Finding the connections between native-speakerism and authenticity

Abstract

Abstract Native-speakerism and authenticity are two subjects that have been written on extensively in the field of English language teaching, but the links between the two have yet to be explored in any great depth. This paper extensively reviews the literature on native-speakerism and authenticity and outlines where the connections between these two concepts, both practical and theoretical, may lie. Native-speakerism and authenticity are first briefly introduced and contextualised separately, and a theoretical framework is then presented to explain the connections between them based on the key foundational topics of authority, culturism, and cultural capital. Following this, the paper moves on to explain how these connections manifest in the ELT industry to influence the lives of ‘non-native speaker’ teachers in terms of student perceptions, self-perceptions, and professional discrimination, and how these are both influential on, and propagated by, the sales rhetoric of the ELT industry. Finally some suggestions are given for possible avenues of future research.