Environmental influences on competence in English as a foreign language : A study of Thai undergraduates at an international university in Thailand
Issued Date
2013
Issued Date (B.E.)
2556
Available Date
Copyright Date
Resource Type
Series
Edition
Language
eng
File Type
application/pdf
No. of Pages/File Size
158 leaves
ISBN
ISSN
eISSN
DOI
Other identifier(s)
b186099
Identifier(s)
Access Rights
Access Status
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Rights Holder(s)
Physical Location
National Institute of Development Administration. Library and Information Center
Bibliographic Citation
Citation
Jirada Ueasiriwatthanachai (2013). Environmental influences on competence in English as a foreign language : A study of Thai undergraduates at an international university in Thailand. Retrieved from: http://repository.nida.ac.th/handle/662723737/3230.
Title
Environmental influences on competence in English as a foreign language : A study of Thai undergraduates at an international university in Thailand
Alternative Title(s)
Author(s)
Advisor(s)
Editor(s)
item.page.dc.contrubutor.advisor
Advisor's email
Contributor(s)
Contributor(s)
Abstract
This study is designed in an attempt to examine the ideal and the actual
university learning environment in relation to English language learning and to
investigate the actual environmental influence on the students’ English language
competence. This is to understand why a number of Thai university students of
English-medium instruction programs are still unable to attain high levels of English
proficiency despite engaging in an English-medium education system. An interpretive
approach was used to conduct interviews with 10 teachers and 15 students of an
international university, along with questionnaires which were administered to 175
students. The results disclose some major differences between the ideal and the actual
university learning environment, perceived by the teachers and experienced by the
students respectively. The major differences are related to the nature and amount of
English exposure as well as the responsibilities of the English-medium instruction
program’s teachers. Precisely, having limited exposure to English outside the
classroom, being exposed to little social English, getting little English-related
feedback, and having few native English-speaking teachers were reported to be the
major causes of these students’ inability to use English effectively. Overall, with the
improvement in all the four language skills, the students reported having difficulty in
using English in some aspects, English writing and grammar in particular. Based on
this study’s findings, major valuable implications which could be used as the
strategies for improvement in the quality of the teaching and learning environments
are finally suggested.
Table of contents
Description
Thesis (M.A. (Language and Communication) )--National Institute of Development Administration, 2013.