GSLC: Dissertations
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- ItemUnraveling discursive construction of Thai fandom : An analysis of Thai fans culture and identity in an online communicationPitchapa Smutradontri; Savitri Gadavanij (National Institute of Development Administration, 2020)In this digital era, fandom has become a social and cultural phenomenon, especially in Thailand. This study aims to explore Thai fan culture and identities from different online platforms. The three topics of fan culture, namely fan production, fan community, and level of fandom and hierarchy were explored in detail using mixed methods of textual analysis and questionnaire. These three topics were also discussed together as essential parts of fans’ identity construction. Bucholtz and Hall’s sociocultural linguistics approach and semiotic analysis were used as analytical frameworks, looking at how fans used language to construct their identity in Thai context. The first research question reveals how fans use fan texts to express their affection and feel connected to their object of fandom. The second research question suggests themes of fan interaction within fan online communities. The third research question presents the characteristics of the five level of fandom, namely mere consumer, casual fan, big fan, true fan, and super fan. The fourth research question suggests that fan identity could be constructed mainly two ways. First is fans as a collective group, in which they shared some common fan engagements and special lexicons of fan talk with one another. Second is a fan as one’s own identity, suggesting that fan identity could bring about other identities and that it is transcultural. In addition, the dissertation proposes that a media fan, in Thai context, is mainly a person who feels emotionally connected or attached to particular media object(s). This positive connection ranges from a strong interest in the media object to deep attachment. It also discusses the close connection between fan discourse and online media discourse, how online fan community resembles an imagined community, and why the cause of active consumption is mostly due to the ‘affection’ factor and fans’ pleasure satisfaction more than a resistance to mainstream media or patriarchal society. Moreover, it discusses the transcultural aspects of fan identities and fans’ production of fan texts and conversations.
- ItemAugmented masculinity through knives and needles : a corpus-assisted discourse analysis on Thai cosmetic hospitals' websitesNattawaj Kijratanakoson; Savitri Gadavanij (National Institute of Development Administration, 2022)Cosmetic surgery is a thriving industry worldwide and Thailand is one of the market leaders. However, research which has explored issues concerning cosmetic surgery largely focuses on that of females. Moreover, it revolves around surveying clients, either quantitatively or qualitatively, rather than investigating the text which they consume. Even among the studies examining such text, they are predominantly conducted with the text published in offline media and within a Western context. Therefore, the current study seeks to address such knowledge gaps by concentrating on online texts which male clients possibly consult for cosmetic surgery in Thailand. Since it is required by law that cosmetic surgery be conducted within authorised medical establishments, Thai cosmetic hospitals play a vital role in pursuing particular discursive strategies to communicate with clients. It is those strategies which the present study intends to investigate. To be exact, it intends to answer the following research questions: (1) What discursive strategies are employed by Thai cosmetic hospitals to propagate the ideologies about cosmetic surgery for masculinity enhancement? and (2) How do such strategies operate? To answer the first question, the present study employs Van Dijk’s conception of the ideological square. It consists of how to: (1) emphasise our good things, (2) de-emphasise our bad things, (3) emphasise their bad things and (4) de-emphasise their good things. This framework is useful in providing a general principle of how hospitals are likely to communicate with clients. However, an additional issue may arise with regard to, for example, in which way hospitals actually emphasise the good things of cosmetic surgery. Such an issue connects with the second research question. Hence, the other framework, Taylor’s six-segment message strategy model, comes into play by functioning as a specific tool to answer it. The model consists of the ego, social, sensory, routine, acute need, and ration message strategies. Methodologically, the present study utilises a corpus-assisted discourse analysis which amalgamates a quantitative method (the identification of significant keywords and collocations) into a qualitative analysis (the investigation of data extracts containing those significant lexical items). The corpus consists of the English version of webpage content belonging to 20 Thai hospitals with a total number of 73,168 words. The findings reveal that, firstly, to emphasise the good things of cosmetic surgery, hospitals implement the ego, social, sensory and ration strategies. Secondly, to de-emphasise the bad things of post-operative complications, hospitals employ the ration strategy. Thirdly, to emphasise the bad things of not undergoing cosmetic surgery, hospitals adopt the ego strategy. Fourthly, to de-emphasise the good things of other means which are perceived as a rival to cosmetic surgery, hospitals pursue the ego and ration strategies. Overall, a preponderance of these strategies revolves around the notion of masculinity, which is conceptualised as the ideology concerning how to feel like a man, act like a man and have a body touted as a man. The current study makes a theoretical and practical contribution. Theoretically, it is among the first which triangulates the discourse and the communication frameworks to analyse gender-related discourse pertaining to cosmetic surgery for masculinity enhancement in the Thai context. Practically, it hopes to raise awareness and promote media literacy among male clients about how cosmetic hospitals manifest and medicalise the ideology of masculinity via their online platforms.
