Facts and Fallacies About English Language Teaching: Evidence From the Literature on Job Advertisements

Abstract The objective of this study is to shed light on what the literature on English Language Teaching (ELT) job advertisements reveals about the ELT profession. For this aim, the existing nine articles are chosen as the focal literature and content-analyzed. The results point to some facts about ELT: the native speakerism ideology persists in ELT job advertisements; it includes multifaceted discrimination against both non-native and non-Anglophone native English speaker teachers (NESTs); cost-effective strategies are utilized by recruiters to hire young NESTs; different marketing strategies are employed to attract NESTs and to earn the prestige associated with hiring them; and advertising discourse is a way to institutionalization and entrenchment of discrimination. The fallacies explored also concern ELT as an adventure full of travel and pleasure, the dominance of supply-demand and preference principles, viewing NESTs as ideal teachers who promise fun and effortless language learning; and the fallacy that native status compensates for the lack of qualification and experience. Each fact and fallacy is problematized and ways to combat discrimination are suggested. Also, implications of the study for various stakeholders in the ELT circle including the NESTs, NNESTs, and recruiting agencies are discussed.