learning in Thailand especially in the primary and secondary schools. Some of the problems she posted were:
teachers’ heavy teaching loads, inadequately equipped classrooms and education technology, the university
entrance examination system, teachers’ insufficient English language skills and cultural knowledge. The
problems involving students who wished to speak English fluently included challenging interference from Thai
language, lack of opportunity to use English in their daily lives, unchallenging English lessons, being passive
learners, being too shy to speak English with classmates, being poorly-motivated and lack of responsibility for
their own learning. These problems have been attributable to the unsatisfactory results of English language
teaching as mentioned earlier.
However, according to Geringer (2003), the most important factor in student learning progress is the teachers,
and teacher quality outweighs other factors such as motivation, funding, and class sizes. Qualified teachers can
create the best environment for learning. As for Thailand (Education in Thailand, Wikipedia), a survey, in
collaboration with the University of Cambridge, measuring the qualifications of four hundred Thai teachers of
English, found that a full 60% of them had knowledge of English and teaching methodologies below that of the
syllabus level at which they were teaching. Of the remaining top 40%, only 3% had a reasonable level of fluency,
and only 20% were teaching class-levels for which they were both qualified and competent. Noopong (2002)
also reported that 65% of primary school teachers who were teaching English had not taken English as their
major of their studies, and only around 70% of secondary school English teachers graduated with a bachelor’s
degree in English. Dhanasobhon (2006) explained that at the secondary level, there is a shortage of teachers of
English because English majored graduates love to work in other higher salary jobs such as flight attendants, or
in hotel and tourism businesses, or with private companies.
In addition to the lack of qualified teachers, it is widely understood that what is expected from teachers these
days is multi-faceted. They are required to teach effectively in challenging environments; to make effective use
of information and communications technology (ICT) in their teaching; to cater to a variety of learning styles (as
elaborated in Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, 1993); to conduct research aimed at improving the
quality of their teaching; and to deal effectively with multitudinous administrative tasks -- all of which to meet
up with the requirements for ‘Quality Assurance.’ Moreover, most Thai teachers of English, especially at the
secondary level, have to teach at least eighteen hours a week on average and often take on additional classes
outside regular school hours in order to supplement their relatively meager salaries. Because of overloaded
burden, their teaching styles start to fossilize into ones of rote-learning, teaching grammar and translation with
Thai as the medium of instruction, teacher-centered classroom activities, spoon-feeding, and so on.
1.3 Attempts to Improve the Situation
Institutions of higher education realize this fact and try to give assistance by organizing training sessions,
seminars, and conferences for teachers at all levels of ability and experience: novice teachers, teachers with some
experience, and teachers able to play more advanced roles as leaders or trainers. Also, the Thailand Education
Reform implemented between 1996 and 2007 emphasized teacher development, and teachers would be offered
continuous training with some form of training such as attending seminars, workshops, or conferences every two
years (Wiriyachitra, 2002).
The Language Institute of Thammasat University (LITU), no less than many other institutions of higher
education, has been organizing professional development training courses for thousands of English teachers from
various high schools. The trainees, through the end-of-course evaluation form, have been reporting high levels of
satisfaction with the training. However, the design and the implementation of professional development training
courses, which focused mainly on lesson-planning and teaching methodology, emphasizing how to teach each
skill and how to teach integrated skills, was in a sort of top-down and non-collaborative manner. In other words,
teacher participants had no opportunity to influence or change the content or delivery of the professional
development activities and materials being provided.
Colbert, Brown, Choi & Thomas (2008) stated that improving teacher quality is both common and necessary,
and it depends on professional development, which should create meaningful learning experiences for teachers.
However, while teachers are required to participate in professional development activities, it is often the case that
they are not involved in selecting and planning those activities, and that professional development may not be
closely tied to classroom practice. Teachers attended the courses available to them, which may or may not have
directly served their needs. They may very well have returned to their schools and faced the same problems they
had before, or they may have been fortunate enough to be able to modify their classroom practices using what
they gained from the training. Therefore, a more desirable PD training course should provide some opportunities
for participants to be involved in choosing the problems for which they’ve been searching solutions (Zeichner, www.ccsenet.org/elt English Language Teaching Vol. 6, No. 11; 2013
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2003; Sparks, 2004; Bonner, 2006).
Recently LITU was requested by a high school to run a training course for their teachers on Advanced
Reading-Writing and Essay Writing. The course was a kind of teacher-driven professional development activity.
The teachers analyzed their own needs and specified what type of training they wanted. They were interested in
gaining all sorts of skills required for teaching highly-motivated and above-average students: classroom
management, instructional skills, and in improving their own language proficiency. This school is not quite
typical in that it aims to become a world-class science school. In order to help with financial support and to
encourage cooperation among peers, the school collaborated with a few local high schools, encouraging
participants from them to join the training so that costs could be shared.
The outcome of this course was highly satisf