Students' beliefs about native English-speaking teachers and Korean English teachers : a study of university students in Korea

The objectives of this study were to understand Korean university students’ beliefs and concerns about Native English-Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and Korean English Teachers (KETs) in Korea and to offer pedagogical strategies to address their concerns. One hundred and twenty-five university students in Korea participated in a questionnaire study. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data, and a non-parametric test of equal distribution (Wilcoxon test) was used to compare students’ responses to paired questions addressing NESTs and KETs. The findings of this study indicated that Korean students perceived NESTs and KETs as different and as having their own strengths and weaknesses. Students did not favor one type of teacher and held distinctive beliefs about the characteristics, areas of English teaching competence, appropriateness for different stages of learning English, and classroom performance of both groups of teachers. The study suggests that students would benefit from studying with both types of teachers and that NESTs, KETs, students, and administrators would benefit from making conscious efforts to better understand one another.