Ironically, the English language does not belong to the English anymore … and no, it doesn’t belong to the Americans either!

Believe it or not, non-native speakers of English are increasingly taking over. For example, did you know that non-native speakers of English now outnumber native speakers by a ratio of four to one?

Or that the majority of English-language conversations today do not involve a single native speaker?

This means that “good English” in most cases is not native English. But if a native model of English isn’t necessary, what model should we be teaching?

Intelligible Non-Native Models (Most of the Time)

For most students (even including those who insist on learning “native pronunciation”), an intelligible non-native model of English is perfectly acceptable. As this teaching guide explains,

“Since few ... learners ... will eventually acquire a native-like accent ..., non–native English speaking teachers’ own qualities of English pronunciation represent realistic aspirational models of pronunciation attainment.”

What this means is that your accent (yes, yours!) is a perfectly acceptable model of English.

Further, there are students who cherish the accent that comes from their native language. Some see it as a part of their identity. For example, when a Chinese speaker of English was asked what accent she’d like to have, she replied, “my OWN accent... because first of all, I am Chinese. I don’t have to speak like an American or British ... it’s like identity.”

However, not all students feel this secure about their accent, so we should make an effort to help them feel better about it.

But as the saying goes, “seeing is believing”! It’s important for students to see that non-native speakers can still be respectable speakers of English. To this end, you may want to mention some famous non-native speaking role models, such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Penelope Cruz, Ban Ki-Moon, or Ang Lee.

Ted Talks are also a great resource for this purpose. Since we have a fairly large population of East Asian students, here are some TED videos featuring East Asian English speakers:

• Japanese AI expert, inventor, architect
• South Korean journalist, teacher
• Taiwanese educator, artist
• Thai architect and computer scientist
• Chinese scientist, businessman, businesswoman, food entrepreneur, psychologist, and AI expert

Native Models (Sometimes)

However, if a student insists on learning to speak like a native speaker, we shouldn’t discourage it. Those who plan on living in an English-speaking country will benefit from learning the “standard” accent in their country of choice. This will ensure smoother communication and greater acceptance from the people in their new community.

That said, every native-English-speaking country is full of “non-standard” accents. People from the southern US often speak with a Southern accent and people in many parts of the country speak with Latin American accents. The UK also has northern English accents, the Birmingham accent, and so on and so forth. Students who plan on living in these countries don’t need to be able to speak with all these accents, but they do need to at least understand them.

As an example, I was actually on a flight to the US, where a Latin-American flight attendant made all the announcements. My friends who grew up in heavily Latin-American parts of the US understood them just fine, but I didn’t even realize that the announcements were in English until halfway through! I made a mental note to work on my comprehension of Latin-American English if I ever moved back to the US.

So we should help students get closer to their ideal native accent, but also remind them that it’s equally important to understand non-standard accents as well!

📌 Takeaways

We hope this piece helped you gain a better understanding of English as it’s used around the world today! Make sure to keep in mind that:

1. Some students want to learn a native accent, and that’s fine! We should help them do that, but also open their eyes to the realities that native English speakers are now a minority and that even native English-speaking countries have a wealth of accents, with the “standard accent” being much less common than we think.
2. Most students don’t need to learn a native accent. We can help them feel that theirs is perfectly valid, and simply help them improve it so it’s easier to understand.

Happy tutoring!