AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PROBLEMS FACED BY

THAI NON-ENGLISH MAJOR GRADUATES WHILE

PERFORMING SPEAKINGTASKS

BY

MISS. NIPHAPORN SACHDEV

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL

FULFILLMENT OF

THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF

MASTER OF ARTS IN ENGLISH FOR CAREERS

LANGUAGE INSTITUTE

THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

ACADEMIC YEAR 2016

COPYRIGHT OF THAMMASAT UNIVERSITY

Independent Study Paper Title AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PROBLEMS

FACED BY THAI NON-ENGLISH MAJOR

GRADUATES WHILE PERFORMING

SPEAKING TASKS

Author MISS. NIPHAPORN SACHDEV

Degree Master of Arts

Major Field/Faculty/University English Language Teaching

Language Institute

Thammasat University

Independent Study Paper Advisor Professor. Supakorn Poohcharoensil, Phd

Academic Years 2017

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page Number

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 1-2

LIST OF TABLES 3

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS 4

ABSTRACT 5

Keywords and Definitions 6

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION 7 – 8

CHAPTER 2 REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Background Information 9

2.2 Importance of English Language 9 - 10

2.3 Boom and Emergence of English Language 10

2.4 Barriers in English Communication 10 - 11

2.5 English Proficiency levels in Thailand 11 - 12

2.6 Technology and Position of English Language in Thailand 12

2.7 Difficulties of English Language in Thailand 12 - 13

2.8 Stimulated recall Protocol

2.8.1 Background Information about Stimulated Recall Protocol 14

2.8.2 Importance of Stimulated Recall protocol in L2 Research 15

2.8.3 Characterisation of Stimulated Recall Protocol 16

2.8.4 Using Stimulated recall Protocol 17

Data Collection: Instructions for Participants and Researchers

CHAPTER 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Background Information 18

3.2 Participants 18

3.3 Instruments 18 – 19

3.4 Data Collection Procedure 19

3.5 Ethical Consideration 19 - 20

CHAPTER 4 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Results (Information about the Participants) 21 – 27

4.2 Results from Questionnaire

a. Summary of Background and Educational Information 27 - 31

4.3 Summary of the Problems faced by the Participants while performing 34 - 37

speaking tasks

CHAPTER CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 Discussion 38 - 39

5.2 Conclusion 40 – 41

5.3 Recommendations 41

REFERENCES 42 – 43

APPENDICES

Appendix A: Background and Education Information Sheet 44

Appendix B: Consent Form for the Participants to sign 45

BIOGRAPHY 46

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It has been a great opportunity for me to write this paper on the topic

“AN INVESTIGATION OF THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THAI NON-ENGLISH

MAJOR GRADUATES WHILE PERFORMING SPEAKING TASKS”.

At the time of the preparation for this research paper, I had gone through many books

related to the process of Stimulated Recall Protocol in order to get myself acquainted

with the new topic. I tried my best to focus on those topics which are important for me

to understand about this topic and this area of research easily.

I acknowledge my sincere gratitude to my advisor, Associate Professor Supakorn

Poohcharoensil, who has always been sincere and helpful in guiding me to understand

the topic of Stimulated Recall Protocol and how I should go about my research paper.

I want to take this opportunity to thank Associate Professor Dr. Supong

Tangkiengsirisin my external advisor who gave me a lot of insights on how I should

make my research paper more effective and productive.

I would like to express sincere thanks to my friends and family who have supported

me throughout the entire time that I have been conducting and completing this

research paper.

Finally, I want to thank my never-ending and all time support, my parents, who have

always guided me and taught me what I should do and should have done in order to

complete this paper. I would like to express special gratitude to my father who has

always been there with his encouraging words when I felt I should give up and stop at

that point of time.

Apart from for myself, this research paper will certainly have a lot of importance for

those who are interested to know more about this subject. I hope they will find it

comprehensible and easy to understand.

Thank you, Miss. Niphaporn Sachdev

LIST OF TABLES

Table 1 – Participants who work in the Educational Field and don’t work in the Education Field Table 2 –

Number of years the participants have finished their University Education

Table 3 – Age of the participants who have taken part in this research study Table 4 – English Language Skill that participants find most difficult and challenging Table 5 – English Language Skill that participants find easy and comfortable Table 6 – Additional courses taken by the participants to enhance their English communication skills Table 7 –

Inability of context words that is related to the topic of conversation

Table 8 – Placement of Subject – Verb – Object in the correct manner Table 9 –

Placement of Prepositions in different contexts

Table 10 –

Inability to use tenses with correct rules

Table Eleven –

Finding substitution of context words in the mother tongue language

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ASEAN - Association of Southeast Asian Nations AEC - ASEAN Economic Community SLA - Second Language Acquisition EFL - English as a Foreign Language ESL - English as a Second Language ESP - English for Specific Purposes ELT - English Language Teaching SRM - Stimulated Recall Methodology SRP - Stimulated Recall Protocol IELTS - International English Language Testing System

ABSTRACT

Being able to communicate in the English Language efficiently is very important in

this fast and growing world. With the global acceptance of English being considered

as a world language, it is considered very necessary for individuals to speak English

clearly in order to communicate with others. Conducting a Stimulated Recall Protocol

(Methodology) helped us in the identification of the psychological and the linguistic

problems that were faced by five Thai non-English major graduates while performing

speaking tasks. It was finally concluded that the major problems that were faced by

the participants resulted from the interference of the mother tongue, which is Thai.

