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The Native Speaker: Myth and Reality
Linguists, applied linguists and language teachers all appeal to the native speaker as an important reference point. But what exactly (who exactly?) is the native speaker? This book examines the native speaker from different points of view, arguing that the native speaker is both myth and reality.
- GenresLinguistics
248 pages, Paperback
First published March 4, 2003
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About the author
Alan Davies
132 books164 followersAlan Davies is an English stand-up comedian, writer and actor. He has played the title role in the BBC mystery drama series Jonathan Creek since 1997, and has been the only permanent panellist on the BBC panel show QI since 2003.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 25, 2025
If you professionally instruct any language without reading this, you are an uninformed teacher. It's tantamount to teaching English without studying about Noam Chomsky and his "logical problem of language" argument that led him to the idea of universal grammar.
Alan Davies claims that the native speakership is irreducible to brains or environments. The standard definition of one's native language (which is linguistically differently categorized from mother language or first language) is that it's a language in which you have grown up. That's it.
It's not about how good you are at the language. It's just a random and ill-defined collection of variables that you relate to that language. Unlike "first language," which is institutional and easy to define, native speakership is impossible to be defined in any quick way. That is, unless you opt for the biological, deterministic explanation, which in turn excludes and discriminates all non-native speakers as it is impossible to acquire that language unless you are born into it.
Davies is highly wary of the dangerous implications of such a view. Native speakership becomes a myth if defined so. No matter how hard you try, you are biologically barred from acquiring it. In other words, you won't be good enough; aptitudes, talents, efforts, time, they won't make a dent.
This is the dominant current of thinking in applied linguistics and language teaching the past few decades. Linguists tried too hard to make it scientific that they ended up defining language learning as an unattainable goal.
Davies's book is firmly against this trend. The above view, he argues, leads to a creation of "myth," as the subtitle of the book suggests. It sanctifies the native speakership under the authority of science, thereby denying entry to those who have not grown up in that particular language environment (i.e., a western society).
Davies claims that, instead of this "scientific" approach, people should employ a more wholistic view that can be grounded in "reality." This is why his argument considers "native speakership" as an act of social participation in a language community, rather than a biological determination.
In other words, Davies's counterpoint rescues learners from being eternally condemned by biologically privileged "native speakers" of the language. As long as one has the willingness to participate in linguistic activities, chances remain open for them to gain the native speakership. It should be seen as a social status kept accessible for learners, not as an inevitable biological "fact."
This book is a language-learning version of Stephen Jay Gould's acclaimed The Mismeasure of Man. As Gould criticized how the society and science have defined intelligence in a manner unfair to minorities, Davies spells out the limitations of the science-only methodologies predominantly employed in modern applied linguistics, and consequently, lots of amateur teachers with thin academic backgrounds. Although Davies does not deny the importance of science-based approaches, his argument makes a case against science's biological-determinist enshrinement of "native speakers."
This is the kind of insight one would appreciate after years or decades of serious learning. They still face discrimination, possibly ridicules, from native speakers of their target languages (TL). The modern scientific approach, though rigorous, has been unwittingly assisting these disparaging attitudes.
That is why I keep repeating this point: Teachers need to read this so that they can free themselves from the mythical discourse the science has accidentally created (Do not throw away your Chomsky or Steven Pinker books; they provide precious insights into the nature of how language works from another point of view. The problem arises from their misguided applications in society).
As Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan says, you've got to ask yourself one question: What does it mean to be a (non-)native speaker?
Do you feel lucky? Then you have a chance to consider yourself to be a native speaker. It's a socially open concept.
Alan Davies claims that the native speakership is irreducible to brains or environments. The standard definition of one's native language (which is linguistically differently categorized from mother language or first language) is that it's a language in which you have grown up. That's it.
It's not about how good you are at the language. It's just a random and ill-defined collection of variables that you relate to that language. Unlike "first language," which is institutional and easy to define, native speakership is impossible to be defined in any quick way. That is, unless you opt for the biological, deterministic explanation, which in turn excludes and discriminates all non-native speakers as it is impossible to acquire that language unless you are born into it.
Davies is highly wary of the dangerous implications of such a view. Native speakership becomes a myth if defined so. No matter how hard you try, you are biologically barred from acquiring it. In other words, you won't be good enough; aptitudes, talents, efforts, time, they won't make a dent.
This is the dominant current of thinking in applied linguistics and language teaching the past few decades. Linguists tried too hard to make it scientific that they ended up defining language learning as an unattainable goal.
Davies's book is firmly against this trend. The above view, he argues, leads to a creation of "myth," as the subtitle of the book suggests. It sanctifies the native speakership under the authority of science, thereby denying entry to those who have not grown up in that particular language environment (i.e., a western society).
Davies claims that, instead of this "scientific" approach, people should employ a more wholistic view that can be grounded in "reality." This is why his argument considers "native speakership" as an act of social participation in a language community, rather than a biological determination.
In other words, Davies's counterpoint rescues learners from being eternally condemned by biologically privileged "native speakers" of the language. As long as one has the willingness to participate in linguistic activities, chances remain open for them to gain the native speakership. It should be seen as a social status kept accessible for learners, not as an inevitable biological "fact."
This book is a language-learning version of Stephen Jay Gould's acclaimed The Mismeasure of Man. As Gould criticized how the society and science have defined intelligence in a manner unfair to minorities, Davies spells out the limitations of the science-only methodologies predominantly employed in modern applied linguistics, and consequently, lots of amateur teachers with thin academic backgrounds. Although Davies does not deny the importance of science-based approaches, his argument makes a case against science's biological-determinist enshrinement of "native speakers."
This is the kind of insight one would appreciate after years or decades of serious learning. They still face discrimination, possibly ridicules, from native speakers of their target languages (TL). The modern scientific approach, though rigorous, has been unwittingly assisting these disparaging attitudes.
That is why I keep repeating this point: Teachers need to read this so that they can free themselves from the mythical discourse the science has accidentally created (Do not throw away your Chomsky or Steven Pinker books; they provide precious insights into the nature of how language works from another point of view. The problem arises from their misguided applications in society).
As Clint Eastwood's Harry Callahan says, you've got to ask yourself one question: What does it mean to be a (non-)native speaker?
Do you feel lucky? Then you have a chance to consider yourself to be a native speaker. It's a socially open concept.
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