- ItemThe effects of task-induced involvement load and language of glosses on L2 incidental vocabulary learningParichard Phadungsilp; Sarut Suparisaprapa (National Institute of Development Administration, 2022)The current study was motivated by the involvement load hypothesis (Hulstijn & Laufer, 2001), which predicts that the higher involvement an incidental vocabulary learning task induces, the more effective the task is in promoting second language (L1) vocabulary learning. Moreover, tasks with equal amounts of involvement loads should yield similar learning outcomes. The involvement load consists of the components of need, search, and evaluation, all of which can be present or absent in a task. Particularly relevant to the current study is the search component, which is absent when glosses for words unknown to second language (L2) are provided in the task. However, the hypothesis does not indicate whether language used in glosses (L1 and L2) affects the involvement load and L2 vocabulary learning. The current study aimed to investigate the possible interaction between task-induced involvement load and language used in gloss on incidental vocabulary learning in low proficiency EFL learners, who appear to gain more benefit from L1 gloss than L2 gloss in L2 vocabulary learning based on previous studies (e.g., Arpaci, 2016; Ertürk, 2016; Fang, 2009; Kongtawee & Suppapan, 2018). The study asked two research questions: (1) Do tasks with a higher level of involvement load promote greater vocabulary learning than tasks with a lower level of involvement load regardless of the language used in vocabulary glosses? and (2) Do tasks with an equal level of involvement load have a similar effect on vocabulary learning when the language used in glosses differs? One hundred and twenty-eight EFL learners at low proficiency level were randomly divided into four groups. Each group was assigned to complete one of the four types of computer-based vocabulary learning tasks, including (a) reading comprehension with L1 glosses task, (b) reading comprehension with L2 glosses task, (c) reading and fill-in-the-blank with L1 glosses task and (d) reading and fill-in-the-blank with L2 glosses task. Each group completed the task during a two-week period. In the first week, participants completed a task developed from one reading text, and, a week later, they completed another task with the same learning condition as in the previous week but the task was developed from another reading text. Both reading texts contained the same 10 target words, which were unknown to the participants. After completing the task in the second week, participants were unexpectedly given immediate word recall posttests (i.e., active recall and passive recall), and, two weeks later, they completed the same tests as delayed posttests. The findings indicated that the effect of task-induced involvement load was mediated by language used in glosses. That is, depending on whether language used in glosses, a task with a higher level of involvement load may not necessarily lead to better outcomes than a task with a lower level of involvement load, and two tasks with an equal amount of involvement load may lead to different outcomes. Moreover, the results revealed that low proficiency learners gained great benefits from the task with high involvement load and L1 gloss, which facilitated initial form-meaning connection of new L2 word. The findings add valuable insight into the involvement load hypothesis and provide implications for L2 incidental vocabulary learning and teaching.
- ItemBelief-practice congruence/incongruence : an investigation into Thai EFL teachers teaching reading in an international university contextNutcha Euanorasetr; Kasma Suwanarak (National Institute of Development Administration, 2022)In the past decades, researchers have examined relationships between teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices in different educational settings. However, the literature on the examination of relationships between teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices in terms of congruences is not available in an international university context. This present study attempts to fill up this research gap. The results of this study are expected to increase teachers’ awareness of their own beliefs and practices with the hope to further accommodate the improvement of their professional skills and students’ learning achievement in this special context. This study aims at exploring Thai teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices towards teaching EFL reading skills in an international university context while also investigating the extent to which these two aspects are related. It focuses on two reading constructions of teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices, which are text-based and competency-based reading constructions. The data collection methods employed in this study were initially quantitative method through surveys, and qualitative method via classroom observations and semi-structured interviews. The participants for the survey were twenty-four teachers in the Business English Department at the international university with the employment of the adapted TORI questionnaire to explore the participants’ beliefs towards ten themes concerning text-based and competency-based reading constructions. To elicit their teaching practices in actual classroom settings, six teachers teaching in three reading courses at this university were observed and interviewed sequentially. The results of the survey revealed that the participants strongly believed in ten themes within competency-based reading construction. For themes in text-based reading construction, they believed in “stressing students’ correct answer”, “giving detailed explanation of language elements”, “assessing students’ understanding of the text”, and “paying attention to knowledge transmission”, but not “applying teacher-directed instruction” in the reading instruction. More specifically, the results of the inferential statistics, Independent-Sample T-Test and One-Way ANOVAs, unfolded that the demographic factors, which are teachers’ gender, academic qualification, educational background, and years of teaching experiences, have an impact on teachers’ beliefs. The results of the beliefs from the interview were based on competency-based themes more than text-based. The results of the classroom observation uncovered that the participants tended to perform their teaching practices according to text-based reading construction themes. In terms of congruency between teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices in text-based reading construction, the incongruences happened for all participants on “giving detailed explanation of language elements”. Conversely, the congruences were found on “stressing students’ correct answers” and “assessing students’ understanding of the text” for five participants, and “applying teacher-directed instruction and “paying attention to knowledge transmission for four participants. With reference to congruences of competency-based reading construction, the congruences of teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices were identified in “applying reading strategy instruction” and “assessing students’ reading competencies” for all participants, in “creating multiple-answer questions” for five participants, and in “applying student-directed instruction” for four participants. On the contrary, the incongruences between teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices on “enhancing students’ self-learning abilities”, for five participants. The investigation of teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices help teachers gain their self-awareness through their reflection on their beliefs and actual performance. In addition, the information from the investigation is useful for researchers to seek for ways for improving teaching and learning within the context and for educators in the context to consider the professional training and developments for those teachers. This study suggests that enhancing teachers’ awareness of their beliefs and their understanding and knowledge based on themes driven from text-based and competency-based teaching reading constructions is needed. Moreover, the relationship between teachers’ beliefs and teaching practices can be possibly influenced by contextual factors because of their complexities.
