Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 1

Running Head: Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education: What is to blame?

Korawit Booranakit 5204680093

Paper Submitted for Economics of Education (EC473)

Thammasat University

August 2012

Supervisor: Supachai Srisuchart, Ph.D.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 2 1. The Significance of the Problem It is undeniable that English is widely accepted as the international language for business, education, science and technology. All of which demand a high English proficiency. The role of English in Thailand as an open developing economy is crucially important. However, the evidence has shown that English skills of general Thai citizens are critically poor. English Proficiency Index(EF, 2011) of Thailand is categorized as very low measured by EF, the worlds largest language training company, overall TOEFL(ETS, 2010) score indicates that the mean score of Thai test takers is below average of Southeast Asian countries and continues to fall compared to other ASEAN nations. Moreover, in the 2011 IMD World Competitiveness Report, Thailand was ranked 54th out of 56 countries globally for English proficiency, the second lowest in Asia. The main culprit of these unsatisfying results must have been rooted in the way English is being taught in school. Given that school serves as the major place which prepares students to be well-equipped for the workforce, only the time being spent in formal education should have been enough for Thai students to use basic English. After, at least 10 years of studying English in compulsory education, only a few Thais can have a decent conversation in English with foreigners. As a result, English is indeed a matter to avoid dealing with for many Thai students. Understanding what goes wrong about English teaching in Thailand is beneficial. This study could possibly point out the problems needed to be fixed. The survey will ask the opinion of a group of students, since they are the ones being taught directly, and collect the some relevant information necessary for statistical analysis. Also, in-depth interviews with experienced teachers could be helpful in understanding the more complete picture of the problem. Perhaps, this paper could recommend how to improve the situation in a practical sense.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 3 2. Literature review Teaching and learning English as a second language is a difficult task due to the lack of opportunity for Thai students to use English in their daily lives. Also, teaching a language is different than lecturing other knowledge. It requires a large amount of time, practice and perseverance. According to the (Biyaem, 1997), the cause of difficulties in teaching English language in Thai public school are the following: Examinations demand a tutorial teaching and learning style. The multiple choice exams is the major way to measure students performance on the national tests, so Thai students mainly focus on reading and memorizing grammar rules. Other skills such as speaking, listening and writing are often neglected. There are too many students in a class (45 60) which is not the appropriate environment for learning a language. Students need to participate and stay active in class. As a result, this tends to make students study English passively. Other issues such as insufficient English language skills of teachers and native speakers cultural knowledge, inadequately equipped classrooms and educational technology. Furthermore, on the topic of widespread multiple-choice exams in Thailand(Chiramanee, 2010), measured by comparing two tests, one hundred and fifty-two university graduate took a constructed-response format, and later in stem-equivalent multiple-choice formats which based on incorrect answer from the constructed response test. It was found that the later has significant increase in mean pointing to the effect of multiple-choice items in testing the learning of structure in English. Even with the guided multiple choice exam on a national standardized test, O-NET, average English test scores were marked as the worst performed subject among secondary Thai school pupils. Lastly, a survey in collaboration with the University of Cambridge in 2006 to measure the qualification of 400 Thai English teachers found that More than 60% of the teachers had inadequate knowledge of English and teaching method

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 4 Of 40% that had sufficient knowledge and teaching skills, only 3% had a reasonable fluency in English Some were teaching the level of English unsuited for the students age groups. Surprisingly, many primary teachers in public school admitted that they were asked to teach English even though they had little knowledge of English. These studies and surveys have shown weaknesses of English language teaching problems in Thailand. There are many other causes relating to poor performance of English language in Thai education such as culture, students themselves and so on; however, the reviews focus on the problems from education provider or the formal education that is the main cause of concern of this paper. 3. Objective The objectives of the study are to: - Receive more complete understanding of the situation concerning English language teaching in Thai schools. - Identify the perceived causes of poor English performance in Thai students directly from students themselves and from experienced teachers. - Examine whether or not there is a significant independency in the English ability of students that graduated high school from Bangkok and vicinities or other parts of the country. - Test of independence between national standardized test result, English O-NET, and Thammasat English mandatory grade, EL172, which could imply the effectiveness of the test. (O-NET is a multiple-choice exam, while EL172 tests reading, writing, listening and speaking skills of students.)

