More than a Native Accent: A Qualitative Inquiry into Non-Native English Teachers’ Experiences in the Global TESOL Job Market

Although English is widely recognized as a global language, hiring practices in English Language Teaching (ELT) often continue to privilege native-speaker status. This qualitative study explores how non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) experience and interpret recruitment processes in the global TESOL job market. Data were collected through written questionnaires and follow-up online conversations with 12 NNESTs from Central Asia and Eastern Europe who had applied for teaching positions in countries including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, and Spain. The analysis revealed recurring themes related to native-speaker preference, the intersection of language bias with race and appearance, passport-based hiring restrictions, and the emotional impact of repeated rejection. At the same time, participants identified pedagogical strengths associated with their non-native status, such as heightened metalinguistic awareness, empathy toward learners, and the ability to model attainable multilingual competence. The findings point to a persistent gap between contemporary TESOL scholarship and hiring practices and demonstrate the continued relevance of native-speakerism in the post-pandemic TESOL context.