The results suggest that the participants need better and more advanced material and

technology in order to be able to master the English Language.

KEYWORDS and DEFINITIONS

Keywords

- Investigation

- Problems

- Non–English Major

- Performing

- Speaking Tasks

Definition of Key Terms –

Investigation –

The act or the process of examining a problem or statement to discover the truth or the

problems faced by an individual

Problems –

A situation or thing that needs attention and needs to be dealt with and solved

Non-English major –

Undergraduate students who study other subject majors like Tourism Management or

Finance

Performing –

To do an act or a piece of work

Speaking Tasks –

Tasks that individuals have to perform in order to present their thoughts in an oral

manner

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

It is obvious that English knowledge has been acknowledged as a medium of

both regional and global communication. There are approximately 2.5 million people

who use English as a communicative tool (Crystal, 2008). Crystal also asserts that the

number of non-native speakers of the English Language is significantly greater when

compared to the number of native speakers of the English Language. The English

Language is considered to be a crucial means of communication during the twenty-

first century. There have been many scholars who have investigated the problems of

how English is used amongst non-native speakers (Kanoksilapatham, 2009). In

addition to keeping in mind the advancement of the Association of Southeast Asian

Nation (ASEAN) Economic Community, this plays an important role in the daily life

of Thai people. The Ministry of Education has attempted to effectively prepare the

Thai people to be ready to compete with other ASEAN nations by promoting English

to be the means of communication for Thai speakers across the globe

(Kanoksilapatham, 2009).

In terms of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in different countries, there

are many goals that are needed to be achieved. Second Language Acquisition helps to

bring forth: (1) the knowledge that learners possess of the second language and (2) the

major source of the second language knowledge. It has been found that data

production or the utterances used by the learners when they communicate is the major

source of knowledge of the learners (Gass and Mackey, 2000).

In regard to speaking and the tasks related to speaking, there are many

research studies revealing that even though the English Language has been taught in

Thailand as a foreign language, the performance of the Thai EFL (English as a

Foreign Language) speakers’ is still at unsatisfactory levels (Kanoksilapatham, 2009;

Foley, 2005; Wongsothorn, 1996). Furthermore, Thai learners of English find English

speaking skills daunting and very difficult (Kanoksilapatham, 2005, 2009, 2010).

There are many possible factors that have been identified to be responsible for the

inability of the EFL learners to master the English Speaking skills. These factors

include interference from the native language, age, attitude, disposition, limited

support systems and the insufficient knowledge of the English Language

(Kanoksilapatham, 2009).

The major problems facing Thai learners in speaking English are

pronunciation, authentic communication and the breakdown of communication. The

problems of pronunciation are the difficulties in pronouncing some sounds which may

lead to certain misunderstandings in oral communication. The way teachers teach

English is also problematic. Allowing the students to read and then raising their

awareness of the importance of pronunciation is used as a method to avoid errors

related to communication. Additionally, with regard to authentic conversation, to keep

communication continuing, the role must be turn-taking. Regarding speaking tests in

the Thai education system, students are normally allowed to prepare and memorize

their responses in advance. Even when the students pass the test, it does not mean that

they could speak English in real life and understand what they are speaking.

As regards communication breakdown, comprehensible input plays a crucial

role in learning a language. Due to limited English background and skills of the

learners, they misunderstand and mispronounce the questions on the paper slips

during the tests, which leads to confusion. The listeners also lack confidence to ask

the speakers to repeat the sentence in order to be able to inquire about the true

meaning (Foley, 2005).

It is also indicated that to teach speaking skills effectively, apart from

speaking skills, other skills like reading, writing and listening skills should also be

taken into account since these skills are very significant to real communication.

CHAPTER 2

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

2.1 Background Information

With the fast and emerging development of the ASEAN Economic Community

(AEC), it has become an obligation that people should be able to speak and

communicate in the English Language fluently. Taking into account the situation of

the English language in Thailand, where the Ministry of Education has facilitated the

language teaching, the competence levels of the Thai EFL speakers are still at

unsatisfactory levels (Kanoksilapatham, 2007). Owing to Thailand’s requirement to

participate in the ASEAN Community, there are a number of economic, social and

educational developments that have to be made (Kanoksilapatham, 2009).

