these two different contexts. These two life stories are thencompared in Chapter 7, ‘From worlds apart: The lives of two English teachers’. The analysis of these two life storiesreveals some major differences in their language learning environment, not only when they started learning Englishbut also the differences in their own teachers’ use of the first language and second language fluency.

Braine identifies and explores various challenges related to the position of NNS teachers in the English languageteaching profession in Chapter 8, ‘Extrinsic and intrinsic challenges faced by NNS English teachers’. The intrinsicchallenges explained in this chapter include NNS teachers’ low English proficiency compared to their NS counterpartsand more specifically their anxiety about their accents. Braine also discusses extrinsic challenges faced by NNSEnglish teachers such as the preference for non-local teachers based on the perceptions of students and teachers andthe so-called ‘native-speaker fallacy’ arising from issues which include certain websites (e.g. www.transitionsabroad.com) and NS representation of keynote speakers in language conferences.

Chapter 9, ‘Where does the NNS movement go from here,’ presents some possible future directions regarding theNNS movement. These include enhancing the proficiency of NNS teachers, collaborating with NS teachers, andlearning to make use of the international professional organizations (i.e. IATEFL and TESOL) as well as localorganizations (e.g. Asia TEFL). For readers who are looking for suggestions for future research, this chapterconcludes with several suggestions which can enlarge the scope of research studies on NNS teachers, such longitu-tional studies of NNS teachers in different English as a foreign language contexts.

Braine concludes the book by providing some advice to novice researchers in Chapter 10, ‘Professional development.’This chapter explores the researchprocess beginning fromthe initial phaseoffindinga research topic to the act of academic

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publishing and the subsequent review process. As Braine himself acknowledges, this chapter is mainly “aimed at readerswhoare beginning their research degrees and at novice scholarswhoare setting out on their academic publications” (p. 91),and in these terms, it is full of useful advice compiled through years of teaching and learning with graduate students.

Given the importance of the NNSmovement and related research studies in the field of English language education,Braine’s extensive review of research studies, like his earlier work, fills a gap. As a NNS teacher and researchermyself, I was able to appreciate the wide variety of similar challenges and discrimination faced by other NNS Englishteachers in other parts of the world. Since this volume explores many such challenges for NNS teachers in differentcontexts around the world in a way that tends not to be spoken about and/or written elsewhere, I believe it may serve asan inspirational resource for NNS teachers worldwide. However, if the book falls short in one area, it is that theinterview guides that Braine uses in eliciting the life stories of Maria and Sihua in Chapters 5 and 6 have not beenincluded as an appendix to these chapters. Although these chapters present the readers with the detailed life stories ofthese teachers, the interview guides that were used with these participants would have helped future researchers whowish to conduct similar studies on the life stories of other NNS teachers.

As far as the intended audience is concerned, the volume should appeal to readers in teacher training programs inteaching English to speakers of other languages not only in ESL settings but also EFL settings and will be immenselyuseful for graduate students and researchers of second language teacher education. Given that there is no other large-scale review of this field, Braine’s extensive and updated work should be seen as an essential reading not only for NNSteachers themselves but also for anyone interested in researching NNS teachers.

References

Andrews, S. (1994). The Grammatical Awareness and Knowledge of Hong Kong Teachers of English. (ERIC Document Reproduction Service

ED386 066).

Benke, E., & Medgyes, P. (2005). Differences in teaching behaviour between native and non-native speakers: as seen by the learners. In E. Llurda

(Ed.), Non-native Language Teachers: Perceptions, Challenges and Contributions to the Profession (pp. 195e217). New York: Springer.

Braine, G. (Ed.). (1999). Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc..

Canagarajah, A. S. (1999). Interrogating the “Native Speaker Fallacy”: non-linguistic roots, non-pedagogical results. In G. Braine (Ed.), Non-

native Educators in English Language Teaching (pp. 77e93). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc..

Jenkins, J. (2005). Implementing an international approach to English pronunciation: the role of teacher attitudes and identity. TESOL

Quarterly, 39(3), 535e543.

Kelch, K., & Santana-Williamson, E. (2002). ESL students’ attitudes toward native- and nonnative-speaking instructors’ accents. The CATESOL

Journal, 14(1), 57e72.

Medgyes, P. (1994). The Non-native Teacher. London: Macmillan.

Moussu, L., 2002. English as a second language students’ reactions to nonnative English-speaking teachers. Master’s thesis. Brigham Young

University, Provo (ERIC Document Reproduction Service No. ED 468 879).

Moussu, L., 2006. Native and non-native English-speaking English as a second language teachers: student attitudes, teacher self-perceptions, and

intensive English program administrator beliefs and practices. Ph.D. Dissertation. Purdue University (ERIC Document Reproduction Service

No. ED 492 599).

Sifakis, N. C., & Sougari, A. M. (2005). Pronunciation issues and EIL pedagogy in the periphery: a survey of Greek state school teachers’ beliefs.

TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 467e488.

Nur YigitogluDepartment of Applied Linguistics and ESL, Georgia State University, 34 Peachtree Street, Suite 1200,

Atlanta, GA 30303, USAE-mail address: eslnuyx@langate.gsu.edu

doi:10.1016/j.system.2011.04.009