In this presentation I will argue that the traditional deficit view about (English) foreign language learners and users (the so-called failure to reach “native-speaker” standard) is the result of narrow-minded monolingual ideologies and is harmful to learners, teachers and foreign language users. Rather than obsessing about deficit, we should acknowledge gaps but also rejoice about progress, and accept that “imperfect” foreign language users are just as legitimate as first language users, and that their foreign accent and odd mistake is as much part of them as the colour of their eyes and hair (Dewaele, 2018; Dewaele et al. 2021).
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Dewaele, J.-M. (2018) Why the dichotomy ‘L1 Versus LX User’ is better than ‘Native Versus Non-native Speaker’. Applied Linguistics, 39(2), 236-240.
Dewaele, J.-M., Bak, T. & Ortega, L. (2021) Why the mythical “native speaker” has mud on its face. In N. Slavkov, S. Melo Pfeifer & N. Kerschhofer (Eds.), The Changing Face of the "Native Speaker": Perspectives from Multilingualism and Globalization. Berlin: Mouton De Gruyter, pp. 23-43.
