Institutional Repository | Satya Wacana Christian University: Students’ Perceptions toward Non-Native English Speaker Teacher (NNEST) in Teaching Pronunciation

Students’ Perceptions toward Non-Native English Speaker Teacher (NNEST) in Teaching
Pronunciation
Tirza Agata

ABSTRACT
In teaching pronunciation, Native English Speaker Teachers (NESTs) have been commonly
believed more superior than NNEST, mainly because of their L1 background knowledge as native
speakers. Many previous studies about NNEST have compared the traits of NEST and NNEST in
teaching speaking. The previous studies, however, have also indicated positive results toward
NNEST in teaching speaking in terms of students’ attitudes, perceptions, and achievements. Thus,
further explorations focusing on NNEST and pronunciation are still relevant to be done. Related
to this, the present study aims to find out students’ perceptions toward NNEST in teaching
pronunciation in an EFL context. This study applies a survey research design using a questionnaire.
The research participants are 126 first-year-students of the English Language Education Program
of Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Central Java,
Indonesia. Considering the teaching and non-teaching aspects, the result of this study reveals that
NNEST can be considered as good as NEST in teaching pronunciation. Interestingly, it is also
found that the EFL students prefer NNEST to NEST to teach them pronunciation because of the
non-teaching aspects that the students experienced in the classroom.
Key words: NNEST, NEST, Pronunciation, Students’ perceptions