The Integration of His Majesty the King's Philosophy of Sufficiency

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The Integration of His Majesty the King’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy with the Twitter Website for Enhancing the Using of English for Communication

Ornsiri Wimontham Assistant Professor Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University 340 Suranarai Road, Muang District, Nakhon Ratchasima Province Thailand

Abstract This research is an interdisciplinary research because the researcher integrated 4 aspects in the study, namely- 1. the King’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, 2. the teaching of English for communication, 3. the online social network, and 4. the international marketing. The aim of the study was to experiment the application of the Twitter Website for enhancing the using English for communication which integrated the research process with the emphasis on creating the international online market of Dan Kwian local handicraft producers in Nakhon Ratchasima Province. However, for this research article, the researcher presents by focusing on the results concerned the integration of Sufficiency Economy with the Twitter Website for enhancing the Using of English for Communication. The results, Twitter Website was found to be a useful website for enhancing using of English for communication at the high level of 79.43 %., and it also developed the teaching of writing skill. Additionally, it inspired the experimental group to learn English by themselves at the high level of 89.7%. Finally, the experimental group gained the knowledge of English expressions and the culture at the percentage of 65.33. The interesting aspect found from the study was that Twitter Website could be effectively applied for the integration of the modern innovation for the learning of self-study of English for communication outside the classroom which was in accordance with His Majesty the King’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy in the aspect of education development.The teachers could, at any level of education, develop their teaching by integrating what was the learner’s interest in order to create the highest benefit for the teaching and learning. Keywords : Sufficiency Economy, The Teaching of English for Communication, The Online Social Network and The Twitter Website

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INTRODUCTION It is widely accepted that the online social network has continuously been the popular means of communication and tends to become continuously popular The academic expert and the researcher from various fields of study all agree that online social network makes the world smaller. It enables people from all around the world to culturally interact with each other. Moreover, they can also receive the same piece of information at the same time and can also express their opinion quickly. It is also claimed that the increase of the use of online social network has doubled within the past decade. (Larson, 2000:45) Gralla (1998:134) stated that the beginning of the online social network was developed from the use of e-mail. The e-mail enables people around the world to send message faster by just clicking the mouse. Then, the message is sent to the mail box of the receiver as fast as a second. Two websites which were designed for sending emails are Hotmail Website and the Yahoo Website. It is disclosed that there are approximately 87,000,000 hotmail users and about 62,000,000 yahoo users. From the survey of the two websites, both websites agreed that over 84 % of the users were satisfied with the efficiency of the use of email for sending message much faster. Russell (1997:28-43) stated that the e-mail users were not only satisfied with the efficiency of sending of e-mail, they also were satisfied with additional services provided by the e-mail providers such as the photo attachment, the video clips and the MSN provided by the e-mail provider. Moreover, both hotmail and yahoo websites provide the email users with the additional internet chat via the computer monitor called Web Cam. This abbreviation comes from Website Camera. Through this service, both of the encoder and the decoder of the message can talk and see each other through the operation of the website system. Based on the disclosure of the information, it revealed that over 235,000,000 people around the world could send message to each other. Russell’s thought was similar to John’s (1996: 56-63) in the aspect of the importance and the popularity of the use of email together with other additional services which led to the invention of interesting innovation in the year 1997.That year was the beginning of a new way of online social network communication. There was only a small group of about 3,000,000 email users all over the world. It is noted that the use of online social network had reached its highest popularity from 1997 to 2010. From the survey, it was found that there were over 167,000,000 people using the email. Furthermore, it is speculated that there is going to be an increase of 245,000,000 people using the email in the year of 2114. At present, there are popular websites providing email services such as www.fmacebook.com, www.hi5.com,www.ning.com, www. windowlives.com, www. blogger.com, www. italki.com and www. twitter.com

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Picture 1: Online social network system (Source: Http:// www.th&prmd=imvns&tbm)

