Are most ELT course book writers white ‘native speakers’? A survey of 28 general English course books for adults

Abstract

While numerous studies have shown how native speakerism can negatively affect the professional trajectories of those perceived as ‘non-native speaker’, little is known about the ‘native’ and ‘non-native speaker’ representation among course book authors (CBAs). Therefore, this article aims to analyse the ‘nativeness’, ethnicity and country of origin of general English CBAs to understand to what extent native speakerism affects who is recruited as a CBA. Twenty-eight general English adult course books published globally were analysed and three commissioning editors (CEs) were interviewed. The results show that out of 126 CBAs in the sample, 122 are ‘native speakers’ and 123 are white. In addition, the vast majority (79%) come from the UK. While the CEs confirmed they are committed to equality, it is clear that the current CBA recruitment policies lead to a perpetuation of native speakerism and to a situation where most general English CBAs are white ‘native speakers’ from the UK. It is suggested that greater attention is paid by CEs and publishers to recruiting more diverse CBA teams. As the interviewed CEs confirmed, such greater diversity could lead to more diversity in the content of the books.