OLIVAR, JOCELYN M.

SIGNIFICANCE OF INTENSIVE TRAINING FOR NON-NATIVE SPEAKERS OF

SECOND LANGUAGE

The number of learners of English as an international means of communication

increases hand in hand with the number of nonnative English-speaking teachers

(NNESTs) of English as a Second Language (ESL) and the number of Native

English Speaking ESL teachers (NESTs). However, few studies investigated the

working conditions of NESTs and NNESTs at Intensive English Programs (IEP)

and the different factors that affect their successes and challenges. This research

project thus investigates the significance of the intensive training for nonnative

speakers of second language, the variables (teacher’s first languages, gender, as

well as teachers’ native languages) that influenced students’ responses, and the

effects of time on students’ attitudes, with questionnaires completed both at the

beginning and at the end of the fall 2015 semester.

Like it or not, ESL/EFL teachers are, in my opinion, reduced to being customer

service/consumer product providers. Therefore those in or entering the field

should take a marketing-oriented view of things. A NNS [nonnative speaker of

English] teacher may provide everything a NS [native speaker] teacher does, or

even more. NS teachers must also strategize. This is a competitive market, it is

now a buyer's market. We must support and expand on the whole Native-Speaker

mystique. We need to emphasize our perceived superiority and aggressively

market it. We have to price accordingly, maintain pricing standards, and work
against the spread and acceptance of cheap knock-offs. Anent to that, intensive

training for NS must be standardize. Many of the teaching opportunities that

typically states that “Native Speakers Only” Why do they allow TEFL certificates

for non-natives then? To be very general, as well as to oversimplify the

discussion, let's admit that there is a perception by some that native speakers of

English are better English teachers. This is a discussion that needs to be had in

the world of English teaching.