Psychosocial Factors
Lack of significant differences between FLCA in the immersion and non-immersion
group suggested broader causes for anxiety. Psychosocial phenomenon, like xenophobia
and racism, may contribute to adverse disposition toward interacting with foreigners
and persons of other ethnicities. Whether conscious or not, cultural and ethnic
dispositions may affect mood, emotion and behaviour, leading to higher levels of
anxiety, which could impair learning. If racism or xenophobia are robust in a
community, then increased exposure to a person of a different ethnicity or nationality
would be less likely to decrease levels of anxiety in individuals until a larger-order
social movement occurs. In Thailand, immigration and investment law reform could
spur such a larger-order change in the long term. At the local level, in the short term,
children need to learn about diversity, inclusion and equality from a young age,
including examples of what is not generally accepted speech.
Differences in mean FLCAS scores between pass/fail groups on oral exams in the
immersion group support the idea that FLCAS and language performance are negatively
associated. We can infer from negative correlations that if performance were improved,
anxiety would likely decrease, or vice versa. Educators in Thailand and the majority of
the world, unlike those in the US, do not have influence over psychiatric treatment and
medication of their students. In Thailand, school professionals must approach the
Adam R. Tanielian
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problem of FLCA from the perspective of educators, and not as psychologists or
politicians.
Considering the intra-instrument correlations between Thai and English language
exams, results suggested that FLCA within the sample resembled state anxiety rather
than situation-specific anxiety. Thai students may experience anxiety in the school
setting, perhaps due in part to the rigid structure of daily activities and consistent use of
corporal punishment by Thai faculty and administrators. Although both the Ministry of
Education and National Committee on Child Protection banned the practice from 2005,
more recent reports show strong resistance to change in pedagogy, with at least 60
percent of teachers supporting the practice and a majority of students experiencing
abuse at some time during their schooling (Newell, 2011; UNICEF, 2012). With the
threat of corporal punishment in mind, one could easily argue that students feel
threatened in general, which could increase anxiety and thus decrease performance. A
safe, non-threatening atmosphere is essential to proper contemporary education (Finch,
2001).