Disparity in terms of Recruitment and Salary between Monolinguals and Bilingual EFL Teachers in the Sultanate of Oman

Literature in the field of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) recruitment practices suggests that the myth of monolingual speakerism has impacted the employment methods in various countries in the world. The monolingual (native) speaker has a privileged position in English language teaching, representing both the model speaker and the ideal teacher. Bilingual teachers of English are often perceived as less competent than their monolingual counterparts in Oman. The aim of the research was to critically explore and problematize the workplace and recruitment matters that discriminate between bilingual and monolingual English teachers in Oman. This research reports the findings of a small-scale qualitative study conducted at the English Language Centre (ELC) at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Oman through obtaining data via face-to-face oral interviews from six participants who were selected based on their personal willingness to get involved in this research. The results demonstrated that the native speakers’ fallacy is “alive and kicking” in Oman. The results of the study indicated that there is also a huge discrimination based on salary range between native and non-native teachers, despite doing same job. Colonial impact is another reason behind monolingual speakers’ preference. The impact of discrimination is that bilingual teachers of English are left feeling inferior. Hence it is essential to adopt policies, which install greater sense of job security to enhance motivation and innovation. The study suggests that recruitment practices in Oman must be reviewed to establish equality and to create a healthy working environment.

Keywords:

Bilingual speaker , Monolingual speaker , Multilingual speaker , Teacher discrimination