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Zeeb RA Ann Arbor, MI 48106 A STUDY OF THAI SECONDARY SCHOOL EFL TEACHER'S PERCEPTIONS OF THEIR PREPARATION TO TEACH ENGLISH DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University by Phonthip Unyakiat, B. A., M.A. The Ohio State University 1991 Dissertation Committee: Approved By Prof. Charles R. Hancock Prof. E. Ojo Arewa Prof. Keiko K. Samimy Advisor College of Education DEDICATION In loving memory of my mother and father "Pet and Thomrongsak Unyakiat" ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I owe a special debt of gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Charles R. Hancock, for his invaluable advice, guidance, and patience. His warm and caring nature has made all difficult moments bearable. Thank you very much for believing in me. I am grateful to Dr. Edward D. Allen, my former advisor, who, during the earlier period of my graduate program, never failed to offer words of encouragement at those moments when they were most needed. I also would like to thank my dissertation committee members, Dr. Keiko K. Samimy, Dr. E. Ojo Arewa, and the graduate school representative, Dr. James P. Phelan. Their valuable suggestions have provided much enhancement to the improvement of this dissertation. Special thanks go to two very dear friends, Dr. Wannaporn Wiesmann, my statistical consultant; and Ms. Piranya Bunnag, my reasearch-coordinator in Thailand. Sincere appreciation is also extended to all my friends and the many others who have shared with me both pain and joy during my years in the U.S. And finally, I would like to thank my brothers, Pitak and Pirot, and my only sister, Thanaporn Unyakiat, for their love, understanding, and moral and financial support through years of my graduate study. iii VITA October 30, 1954 Born-Ratchaburi, Thailand 1976 ........ B.A., English Education, Sri Nakharinwirot University, Bangkok, Thailand 1977-1979 .... English as a Foreign Language teacher, Makudkrasat Senior High School, Bangkok, Thailand 1981.......... M.A., Educational Administration, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio FIELDS OF STUDY Major Field: Education Study in: Educational Studies iv TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION ...................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................ iii VITA ........................................... iv LIST OF TABLES .................................. viii LIST OF FIGURES ................................. xi CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ............................... 1 Study Overview ......................... 1 Purpose of Study ....................... 8 Research Questions ..................... 8 Assumptions ............... ............ 10 Limitation ............................ 11 Definition of Terms .................... 12 Thailand: The Country Background ....... 16 Conclusion ............................ 21 II. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE .............. 22 Part I: Knowledge and Skills ........ 23 Required for EFL Teachers Part II: The Training of EFL ............ 30 Teachers v Part III: Problems and .................. 36 Disadvantages Facing Non-native EFL Teachers Conclusion ............................. 42 III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ....................... 44 Research Design ........................ 44 Population ............................ 45 Sampling Procedure ..................... 45 Instrumentation ........................ 47 Questionnaire Development ............... 49 Thai Version of the Questionnaire ........ 50 Data Analysis .......................... 53 Conclusion ............................ 60 IV. RESULTS AND FINDINGS ...................... 61 Question 1.............................. 61 Question 2 .......... 66 Question 3.............................. 86 Question 4 .............................. 94 Conclusion ............................. 96 V. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ............ 97 Procedures Used in the Study ............ 97 Demographic Data ....................... 99 Knowledge and Skills ................... 99 in English Effectiveness of College ............... 100 Preparation Teachers' Recommendations .............. 102 vi A Proposed Five-Year Program ............ 102 for Training Thai EFL Teachers Language Competence ............... 106 Teaching Competence ............... 109 Recommendations for Further ............ Ill Study REFERENCES .................................. 114 APPENDICES A. A Letter to a School ........ 126 Principal (English Version) B. A Letter to a School ............... 127 Principal (Thai Version) C. Cover Letter (English Version) ...... 128 D. Cover Letter (Thai Version) ......... 129 E. Questionnaire (English Version) ..... 130 F. Questionnaire (Thai Version) ........ 136 G. Number and Percentage of ............ 143 Questionnaire Returned H. Names of Thai Secondary ............ 144 Schools Participating in the Study (in English) I. Names of Thai Secondary ............ 147 Schools Participating in the Study (in Thai) vii LIST OF TABLES TABLE PAGE 1.1 Survey of 400 government and business ......... 4 offices in Bangkok on the use of foreign language (1980) 4.1 Gender of Thai secondary EFL teachers who ..... 63 participated in the study 4.2 Grade level at which EFL teachers currently .... 63 teach 4.3 EFL teachers' years of teaching English ...... 64 4.4 Highest degree obtained by EFL teachers ...... 64 4.5 Type of training institution................ 65 4.6 Travel and/or work experiences in a n y ........ 65 English-speaking countries 4.7 Means and standard deviations of E F L ......... 69 teachers' perceptions of their current knowledge and skills in English 4.8 Means and standard deviations of E F L ......... 71 teachers' current knowledge in four English skills (Self-evaluation) 4.9 Means and standard deviations of E F L ......... 76 teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of their college preparation 4.10 Means and standard deviations of E F L ......... 78 teachers' perceptions of the effectiveness of their college preparation 4.11 Canonical correlation coefficients ........... 81 and tests of significance (knowledge and skills in English and effectiveness of college preparation) viii TABLE PAGE 4.12 Redundancy Index of the predictor and the .... 82 criterion variables 4.13 Structure coeffcients of the predictor ....... 85 (knowledge and skills in English) and the criterion (effectiveness of college preparation) 4.14 Means and standard deviations of respondents ... 87 to selected criteria 4.15 The one-way analysis of variance of E F L ...... 89 teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of their college preparation with respect to gender 4.16 The one-way analysis of variance of E F L ...... 90 teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of their college preparation with respect to years of teaching English 4.17 The one-way analysis of variance of EFL ....... 90 teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of their college preparation with respect to type of training institution 4.18 The one-way analysis of variance of EF L ....... 91 teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of their college preparation with respect to grade level presently teaching 4.19 The one-way analysis of variance of EF L ....... 91 teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of their college preparation with respect to highest degree obtained 4.20 The one-way analysis of variance of EFL ....... 92 teachers' perceptions on the effectiveness of their college preparation with respect to work and/or travel experiences in an English-speaking country 4.21 The Scheffe's pairwise comparisions of ...... 94 college preparation of Thai EFL teachers who hold different degrees ix TABLE PAGE 4.22 Thai EFL teachers1 recommendations for the .... 95 improvement of EFL teacher training programs in Thailand G.l Number and percentage of returned........... 143 questionnaires H.l Names of Thai secondary schools ...........