“All Native Speakers” at Singapore's ESL Schools: Implications for TESOL Communities in the Pursuit of Diversity‐Based Professionalism

Abstract This study explores an understudied question of who teaches English in the Singaporean English language teaching (ELT) industry. Study 1 analyzed the website contents of ESL schools, and Study 2 conducted questionnaire surveys and interviews with three schools. This study found: (1) the Singaporean ELT industry hires and represents both local and Western teachers as “native speakers” without differentiating them based on nationality while leaving the possibility that highly qualified job seekers from the Expanding Circle are excluded; (2) middle‐aged Singaporean and expatriate teachers from diverse career backgrounds are employed while the industry's definition of teacher professionalism remains unanswered; (3) one former “whites‐only” school made a post‐pandemic shift to the employment of Singaporean and other non‐white Outer Circle teachers in response to the growing demand for test preparatory courses, not with an awareness of the need for change as an anti‐racism entity. These findings suggest that hierarchical divisions that conflict with ELT values remain intact in the seemingly diverse and equal Singaporean ELT industry (e.g., native–nonnative, Inner–Outer Circle, career–job, and academia–industry). This study provides directions for much‐needed research in unexplored Outer Circle ELT contexts from the perspective of diversity‐based professionalism and ELT academia's relationship with the ELT industry in mutually inclusive ways.