2.2 Importance of English Language

While English has become an integral part of many Thai people’s lives, English

learning and teaching are considered to be ineffective because of the inability to

produce perfect Thai users of English. It can be seen that most of the Thai EFL

learners find it more comfortable to stick to the grammatical features of the language

rather than focusing on their speaking skills. This leads to the Thai EFL learners not

being able to produce authentic language that is used in daily conversations. Taking

the case of adults who have limited opportunities to speak English at the workplace,

the reason is that the Thai language is considered to be the official language and the

speakers do not speak English as the native language. With limited opportunities for

being exposed to the English Language, there are few chances of development in the

speaking field for the language users. For Thai students, there are a number of Thai

schools, especially in the rural areas, where computers are not available for the

students to use and supporting instructional materials like CDs and reading materials

are inaccessible.

According to Viriyapong and Harfield (2009), the number of native English speakers

available to teach English is not sufficient to meet the needs of the EFL Thai learners’

population. There are also a number of other factors that are responsible for the lack

of communicative competence that has been identified. This includes the interference

from the mother tongue of the learners, age, attitude, the teaching and learning

environment, and the limited support systems available (Kanoksilapatham, 2014). In

Thailand, speaking is considered to be a marginalized skill of communication

amongst the Thai EFL learners when compared to other skills in school and university

settings. There have been attempts to integrate the communicative competence model

into speaking and this is being done in EFL classrooms (Sook, 2003).

2.3 Boom and Emergence of English Language

During the 21st century, there has been a boom in the emergence of English programs,

where English language is the medium of instruction in the classroom. This has

widely been developed both in public and private schools in order to be able to serve

the demand for the communicative medium in Thailand.

Another problem that concerns the English Language teaching systems in Thailand is

the central focus on grammar and accuracy. In Thailand, teachers usually conduct

English lessons in a way which leads to the students not being formally introduced to

speaking and listening skills. Moreover, Machenzie (2002) added that Thai learners

are shy when they have to speak in English and they do not have the motivation to

communicate in English because there is no one whom they can speak the language

with. When the learners have to communicate in the English language, they are

worried about accuracy when delivering the speech.

2.4 Barriers in English Communication

Ruel Howe (1963) argued that barriers in communication are the factors that obstruct

the articulation of intended meaning. This happens when people communicate but do

not realize when difficulties arise. It should not be assumed that if an individual can

speak, he or she will be able to communicate efficiently. The main reason is that the

education system misleads people into thinking and believing that communication is

easier than it actually is. Then learners become discouraged and give up eventually

when faced with difficulties in communication. Because the learners do not

understand the nature of the problem, they do not know what to do and what the

appropriate manner of reaction should be.

2.5 English Proficiency Levels in Thailand

Rajprasit and Hemchua (2015) conducted a research study with forty operative-level

computer engineers who work for international companies in the Bangkok

cosmopolitan area. Problems had been revealed from the previous research that

indicated new graduates in the field of engineering have an immediate need to

improve their communication skills and their levels of English Language proficiency.

The study was conducted to explore the existing communication situation in the

workplace and to be able to identify the engineer’s self-reported perceptions in terms

of their English language proficiency and their performance in English related tasks at

work. The results showed that the necessities of English Language proficiency are

relevant to job recruitment, routine work, job promotion and advancement in the

career path. However, the frequency of the English related tasks and the type of

communication are related to situations and job position as well. Interestingly, the

most frequent types of communication were writing and speaking. These engineers

perceived that their English language proficiency was at a fair level. In other words,

their whole performance was at an intermediate level. However, these skills were

reported as somewhat problematic when the engineers had to perform tasks in

complex situations and in a spontaneous manner.

From Rajprasit’s and Hemchira’s study, it can be interpreted that the problems and

difficulties in English-related tasks occur due to the lack of exposure to English

language in the real situation. Therefore, engineering students should be introduced to

ESP (English for Specific Purposes) in their specialized field (i.e. English for

Computer Engineering) at an early stage and continuously, as well as being exposed

to various accents as a part of the concept of Lingua Franca.

2.6 Technology and Position of English Language in Thailand

Due to the increase in new technology, business, education and science, high

proficiency in English Language is required. However, as Thailand has never been

colonized, it has Thai as the official language that students study in schools.

According to Wiriyachitra (2002), multiple researchers have suggested that English

curriculum in Thai universities and schools cannot meet the demands for English used

in the workplace. Listening and speaking are the most needed skills, yet they are not

focused on in the curriculum. Thailand will lag behind because English education in

Thailand does not prepare Thai students for the rapid global changes that are

occurring. Although Thailand is highly advanced in technology, it cannot make much

progress due to its low English proficiency. Furthermore, although tourism is a

profitable industry to Thailand, still most of Thais in this sector have low competence

in English communication, which could lead travelers to avoidable misunderstandings

and negative attitudes towards Thailand.

2.7 Difficulties of English Language in Thailand

The difficulties in English language teaching and learning in Thailand are caused by

various factors. According to Biyaem, 1997 (as cited in Wiriyachitra 2002), there are

multiple obstacles for teachers, such as heavy teaching loads, insufficient English

language skills and knowledge, and too many students in a classroom. For a learner,

the difficulties range from learning style, interference from the native language, lack

of opportunity to use English, and the need to self-discipline themselves. According to

Wiriyachitra’s (2002) study, Thai education does not encourage Thai people to deal

with the fast - changing world. Four main areas of the Thai education system have

been reformed which are school, curriculum, teachers and the administration. The

life-long learning must be encouraged so that the twelve - year basic education will be

provided free to all Thai students, so that education and English learning is available

to all the students and children who will be the future generation of the country.

