Reinventing the native speaker

or ‘What you never wanted to know about the native speaker so never dared to ask.’

Paola Escudero | The University of Reading

Michael Sharwood Smith | Heriot-Watt University

Precise definition of the term, ‘native speaker’, is extremely difficult and therefore usually avoided even though the concept is vital in SLA as in many other domains dealing with language ability. Most researchers rely on the assumption that there is a common understanding of what a native-speaker is. However, the requirements of scientific rigour make a close examination of this ‘common understanding’ an absolute necessity. We argue that reformulating the concept along the lines first suggested by Eleanor Rosch, i.e. using prototype theory, should provide the best way of introducing the necessary precision. This has the consequence that native-speakerhood becomes a gradient term with, respectively, core (prototypical) and peripheral features. This allows researchers to be more precise about what they, or the particular theoretical approach they adopt, claim to be the essential and non-essential features of nativeness and the necessary rigour is thereby achieved.

Published online: 31 August 2001
https://doi.org/10.1075/eurosla.1.20esc

Cited by

Cited by 9 other publications

No author info given

2015. In Language Proficiency in Native and Non-native Speakers [Language Learning & Language Teaching, 41],

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2022. Indeterminacy in L1 French grammars: the case of gender and number agreement. Journal of French Language Studies ► pp. 1 ff.

Hulstijn, Jan H.

2019. An Individual-Differences Framework for Comparing Nonnative With Native Speakers: Perspectives From BLC Theory. Language Learning 69 ► pp. 157 ff.

Hyland, Ken

2019. In Novice Writers and Scholarly Publication, ► pp. 13 ff.

Liddicoat, Anthony J.

2016. Native and non-native speaker identities in interaction: Trajectories of power . Applied Linguistics Review 7:4 ► pp. 409 ff.

Menke, Mandy R. & Paul A. Malovrh

2021. In Advancedness in Second Language Spanish [Issues in Hispanic and Lusophone Linguistics, 31], ► pp. 18 ff.

Mulder, Kimberley & Jan H. Hulstijn

2011. Linguistic Skills of Adult Native Speakers, as a Function of Age and Level of Education. Applied Linguistics 32:5 ► pp. 475 ff.

Simon, Ellen & Miriam Taverniers

2011. Advanced EFL Learners' Beliefs about Language Learning and Teaching: A Comparison Between Grammar, Pronunciation, and Vocabulary. English Studies 92:8 ► pp. 896 ff.

Vulchanova, Mila, Valentin Vulchanov, Antonella Sorace, Cristina Suarez-Gomez & Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes

2022. Editorial: The Notion of the Native Speaker Put to the Test: Recent Research Advances. Frontiers in Psychology 13

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