Dr. Emad Al-Tamari
Abstract— The purpose of the paper is twofold. Firstly, it investigates Saudi students’ attitudes toward native and nonnative English language instructors. Secondly, it compares Saudi students’ attitudes toward native and nonnative English language instructors with American students’ attitudes toward native and nonnative English language instructors1. 203 students from King Khalid University participated in this study. The students were asked to answer the same questionnaire used in Hertel and Sunderman (2009)2. The participants rated items related to native versus nonnative English language instructors with regards to the instructors’ knowledge and teaching abilities. The participants were also asked to rate their own potential to learn from the instructors. Results showed that Saudi students see native speaking instructors of English as having more knowledge of subject matter than nonnative instructors of English. However, results indicated that they favor nonnative instructors over native ones when it comes to grammar. When compared, Saudi and
American students have the same view with regard to grammar. However, American students view nonnative instructors as better assets when it comes to teaching vocabulary. While Saudi students’ previous experience affected opinions, American student’s previous experience did not.
Keywords— attitudes, second language, language learning, native/ nonnative speaker, teaching
