Barriers to the Intercultural Communication of Native English Speaking Teachers in an Intercultural Environment: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Native English speaking (NES) teachers are important contributors to the English acquisition process. In a multicultural environment, the ability to communicate with people and minimize misunderstandings is vital. Nevertheless, very little concern is shown about possible barriers to intercultural communication that NES teachers may have when working in different regions in the world, including: anxiety, the assumption of similarity instead of differences, stereotypes and prejudice, ethnocentrism, and nonverbal misinterpretation (Barna, 1997). This may cause many problems for both the NES teachers themselves and the students they teach. This paper aims to review other research and studies concerning the challenges that NES teachers might face when working in an intercultural environment.