Question 1: Although many English test results of Thai people or Thai students were unsatisfactory as mentioned earlier, why were problems involving teachers, curricula and textbooks, assessment, and factors contributing to successful teaching seen at a moderate level in the current study? It is likely that two main reasons are involved in answering this question. First and foremost, the Thailand Education Reform Project, 2002, may have helped subside the seriousness of the problems as cited in Tantranon (2009): In the year 2006, several projects have been undertaken to enhance the quality of education and the quality of teachers. Resources and investment for education and development of teachers, faculty staff and educational personnel have been allocated to raise the standards and professionalism in terms of ethics, as well as academic skills. There were large number of teachers and education personnel who attended conferences and training courses to support their continuing professional development (CPD) in Local Education Service Areas across the country. The Ministry of Education (MOE) also supports CPD activities in schools and the use of computers and access of internet for networking between teachers to share new teaching and learning techniques. These collaborative networks both online and face-to-face activities facilitated interaction and sharing of experiences and common interests and lead to further improvement in the classroom. (p. 31) This means that each English teacher should have experienced some kinds of PD, and most secondary schools of today have probably been better-equipped with facilities necessary for language learning and teaching. This may support the findings that the respondents disagreed with the statements that they disliked teaching English or
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they had problems with their qualifications. Nor did they agree that the problems about facilities supporting teaching were serious. The second reason that may help explain the situation of English-language teaching is that Thai teachers of English seem to cope surprisingly well with presumed common problems such as overly large classes, limited and impractical curricula and textbooks, difficulties with language assessment, and limited availability of computers and other instructional aids. They have made do with what they have and rated the problems as moderately serious. In addition, they seem to have been doing well in some particular areas. For example, they disagreed that they had serious problems concerning teaching and constructing the tests of vocabulary, grammar and structure. However, the skills focus that teachers of ten years ago perceived important were reading and writing skills, while teachers of this current study wished to improve teaching strategies for communication skills. As the findings revealed, the teachers’ top five problematic areas, although at a moderate level, involved teaching writing, incorporating experiential learning into English classes, their own minimal use or exposure to English, teaching listening and speaking, and using games and songs effectively in English classes. Also, the teachers’ PD needs shifted from those of Noopong’s teachers, who requested strategies for teaching reading, writing, and knowledge of psychology in teaching respectively, to the needs of equipping teachers with strategies for teaching listening-speaking or conversation and writing. Thai teachers of English in this study focused more on developing their own and their students’ productive skills such as speaking and writing probably because of their weaknesses in these areas. It is widely accepted that Thais, even university graduates, have much difficulty successfully communicating in English. According to Suwanarak and Phothongsunun (2009), half of undergraduate students participating in their study pointed out that they were unable to use English to communicate in real situations as they were weak in listening and speaking skills. They attributed the failures to themselves – having made little effort in practicing English. These students’ responses may, to some extent, give the answer to the following second discussion question.