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 5 4. Scope of Study 1. The coverage of this study is to answer the causes of poor English outcome of Thai students by assuming that the formal education is the major source of students learning. 2. This study focuses on the aspect of formal school problems and the malfunctions of Thai school systems. It does not concentrate on the students related problems and culture. 3. The survey is done with Thammasat University students completed mandatory English class, EL172, which are students currently studying in second year and above. Only students who has EL172 grade result are included, which means that students who accredit this class are excluded. 5. Research Methodology There are two main parts in this study. The first one is the survey questions asking Thammasat students on the topic of English education problems in schools. The second part is the interviews with experienced English teachers asking their opinions about English teaching in Thai school, problems and solutions. For the survey section, there are also 2 major parts in the questionnaires. The first part asks the responders the background information which includes 1) sex 2) students field of study 3) students year 4) the locations of their previous schools 5) English O-NET score, a mandatory test for student graduating high school in Thailand, and 6) EL172 grade, the required class for Thammasat students. From the first sections data, this study uses Chi-squared Test for Independence between the locations of students schools (Bangkok and Vicinities or other provinces) and their English O-NET score in order to question equal opportunities to get quality English education between those areas. Ideally, if there is no problem of students in Bangkok having better English education, the test should accept the null hypothesis, H0: English O-NET score is not dependent on the locations of schools that students went to. On the other hand, if it rejects null hypothesis, it

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 6 will mean that where students live matter to their O-NET scores which would be a problem in Thai education system. Another Test for Independence that will be done in this study is between O-NET score and EL172 grade. There is a question about eligibility of English O-NET examination due to the lack of speaking, listening and writing tests. In English O-NET exam, all the contents are in the form of multiple choices, while EL172 classes are graded based on speaking presentations and interviews, listening, writing and reading exams which are more practical in real situations. Thus, this study will examine the dependence characteristics of these two exams. If the result reject null hypothesis and accept (H1: English O-NET score is dependent on EL172 result), it means that ONET exam gives a similar result to EL172 outcome which somehow shows that there is no major problem on O-NET exam standard. However, we should be aware that this Chi-squared Test for Independence can only measure roughly on these issues. It is only a simple test that can be applied to the first part of survey and crudely determine the problems from the data received in questionnaires. Also, for the test of eligibility of O-NET exams, it could be argued that the result of EL172 class might not be valid as it takes other factors such as class attendance into consideration in grading. As a result, this test could only give a rough result due to the lack of other contributing factors. In the second part of the questionnaire, the direction asks the responders to prioritize by using number 1-4 filling in the boxes of the most important to the least important cause of English teaching problems in schools based on students own experience. There are four main available causes, namely 1) English curriculum 2) teachers 3) measurement or test, 4) quality of education and available resources. Then, responders are asked to choose only one most significant example of problem behind the four main causes named above. This part also gives the responders more details in what aspect of this study is looking for. The questionnaire also gives some space for people who have other ideas different from available choices. As the survey part asks students opinion who experience problems of English teaching in Thai education, the second part of this study will ask people on the other side of the classroom,

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 7 or teachers. We will have interviews with five experienced teachers and discover some points of view that students might have not been aware of or some difficulties relating to teaching English in schools. There could be some underlying issues that are needed to be recognized and find solutions for Thai education. 6. Survey result There are 101 questionnaires asking Thammasat students at two places, namely SC Building and Puey Library, on Rangsit campus. The survey is conducted in Thai which shows the results as follows [The sign ( ) show the number or participants choosing that specific answers] Part 1: Basic Information - Sex Male (30) Female (71) Second year (32) Number 7 Third year (46) Faculty 2) Commerce and Accountancy 3) Political Science 5) Journalism and Mass Communication 7) Engineering 9) Science and Technology 7 7 14 22 4) Economics 6) Sociology and Anthropology 8) Social Administration 10) Liberal Arts 4 12 14 10 Forth year (23) Number 4 Students year Faculty 1) Law

