Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers' Identityand Paradigm Shift in English Language Teaching: Current Trend in Thai Educational Context

English is currently the main means of international communication among people from diverse linguistic backgrounds.Therefore, English language education has played a significant role in all domains of society and connecting people globally. There has been a significant increase in the number of the controversial native/non-native dichotomy in English Language Teaching (ELT). The fallacy that successful communication can always be assured if an individual can approximate to the native speakers’ competence has long been prevalent to uphold in English language education in Thailand. This paper aims to criticize the non-native English-speaking teachers’ identity in accordance with the dominant native speakers’ norms of English in Thailand as well as the use of English teaching paradigm which contradicts the sociolinguistic reality of today’s world communication. This paper reconceptualizes the status of Non-Native English Speaking Teachers (NNESTs) through the lens of professional identity and the orientation of English language teaching pedagogy in current trend of Thai educational setting in order to raise educators and scholars’ awareness of the importance of international intelligibility rather than linguistic prestige. Additionally, the English teacher identity and paradigm shift in English language teaching in Thailand will be proposed. Such issues will provide a powerful lens to reexamine the value in English language teachers in many dimensions: the requirement through qualifications, students’ viewpoints and administrators’ perspectives. Hopefully, the critical discussion in the paper would offer the insight into dominant teaching paradigm in Thailand which should be reconsidered to be compatible with global communicative needs, particularly in the era of international communication and ELT.