Canagarajah (1999) argues that NESTs can act as
'reflectors' of the target language culture. He also adds that NESTs might be better in EFL contexts, because
of their unique cultural knowledge, whereas NNESTs could be better in ESL contexts, because of their
multicultural experience. Hence, the participants' perception in this regard can be understood since the
present study's ELT context is considered EFL rather ESL by the majority of the BELTs (Al-Anssari & Lori,
2001). In addition, it is a fact that most English departments in the major universities in Bahrain teach British
and American literature. Therefore, it could be argued that this perception of difference, of the NESTs' being
preferred for their L1 despite their lower qualifications, refers to the greater contribution NESTs can make as
regards culture compared with the BELTs. This interpretation is supported by the findings of other studies.
Llurda and Huguet (2003) found that Catalan teachers still give greater value to knowledge of British culture
than to their own culture or that of other European countries. According to the researchers, this is probably
related to the fact that university departments in Spain are still devoting greater attention to traditional NS
cultures and literatures (i.e. British and American) than to those of other countries where English is also
used.