Students’ and Instructors’ Attitudes and Perceptions towards Native and Non-native EFL Teachers in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq

English has evolved into an internationally-used language due to the increase in number of its learners. With growing demand for learing, over last 30 years, topic Native English-Speaking Teachers and Non-Native become a debate. Thus, purpose current mixed method study was find out students’ teachers’ perceptions attitudes towards NESTs NNESTs Kurdistan Region Iraq. Since have not been explored about this issue, might benefit learners, teachers, stakeholders, recruiters. In study, student questionnaires teacher interviews were administered answer following research question: What are instructors’ NNESTs, what strengths weaknesses do they identify NNESTs? The participants 345 university students, 24 EFL teachers. quantitative data obtained from questionnaire analyzed through SPSS V. 25, qualitative thematic analysis. findings revealed that students prefer NNESTs. However, also showed positive Similarly, teachers believed their positives negatives. preferred being fluent, natural speakers, better at colloquial language. contrast, thought excel having stronger connection with sympathetic, understanding needs difficulties.