Shifting from Native-Speakerism to Trans-Speakerism: A Trioethnography of Language Teachers in Japan

Abstract

Native-speakerism is an ideology that endows those classified as native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) the owners of the English language, the ideal models of its use, and the pedagogical experts in language teaching. These endowments, in turn, intrinsically devalue those classified as non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) (Holliday, 2006, 2017). In this study, a trioethnographic approach was adopted to investigate native-speakerism as it related to the lived experiences of two NESTs (Matt and Joachim) and one NNEST (Takaaki) in an EFL context of Japan. Counterintuitively, this exploration found that, in our Japanese context, native-speakerism had adverse effects on the academic lives and professional trajectories not for the NNEST, but rather for the two NESTs, linguistically, culturally, and institutionally speaking. Based on the findings, we explain and compare what we term classical, inversed, and nuanced native-speakerism, and introduce a new empowering concept—trans-speakerism—an ideological stance committed to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion for all language teachers, irrespective of their first languages or cultures. The article ends with a call for research that encompasses a variety of contexts and approaches on trans-speakerism in language education.