The European Educational Researcher

Positive Psychology can help overcome the pernicious native speaker ideology

Jean-Marc Dewaele 1 * ,
Kazuya Saito 2
1 Birkbeck, University of London2 University College London, United Kingdom, * Corresponding Author
Download PDF
The European Educational Researcher, Volume 5, Issue 2, June 2022, pp. 225-234
OPEN ACCESS VIEWS: 5980 DOWNLOADS: 1865 Publication date: 15 Jun 2022
ABSTRACT
The world of applied linguistics and the profession of foreign language teaching needs to finally sweep away the notion of “Native Speaker” (NS) and the deficit perspective surrounding foreign language learners. We argue that Positive Psychology is a source of inspiration for a new and more positive perspective on foreign language learners and users.  Rather than obsessing about negative aspects of life, Positive Psychologists defend a more holistic perspective. By transforming the view of learners as failed “NS” of the target language to that of increasingly competent and happy users of a foreign language would lift a huge burden from the shoulders of foreign language learners and their teachers alike. We argue that the unexpected longevity and ubiquity of the NS in the foreign language teaching profession are its deep historical roots in linguistics and culture, and that only a radical paradigm shift can dislodge it.
KEYWORDS
Native speaker, first language user, foreign language user, Positive Psychology
CITATION (APA)
Dewaele, J.-M., & Saito, K. (2022). Positive Psychology can help overcome the pernicious native speaker ideology. The European Educational Researcher, 5(2), 225-234. https://doi.org/10.31757/euer.526
REFERENCES
  1. Dewaele, J.-M. (1999). Is it the corruption of French thought processes that purists fear? A response to Henriette Walter. Current Issues in Language and Society, 6(3/4), 231-234. https://doi.org/10.1080/13520529909615554
  2. Dewaele, J.-M. (2018). Why the dichotomy ‘L1 Versus LX User’ is better than ‘Native Versus Non-native Speaker’. Applied Linguistics, 39(2), 236-240. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/amw055
  3. Dewaele, J.-M., Bak, T., & Ortega, L. (2021). Why the mythical “native speaker” has mud on its face. In N. Slavkov, S. Melo Pfeifer & N. Kerschhofer ‎ (Eds.) Changing Face of the "Native Speaker": Perspectives from Multilingualism and Globalization (pp. 23-43). Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter.
  4. Dewaele, J.-M., Chen, X., Padilla, A.M. & Lake, J. (2019). The flowering of positive psychology in foreign language teaching and acquisition research. Frontiers in Psychology. Language Sciences, 10, 2128. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02128.
  5. Dewaele, J.-M., Saito, K., & Halimi, F. (2022) How teacher behaviour shapes Foreign Language learners’ Enjoyment, Anxiety and Motivation: A mixed modelling longitudinal investigation. Language Teaching Research https://doi.org/10.1177/13621688221089601
  6. Cook, V. J. (2002). Introduction: background to the L2 user. In V. J. Cook (ed.), Portraits of the L2 User. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  7. Cook, V. J. (2002). Introduction: background to the L2 user. In V. J. Cook (Ed.), Portraits of the L2 User. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
  8. Cook, V. J., & Bassetti, B. (eds.) (2011). Language and Bilingual Cognition. New York: Psychology Press.
  9. Diener, E. (2009). Positive psychology: Past, present and future. In: C. R. Snyder & S. J. Lopez (Eds.). Oxford Handbook of Positive Psychology. New York: Oxford University Press.
  10. Fang, F. (2019). Re-positioning Accent Attitude in the Global Englishes Paradigm. London: Routledge.
  11. Hackert S. (2012). The Emergence of the English Native Speaker: A Chapter in the Nineteenth-Century Linguistic Thought. De Gruyter-Mouton: Boston, Berlin.