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 8

- Graduated high school from - English O-NET Score EL172 Grade A (10)

Bangkok and Vicinities (75) 0-24 (6) 50-74 (49) B+ (26) B (24) C+ (25)

Other Provinces (26) 25-49 (38) 75-100 (8) C (11) D (5)

Part 2: Prioritize by using number 1-4 filling in the boxes of the most important to the least important cause of English teaching problems in schools ( 1-5 in case responders fill in Other problems space) Main Cause of Problem 1st important 2nd important 3rd important English Curriculum Teachers Measurement, test Quality of Education, Education resources Other problems (3): 1. Students do not give an importance to English 2. Students cannot use in their everyday life and they would forget what they have learned. 3. There are not enough listening and speaking practices. Teachers concentrate too much on memorizing parts of English. 55 18 8 26 24 29 16 26 15 22 29 36 4th important 6 32 46 13 5th important 1 2 -

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 9

Choose the most important example of the problems English Curriculum (56) Giving too much emphasis on grammar and vocabulary but too little on speaking and listening practice (27) Lack of consistency and continuity in English content, often repetitive year after year (12) Lack of challenges, setting too low English standard for students (6) Other problems relating to English Curriculum: (2) Content is not practical in everyday life, (2) Too much on memorizing, (1) Examination is too difficult, (1) Too little on speaking and listening Teacher (10) Teachers do not fully devote to teaching in school (13) Teachers have inadequate knowledge of English and skills (76) Teachers have problems with delivering knowledge to students, teaching methods are not interesting. (2) Other problems relating to teachers: (2) Having difficulties understanding teachers Test and Measurement (41) English O-NET examination cannot effectively measure students performance on listening speaking and writing (56) Multiple choice exams cannot prepare students to use English in practice and cause students to study English just only to get high score in the test instead. (4) Other problems relating to measurement: (1) Vocabulary is not widely used, (1) Giving too much emphasize on grade more than skills, (2) Unfair measurement in different schools, no valid standard Quality of Education (23) There are too many students in one classroom especially for language class (34) There is no clear scope of English content or universal standard

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 10 like other subjects (42) School resources are insufficient such as foreign teachers, modern technology (2) Other problems relating to quality of education: (1) less opportunity for small schools in rural area, (1) Child center is not applicable Proposed solution from the survey from 20 people (8) Students should be taught to use English in everyday life, not just for doing well in examinations. (3) There should be more foreign teachers for students to practice using English. (2) There should be a sound standard and improve English curriculum. (1) The classroom should be smaller so that students can speak more. (1) There should be an urgent improvement toward AEC (ASEAN Economic Community) integration. (1) Studying English should start from the easy to the more difficult. (1) There should be more scholarship for students to study abroad. (1) O-NET exam should test all 4 skills of English. (1) Studying English should not be boring and scary, there should be more entertaining content and teachers should let students participate more. (1) We should give more importance to English and add more English classes in school. Poll Summary: Student Opinions On the topic of prioritizing number 1-4 to the main causes of problems (See the result table part 2), the scores are counted concerning the weight of importance. The 1st important cause gets weight of 4. The 2nd most important cause gets weight of 3. The 3rd most important cause gets weight of 2 and the 4th most important cause gets weight of 1.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 11 As a result, the biggest problem is English curriculum in Thailand (with the score of 328) that it give too much emphasis on grammar and vocabulary but too little on speaking and listening practice. The second most important topic causing problem is quality of Education and school resources (with the weighted score of 267) with the reason that school resources are insufficient such as foreign teachers, modern technology and so on. The third most important cause is our teacher (with the weighted score of 235). Most Students believe that some teachers cannot deliver knowledge to students effectively or teaching methods from teachers are not interesting. The least important problem among these four choices is measurement or test (with the weighted score of 184). Most Students believe that multiple choice exams cannot prepare students to use English in practice and cause students to study English in a different way in order to get high marks instead. However, other example of problems that over 25% of students consider important are that English content lacks of consistency and continuity, often repetitive year after year (27%), English O-NET examination cannot effectively measure students performance on listening speaking and writing (41%), and there is no clear scope of English content or universal standard like other subjects (34%). 7. Analysis Chi-squared Test for Independence 7.1) To test whether or not students in Bangkok and vicinities have better English quality education than students in other provinces. From the first part of survey, basic information of students was gathered. Data summary table is shown as follow. Graduated high school from Bangkok and Vicinities English O-NET 0-24 25-49 O11 = 3 O21 = 27 Other provinces O12 = 3 O22 = 11 Total R1 = 6 R2 = 38

