A Critical Look at an English Conversation Class of a NEST

Qualitative case study methodology was used for the current study to understand a class taught by a Native English Speaking Teacher (NEST) by examining how the university students taking this class perceived the instructor, the teaching materials, and the activities and the types of interactions. The purpose of the study was to understand what influence the NEST had on the participant's English learning, and what pedagogical implications could be drawn. The participants in the study included the teacher and 30 freshmen students who were required to take his "English Conversation" class. The data collected by two researchers included classroom observations, reflective journals, student surveys as well as e-mail correspondences with the NEST. Constant comparison and content analysis through coding was utilized for data analysis. As a result, four major themes were generated, including: 1) students' attitudes on the NEST's class; 2) the fit between students and language teaching and learning materials (under this category, the three subcategories are provided); 3) teacher's decision on interactional type (pair conversation) and its ' results; 4) meaningless interaction led by activity types. Conclusions and implications are also provided.