According to Kamkhien (2010), since the Thai government needs to reduce the

education gap between public and private schools, the English language curriculum in

the Thai education system recently has gone through a lot of changes. In the 2001

system, in order to develop the students’ proficiency level, there were four sub-levels

of the current English curriculum for all schools:

1. Grade 1 to Grade 3 (The Preparatory Level)

2. Grade 4 to Grade 6 (The Beginning Level)

3. Grade 7 to Grade 9 (The Expanding Level)

4. Grade 10 to Grade 12 (The Progressive Level)

At the university level, twelve credits of English are required:

1. 6 Credits for General English Education

2. 6 Credits for English for Specific Purposes(ESP)

As claimed by Wongsothorn, Hiranburana and Chinnawongs (2003) (as cited in

Kamkhien 2010), English curriculum in Thailand was shifted from elective to

compulsory subjects to meet the demand of English language skills at the workplace.

However, despite the reformation of the English language curriculum in Thailand, due

to the limitation of English Language Teaching (ELT) in Thailand, Thai students’

performance still does not reach the required standard. Not only are ELT in Thailand

and speaking test formats limited, but also the English exposure of Thai students in

the context of the Thai educational system is limited.

2.8 STIMULATED RECALL PROTOCOL

2.8.1 Background Information:

Second Language Acquisition has two main goals. The first being the

knowledge that the learners have of the second language and second being the source

of the second language that comes from data protection or the utterances spoken by

the learners. Selinker (1972), stated that the researchers should “focus and give

analytical attention upon the only observable data to which we can relate the

theoretical predictions: the utterances which are produced when the learner attempts

to say sentences of the target language (Selinker, 1972, page 54).

Introspective Method means the elicitation of data about the thought processes

that an individual has to go through. The thought processes of individuals can be

accessed through carrying out a task or an activity. There are two main assumptions

of Introspective Methods (IM) which are: (1) there is an underlying introspection that

it is possible to observe the internal processes in the same way that an individual

observes the external real world events and (2) that human beings have access to their

internal thought processes and at certain levels the participants are able to verbalize

the thought processes (Gass & Mackey, 2000).

Stimulated Recall Methodology (SRM) prompts the participants to recall the

thoughts they have in their minds while they are actively performing a task or

participating in an event. There is an assumption that a tangible reminder of an event

will stimulate the recall of the mental processes in the operation of an event.

2.8.2 Importance of Stimulated Recall in L2 research

Di Pardo (1994) stated that stimulated recall protocol is considered to be a flexible

tool that has been adapted and often used by many specific methodological choices.

Through the method of stimulated recall methodology, a participant is able to relive

an original situation with great vividness and accuracy, if presented with a lot of cues

or stimuli that occurred in the original situation (Bloom, 1954, p.25).

Introspective Methods (IM) has many aims which are used to discover the cognitive

processes that cannot be seen through simple observation. Stimulated Recall

Methodology (SRM) appeals to cognitive psychologists and researchers who have an

interest in information processing and others who are interested in how the second

language is learned and taught. Another perspective related to stimulated recall

protocol is how “cognition” is related to knowledge. When research is conducted in

the field of second language, the primary focus and importance is given to how

language-specific knowledge is acquired, organized and used (Bloom, 1954, p.25).

Since Stimulated Recall is a method that belongs to the introspection group of

methodologies and strategies, stimulated recall methodology acts as a useful tool that

assists in the identification of cognitive processes. This would be identified through

simple observation. Therefore, it can be concluded that Stimulated Recall

Methodology (SRM) is useful in three fields which are:

(1) This methodology helps to separate events from the stream of consciousness.

(2) This methodology helps to see and analyze whether knowledge is organized in

any specific manner.

(3) This methodology can help to determine if cognitive processes like search,

retrieval or decision making are being used or not.

2.8.3 Characterization of Stimulated Recall Protocol

Stimulated Recall Protocol or Stimulated Recall Methodology was carried out with

some degree of support, like showing a videotape to the learners (participants) so they

are able to watch themselves when they perform the activity tasks. They will be able

to vocalize their thought processes regarding their actions of the original activity.

Oral Interaction Research, or the perceptions of comprehension, was studied in great

detail by Susan Gass in the year 2000. To further examine and explain the perceptions

of comprehension, she took the help of the Hawkins study (Hawkins, 1985, p.85) The

purpose of the Hawkins Study was to judge if the responses given in the discourse of

the non-native speakers seemed to be appropriate responses to what was used in the

discourse. To make sure the purpose of the study was served, Hawkins conducted

research with two dimensions of participants. The two dimensions were that the

participants consisted of Native American speakers and native Spanish speakers. They

carried out four communicative tasks in the English Language. The tasks were

designed in such a manner that the non-native and native speakers had information

that was required for the completion of the task. One of the tasks was the well-known

game of ESL classrooms called “Grab Bag”. In this game, one of the participants has

to remove common objects from a bag. The other participant asked questions about

the object, to be able to try and guess the object. The interactions were tape-recorded.