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 12 Score 50-74 75-100 Total O31 = 37 O41 = 6 C1 = 73 O32 = 12 O42 = 2 C2 = 28 R3 = 49 R4 = 8 N = 101

In order to test dependency between locations of students schools and their English O-NET scores, there are five steps on this statistical calculation. 1) Find expectation of each score in roll i and column j (Eij = Ri*Cj/ N) E11 = 73* 6/101 = 4.34 E21 = 73* 38/101 = 27.47 E31 = 73* 49/101 = 35.42 E41 = 73* 8/101 = 5.78 2) Hypothesis H0 = English O-NET score is not dependent on locations of students schools H1 = English O-NET score is dependent on locations of students schools 3) Give : level of significance ( = 0.05)

2 cal

E12 = 28* 6/101 = 1.67 E22 = 28*38/101 = 10.64 E32 = 28* 49/101 = 13.58 E42 = 28* 8/101 = 2.22

= (Oij Eij )
4 2 i 1 j 1

Eij

= 0.41+1.06+0.26+0.01+0.07+0.18+0.01+0.02 = 2.02 4) Condition: Reject Ho if Since

2 cal

2 cal

>

2 0.05,d.f.=3

= 7.81473

= 2.02 < 7.81473 Then, Accept H0 : English O-NET score is not dependent on

locations of students schools 5) Conclusion: the assumption that students in Bangkok and Vicinities have similar English quality education to students in other provinces is proven true in this case. 7.2) To test whether or not O-NET score and EL172 grade shows the similar result in English performance of Thammasat students.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 13 English O-NET Score 0-24 EL172 Grade A B+ B C+ C D Total O31 = 3 O51 = 2 O61 = 1 C1 = 6 25-49 O12 = 2 O22 = 4 O32 = 7 O42 = 17 O52 = 6 O62 = 2 C2 = 38 50-74 O13 = 5 O23 = 19 O33 = 13 O43 = 7 O53 = 3 O63 = 2 C3 = 49 75-100 O14 = 3 O24 = 3 O34 = 1 O44 = 1 C4 = 8 Total R1 = 10 R2 = 26 R3 = 24 R4 = 25 R5 = 11 R6 = 5 N = 101

In order to test dependency between students English O-NET scores and students EL172 grades, there are five steps on this statistical calculation. 1) Find expectation of each score in roll i and column j (Eij = Ri*Cj/ N) E11 = 0.59 E21 = 1.54 E31 = 1.43 E41 = 1.49 E51 = 0.65 E61 = 0.30 2) Hypothesis H0 = English O-NET score is not dependent on EL172 grade. H1 = English O-NET score is dependent on EL172 grade 3) Give : level of significance ( = 0.05) E12 = 3.76 E22 = 9.78 E32 = 9.03 E42 = 9.41 E52 = 4.14 E62 = 1.88 E13 = 4.85 E23 = 12.61 E33 = 11.64 E43 = 12.13 E53 = 5.34 E63 = 2.43 E14 = 0.79 E24 = 2.06 E34 = 1.90 E44 = 1.98 E54 = 0.87 E64 = 0.40

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 14

2 cal

= (Oij Eij )
4 2 i 1 j 1

Eij

= 0.59+0.82+0.005+6.18+1.54+3.42+3.24+0.43+1.72+0.46+0.16+0.43+ 1.49+6.122+2.17+0.49+2.80+0.84+1.02+0.87+0.30+0.01+0.08+0.4 = 35.587 4) Condition: Reject Ho if Since

