Representations of native-speaker teachers among Slovenian secondary school learners

Abstract

This article focuses on the representations of the native/non-native teacher among allophone learners in the context of teaching French as a foreign language (FLE) in Slovenia, where, in order to enrich learning of foreign languages, native-teachers were hired to provide collaborative teaching: native and non-native teachers would rotate language- and culture-based contents to be taught consecutively in the classroom. In this context it was believed that the native teacher would represent added value to this team-teaching project. Therefore, the question arises as to how learners, faced with this situation, perceive their learning and foreign language teachers according to their sociolinguistic status. The aim of our research is to identify the criteria for such a perception by asking students about their representations of the native-teacher in comparison to those of their non-native teacher, using a questionnaire. According to our assumptions, these representations would change according to students' language levels. The choice of a comparative study between students' levels was motivated by the special relationship they have with the native teacher, considering their learning habits and teaching contents. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of the results reveal the impact of teachers' sociolinguistic status on the representations of the learners, language and learning.