The recording was replayed in front of the participants and was paused at certain

intervals to ask them what they were thinking at that point of time in the interaction

(Hawkins, 1985, p.165). Finally, Hawkins also stated that the researcher was able to

stop the recording and ask questions if the participants did not stop the recorder

(Hawkins, 1985, p.165). The Hawkins study and experiment were conducted in the

native language of the participants of the study.

2.8.4 Using Stimulated Recall Protocol

Data Collection: Instruction for Participants and Researchers

When conducting the Stimulated Recall Methodology, it is important to create a vivid

protocol for this research study. Designing a research protocol means the creation of a

set of instructions, parameters and the details for carrying out an experiment. This

helps the researcher to be able to get a brief idea of the problems in advance and this

acts as a checklist for the different and many variables that the researcher has to

consider during the procedure of conducting an experiment.

The instructions that would be used for carrying out the experiment or task need to be

detailed, clear and unambiguous. One important reason why the instructions need to

be standardized is the orientation of the participants from the time they carry out and

complete the task and the time they are shown the video to ask what the participants

are thinking during the pauses. It is important to remind the participants that they not

only have to vocalize their thoughts but also to explain their thoughts.

CHAPTER 3

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research Methodology

The strategy used for this research study was a sequential explanatory strategy since

the study started with the filling in of an Information and Background sheet, followed

by the task related to the Stimulated Recall Methodology (SRM). The task was carried

out by the participants in order to help explain certain aspects that cannot be obtained

from the sheet. For this study, Stimulated Recall Protocol (Methodology) Strategy

was used in the detection of the underlying language and psychological problems. The

participants, instruments and the data collection procedure are demonstrated as

follows.

3.2 Participants

According to the purpose of this research, the participants for this study were Thai

non-English major graduates. There were five participants for this research study.

Their ages ranged from 22 to 35 years and they had little or very limited knowledge in

English speaking and related tasks. The participants use English Language as the

medium of communication. The educational background of these participants is of

non-English majors yet this may include any additional or special courses that the

participants may have taken in order to improve their English skills.

3.3 Instruments

For this study, the research design is considered to be a qualitative one. This study

used the Stimulated Recall Protocol in which the participants were given a task that

they had to complete and a video recording was made of the particpants while they

were completing the task. The protocol and the format of the IELTS (International

English Language Testing System) speaking test were followed. Before the task was

completed, the participants were given a consent form to sign for the

acknowledgement of observing and recording them for future references. For this

research study, a background information form that was specially designed for this

research study was used. The form would help us compare the educational

background and the English Language competency levels of the participants.

3.4 Data Collection Procedure

For the data collection procedure, as stated before, the Stimulated Recall Protocol and

the background information form were used to elicit data from the participants. For

the Stimulated Recall Protocol, the participants were asked to complete a task in

which they had to talk about what they were doing during the day. The speech was

broken down into time spans of morning, afternoon, evening and night. During the

time that the participants recalled and talked about their day, their conversations were

recorded and then later shown to them for analysis. The recording was shown to them,

so they would be able to see where they had made pauses and the observer asked them

about what they were thinking during the pauses. The background information and

education background form were given to the participants to know about their

educational background and whether they had taken any additional courses to

improve their English skills. It also highlighted the potential difficulties that the

participants thought they had with regard to the four skills, i.e. reading, writing,

listening and speaking of the English language.

3.5 Ethical Consideration

When the Stimulated Recall Protocol or Methodology and the form were given to the

participants, it was ensured that the participants would receive a full disclosure of the

research study, which included the purposes, the benefits and the opportunity to ask

questions at any point of time. In addition, there are more points to consider such as

obtaining the permission of the participants to participate in the study and to ensure

anonymity of the participants. The participants were informed that their information

and the findings would remain anonymous and the data would be used for analysis in

order to fulfil the purposes and the objectives of this research study. The participants

were given a consent form to sign to assure them that their results and their recordings

would be kept anonymous.

CHAPTER 4

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

4 FINDINGS

4.1 Results from the Stimulated Recall Protocol

While conducting the Stimulated Recall Protocol with the participants, the IELTS speaking

test format was used. In this context, questions were asked to the candidates in four contexts

which were:

In this context, the candidates were asked questions in four contexts which were:

Background Information What is your name?

How old are you? Where were you born? What type of place is it? Were there any changes that took place in your hometown?

Education Information Which university did you complete your college education from?

What was your major and concentration of your studies? Why did you choose to study this particular degree?

Working Environment Where do you work?

What is your current position? What work do you do during the day? What do you enjoy the most about your work? What do you find the most challenging in your work responsibilities?

Free Time / Leisure Time In your free time, what do you like to do?

How long have you been interested in these activities? Do you enjoy doing activities alone or with some company during your free time? Why? Do you think, people in general have a lot of free time for themselves nowadays? Why do you think so?

For the final stage of the activity, the participants were given two choices of topics.

