Within the region, a number of countries have viewed the importation of native speakers of English as a means of enhancing English language teaching in schools and promoting internationalization or cultural exchange. Adherents of such programmes anticipate benefits in exposing learners to authentic input, the use of English for genuine communication, and opportunities for mutual staff development or fruitful cross-fertilisation of ideas. Critics, on the other hand, point to a perceived lack of value for money, the difficulties of foreigners integrating into local systems, and conflicts between local and expatriate personnel. This paper will make some comparative observations about three schemes, EPIK (English Program in Korea), JET (Japan exchange and teaching program) and NET (Native-speaking English teacher), including their characteristics, successes and ongoing challenges. I will argue that both native and non0native speakers have their particular strengths and will propose some ways in which native-speakers might best be utilized in supporting enhanced standards of English in schools.

In this chapter, we report on an inquiry exploring experiences of ten elite mainland Chinese student teachers of English as to understand why they came to Hong Kong for the teacher education programme. The study revealed that these students were largely attracted to teaching in Hong Kong because of its extrinsic benefits such as professional stability, the prestige associated with the English language teaching profession, and the opportunities to acquire valued skills transferable to other professions including English competence. Facing challenges as non-local students, they were also uncertain of becoming teachers in the new context. This raises questions as to how these talented non-local teachers can be retained in Hong Kong’s schools.
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Life history is regarded as a significant source of information for the comprehension of teacher development and identity. This study examines the biography of a migrant teacher from China to Hong Kong. The narrative biographical study explores how the subjective reality and the historical factors mingle with the evolving background of the teacher’s professional life. Major sources of influence include communist education, family education, suffering in political upheavals and early teacher professional experience. The problems she encountered in the local schools after migrating were found attributing to the incompatible practices and cognition acquired in China. This study provides evidence of how teachers develop on the basis of their biography. Practical insights for teacher education and in-service teacher training can be drawn from this study.

The status of English as a global language has played a significant role in contemporary language education policies across the world. In East Asia, the hegemony of English has been reflected in a number of central governments' policies of recruiting native English-speaking teachers (NESTs) to participate in English language education. This paper focuses on the NESTs recruitment policies in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan with the aim of examining how teacher professionalism is represented in these policy discourses and how this conceived teacher professionalism impacts on English teaching and learning in these countries. Through the analysis of policy texts and documents, we argue that teacher professionalism has been assigned a different agenda by the governments who subscribe to "native speaker norms" and legitimise unqualified and inexperienced NESTs in the profession of English language teaching (ELT). These anti-professionalism policies have not achieved the intended consequence of improving students' English proficiency, but have instead resulted in the unintended consequences of damaging the quality of English instruction and jeopardising the professional identity of local non-native English-speaking teachers (NNESTs) in these countries. The results reveal an urgent need to evaluate the effectiveness of these NEST recruitment programmes.
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