  12. Holliday, A.R. 2015. Native-speakerism: Taking the concept forward and achieving cultural belief. In A.R. Holliday, P. Aboshiha & A. Swan (Eds.), (En)Countering Native-speakerism. Global Perspectives. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
  13. Hyltenstam, K., Bartning, I., & Fant, L. (2018). Introduction: High-level proficiency and the concept of nativelikeness in second language and multilingual research practice. In K. Hyltenstam, I. Bartning & L. Fant (Eds.) High-Level Language Proficiency in Second Language and Multilingual Contexts (pp. 1-15). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  14. Jenkins, J., & Leung, C. (2019). From mythical 'standard' to standard reality: The need for alternatives to standardized English language tests. Language Teaching, 52(1), 86-110.
  15. King, J. (2013). Silence in the Second Language Classroom. Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan.
  16. Leonard, J. (2019). Beyond ‘(non) native-speakerism’: Being or becoming a native-speaker teacher of English. Applied Linguistics Review, 10(4), 677-703. https://doi.org/10.1515/applirev-2017-0033
  17. Li, C., & Xu, J. (2019). Trait Emotional Intelligence and Classroom Emotions: A Positive Psychology Investigation and Intervention Among Chinese EFL Learners. Frontiers in Psychology. Language Sciences, 10, 2453. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.02453
  18. MacIntyre, P. D., Gregersen, T. & Mercer, S. (2019). Setting an agenda for Positive Psychology in SLA: Theory, practice, and research. The Modern Language Journal 103(1), 262–274. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12544
  19. Murahata, G., Murahata, Y., & Cook, V.J. (2016). Research questions and methodology of multi-competence. In Li Wei & V.J. Cook (Eds.) The Cambridge Handbook of Linguistic Multi-Competence (pp. 26-49). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  20. Ortega, L. (2013). SLA for the 21st century: Disciplinary progress, transdisciplinary relevance, and the bi/multilingual turn. Language Learning, 63, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9922.2012.00735.x
  21. Oxford, R. L. (2016). Toward a Psychology of Well- Being for Language Learners: The ‘EMPATHICS’ Vision". In P. D. MacIntyre, T. Gregersen & S. Mercer (Eds.) Positive Psychology in SLA (pp. 10-88). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
  22. Pavlenko, A. (2014). The bilingual mind and what it tells us about language and thought. Cambridge University Press.
  23. Saito, K., Dewaele, J.-M., Abe, M., & In’nami, Y. (2018). Motivation, emotion, learning experience and second language comprehensibility development in classroom settings. Language Learning, 68(3), 709-743.
  24. Saito, K., & Hanzawa, K. (2016). Developing second language oral ability in foreign language classrooms: The role of the length and focus of instruction and individual differences. Applied Psycholinguistics, 37, 813-840. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716415000259
  25. Saito, K., Tran, M., Suzukida, Y., Sun, H., Magne, V., & Ilkan, M. (2019). How do second language listeners perceive the comprehensibility of foreign-accented speech?: Roles of first language profiles, second language proficiency, age, experience, familiarity, and metacognition. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 41(5), 1133-1149. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263119000226
  26. Seligman, M. (2018). PERMA and the building blocks of well-being, The Journal of Positive Psychology, https://doi.org/10.1080/17439760.2018.1437466
  27. Seligman, M.E.P. & Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2000). Positive psychology: An introduction. American Psychologist, 55, 5-14. https://doi.org/10.1037/0003-066X.55.1.5
  28. Seligman, M.E.P., Ernst, R.M., Gillham, J., Reivich, K., & Linkins, M. (2009). Positive education: Positive psychology and classroom interventions. Oxford Review of Education, 35, 293-311. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054980902934563
  29. Tan, K.H., Jospa, M.E.a.W., Mohd-Said, N.-E., & Awang, M.M. (2021). Speak like a Native English Speaker or Be Judged: A Scoping Review. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18(23), 12754. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182312754
  30. Tsang, A. (2019). Reconceptualizing speaking, listening, and pronunciation: Glocalizing TESOL in the contexts of World Englishes and English as a Lingua Franca. TESOL Quarterly, 53(2),579-588. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesq.504
  31. Vencer Comprendio, L.J.E., & Savski, K. (2020). ‘Asians’ and ‘Westerners’: examining the perception of ‘(non)native’ migrant teachers of English in Thailand. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 41(8), 673-685. https://doi.org/ 10.1080/01434632.2019.1630419
LICENSE
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.