2 cal

2 cal

>

0.05,d.f.=15

= 24.99

= 35.587 > 24.99 Then, Reject H0 and accept H1 : English O-NET score is

dependent on EL172 grade 5) Conclusion: the assumption that O-NET score and EL172 grade might not show the similar result in English is proven untrue. 8. Teacher Opinions 1. Mr. Jason Alavi (From USA) - He has been teaching at Prathomsuksa Thammasat School (Elementary and lower secondary school) for 7 years and taught at other schools in Thailand such as Suankularb Wittayalai Rangsit and other schools in Mae Hong Sorn, Chaingmai, etc for 27 years overall. - Do you agree that Thai students have poor English proficiency? : Yes, he believes that Thai students overall still have quite low English proficiency comparing to other ASEAN nations. - What are the problems? : There are 3 main problems associated with English in Thai schools. Firstly, there are not enough resources for English education to excel. Secondly, policies from Education ministry usually sound nice in paper, but they do not work in practice. Lastly, Thai governments are changed too often. There is no continuity on educational policies. - Problems on curriculum: Thai curriculum is not updated and not truly preparing students to serve Thai workforce. For example, students are still being taught to study a computer program that nobody is really using anymore. - Problems with teachers: Many teachers are still not quite qualified to teach English. Most of them are great teachers, but not very good English teachers as they have inadequate skills and knowledge of English.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 15 - Problems with test or measurement: Tests are necessary but it should be limited to only 1020% in determining students future schools. Giving too much emphasis on standardized test could be harmful to students. - Problems with educational resources: He mentioned it on the open question about problems with English problems in Thai school overall. The most effective solution: Sending Thai teachers to study abroad at least 2 years to learn 1) How to teach English and 2) English skills and experience 2. Mr. Bavorndech Yodpech (Thai teacher) - He has been teaching at Prathomsuksa Thammasat School (Elementary and lower secondary school) for 6 years and taught at Suankularb Wittayalai Rangsit for 12 years. - Do you agree that Thai students have poor English proficiency? : Not really, he thinks that there are many excellent students in schools. Most Thai students can read and write quite well, only speaking is a real drawback for Thai students. - What are the problems? : 1) Students willingness to learn is a very big issue. As long as students do not really care to learn, it is difficult to get students motivated. 2) Teachers capabilities also play a very big part as they can drive students to be good at English. - Problems on curriculum: Thai curriculum is okay in theory, but in practice, it is not applicable. - Problems with teachers: He mentioned it above. - Problems with test or measurement: No problem - Problems with educational resources: It totally depends on which school. Only some schools have problems with the resources. But there is still a big inequality gap among schools. - The most effective solution: Students should be more motivated and more aware of importance of English. 3. Mr. Rene Liebow (From USA) - He has been teaching at Prathomsuksa Thammasat School (Elementary and lower secondary school) for 1 year and taught at other schools in Thailand for about 1 month.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 16 - Do you agree that Thai students have poor English proficiency? : Typically yes. - What are the problems? : Students do not use English outside of their classroom. What they really need is more English exposure. Also, even though there is a clear ambition in improving English education in Thailand, the problems are pretty much about implementing these governments policies. - Problems on curriculum: Good in theory, but it is not possible yet. For example, only an hour a week of contact time with foreign teachers, students are expected to be able to speak English well. - Problems with teachers: There is an unbalanced match between teacher workload and government expectation. - Problems with test or measurement: They are okay. Multiple choice exams are also applied in the US education system. - Problems with educational resources: He is optimistic about this topic. He sees constant improving at Prathomsuksa Thammasat School. But, he thinks there are still too many students in a classroom. - The most effective solution: There could be an initiative to integrate English into both inside and outside classroom. 4. Mr. Danilo Poblete Jr. (From Philippines) - He has been teaching at Thammasat University for about 1 year and he has taught at Ekkamai International School for 13 years. - Do you agree that Thai students have poor English proficiency? : Not really. They are okay given with the amount of English exposure they have. - What are the problems? : 1) Not enough English exposure in their everyday life 2) Classroom size is too big 3) Teacher qualifications are also an issue, not everyone who speaks English can teach English. - Problems on curriculum: Materials in the book often are way above the level of students. It encourages some students to copy their friends as they need too much effort to finish assignments

