The concept of Native Speaker in English and Russian academic discourse

Abstract

In contrast to the requirements for scientific accuracy, terms, particularly in the humanities, often reflect the specific socio-cultural context of their use and seemingly equivalent terms can have significant conceptual differences within multilingual scholarly and professional communities. One such term is native speaker , which is crucial to the English Language Teaching (ELT) academic discourse. The main objective of this study is to explore the structure and meaning of the concept underlying the term native speaker and its dynamic functioning in discourse to identify differences in their understanding. The material consisted of English and Russian-language research articles on ELT from 1970 to 2020. The study was conducted using a linguosynergetic approach, which considers discourse as a self-developing and self-organizing, nonlinear, open and unstable system. The methodology included three stages. First, the authors conducted an axiomatic analysis of the contexts in which the term native speaker is used. Then, they modeled the concept in different synchronous slices. Finally, they compared the data obtained. The results showed that the differences concern not only the periphery of the concepts, but also their very core. In Russian ELT discourse, the concept retains a relatively stable structure. This reflects the role of the native speaker in the educational process, as a learning model and a preferred teacher. In English ELT discourse, the term native speaker has acquired a negative connotation, and conceptually, it acts as an opponent to the term non-native speaker , forming a dual concept with it. The conclusions сan serve as a basis for further comparative studies on interlanguage terminological systems in the humanities field.

Keywords

• discourse analysis
• elt discourse
• native speaker
• concept
• linguosynergetic approach
• comparative terminology