Musail (2009:36-51) also comments on the reason why social online network has become very popular all over the world because it is a modern way of communication, and each email website was invented with the same purpose; that is, they emphasize on the communicating with other people all over the world; wherever they are, they can receive from their friends through their friend’s email address in the system.If they want to have new friends, they can add new friends to their groups immediately and share their story to others to their friends by posting on the web board or on their webpage. Having finished writing the message, the writer can click the mouse so that the message or information is sent to all the friends in the same group. This process can send the information to other people approximately 60-1,000 people per one mouse click. This depends on the expansion of the group of the online social network. It is used not only for sending personal routine information to others but also the email user can use it for public relation .They have learnt or received such as publishing information on the website front page together with the photographs showing the activities or sending songs or video clips. The modern way of communication enables people or public or government units around the world to publish information in a variety of ways. However, Carrington (2009: 215-234) asserts that online social network websites has become very popular and there is a tendency that they are going to be the most popular website in the world. One of them is Twitter Website. His assertion agrees with Jonathan’s opinion (2008: 76- 80) which states that the Twitter Website has received such popularity because it has been designed to cater for the need of the working and business people much more than other websites. The distinctive feature of Twitter Website is the use of the color and the format of the website which makes it more logical and rational than other websites. Apart from this, the user can look at the statistic of the viewing data and can post the message up to 250 words per one post. There is also space for the user to create blog for expressing his opinion or other information approximately 30% more than other websites. Much more, Twitter Website has added supplementary services for the users who have the same kinds of likes and activities such as going to the sea, cooking, or the same political party. There are pictures of people who have the same likes as you showing. In addition, the users can also follow the activities of the people

ijcrb.webs.com DECEMBER 2012 INTERDISCIPLINARY JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY RESEARCH IN BUSINESS VOL 4, NO 8 you are interested in. Therefore, it takes less time to search for this type of information. Other than these additional services, Twitter Website’s users can get connected to friends and people they are interested in a variety of ways for example SMS from MSN or from YouTube. The users can directly contact or chat with friends and other people, as well. Due to the popularity of Twitter Website, the researcher decided to use the online social network for developing education in many aspects. Nuan (2009) used Twitter Website for developing the writing skill of 56 EFL Pilipino students who were studying in their third year at the University of the Philippines Diliman. The experiment was 6 months long. Results from the study showed that 67% of the experiment group had improved their writing skill. Apart from that, 71% of the group had learnt about the culture of others from the online social network. Results of Nuan’s study were in accordance with the study of McDonough (2008). McDonough had integrated Twitter Website with the teaching of English for communication. The population of the study was 145 first-year Malaysian students. The experiment lasted for 4 months. The result showed that 87 % of the experimental group could develop their speaking skill. Moreover, it was found that the experimental group had also been developed in terms of grammar, pronunciation, and the writing skill; and they had also learnt about the culture from international friends, The result of the study was similar to that of Musail, K (2009). He did a comparative study in a Spanish class. The students were divided into two groups. The first group attended the regular class and the second group received the regular class together with Twitter Website. Results showed that there was no learning difference in terms of Spanish grammar for both groups. However, the group with the supplementary learning with the website acquired more knowledge of Spanish culture and attitude than the first group which lacked the opportunity to learn from the website. With reference to the results of the studies mentioned above, the researcher is inspired to apply the use of Twitter Website as the innovation technique for developing the teaching of English as the researcher recognizes that most of the students have been familiar with the use of online social network in their daily lives through the Internet in their personal computers, the Internet installed in the tablets, or in their mobile phones. Thus, the researcher would like to use the online social network as it is an interesting means of communication among the students. The researcher hopes that it is going to be an interesting innovation technique for modern teaching in order to motivate the students to learn more. In addition, the researcher has also been inspired by his Majesty the King’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. His Majesty the King once expressed his opinion that the teacher should not stop trying new ideas in developing our education. That is, they should try to find new ways of using innovation technology to activate the students’ learning as much as they can. The innovation needs not be imported or expensive. It would be much better to find out the students’ interest and then apply what the students are interested in so as to achieve the optimum benefit from their teaching.(Intanan Warungsan 2553:78)

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Picture 2: His Majesty the King of Thailand: The Kingdom’s philosopher and teacher

