Turkish Teacher Candidates’ Perceptions of Native-Speakerism

This qualitative study explores the opinions of 23 preservice teachers on native-speakerism in the English language teaching (ELT) profession. The participants were asked to respond to a prompt in writing, with reference to the situation in Turkey. They were at the same time doing a practicum, so they were able draw on their experiences in their cooperating schools, where foreign teachers were part of the staff. Their essays reflected a particular concern with discrimination in hiring practices and a strong rejection of the native-English-speaker teacher (NEST) / non-native-English-speaker teacher (NNEST) divide. They also exhibited an awareness of other paradigms such as a lingua franca (ELF) and World Englishes (WE)