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 17 by themselves. Also, the curriculum focus too much on grammar and structure often left out practical skills such as reading and writing. - Problems with teachers: 1)Teacher qualifications 2) Cultural sensitivity (for foreign teachers) - Problems with test or measurement: Students study English only to do well in exams. However, it happens in many countries as well. - Problems with educational resources: This is a big issue. Lack of educational resources are often the cause of other problems - The most effective solution: Government should make English more popular and make it like a national agenda. They should use similar strategies as math and science that Thai students do quite well and rebalance it somehow. Also government should start with younger generation. 9. Summary and Conclusion As the evidences have shown that English proficiency of general Thai students are quite poor, this study has tried to find out what are the problems rooted in English education in Thailand. The first part of this study is the survey asking basic information and opinions of about a hundred Thammasat students who had overall experience in studying English in elementary and secondary schools in Thailand. As a result, the biggest problem students believe is English curriculum in Thailand that it gives too much emphasis on grammar and vocabulary but too little on speaking and listening practice. The second most important topic causing problem is quality of Education and school resources with the reason that school resources are insufficient such as foreign teachers, modern technology and so on. The third most important cause is our teacher as they think that some teachers cannot deliver knowledge to students effectively or teaching methods from teachers are not interesting. Lastly, the least important problem among these four choices is measurement or test as most students believe that multiple choice exams cannot prepare students to use English in practice and cause students to study English in a way that students can just get high marks during the tests instead. In the survey, students are also asked to give their basic information. This study has used that data to find statistical significance in two specific problems in English education in Thailand. The first possible problem is an unequal access to quality education among students in the center of Thailand and the other

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 18 group outside the center. The second possible problem is the effectiveness of English O-NET result (National standardized test) by testing its dependency with mandatory English class outcome at Thammasat University, EL 172. The reason is that O-NET exam does not test speaking, writing and listening skills in practice, thus its credibility is often questioned. Meanwhile, EL172 are graded based on all 4 skills. This study uses simple Chi-squared Test for Independence to find out their statistical significance. From the result, assumption that students in Bangkok and Vicinities might have similar English quality education than students in other provinces is proven true in this case. It means that, according to data from this survey, there is no problem of unequal access to quality education among students in the center of Thailand and the other group outside the center. The other assumption that O-NET score and EL172 grade might show the similar result in English is proven untrue. This means that O-NET exam can significantly measure student English performance according to this outcome. The last section of this study is the interviews asking opinions from experienced teachers who are in the other side of the classroom. Teachers are asked in an open question about general problems in English education problems in Thai schools and later asked to give their opinions on specific causes that are also used in the survey. There is a great variety of answer about problems. To sum up, there are 2 out of 4 teachers believe that general Thai students have low proficiency in English. The most cited problems are that 1) students lack of exposure to English 2) policies from the government are not practical 3) educational resources are still inadequate. For proposed solutions, there are 1) Sending Thai teachers to acquire more experience and knowledge abroad 2) Getting students more motivated 3) Creating more English exposure to students and 4) Making English a national agenda. As there are many problems occurring in English education in Thailand, opinions from students and teachers are somehow various based on their experience. However, this study has shown some common notions and given more understanding of the situation of this specific issue. Even though some problems are quite difficult to be rectified, recognizing them is a good start. Making a first step is usually hard in many situations, but in this case, moving forward is obviously harder. In reality, the difficult part is not about problems awareness or finding some practical solutions, it is actually more about implementing it effectively

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 19 Reference

Biyaem, S. (1997). Learner Training: Changing Roles for a Changing World, Educational Innovation for Sustainable Development. Paper presented at the 3rdUNESCO-ACEID International Conference. Chiramanee, M. C. a. T. (2010). The effect of the multiplechoice item format on the measurement of knowledge of language structure. SAGE. EF. (2011). EF EPI English Proficiency Index. 5. ETS. (2010). Average TOFLE score.

Poor English Proficiency in Thai Education 20 Appendix

/ 1. .. 0-24 50-74 EL172 ACC A B+ B C+ C 2. 1-5 1-4 ) ) . / / . O-NET Multiple Choice . . . . 25-49 75-100 D F ( ( O-NET