<![CDATA[The proliferation of digital media has transformed English as a Foreign Language (EFL) pedagogy, positioning YouTube as a premier platform for autonomous oral proficiency development. In this virtual space, independent learners navigate a distinct pedagogical polarization between Native English-Speaking Teachers (NESTs) and Non-Native English-Speaking Teachers (NNESTs). However, micro-level empirical investigations into how these digital educators structurally construct and differentiate their instructional strategies remain scarce. This study aims to systematically investigate and compare the digital teaching strategies employed by a prominent NEST (Ms. L) and an NNEST (Ms. NF) on YouTube to uncover their distinct pedagogical designs and accommodations. Adopting a qualitative comparative research design, this study examined a purposive corpus of six highly engaged speaking-focused videos (published within the last five years, each exceeding 50,000 views). Data collection utilized an integrated video observation checklist synthesized from the frameworks of Richards and Lockhart (1994), Brown (2001), and Marzano et al. (2001) across seven pedagogical dimensions. To capture underlying pedagogical beliefs, the video analysis was triangulated with a semi-structured, reflective interview with the NNEST instructor. The data underwent iterative qualitative content analysis. The findings revealed a perfectly symmetrical distribution of coded pedagogical actions, with each instructor manifesting exactly 21 behaviors across the seven categories. However, their qualitative execution diverged significantly. Ms. L (NEST) operates primarily as a Linguistic Authority, prioritizing target language excellence through phonetic modeling, advanced sociolinguistic feedback, and naturalistic speech rates. Conversely, Ms. NF (NNEST) functions as a Pedagogical Mediator, utilizing cognitive modeling to validate learner anxiety, offering conceptual scaffolding to map psychological blocks, and employing a modified speech rate to maximize accessibility. The interview confirmed that the NNEST's strategies are deliberate instructional choices rooted in applied linguistics and personal language-learning reflections. This study concludes that while the NEST provides authentic input and targets native-like prestige standards, the NNEST offers crucial instructional mediation that deconstructs complex language processes for beginner-to-intermediate learners. Rather than competing, the two models exhibit a complementary synergy that optimizes virtual pedagogy for autonomous EFL learners.]]>
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