Better Grammatical Knowledge I am a non-native academic director who is responsible - amongst many other things - for recruiting. During an interview I always ask a couple of questions to check the candidate's language command. When asked for grammatical explanations, native speakers often hesitate and come up with some kind of vague description whereas non-natives often have a very clear idea on grammar forms, rules and uses. Students who are learning English as a second language love it when their teacher can give them crystal clear explanations about grammatical items.

"Native speakers know the destination, but not the terrain that has to be crossed to get there; they themselves have not travelled the same route"- Seidlhofer Too presumptive of you to say that, Mike. Here are some of the reasons why it doesn't have to be just Native speakers (NSs)to teach English and give Non-Native Speakers (NSSs) an equal playing field.
As what you have mentioned in your post i.e "NNSs may have a better knowledge of the grammar...", let me add more details.
(1)They provide good learning model to their students;
(2)They can teach language strategies very effectively; and
(3)They are able to provide more information about the language to their student.

What is more important, having a native english background or recognizing experience and professionalism?


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Being born into a language doesn't mean that one inherently speaks it well.