İstanbul`daki ana dili İngilizce olan ve olmayan öğretmenler: Bir algılama analizi

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between thecareer perceptions of native English speaking teachers (NESTs) and non-nativeEnglish speaking teachers (NNESTs) working at universities in Istanbul, and the twogroups? perceptions of the strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs. Thisstudy was conducted with 172 participants working in 10 different institutions instanbul. Data was collected through a questionnaire consisting of four parts. Thequestionnaire contained multiple-choice items, open-ended questions, and Likert-scale items. In addition, 15 participants were interviewed.Quantitative data analysis techniques were used to analyze the data from thequestionnaires. To analyze the data, frequencies, percentages, means, correlations,and t-tests were calculated. The data from the interviews was analyzed usingqualitative data analysis techniques.The results reveal that a great majority of the respondents view Englishlanguage teaching (ELT) as a career or profession. When the two groups werecompared, the percentage of the NNESTs who view ELT as a career or profession ishigher than that of NESTs.While indicating similar viewpoints between NESTs and NNESTs regardingtheir views of ELT, the study found differences in the perceptions of the importantqualifications of teachers, and the strengths and weaknesses of NESTs and NNESTs.Overall, the findings suggest that the `native speaker fallacy? may still havevalidity even though both groups of participants refrained from publicly accepting it.Keywords: NESTs, NNESTs, ELT, teaching as a career, `native speaker fallacy?.