Hiring Criteria and Employability of ESL/EFL Instructors in the TESOL Job Market in Canada and the United Arab Emirates
Abstract
This study investigated the hiring criteria and employability of ESL/EFL instructors in Canada and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in higher education. It also explored challenges facing instructors and program administrators in today’s global TESOL job market, and how they both tackled these challenges. The study drew on intersectionality and Critical Race Theory and a qualitative methodological approach to answer the research questions. The research methods included an online questionnaire, analyses of online job advertisements and instructors’ journal reflections, and interviews with instructors and program administrators.
The findings indicate that educational qualifications, and teaching experience and certification constituted the primary hiring criteria in both countries. Also, changes in the job markets were identified including changes related to Covid-19, hiring dynamics, the use of the term “native-speaker”, and degree inflation. In addition, instructors underscored challenges they faced in the job market (i.e., limited job opportunities, job precarity, and instances of discrimination), and how they countered them by highlighting their “non-native” status and being agentive and critical of discriminatory practices. Program administrators’ voices crystalized in supporting instructors by being proactive and critical of these discriminatory acts.
This study underscored instructors’ and program administrators’ voices in the TESOL field by offering them the opportunity to tell their stories. The findings suggest instructors and program administrators hold comparable views, which can lay the foundation for future discussions of professional certification, and equivalency requirements, and the value of international experience and education. These findings highlight several research gaps that merit future exploration.