Articles

Permanent URI for this collection

https://repository.au.edu/handle/6623004553/661

Browse

Browsing Articles by Issue Date

Jump to a point in the index:
  • Item
  • Item
    Teaching methodology for ESL students in Singapore
    ( 2009) Pimporn Chandee
    ESL in Singapore is dominated by the complexity of her linguistic environment, identity, and the government's language policy. Since English is one of the official languages in Singapore, it is inevitable that English is used in everyday conversation. However, the cultural differences from the countries of the inner circle inevitably put pressure on inner circle linguistic norms. English must change when it arrives in the countries of outer circle such as Singapore. This trend is to meet the communicative needs of communities whose social structure involves very different priorities and preoccupations. The aim of this paper is to review English regional variation focusing on three main parts: codification of New English, communicative approach, and pedagogical implications. The discussion will be based on the perspectives of key stakeholders in Singapore such as ESL students, ESL teachers, government officers, and native speakers of English in Singapore. Both primary and secondary research were conducted with reference to current journals, dissertations, interviews and observations. A language achieves a genuinely global status when it develops a special role that is recognized in every country. This might seem like stating the obvious, but it is not, for the notion of 'special role' has many facets. To achieve a global status, a language has to be taken up by other countries around the world (Crystal, 2003).
  • Item
  • Item
    Teaching to write right : looking at the "Process"
    ( 2012) Foley, Joseph
    This 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.
  • Item
    The Portrait of a City: Lawrence Osborne’s Bangkok Days
    ( 2012) Klemm, Alexander J.
    The novel Bangkok Days (2009) by Lawrence Osborne offers reflections on the identity of Thailand’s capital and its expatriate residents. The novel taps into Westerners’ imagination and misconceptions of Asia and their fascination with Bangkok. Through a semi-fictional narrative where personal experiences of a wandering narrator, subjective impressions and historical facts merge, the novel attempts to disentangle many of Bang-kok’s apparent complexities and enigmas. This paper seeks to analyze Bangkok Days ’ portrayal of the city and its approach to central themes which include urban lone-liness, the interplay between East and West, as well as the city as a stage, chaos and mystery. The objective is to arrive at an in-depth understanding of these concepts and Osborne’s portrait of Bangkok.
  • Item
  • Item
    Developing Academic Writing in a Business Oriented University
    ( 2013) Foley, Joseph
    This 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.
  • Item
    "Ante et Retro Occulata": Looking Back and Looking Forward
    ( 2014) Foley, Joseph A.
    This article briefly looks at what changes might occur linguistically with the widening of English within ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) while at the same time looking at the changes that have taken place in both the language and attitude in the history of English in its country of origin in terms of two forms of imperative: the cooperative and the territorial. In one case, the cooperative imperative is seen as a need to continually modify the language in order to communicate with people within new contexts and cultures. On the other, the territorial imperative seeks to secure and protect a separate and social identity. What lessons can we learn from history and what consequences such lessons can have for teaching in terms of the differences between teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) and the growing awareness of the wider use of English as a lingua franca (ELF) will also be discussed.
  • Item
    Medical Mysteries: Madness, Magic, Malevolent Doctors in Contemporary Thai Horror Film
    ( 2014) Ancuta, Katarzyna
    For some inexplicable reason, contemporary Thai horror fi lms seem to be obsessively featuring members of medical profession as central fi gures of evil, capable of committing unspeakable crimes and not even once presenting them in a more positive light. By doing so, the fi lms in question upset the typical horror balance of good doctors vs. mad/evil doctors and make one wonder about the possible rationale behind such negative representation of the profession. This article argues that the negative portrayal of medical professionals in contemporary Thai horror is to a certain extent reminiscent of the tensions between the offi cial and popular attitudes to Western bio-medicine and Traditional Thai Medicine (TTM) in Thai society. The article will also discuss the possibility that medical doctors, together with other members of the professional community, such as for instance architects, or journalists, represent a relatively high level in the Thai social hierarchy which can be openly criticized without much fear that the fi lms will be cut by censors. Last but not least, the article will look in more detail on Paween Purijitpanya’s debut feature The Body #19 (2006). Set within the less-than-glamorous world of medical professionals, the fi lm toys with the concept of the mental disease (schizophrenia), which in traditional Thai folk medicine has consequently been attributed to spiritual possession. This dual spiritual/medical nature of the mental disease in Thai popular perception, has allowed the fi lmmakers to create a fi lm that can be seen as simultaneously repeating and breaking the established Thai horror formulas. At the same time, while directing our attention to the notion of disease, the fi lm offers an interesting, though subtle (= strict censorship) representation of the disintegration of the traditional hierarchical Thai society and its values.
  • Item
    English language education in Thailand and AEC 2015
    ( 2015) Rajeevnath Ramnath
    This paper will shed light on how Thailand, which is a key player in ASEAN should reposition itself to the English language and education needs of AEC 2015. I will provide a brief overview ASEAN 2015 and examine the current status of English language teaching in Thailand before considering the role of English in education. I will introduce the concept of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) and point out the differences between the time honored tradition of using English as a Foreign Language (EFL) and English as a Lingua Franca (ELF) before calling for an overhaul of policies, methods, materials and testing which are essential for the nation’s success in ASEAN.
  • Item
    The use of English as a lingua franca in translation
    ( 2016) Foley, J. A. ; Deocampo, M. F.
    In translation, not only two languages but two cultures come into contact which means that translators must consider who wrote the text, when, why, for whom and who is now reading it and for what purpose. In the wake of rapid technological advances and the need to spread information quickly and efficiently, translation has grown in importance in the globalized world. So has its reliance on English in its role as a global lingua franca. English is often being used for ‘interculturalizing’ native languages but it is also true that English texts are written by speakers who use English as a lingua franca (ELF) with the additional consequence of local languages being incorporated into the texts. This is the linguistic hybridity used in constructing a wider view of the world. However, the prime aim of any lingua franca communication is mutual intelligibility. Saussure wrote about the contrasting principles of provincialism (ésprit de clocher) and what he termed intercourse: the need for broader communication. We can see Saussure’s principles as two imperatives: the cooperative and territorial imperatives. That is to say that language change is brought about by the ‘cooperative imperative’ as we need to continually modify our language in order to communicate with other people. At the same time, there is the ‘territorial imperative’ to secure and protect our own space and sustain our separate social and individual identity. In this study, the translation of linguistic units can only be understood when considered together with the cultural contexts in which they arise, and in which they are used. Blogging in Singapore and the Philippines is part of the ‘cooperative and territorial imperatives’ where the use of English as a lingua franca is intertwined with translanguaging.
  • Item
    A Pedagogical Perspective of Translanguaging in the ASEAN Context: A Lesson from Blogging
    ( 2016) Deocampo, Marilyn Fernandez
    The focus of this study is to highlight how multilingual society such as in the Philippines and Singapore use translanguaging (Garcia, 2009), an umbrella term which is more than hybrid languages (Gutierrez et al., 1999) and code-switching and code-mixing (Bautista 2004; Mahootian, 2006) in journalistic blogs provided by yahoo.sg and yahoo.ph. Translanguaging is a linguistic resource used by various respondents to express their thoughts and feelings. The data in this study suggests that the majority of the participants exhibit a high degree of social intolerance mainly because their blogs are uncensored. The interaction among the participants through translanguaging was maintained using linguistic resources such as their varying language abilities and other semiotic devices found in journalistic blogging. This present paper focuses on one area that was of topical interest in Singapore and The Philippines: education. The implications of this study may well be that diverse ethnic backgrounds, allied to diversity in societies illustrate that people’s linguistic repertoires, “reflect the polycentricity of their environments” and is important to education specifically in language learning (Blommaert & Backus, 2013, p.20).
  • Item
    Learner autonomy: attitudes of Graduate students in English language teaching program in Thailand
    ( 2020) Rosukhon Swatevacharkul ; Nida Boonma
    The objective of this study was to explore the attitudes toward learner autonomy of graduate students in English Language Teaching (ELT) international program in Thailand. Attitudes toward definition and importance of learner autonomy, important persons in a learning process, and factors promoting and hindering autonomy development were explored. This study took a form of a qualitative research design using an open-response questionnaire to collect data from 23 participants from China, Myanmar and Thailand. The data were analyzed by thematic content analysis and four themes emerged: 1) Learner autonomy as technical, psychological, and political ability; 2) Perceived value of learner autonomy; 3) Importance of teacher and student in a learning process; and 4) Teachers as a major factor both promoting and hindering learner autonomy.
  • Item
    The effect of autonomous learning process on learner autonomy of English public speaking students
    ( 2020) Nida Boonma ; Rosukhon Swatevacharkul
    The objectives of this study were to examine the effect of the autonomous learning process (ALP) on learner autonomy of undergraduate students in English public speaking class and its effect size; and to explore how learner autonomy is revealed through the ALP. This study employed a variant of a mixed-methods approach, which is an embedded experimental design. Employing the cluster sampling method, nineteen Thai students were included. The students were trained in the ALP based on the four dimensions of learner autonomy (technical, psychological, political-critical, and sociocultural.) Quantitative data were collected from the Learner Autonomy for Public Speaking (LAPS) questionnaires and analyzed by the dependent samples t-test. Qualitative data were drawn from the Overall Written Reflections, and thematic content analysis was used to analyze the data. The findings revealed that the level of students’ learner autonomy in the post-questionnaire significantly increased from the pre-questionnaire (p = 0.00). Its effect size is large (d = 1.28), and learner autonomy, as revealed through the ALP, can be classified into five emerging themes. The themes are (1) use and plans of the learning strategies, (2) evaluation of learning and learning strategies, (3) capacity to provide and accept praise and criticism, (4) increased positive emotions and (5) sense of awareness and a better understanding of self. Recommendations for further study are provided.
  • Item
    Learner autonomy assessment of English Language Teaching students in an international program in Thailand
    ( 2021) Rosukhon Swatevacharkul ; Nida Boonma
    The objective of this study was to assess learner autonomy of English Language Teaching students in terms of technical, psychological, political-philosophical, and sociocultural dimensions. The 19 participants were in their first semester of MA ELT, which is an international program in an international university in Thailand. Among them, there were 15 Chinese, three Burmese, and one Thai. This study employed the explanatory mixed-methods design. First, Measuring Instrument for Language Learner Autonomy (MILLA) questionnaire (Murase, 2015) was used to collect quantitative data (QUAN). Then, a semi-structured interview with five participants was carried out to gather follow-up qualitative data (QUAL). The findings revealed that, on average, the students demonstrated a high level of autonomy in all four dimensions. The thematic content analysis generated four themes concerning each autonomy dimension: 1) the use of metacognitive strategies through professional goal setting 2) the intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in support of autonomous learning, 3) the teacher as authority partner in a negotiable learning process, and 4) the preference for self-dependence and collaborative learning. The results of the study can be pedagogically contributive to programs similar to the study’s context with regards to learner autonomy awareness and learner autonomy development.