Students’ Perceptions of their Native and Non-Native Teachers’ Effect on their Oral Fluency: EFL Context as an Example

Abstract

The present study aimed at investigating the effect of teachers’ nativeness on students’ oral fluency through students’ perceptions. The participants in the study included 50 tenth grade EFL students taught by NESTs and 50 tenth grade students taught by NNESTs, who responded to a questionnaire. Students perceived no statistically significant difference between NESTs and NNESTs in oral language grammar, oral language teacher’s attitude and oral language vocabulary. Yet, there was a statistically significant difference in students’ perceptions of oral language classroom management, overall oral fluency and oral language pronunciation. In light of the findings, the researchers recommended to focus on teachers’ proficiency and training rather than their Identity to get through the native-nonnative speaker dichotomy.