I'm teaching a summer course with a project that requires engaging with "non-native English speakers," which I have now changed to "multilingual." "Native speaker" rubs me wrong, especially when it comes to English, because who qualifies as a "native speaker" is contentious. 1/10

What we really mean when we say "native English" is "standard global English." And as much as we'd like to believe it exists, there's no "standard global English." There are various Englishes (even within the English themselves). Widespread languages barely stay the same. 2/10

Now, for the sake of argument, let's say global standard English lies at the nexus of the 4 "native-speaker" territories: US, UK, CAD, AUS/NZ. This would make sense if all 4 had the same inflexions, spellings, grammar. But no. Even within each country, English usage differs. 3/10

AAVE is English. The Scouse dialect is English. The Ocker dialect is English. Folks from Scarborough speak English. Somehow, all of these are "native speakers," despite the fact that English speakers outside of these communities may need to adapt to understand them. 4/10

Yet, folks from anywhere outside these "Big English 4" territories, regardless of whether they have spoken, written and read English daily since they were born, are still deemed non-native speakers just because other languages are spoken in proximity to that English? Wild. 5/10

Case in point: I grew up in Nigeria, a multilingual country, but I AM a native speaker of English because I was raised & educated solely in English. But I need to prove that at every single point by always writing the IELTS/TOEFL/PTE, an exam for "non-native speakers." 6/10

Then someone from a native-speaker territory shows up and, regardless of how far/close they are to said "standard global English," they get a free pass. Which makes me wonder: What's the difference between the way a Welsh person uses English and the way a Kenyan does? 7/10

It's true that certain education systems steer speakers toward using English in a way it's closer to this "global standard," native speaker or not. Yet everyone outside of the Big English 4 gets tagged non-native, whether they've gone through a similar system or not. 8/10

Whose fault is it that there are varying Englishes in the first place, anyway? And how come no matter how non-standard English is when used within the "Big 4 English" territories, somehow *they* remain native speakers, while everyone else is not?

It's all just...weird. 9/10

Anywho, I changed my course description from "non-native" to "multilingual and non-English speakers." That's much clearer.

TL;DR: If there's going to be a yardstick for measuring "standard global English" usage, apply it to EVERYONE. Lose the "native" status.

Rant over. 10/10