From the analysis of the content of the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, the researcher finds that it is possible to integrate the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy with the online social network owing to the research done by Pichai Jawala (2546) who innovated the online social network on Hi Five website to promote tourism and the sales of the local products and souvenirs in Pai District, Mae Hongsorn. The experiment period was 3 months. The sample group was the villagers in Pai District consisting of 9 male villagers and 14 female villagers. These people were involved in the business of home stay tourism. The group was trained for 5 days to use Hi- five website to directly contact with foreign tourists from Malaysia, Singapore, Japan and France etc. Results showed that the experimental group was more confident in using English for communication. The level of confidence based on the study was at the level of 53%. It also showed that their level of writing proficiency had improved by 57%. What was more interesting was that there was an increase of 42 % in the sales of souvenirs and the increasing number of accommodation reservation as well. Having studied the results of other researchers in applying the use of the online social network to develop the teaching of English and the rural economy according to the principle of the king’s sufficiency economy, the researcher would like to conclude that it is possible to integrate the contents of these aspects together to create multiple research for the best benefit of education development particularly, the teaching of English.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY This study aimed to find out the achievement of the use of Twitter Website for enhancing the using of English for communication

POPULATION AND THE EXPERIMENTAL PERIOD The population of the study was chosen by specification sampling. The experimental group consisted of 15 B.Ed. English major students and 15 Dan Kwain merchants who sell Dan Kwain pottery and handicraft. The experimental period was 12 weeks.

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RESEARCH INSTRUMENT AND DATA ANALYSIS Research instruments included Twitter Website, observation forms, and questionnaires. Statistics used for data analysis were percentage ,mean(x), and Standard Deviation (Larson, D. 2000: 16)

RESEARCH PROCEDURE The research procedure was divided into 10 steps 1. Review the study of the related literature both in Thai and English which is concerned about the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy, the online social network and the teaching of English for communication and the creation of the online market. 2. Choose Twitter Website by using specification sampling technique as this website was created for public advertising according to Zhang’s idea of social innovative teaching material (2010) 3. Select the experimental group by using specification sampling. Having done this, the researcher began the first step of experiment in the first week. 4. In the first week, the researcher arranged the meeting with the students in the experimental group informing them the objective of the study; and the students were given an opportunity to ask questions. 5. In the second week, an expert on computer and website was invited to explain and demonstrate how to use Twitter Website to the experimental group with the emphasis on communicating with the foreigners. In this stage, the experimental group was trained in order to be able to use the website efficiently. 6. In the third week, the researcher took the students to visit Dan Kwain Village and to get to know the local handcraft products of Dan Kwain. The group listened to the history of the community and the establishment of Dan Kwain Export Products Group. The visit to the village gave the students an opportunity to get to know Dan Kwain pottery and handicraft producers. 7. In the fourth week, the researcher randomly assigned the students to choose one shop per one student to become acquaintance with the owner of the shop and the products before they started working together. 8. In the fifth week, the students in the experimental group brought the information, the photographs, the video clips and details about the products to be translated into English and started creating the website as subscribed. 9. From the sixth to eleventh week, the students in the experimental group practiced the communicative skills in listening, speaking, reading and writing to create online social network with foreigners to establish friendship together with advertising and promoting Dan Kwain local products. During this period, the researcher observed, interviewed and distributed the questionnaire. 10. In the twelfth week, the researcher collected the data from the questionnaire, the interview form and evidence of using Twitter Website; and then analyzed the data, and made conclusion.

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RESEARCH RESULTS

From the analysis of the questionnaire, it was found that the experimental group agreed that Twitter Website enabled them to develop their English language skills at the highest level of 79.43%. It not only helped improving reading skill at the level of 70.56 % but also enhancing the speaking ability to communicate in English at the level of 58.45%. Besides, it helped developing the listening skill at 43.35%. Apart from being encouraged to improve their English language skills through the use of Twitter Website, 89.7 % of the experimental group was inspired to study outside the classroom and that of 77.98 % was motivated to learn English expressions. 65.4% of the experimental group searched for the knowledge of western culture. 65.4% gained the knowledge of English expressions. 67% learnt more about other cultures.58% learnt the third foreign language by themselves. 51% of the group learnt Korean and Japanese by themselves. Besides, 96.2% of the experimental group was very satisfied with the use of Twitter Website as the supplementary activity to learn English.

