NNESTs and Preservice Teachers Construction of Identity through Perception towards Native Speakerism

The ELT industry worldwide has been criticized for situating the native speaker model as the ideal model in English language teaching profession which along the line builds up a false division (dichotomy) amongst native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) and nonnative English-speaking teachers (NNESTs). The distinction that exists between native/nonnative has impact on the lives of NNESTs. Since the dichotomy that exists between natives/nonnatives falls short in fully capturing the complex and multifaceted nature of individuals’ diverse linguistic backgrounds, it is, therefore, necessary to investigate the construction of identity of NNESTs in diverse distinct contexts. There is a dearth of research work on identity construction of non-natives in Northern Cyprus. Thus, to add more to the literature by offering more insight into the complexity and dynamic nature of L2 identity construction in different contexts, this study investigates the identity construction of nonnative English-speaking teachers and student teachers in Northern Cyprus through their perception of native speakerism. Qualitative method through narratives was employed to access the thought and experiences of the participants. The findings show that the respondents have different experiences and perception of the native speaker fallacy in the FLE field. The findings addressed three major issues: a) accent and pronunciation, b) employment, and special treatments, c) cultural issues. The three emerging concepts from the study which reveal the identity formation of the participants were self-image, self-efficacy, and beliefs about teaching and learning. The findings reveal that the participants have positive and high self-efficacy and selfimage in teaching English, though with an underrated level of self-doubt due to their weaknesses, which propels them to invest more in themselves. Similarly, their beliefs, a core reflection of their identity was a catalyst to being an English language teacher.