The participants were given three minutes to brainstorm the points that they would be

talking about depending on the topic that was chosen by them.

Topic Choice One

A time in your life, that made you very proud of yourself and what you have been able to

achieve till the present time.

Topic Choice Two

Talk about your childhood and any close (best) friend that you have who you treasure

having in your life.

The above mentioned questions were asked to all the five participants during the

speaking. Each level became more challenging for the participants as they did not

know and were not able to anticipate what questions were going to be asked to them

next. This was done keeping in mind the objectives of the study of having to find out

the psychological problems that the participants face when they are not able to

communicate effectively in the English language.

The participants were then interviewed, video recorded and tested are as follows: Participant Number One- Participant Number One is 28 years old and lives in Bangkok. At the moment of the research, she was working at Starbucks, Chatrium Riverside Branch. She was chosen to be one of the participants because while conducting the responsibilities of her job, she comes across many foreigners while being behind the counter. On a daily basis, when she comes across foreigners, she is not able to communicate in English in a fluent and effective manner. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Industry from a public university/organisation. While interviewing this participant, it was found out that this participant has never taken any additional courses in the English language to improve her English - speaking skills and has never been abroad to other countries. From the four skills during the analysis of the interview, she found the speaking skill the most challenging because she wasn’t able to find the appropriate responses and answers when the customer ordered coffee or talked to her about her life or the surroundings that she lives in and encounters on a daily basis. She found it very difficult to produce appropriate vocabulary for the different contexts that took place in the surroundings around her. When she wasn’t able to find the appropriate words, she found their substitution words in her mother tongue, which is Thai. When she realised that this full procedure of the interview was being recorded, she got very nervous in front of the camera and she began to look away from the camera because she was shy. After the procedure and the interview was completed, she said that she felt she had a memory blackout when she saw the camera. Because of the camera, she wasn’t able to think and process her thoughts. During the interview, there were certain times when she would mix up the subject - verb - object sequences in the sentences. She even placed certain prepositions in an incorrect manner at certain parts of the sentences. She had a confusion of the present continuous and the past continuous tenses. Participant Number Two- Participant Number Two was 34 years old and lived in Hua Hin. At the point of time when this interview was being conducted, she was working in a condominium in Hua Hin. She was chosen to be one of the participants because she comes across many

foreigners while she completes her duties and responsibilities as the manager of the premises. On a daily basis she comes across American and English citizens who work as teachers in the international schools and universities in Hua Hin. She also comes across many elite Thai citizens who have leased the condominiums for holiday purposes. She completed her bachelor’s degree in Hospitality and Tourism Industry from a public university. She had taken additional courses to improve her English communication skills from GET English. Participant Number Two knew the appropriate vocabulary that she had to use to a certain extent, which could be marked at 40 to 45% of appropriateness. This participant tried her best to speak the content words but it looked as if the words were stuck in her mouth and she wasn’t able to produce the words. She was a little shy in front of the camera and began giggling when she knew that the recorder had started recording. While she was being interviewed, she mentioned that she felt like laughing in front of the camera for no reason. She tried to use easy words when she did not know the content words. She did not mix the positioning of the subject - verb - object sequences in the sentences. She placed the prepositions at the correct places in the sentences. She had some confusion with regard to tenses and regular and irregular verbs. Participant Number Three- Participant Number Three was 42 years old and currently lived in Bangkok. Originally, she was from Nakhon Srithammarat which is in the south of Thailand. At the time of the research she was working at a public organisation as an administrator of a Master’s program. She was chosen as one of the participants because she belongs to the Thai background, and doing this job, she comes across many native speakers, lecturers and students from different countries whose first language is not Thai. She completed her university degree from a public institution in the field of accountancy. She hadn’t taken any additional course to enhance her English skills. From the four skills, she finds speaking to be very challenging because she doesn’t understand the vocabulary and the context. Sometimes, when the students and the teachers ask her questions and she isn’t able to answer, she just answers in Thai and finds someone around her to do the necessary translations for her. Participant Three finds it very difficult to recollect and remember the appropriate content words for conversing with other people. She tries her best to use the correct words but when she isn’t able to find the correct vocabulary, she takes help from the people around her. During the procedure when the interview was being conducted, she got nervous when she saw the camera and started to get very nervous when she

