Browsing by Author "Foley, Joseph"
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ItemA synopsis of the development of a framework of reference for english language education in Thailand (FRELE-TH)The purpose of this article is to address the need for a Framework of Reference for English Language Education in Thailand (FRELE-TH 2017) based on the Common Europe Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR, 2001 2018) which was first introduced and practiced among the European countries. CEFR framework has been adopted into language education systems of the majority of Asian countries as well as other parts of the world. As English is the working language of the ASEAN Economic Community people can cross borders to fulfil their social, economic and educational needs. However many Thais do not have the proficiency in English to compete in terms of English, thus hindering their mobility within the ASEAN context. By looking at the basic principles that would benefit the English language teaching and learning in Thailand using FRELE-TH and understanding the difficulties when adopting and modifying CEFR ‘CAN Do’ approach might be a more realistic solution to improving the standard of English in the Thai education system.
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ItemDeveloping Academic Writing in a Business Oriented University( 2013) Foley, JosephThis research investigated the development of language choices in the Academic writing of students at an English-medium university in Thailand. The first part involved looking at the writing in the first semester of their English program at the university, representing the level of the students’ writing on entry into the university. Seventy two samples of first year students’ writing were collected, but only 12 were randomly selected for this study in order to compare their progress over a period of 14 weeks (first semester). The second part of the research looked at the writing of students’ journals at the end of their second semester of their first year after the implementation of a writing program based on research originally developed in Australia (Derewianka, 2003). A third part of the research investigated the development of students’ writing towards the third year in university with specific reference to their academic writing in the business English program. The focus on Business English was mainly because the university was well-known in this field of study. The framework for the analysis of the students’ writing was based on a systemic functional approach (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2004). In order to provide insights into the meaning and effectiveness of the text, a discourse grammar needs to be functional and semantic in its orientation. This paper discusses the development of the Nominal Group (NG) in the students’ writing in THEME position, as this was felt to be a major issue in the development of academic discourse. However NGs in the RHEME would also be looked, as this was a part of the text structure, where complex nominal groups would be expected as part of the NEW information. The resulting analysis showed that initially the students had a limited knowledge of the different genres and used an equally limited range of lexical and grammatical choices. After the implementation of a new teaching approach in the second semester of the first year, some improvement could be observed. During the third year of the English program, improvement in the writing of genres used in “business” writing, such as Reports, was clearly evident.
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ItemTeaching to write right : looking at the "Process"( 2012) Foley, JosephThis study investigated the language choices in the writing of freshmen students at an English medium university in Thailand in response to visual stimuli. The study involved identifying the genres and the lexico-grammatical features associated with such genres. 600 samples of writing were collected but only 72 were randomly selected from 12 students in order to compare their progress over a period of 14 weeks (one semester). The framework for the analysis of the students writing was based on a detailed approach to these texts as semantic units. But since meanings are realized through the lexico- grammatical system, it was felt that this was the most effective way of making an explicit interpretation of the texts that had some objectivity. This study focuses on the first part of a two part project involving first of all the ùprocessû, then a later study dealt with the ùproductû. The paper will discuss the development of the Nominal Group (NG) in the studentsû writing in THEME position as this was felt to be a major issue in the dominantly Descriptive, Recount and Narrative genres which it was hoped they would produce. The resulting analysis showed that the students had a limited knowledge of the different genres and used an equally limited range of lexico-grammatical choices. No discernible improvement was observed over the period of study. Possible reasons for this were, firstly the lack of awareness of the role and importance that genres play in their academic studies and secondly, an approach to teaching which did not include a grammar that was functionally based. Possible alternative ways of teaching are suggested.
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