This webinar is part of our 2021 CPD webinar sessions. Participants will earn an ALT CPD Open Badge which can be used as evidence towards accreditation via one of the pathways in ALT’s CMALT framework. 

If you missed a previous CPD webinar, recordings are available over on Youtube. 

Presenter:  Shahrzad Ardavani

Within the discipline of TESOL, there is an enduring focus on the differences of Native English-Speaking Teachers (NESTs), and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers (NNESTs), their strength and weaknesses, dating back to the pioneering work of Medgyes (1994), who viewed these two groups as ‘two different species’. What is to be the role of this dichotomy within an online environment of a MOOC-based CPD? This research attempts to answer this question by applying Holiday’s theoretical framework of small and large cultures in an investigation of NESTs and NNESTs lived experience whilst reflecting on their interaction, involved in cooperative learning. To this end, the data on six in-service ELTs were collected using Hermeneutic phenomenology. The analysis indicates that the dichotomy of NESTs and NNESTs were largely redundant for participants.