The professional identity of EFL teachers: The complexity of nativeness

The current study quantitatively examines the professional identity of 150 EFL teachers in the Israeli educational system. Findings indicate that native English-speaking teachers (“NESTs”) rate themselves higher than non-native English-speaking teachers. Still, fewer differences between the groups were found than predicted. While the results of this study support the idea of considering native English proficiency to be ad-vantageous, the global situation of English use suggests that a different direction should be adopted. Taking advantage of the strengths of each group by embracing cooperation between teachers from different linguistic backgrounds could contribute to a stronger professional identity for language teachers, thus reducing the dichotomy between native English speakers and those who do not speak English natively.