3. Research Findings
3.1 Information about the Respondents
The findings show several features typical of Thai teachers of English. For example, the stereotyped gender of
English teachers in Thailand is female. It comprises 82.3% of the subjects in this study. The majority (91.2%) of
the secondary school teachers is bachelor’s degree holders and 8.8% have a master’s degree in ELT. A minority
of the subjects are novice teachers while over half of them have been in service for more than fifteen years, and
their teaching workload is about 16 to 20 hours per week, excluding administrative tasks. Over 55% of the
respondents had no more than 3 days of PD experience, while only about 14% of them had more than 10 days of
PD experience during the past two years.
3.2 Responses to Research Objective One
To survey English-teaching problems related to teachers, students, curricula and textbooks, assessment, and other
teaching support in the nine schools from three SESAs.
The findings from this section can be presented in the following figure.
143
2.79
3.93
2.9 3.11 3.06
0
1
2
3
4
5
teachers students curricula &
textbooks
assessment other factors
Figure 1. English teaching problems in Thailand
As can be seen from Figure 1, students were seen attributing to English teaching problems at a high level while
problems involving teachers, curricula and textbooks, assessment and other factors contributing to successful
teaching problems were rated at a moderate level. The highest and lowest ranks of each category are as follows:
3.2.1 Problems Involving Teachers
The respondent-teachers moderately agreed with the problems involving themselves. The top five highest ranks
of their problems were concerned with 1) teaching writing, 2) incorporating experiential learning into English
classes, 3) their own minimal use and/or exposure to English, 4) teaching listening and speaking, and 5) using
games and songs effectively in English classes (mean scores: 3.35, 3.29, 3.21, 3.06, and 3.06 respectively).
In contrast, they showed a low level of agreement with four statements concerning 1) their dislike of teaching
English, 2) their lack of English teaching qualifications, 3) problems with teaching vocabulary, and 4) problems
with teaching grammar and structure (mean scores: 1.62, 2.18, 2.38, and 2.44 respectively).
3.2.2 Problems Involving Students
The respondents agreed at a high level that students were a problematic factor in the success of their teaching.
Eight items got the mean scores of over 4. The highest problems included 1) students not having enough practice
in English on their own, 2) students lacking opportunities for English exposure outside class, 3) students’
insufficient knowledge and skills of English, 4) students thinking in Thai before translating to English, 5)
students having problems with writing, 6) students lacking patience in practicing English, 7) students having
problems with listening and pronunciation, and 8) students lacking confidence in speaking English (mean scores:
4.38-4.06). Only two items were seen as problematic at a moderate level: the students’ views on the usefulness of
English and their wish to be taught by native speakers of English (mean scores: 3.09 and 3.50).
3.2.3 Problems Involving Curricula and Textbooks
Responses relating to curricula and textbooks were at the moderate level. The top five problematic areas
involved 1) the impracticality of the guidelines for managing activities in the curricula, 2) the curricula having
too much to cover, 3) teachers not understanding the details of the curricula, 4) the inappropriateness of the
curricula for local conditions, and 5) teachers lacking expert curriculum advisors (mean scores: 3.38-2.97). The
problems with the curricula not being up-to-date and teachers lacking opportunities to choose their own
textbooks were perceived at a low level (mean scores: 2.41and 2.47).
3.2.4 Problems Involving Assessment
The teachers felt they had a moderate level of problems about assessment. The items that indicated a rather high
degree of problems involved 1) assessment of listening-speaking skills, 2) writing, and 3) listening (mean scores:
3.38-3.29). The least problematic aspect was the ability to construct tests of grammar and structure, and
vocabulary (mean scores: 2.71 and 2.97).
3.2.5 Problems Involving Other Factors
When asked about other factors contributing to teaching success, the teachers had a moderate opinion about this.
The highest ranked problems involved 1) inadequate supplies of computers and language laboratories to aid
teaching, 2) lack of teachers who were English native speakers, and 3) limited time-allocation for English classes
(mean scores: 3.35-3.15). They saw large classes as less problematic as inadequacy of teaching aids (mean =
2.85), while the least problem involved funds available for teacher professional development (mean = 2.79).
Additionally, a few respondents emphasized at the open-ended section on their overloaded teaching and
administrative tasks; everyone had been responsible for more than three administrative tasks. About ten teachers
said students lacked patient and additional practice of English outside class; students always came back to class
with blank eyes. A few respondents pointed out their obligation to teach students in a tutorial manner for school
examinations and the university entrance examination, rather than teaching for communication.
3.3 Responses to Research Objective Two
To investigate the professional development needs of English language teachers in those schools. The summary
of the findings is as follows:
3.3.1 Types of PD Needs
The respondents showed a moderate level of PD needs. The most valued PD types involved 1) three to five days
of training, seminars or conferences, 2) study trips in Thailand and overseas and 3) furthering their study either
in Thailand or overseas (mean scores: 3.59-3.38). The respondents showed the least attention to the two to three month training courses (mean = 2.79).
3.3.2 Content Areas of Professional Development
Although the respondents showed a moderate level of PD needs, surprisingly, they showed a high level of
agreement on every single content area listed in the questionnaire. There were top seven areas yielding the mean
scores of over 4, which included 1) teaching strategies that enable students to communicate in English, 2) their
own English proficiency development, especially in listening-speaking and writing skills, 3) teaching
listening-speaking to students, 4) teaching language and culture, and 5) teaching writing (mean scores:
4.15-4.00). The area that seemed the least problematic or needed was knowledge about using a student-centered
teaching approach, even though the mean score was quite high (mean = 3.56).
Also, from the responses to the open-ended questions, 37% of them were willing to cover for their own expenses
if/when they could not get financial support from their school for the PD programs they wanted to attend. Two of them said most available PD programs crashed with their heavy teaching schedules.