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Enric Llurda is Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Lleida, where he is a member of the CLA research group (https://www.cla.udl.cat). His research has mainly focused on non-native language teachers, English as a lingua franca, language attitudes, multilingualism, and internationalisation in higher education institutions, and he is the leading researcher of the project Development of language ideologies in the training of pre-service English language teachers from an ELF perspective (ELFING). He has published in several international journals, including Language Teaching, ELT Journal, World Englishes, Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, and Journal of English as a Lingua Franca. He is the editor of the book Non-native language teachers: Perceptions, challenges and contributions to the profession (Springer, 2005), and more recently of the volume titled Dismantling the native speaker construct in English language teaching (Routledge, 2026).
"The long and winding road to overcoming native-speakerism in ELT "
A lot of attention has been devoted in the last 30 years to defining nativeness and, by opposition, non-nativeness (e.g., Davies, 1991), only to conclude that this division is rather arbitrary and does not rest on any solid foundation. More recently, the focus has been placed on the ideological construct of native-speakerism (Llurda & Calvet-Terré, 2024), and several studies have attempted to do away with the myth of the superior nature of ‘the native speaker’ that is still prevalent in society and in the language teaching/learning community (Davies, 1991; Medgyes, 1994; Holliday, 2005).
A good deal of researchers (e.g., Swan et al., 2015; Selvi et al., 2024) claim that in order to change the situation of privilege of some speakers over others, we first need to stop using labels that classify and separate speakers in two different groups (native vs. non-native). Although I am aware of this line of argument, I will keep using the term “non-native speaker” in order to emphasize how those who are identified with this label do suffer from discrimination, which originates in an ideology that can only be labelled as “native-speakerism”. Building on existing research on this topic, as well as on my own work, in this talk I intend to: (1) problematize the concept of the native speaker to show how it is only a socially constructed label, but one with a very strong influence on perceptions and judgements over speakers; (2) show how native-speakerism is still pervasive in contemporary language teaching and in society at large; and (3) discuss ways in which native-speakerism can be gradually overcome (Llurda, 2026).
Davies, A. (1991) The native speaker in applied linguistics. Edinburgh University Press.
Holliday, A. (2005) The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford University Press.
Llurda, E. (Ed.) (2026) Dismantling the native speaker construct in ELT. Routledge
Llurda, E. & J. Calvet-Terré (2024) Native-speakerism and non-native second language teachers: A research agenda. Language Teaching 57, 229-245.. doi:10.1017/S0261444822000271
Medgyes, P. (1994) The Non-native teacher. Macmillan.
Selvi, A. F.; B. Yazan & A. Mahboob (2024) Research on “native” and “non-native” English-speaking teachers: Past developments, current status, and future directions. Language Teaching 57, 1-41. doi:10.1017/S0261444823000137
Swan, A., Aboshiha, P. J., & Holliday, A. R. (Eds.). (2015). (En)countering native-speakerism: Global perspectives. London, England: Palgrave.
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