- ItemThe 2013-14 Thai political crisis as reflected in Thai political cartoonsIamlaor, Aram; Savitri Gadavanij (National Institute of Development Administration, 2018)Thailand in 2013-14 is a period of political instability. The protest organized by the PDRC is one of the world’s largest political protests. The movement was an anti Thaksin cronyism effort to expel Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government. Eighty-four political cartoons during the period were collected from four newspapers Bangkok Post, The Nation, Thai Rath, and Daily News. This study aims to investigate 1) how the political cartoonists create humor in their cartoons, 2) kinds of humor the political cartoonists use in their cartoons, 3) the differences between Thai political cartoons published in Thai and English newspapers, and 4) ideologies underpin Thai political cartoons published in the four newspapers. The analysis reveals that in multipanel cartoons, the cartoonists create humor by using incongruity which intentionally misleads the readers, followed by a punch line so as to make them feel surprised or laugh. In the cartoons that contain dialogue between two characters, flouting maxims of Cooperative Principle is also used to create humor. Secondly, the major differences between Thai and English language newspapers include 1) most of the cartoons in the Thai language newspapers are in multi panels containing dialogues between two characters while most of the cartoons in the English language newspapers are in one panel without dialogues, 2) most of the cartoons in the Thai language newspapers contain humor but all of the cartoons in the English language newspapers do not contain humor at all, 3) most of the signifiers in the second-order system used by the cartoonists to convey meanings on political issues are related to the anti- government side, especially Suthep and the PDRC, while most of the signifiers related to the pro-government side are about the amnesty bill and the rice pledging scheme, and 4) most of the cartoons in the Thai language newspapers emphasized bad things of the antigovernment side but nearly all of the cartoons in the English language newspapers emphasize bad things of the pro- government groups. Finally, after the cartoons were analyzed by using the ideological square to find ideologies underpin the cartoons, it can be concluded that each cartoonist has strong opinions on political issues. They always emphasize bad things of the persons or the political groups that they oppose, especially on the issues related to politics rather than on personality of a person.
- ItemAn exploration of the effectiveness of the use of multimedia computer-assisted english writingSirin Sawangwan; Kasma Suwanarak (National Institute of Development Administration, 2017)This study aims to investigate the effects of multimedia computer-assisted English writing (MCAEW) on English writing performance and to explore motivational factors together with perceptions towards the use of MCAEW. Both quantitative and qualitative research techniques were employed. The quantitative method was used to investigate the difference in overall English writing performance of students before and after the integration of MCAEW by comparing pretest and posttest mean scores. The quantitative technique was also applied to discover motivational factors towards the use of MCAEW. Qualitative method was conducted to explore the students’ perceptions towards the use of MCAEW. Data were collected from 200 EFL non-English major students from a public university. The pretest and posttest of the students’ English writing mean scores were examined through a paired-sample t-test. An exploratory factor analysis was conducted to find the motivational factors through a five-point Likert scale items questionnaire. A semi-structured interview was conducted in order to explore perceptions towards the use of MCAEW. The results show that a highly significant difference exists in overall English writing performance after the integration of MCAEW. The difference between the means of the pretest and posttest scores was reported (p < .001). Four influencing motivational factors have been found. The students revealed that MCAEW influent their communicative competence, task completion, autonomous learning, and communication. Some course and technical resolutions regarding constraints of MCAEW functions were reported. Overall, the students’ performance and views on the use of MCAEW can raise awareness of educators involved in EFL writing. The findings would be valuable resources for considering appropriate ways in which the MCAEW might be useful for teaching EFL writing. Finally, implications are drawn regarding the implementation of MCAEW, adjusting EFL writing curriculum, as well as recommendations for future research.