Perceptions of instructors and students on native speakerism in terms of English language teaching, language variations and culture

The purpose of this study is to investigate the perceptions of preparatory school instructors and students on native speakerism in terms of English language teaching (ELT), English variations and culture. The participants of this study were 171 preparatory students and 70 instructors from a non-profit university in Istanbul. The study was based on a mixed methods research design to gain knowledge about the perceptions of the students (N=171) and the instructors (N=70). The quantitative data were collected via student and instructor surveys (Liu, 2018) and the qualitative data were collected via semi-structured interviews with the instructors. The data were analyzed via SPSS and content analysis. The perceptions of the students were analyzed based on their gender and their proficiency levels. In terms of English language Teaching (ELT), English variations and culture, there were no significant differences between the perceptions of students based on their gender. There were no significant differences between the perceptions of the students towards native speakerism in terms of ELT and culture based on the proficiency levels. However, in terms of English variations, the perceptions of A1 and A2 level students showed significant difference. Moreover, based on their years of experience and their academic degree, the perceptions of instructors did not show any differences in terms of ELT, English variations, and culture. Finally, qualitative data results indicated that the instructor participants had positive perceptions towards teaching different cultures and English variations and also they believed that the native/non-native instructor discrimination should come to an end. Key Words: Native Speaker, NEST, NNEST, Language Variations, Culture and Language Learning, Student Perceptions, Instructor Perceptions.