was questioned about her thinking processes. She said that when she has to converse in the English language, she feels like laughing for no specific reason. Her inability to produce efficient and fluent English is because of the interference of the mother tongue, i.e. Thai. She was quite confused about the tenses and the rules that allow individuals to use tenses correctly. She did not mix the positioning of the subject-verb-object sequences in the sentences. There were certain situations when she put the prepositions in the incorrect places. She knew what she wanted to answer but she wasn’t able to process her thoughts in a clear and concise manner. Participant Number Four- Participant Number Four was 40 years old and she currently lived in Bangkok. Originally, she was from Nakhon Srithammarat, which is in the south of Thailand. At the time of the research she was working in a public institution as an administrator. She was chosen to be one of the participants because she comes from a Thai background which is very traditional. Doing her job, she comes across many native speaker teachers, lecturers and students from different backgrounds. She completed her bachelor degree education from a public institution with a major in psychology. While the interview was being conducted, she mentioned that she pursued a degree in psychology to fulfill her parents’ wishes and dreams. Later, she got a degree in English Language Communication for her own preferences. Participant Number Four, according to her educational background and where she comes from, was considered to be quite fluent in English Language. Her skills level can be assessed at 50% to 60% of appropriateness. She doesn’t find it difficult to find appropriate content words depending on the different topics that are talked about. Initially, she became nervous in front of the camera and started giggling but after a few minutes she became completely normal. She does not mix the positioning of the subject-verb-object in the sentences. She uses the prepositions correctly in the sentences. She misuses conjunctions at certain places in sentences, especially when she joins two sentences. She had very minor confusion regarding the rules of the tenses and what context the different tenses should be used in. Participant Number Five- Participant Number Five was 24 years old and currently lived in Bangkok. She had been living there since birth and had not moved to any other place. When interviewed, she was working at a private institution in the position of administrative officer and secretary to the manager. Her job responsibilities were to communicate with parents, teachers and students in order to make sure that all the students have a smooth and

non-conflicting timetable when they come for their classes. She had completed her university degree from a public organization majoring in Airplane Business and Hotel Management. She was chosen to be one of the participants because her job requires her to converse in English with parents, students and the teachers. She has to talk to the parents to ask the requirements of the students and make sure that their needs are fulfilled and that they have a fruitful learning experience. She has taken an additional course at GET English in order to improve her speaking and writing skills. Her English competence for working in the educational industry is at a point where she understands most of the things that are being talked about. However, at certain times, she isn’t able to understand what the parents are asking her, so she seeks help from teachers who translate the message for her into Thai, which is her mother tongue language. Regarding the different contexts in which English is spoken, she knows very few content words when she has to communicate with others. When the interview was being conducted, and she was asked questions in the English language and she didn’t understand what was being asked, she was silent for a very short period of time and then she asked the interviewer to translate the question into Thai. She tried her best to answer the questions in English. She was not shy in front of the camera and quite comfortable. She did not mix up the subject-verb-object positioning in the sentences and she tended to use fillers like “ummm”, “this” to make the sentences seem longer. At the majority of the times, she places the prepositions in the correct places but when it comes to complex sentences she mixes the prepositions up. She is quite confused regarding the tenses, especially the continuous tenses.

4.2 Results from the Questionnaire

For this research study, the results section is divided into two different sections which

are:

a) Summary of Background and Educational Information

b) Summary of the problems faced by the participants while performing speaking tasks

4.2.1 Summary of Background and Educational Information

This section, summarizes the information and findings related to participants, their

background information and their educational information. The information related to

whether the participants have taken any additional courses to enhance their English Language

communication skills is also included.

Table 1 – Participant who work in the Educational Field and did not work

in the Education Field

Participant Education Field

/ Not Education

Field

Percentage

Participant One No 0

Participant Two No 0

Participant Three Yes 20%

Participant Four Yes 20%

Participant Five Yes 20%

Table 1 shows the percentage of the participants who worked in the education field

and the percentage of the participants who did not work in the education field. It can

be seen that 60% of the participants that were chosen for this research study belonged

to the educational field. This means that quite a few of their job responsibilities are

related to education and the efficient studying of the students who study at the

prestigious institutes or educational institutes. 40% of the participants did not have

any job responsibilities that are related to the educational field.

Table 2 – Number of years since the participants had finished their University

Education

Participant Number of Years finished studying their

University Education

Participant One 4 years

Participant Two 8 years

Participant Three 15 years

Participant Four 13 years

Participant Five 1 year

Average Number of years finished

studying University Education

8.2 years

Table 2 shows the number of years since the participants had completed their

university education. It can be seen that the years that the education had been

completed ranged between 1 and 15 years, which meets the criteria of selecting the

participants for this research study. The average number of years since the

participants had completed their university education was at 8.2 years.

Table 3 - Age of the participants who took part in this research study

[NOTE: these ages are DIFFERENT from those given above]

Participant Age of the Participants

Participant One 24 years

Participant Two 34 years

Participant Three 42 years

Participant Four 40 years

Participant Five 24 year

Average age of Participants 32.8 years

Table 3 shows the age of the participants. According to this table, it can be seen that

the ages of the participants fulfill the requirements of the study. The age range of the

participants was between 24 and 35 years and the average age of the participants was

at 32.8 years. [check average age]

Table 4 – English language skill that participants find most difficult and

challenging

Participant Most difficult Skill

Participant One Speaking

Participant Two Speaking

Participant Three Speaking

Participant Four Listening

Participant Five Speaking

Table 4 shows the summary of the English Language skill that the participants of this

study find the most challenging and difficult. From the summary, it can be seen that 4

out of 5 of the participants (80%) of the participants find the speaking skill most

challenging and difficult, and only 1 out of 5 of the participants (20%) of the

participants find the listening skill most challenging.

