Stereotypes of non English Speakers


Amy Tan’s article “Mother Tongue” discusses various issues that is present even in our current society and one of them being the stereotypes made against non-native English speakers.

Native English speakers are better English speakers and all in all smarter than non-native English speakers. This tends to be a common misconception in our world today and let me just say that this is absolutely bogus! The fact that this delusion continues to be present in our society is a psychotic way of misleading non-native English speakers to fulfill their full potential and passion. The prejudice and stereotypes branded on nonnative English speakers is relatable for many people across the world and from personal experience, I can say that it ain’t a good feeling.

Schools oddly enough can be a prime example of this fallacy. This isn’t just about students discriminating against non-English speakers but teachers’ making assumptions on the capabilities of non-English speakers and how some schools choose to advertise their English teachers as “native speakers”.  In Amy Tan’s article, she explains an academic stereotype on how in school, teachers tried to steer her and other Asian students to math and science due to better achievements in those subjects, which is helpful but it also begs the question as to why they weren’t aided in English more. Could it be because of their limited English.
There was an advertisement intended for learners of English as an additional language in Jordan and it said, “Our teachers are all qualified native speakers”. What does it mean to be a native English speaker? Well in a nutshell it is someone’s primary language for communication that they have grown up with. I am a native Tamil speaker but there is no way in hell that I could teach it to someone because I’ve only used it in a non-standardized way and lack the skills needed to educate people.
Can’t this be the case of native English speakers as well? I am from Australia and practically everyone speaks English but whilst in school there I have heard my native English-speaking friends say stuff like “more better” and “open the light” and used improper apostrophes and commas. Native speakers make mistakes as well and that’s completely fine but what discombobulates me is that these English mistakes paired with certain accents are held against nonnative English speakers.  A non – native English speaker with right qualifications can be just as adapt at teaching English as native English teachers. 

Now if you are a stubborn banana you might be wandering why I’m ranting on about this but try to picture yourself in these non-native English speakers’ shoes. Knowing very well of their limitations of English and thus making felt even weaker because of society’s hard judgments.  How weak they might feel to not even be able to properly communicate and how these set-backs can affect people by not finding jobs or pursuing their goals which is a right everybody should have. 

Comments

  1. Anonymous1 October 2017 at 23:17

    This was a very solid blog post, highlighting how stereotypes impact non-native english speakers lives. You demonstrated your personality by using words to support opinions one would use during a debate, and it helps the claim of the blog. The blog post is still relevant as many people still don't speak english. You used a lot of examples we as normal people could relate to. This also made us think of ourselves and how we act with non-native speakers. I completely agreed with the fact that teachers in public schools often steer students towards another subject when the other gets to hard as I have seen it first hand. One question I have however is, how you think these stereotypes were created? That would be very interesting. On the other hand, I would try to identify a call to action as I really didn't understand what you were trying to achieve besides make us think about the stereotype. A few more statistical facts would have been good support, but all in all, this was a very interesting and informative blog post! :)

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  2. Unknown2 October 2017 at 08:38

    This was a very interesting blog post, well done :) Your topic is clear - being how non-native English speakers are assumed to be less smarter than those who are native English speakers (as well as going into how that is seen in school) - which you find is 'bogus' haha. I like how you've used native English speakers (your Australian friends) as an example that, although making mistakes is okay - that together with an accent that non-native English speakers have affects the perspective of others of them. I think it's definitely newsworthy because it touches on a topic that we tend to not notice most of the time, or we do but we just brush it aside. Not to mention, there are people around us who can't speak English well enough and want the support. What you're doing in this blog is making people aware and to empathize with non-native English speakers who are being highly affected in their lives due to not being a native speaker. Adding in statistics will definitely aid your opinion if you want your readers to think what you're writing is credible. Last thing, now that you've made your readers aware... What are we supposed to do about it? :))))

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