Abstract:

In the field of Modern Higher Education, the background of teachers as native or non-native speakers of the language they teach is of major concern in the field of teacher education. First things first, in teacher education each teacher has an ideal self of her or his own as non-native English-speaking teachers of English, as a second or foreign language, or English as an additional language. Teachers perceive differences between their teaching [styles/approaches] and how this perception influences the teaching behavior and attitudes of the non-native speaking teachers matters a lot. The question is: Should they develop and enhance rather than merely maintain in a static self their proficiency level? This question is also related with the self of the foreign language teacher. A foreign language teacher should never say this: “As a non-native teacher, I can never truly master the target language.” Conversely, a non-native foreign language teacher should not articulate the following statement, which is contrary to professional self: “I have near-native proficiency, but I can’t aspire to mastery of the language.”All of this boils down to mean that the teacher has weak professional self which indicates the immatured self-fulfillment in efficiency in the target language.

Keywords: