Browsing by Subject "Thai learners"
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    A comparative study of technology-based motivation for learning English as a foreign language among Thai learners at Wall Street English Bangkok according to their gender and English language proficiency
    (Bangkok : Assumption University Press, 2022) Vojdani, Mehdi ; Gonzalez, Orlando Rafael Gonzalez
    The purpose of this study was to determine the extent to which new technologies, such as the Internet or social media, served as sources of motivation for Thai English language learners to learn English as a foreign language (EFL) at Wall Street English (WSE) Bangkok. The study also sought to compare learners’ technology-based motivation for learning EFL based on their gender and English language proficiency. For these purposes, the researchers adopted a quantitative comparative research design, using a questionnaire that was developed, piloted, validated, and checked for internal consistency. The questionnaire was administered to 214 Thai English language learners from all four levels of proficiency (beginner, pre-intermediate, intermediate, and advanced) from 11 centers of WSE in Bangkok. After splitting the collected data by gender, an independent samples t-test was conducted to assess the significance of the results. At the same time, a one-way ANOVA test was used after splitting the collected data by English language proficiency to determine if there was a significant difference in technology-based motivation for learning EFL among the resulting groups. The research findings indicated that Thai learners were highly motivated to learn English to work with technology more effectively, regardless of their gender or English language proficiency. No significant difference in technology-based motivation for learning EFL between male and female Thai learners was derived from the data analysis. However, in relation to English language proficiency, it was found that the overall technology-based motivation for learning EFL was significantly higher in the beginner group than in the advanced group, as well as in the upper-intermediate group than in the advanced group.
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    An analysis of Thai learners' writing of recounts and information reports
    (Assumption University Press, 2017) Nichtawan Sutinwong
    This small scale study looks at some of the major strengths and issues of genre writing of a group of Thai high school students. The study was limited to recount and information reports genres as these are considered to be among the prototypical genres in educational settings. The findings indicate that many of these high school students were able to construct text at the level of the basic linguistic features of the genres but needed to develop the nominal groups for elaboration and expansion. However there were issues in organizing and contextualizing of their writing which are only touched upon in this study although important for the development of their writing skills in other genres.
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    Developing Thai learners' CIC through translanguaging in one-on-one English tutorial sessions
    (Assumption University Press, 2017) Tassanee Kampittayakul
    This article presents a conceptual paper, which proposes a concept of employing translanguaging as a pedagogical tool to promote the learners’ CIC – Classroom Interactional Competence, which lies at the heart of learning. The aim of the concept is to bridge two practices of monolingualism between Thai teachers who teach English through Thai only and native speakers who use English only. Translanguaging reflects reality in terms of using both languages to interact to improve the interactional competence of the learners. When both the teachers and the learners translanguage in the classroom, ‘translanguaging space’ is established. This means boundary lines of the two languages are blurred and become so permeable that the learners are able to step in the space and utilize it to make their own ‘space of learning’ through interactions with the teachers. This concept implies that the more the learners interact with the teachers, the more they learn English. Thus, if the learners’ CIC develops in translanguaging classroom context, it can be argued that translanguaging promotes Thai learners’ CIC, which is seen the same thing as the progress of learning. The paper introduces the concept, reviews literature on translanguaging and CIC, discusses conceptual framework, and proposes significant issues in conducting a future study.