Along with economic globalization, English has increasingly become the medium of communication around the
world both in local and global contexts. The realization of importance of English highlights the necessity of every
country to have its people become better equipped with English performance. Inevitably, this necessity is also
applicable to Thailand. In response to the demands for English skills, the Thai government has made constant efforts to
improve Thai learners’ English performance throughout the history of English language teaching in Thailand
(Kanoksilapatham, 2007) in order to improve Thai learners’ competence in English, enabling them to obtain job
opportunities, promotions or career advancement.
With the rise in the number of English users, English language teaching professionals has increased worldwide. The
importance of English has also sparked a growing interest in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). In
Thailand, to meet the demands of global economics and to cope with the growing local and national demands for
English skills, new initiatives have been launched in all aspects of the Thai educational system, including curriculum,
materials, facilities, and professional development for teachers. However, a number of studies (e.g., Pongsiriwet, 2002;
Wiriyachitra, 2001) reported that the four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing are far from satisfactory.
The results of these studies were repeatedly substantiated by Bolton’s (2008) study which reported that Thai learners’
English performance was somewhat limited, compared to that of other ASEAN country members.
To improve Thai learners’ English proficiency, among all the four macro language skills, speaking seems intuitively
the most important because speaking includes all other skills of knowing that language (Ur, 1996). Given the role of
speaking skills in learning a foreign language, teaching and learning English speaking in Thailand is somewhat limited
for a number of reasons. First, for Thai students, English speaking or oral communication in English is deemed to be
difficult since English is not their native language (Khamkhien, 2010). Second, most of Thai learners need their English
to sound as native-like as possible which is a prestige norm of spoken English even though English is widely used in the
region of South East Asia, creating a great diversity of English e.g., Malaysian English, Singaporean English, etc. This
scenario seems to limit their choice of their exposure to English. Next, since English in Thailand is a foreign language,
the exposure of English to authentic language input of learners of English in Thailand is limited. Lastly, another
dimension which should be taken into account lies into English pronunciation of Thai teachers of English
(Kanoksilapatham, 2007). These serious problems are exclusively important, leading to a large volume of studies focusing on speaking ability of Thai learners (e.g., Jarusan 1997; Kanoksilapatham, 1992; Nimphaibule, 1996; Serttikul,
2005; Siriwisut, 1994).
Since pronunciation is a global construct which consists of segmental (e.g., consonant and vowels) and
suprasegmental (e.g., stress, intonation, rhythm, rate, volume), over the past decade, a number of studies have variedly
investigated the area of speaking skills, including speaking assessment (e.g., Chen, 2001; Li, 2003; Wang 2003),
phonology language acquisition (e.g., Altmann, 2006; Waylan et al., 2006), problems of teaching and learning speaking
skills (e.g., Goodwin, 2001; Lazaraton, 2001). Amongst these studies focusing on speaking skills, pronunciation is
receiving more attention in many EFL classrooms since it is recognized that students should primarily acquire as a
fundamental skill because it can effect accuracy and comprehension (Celce-Murcia et al., 2000; Derwing et al., 2006;
Hahn, 2004). Although research studies on speaking skills and pronunciation are common within English as a second
and foreign language, the research of this line with Thai learners seems to be marginalized. Specifically, the area of
pronunciation produced by Thai learners of English studying in the field of sciences seems to be relatively less explored.
In light of the shortage of this line of research, despite the importance for successful communication, this study aimed to
explore pronunciation competence of Thai learners of English studying in the field of sciences by using a stress
identification task. The roles of three factors: gender, faculty and years of studying English were also determined.