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This review has been accessed times since August 28, 2005

Kamhi-Stein, Lia D. (Ed.) (2004). Learning and Teaching from Experience: Perspectives on Nonnative English Speaking Professionals. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.

Pp.ix+345.
ISBN 0-472-08998-6

Reviewed by Samer Annous
University of Balamand, Lebanon

August 28, 2005

Learning and Teaching from Experience: Perspectives on Nonnative English Speaking Professionals is a collection of essays written in four sections: Theoretical underpinning, focus on research, focus on teacher preparation and focus on the classroom. The book combines theory and practice and adds a valuable contribution to the growing literature on non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs).

In Chapter 1, George Braine sets the historical background of the non-native English speaking professionals’ movement and its representation in the TESOL caucus. Braine, himself an editor of a similar book, Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching (1999), offers a detailed summary of the diverse research on non-native speaker issues. Thus his chapter lays the basic theoretical foundations of the terminology being used throughout the book. Chapter 1 is followed by two personal narratives that discuss the ‘non-native’ identity. In section two of the book, four research studies that deal with multiple contexts varying from adult education to kindergarten are presented. Following both quantitative and qualitative designs, the research studies look at both teachers’ and students’ perceptions of the non-native issues in ELT. Section three, which consists of five chapters, discusses teacher preparation programmes in the US. The authors offer both theory and practice and call for the inclusion of non-native issues in the teacher training programmes in order to pave the way for the success of non-native speaking teachers of English. Section four focuses on the effects of the native-non-native dichotomy on the ESL and EFL classroom. By providing examples of successful collaborative projects, the authors in this section call for the collaboration between NNESTs and NESTs.

The book engages readers from different backgrounds: TESL/TEFL students, ESL/EFL teachers, and ELT administrators. With discussion questions after each chapter, the book serves as an ideal textbook for emerging courses in ELT methodology and the native/non-native dichotomy in teacher preparation and training. ESL/EFL professionals might use this book as a source of empowerment and as a proof for their competence. On the other hand, this book gives the ELT administrators evidence that nonnative teachers can be as professionals as natives and that the so-called differences are in fact a source of enrichment to the language classroom. Similar to Medgyes’ work (1994), the book calls for the collaboration between natives and nonnatives.

Unlike the works of Medgyes (1994) and Braine (1999), this book doesn't attack ‘linguistic imperialism’ (Phillipson, 1992) and doesn’t take an ideological stand regarding the ‘idealisation of the Native Speaker’. The book follows a celebrative line, in which it introduces the readers to the success stories of non-native professionals in addition to research that supports their professionalism and the contributions they make to the ELT profession. By doing that, the book empowers non-native speaking professionals and rejoices their teaching achievements. The 29 authors, both natives and non-natives, from different teaching backgrounds, speak, with confident voices, with high self-esteem and with no inferiority complex, about their accomplishments and report empirical studies to support their professionalism. The confident voices of these authors stem from the fact that the majority of them have been involved in founding the caucus for nonnative English- speakers in TESOL and thus being politically active in promoting the professional image of NNESTs .

Although Kamhi-Stein’s book is a basic addition to literature on the native/non-native dichotomy in English language teaching, it has one major problem. The book is basically written with an ESL background although the editor claims that some chapters are written with an EFL audience in mind. All the research studies that the book presents were conducted in ESL contexts (mainly the United States). In addition, the book doesn't contain any article or research study that discusses the discriminatory attitudes against nonnative professionals in EFL contexts (where the majority of nonnative professionals exist). My main concern is that while this book celebrates the success stories of non-native English speaking professionals, it draws a rosy picture, in which novice readers or EFL practitioners might think that NNEST are not victims of discriminatory employment policies that affect their identity and professional status (Annous, 2004). Failing to address the discriminatory attitudes (in both ESL and EFL contexts) and their effects on the lives of teachers weakens the theoretical foundations of the book and limits its horizons to the field of teaching English methodology.

Despite these limitations, Kamhi-Stein is offering the readers a valuable set of articles that deal with a controversial issue in ELT both in ESL and EFL contexts. The book is an excellent documentation of the success stories of nonnative English-speaking professionals in the hope that, as Kamhi-Stein states in the introduction to the book, it will ‘increase the understanding about this group of professionals, who have only recently become more vocal and visible’ (p. 6).

References

Annous, S. (2004). The Status of Non-native Teachers of English in Lebanon, Unpublished Institution Focused Study, Institute of Education, University of London.

Braine, G. (1999). Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching. London: LEA.

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

Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic Imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

About the Reviewer

SamerAnnous, a doctoral candidate in Education at the School of Culture, Language and Communication, Institute of Education, University of London. He has been a full-time instructor of English at the University of Balamand, Lebanon since 1998.

Copyright is retained by the first or sole author, who grants right of first publication to the Education Review.

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