DISCUSSION From the analysis of the data, the researcher would like to discuss the results of the study into three aspects -1) the use of Twitter Website for improving the English language skill for communication, 2) the use of Twitter Website to encourage the students to learn by themselves outside the classroom, and 3)the use of modern innovation to achieve the highest benefit according to His Majesty the King’s philosophy of sufficiency economy.

1. The Use of Twitter Website for Developing the English Language Skill for Communication The result of the study revealed that Twitter Website could enhance the development of the students’ four language skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing. The writing skill should be enhanced the most after the use of Twitter Website because students were assigned to search for information about Dan Kwain local pottery producers, tourism information about Dan Kwain, and Nakhon Ratchasima. After that, they had to compile the information using their grammatical knowledge to construct correct English sentences; and posted it on the Twitter webpage which was created by the student. They were assigned to do this for 6 weeks. This activity provided the student an opportunity to practice their writing skill and increase their vocabulary learning at the same time. Since students had to type the information in English on the webpage blog regularly, they became skillful in writing and were motivated to improve other language skills.

2) The Use of Twitter Website to Encourage the Students to Learn by Themselves outside the Classroom The results of this study pointed out that Twitter Website and/or other online social network could be applied as the learning media technology for developing the learning of English. Moreover, the student could use Twitter Website to interact with their online foreign friends; they also develop their language skill together with learning the third foreign language. They also learnt about the foreign culture from their foreign friends. The educator called this type of learning “Edutainment”. The term “Edutainment” was coined from the two words

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“Education” and “Entertainment”. Edutainment refers to the kind of learning from entertainment media for example, the learning of vocabulary from the movies, or from the English songs. Students learn English sentences from chatting on line. The student will also have an opportunity to learn language naturally through the global innovation by themselves outside the classroom in addition to learning from the teacher (Zhang. X, 2010:291)

3) The Use of Modern Innovation to Achieve the Highest Benefit according to His Majesty the King’s Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy Results of the study showed that the English teachers at all level could apply His Majesty the King’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy to help developing effective teaching as the researcher has been interested in applying the use of the online social network such as Twitter Website to enhance the teaching of English. Furthermore, there is no expense in using this innovation technology to develop the most effective way of teaching of English. This idea goes in accordance with His Majesty the king’s philosophy of Sufficiency Economy. His Majesty once mentioned about education development that the teacher should never stop developing education. It is the teacher’s responsibility to find out new type of technology to motivate the student to learn. The innovation that will activate the student to learn does not need to be the imported technology that is expensive. If the teacher pays attention to what the students are interested in, he/she can apply that type of technology in teaching English to achieve the highest benefit according to the philosophy of sufficiency economy.

CONCLUSION This research has presented the idea of English teaching development by using Twitter website- the online social network- to enhance the teaching of English for communication. The intention of the researcher was to apply the philosophy of the king’s Sufficiency Economy. It was found that the philosophy of Sufficiency Economy can actually be applied and integrated with the teaching of English. It is the use of what students are interested in to enhance the English language learning. More interestingly, there is no expense for using this modern technology. Moreover, through the use of Twitter Website, the students can create their own learning outside the classroom. They can naturally learn the third foreign language such as Korean and Japanese on their own. This research is a model to exemplify that the lecturer, the student, the university and the local people can corporate their joint effort in developing their own community in a variety of ways to create sustainable development. This development goes with Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University’s philosophical vision. “Nakhon Ratchasima Rajabhat University is the university for local community and it goes in accordance with the 7th objective- the fourth index of the provincial development plan, and the fifth strategy of Nakhon Ratchasima Province which emphasizes on the development of the people’s education and their self-reliance of His Majesty the king’s philosophy of sufficiency economy.

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