Table 5 – English language skill that participants find easy and comfortable

Participant Most Comfortable Skill

Participant One Writing

Participant Two Listening

Participant Three Writing

Participant Four Speaking

Participant Five Writing

Table 5 shows the summary of the English Language skill that the participants of this

study find easy and comfortable. From the summary, it can be seen that 3 out of 5 of

the participants (60%) find writing skill the easiest and most comfortable to use, 1 out

of 5 of the participants (20%) find listening the easiest and most comfortable skill to

use and 1 out of 5 of the participants (20%) find speaking skill the easiest and most

comfortable skill to use.

Table 6 – Additional courses taken by the participants to enhance their English

communication skills

Participant Additional courses taken by the

participants to enhance their English

communication skills

Participant One No

Participant Two Yes

Participant Three No

Participant Four No

Participant Five Yes

Table 6 throws light upon whether the participants had taken any additional courses or

not in order to enhance their English communicational skills. After conducting the

research, it can be seen from the participants statements that 40% (2 out of 5 of the

participants) had taken additional courses to enhance their English communication

skills and 60% (or 3 out of 5 of the participants) had not taken additional courses to

enhance their English communication skills.

4.3SUMMARY OF THE PROBLEMS FACED BY THE PARTICIPANTS

WHILE PERFORMING SPEAKING TASKS

Under this section, the problems that are faced by the participants while performing

speaking tasks are summarised. To a certain extent, these problems come from the

psychological problems that are faced by the participants, which cause the inability of

the participants to perform the tasks. For this part of the results, I will be focusing on

the following areas which were looked for in the participants while the Stimulated

Recall Methodology was conducted.

1. Inability to use context words (vocabulary) that are related to the topic of

conversation

Table 7 – Inability to use context words that are related to the topic of

conversation

Participant Inability of using correct context

words that is needed for a topic of

conversation

Participant One No

Participant Two Yes

Participant Three Yes

Participant Four No

Participant Five No

When conversing in the English language, it is very important to find the correct

words in our dialogues so we are able to converse effectively in the English language.

From the study, Participant 2 and Participant 3 were the only ones that have been able

to find or use the correct context words in their conversations with other individuals.

The remaining participants 1, 4 and 5 were not able to find the appropriate words to

use in their dialogues to communicate effectively with other individuals.

2.Problems related to the placing of Subject – Verb – Object in the correct manner

Table 8 – Placement of Subject – Verb – Object in the correct manner

Participant Inability of placing the Subject –

Verb – Object in the correct manner

(order)

Participant One Incorrect Order

Participant Two Correct Order

Participant Three Correct Order

Participant Four Correct Order

Participant Five Correct Order

From the above table, it can be seen that 80% (4 out of 5) of the participants do not

have problems related to the placement of the subject – verb – object in the correct

order. From table 8, it can be seen that being able to place the subject-verb-object in

the correct manner shows that the participants have knowledge about the language,

but probably not having access to proper resources and materials did not give them

the opportunity to master the language.

In the following paragraph, an analysis of the errors made by the participants will be

carried out individually. During the interview, questions were asked on different

backgrounds like educational background, background information etc. Analyzing the

errors made by the participants when asked questions about their background

information, the findings are as follows:

Participant Number One-

“I major study of Tourism and Hospitality Management.” This sentence is

grammatically incorrect because the placement of the subject-verb-object is not in the

right manner. The sentence that would be grammatically correct would be: “I studied

the Tourism and Hospitality Management Major in university”.

Participant Number Three-

“I am live in Nakhorn Srithammarat when I being born till I young then go city”. This

sentence is grammatically incorrect because of the context of how it was spoken and

the incorrect use of tenses. The sentence that would be grammatically correct would

be: “I lived in Nakhorn Srithammarat till I was a teenager and then moved to the

city”.

Table 9 – Usage of incorrect contexts in sentences

Participant Usage of incorrect contexts in

sentences

Participant One Incorrect Usage

Participant Two Correct Usage

Participant Three Incorrect Usage

Participant Four Correct Usage

Participant Five Correct Usage

Table 9 shows information related to the usage of incorrect context in sentences in

different contexts. 2 out of 5 participants (40%) were not able to use sentences in the

correct contexts with the correct grammatical rules. 3 out of 5 participants (60%) were

able to use the sentences in the correct contexts with the correct grammatical rules.

3. Problems with using the correct prepositions in different contexts

Table 10 – Placement of Prepositions in different contexts

Participant Placement of Prepositions correctly

in different contexts

Participant One Incorrect Placement

Participant Two Correct Placement

Participant Three Incorrect Placement

Participant Four Correct Placement

Participant Five Correct Placement

A preposition is a word or a set of words that helps to shows the location of an object

or indicates the relationship between a pronoun and a noun in a sentence or in

sentences. The participants that participated in this study have an idea about using

prepositions in sentences. A majority of the participants (60%) were able to use

prepositions correctly to help in the determination of the location of objects. 40% of

the participants were not able to use the correct prepositions in the sentences. For

example, Participant 1 used the preposition “in” in an incorrect manner. She said the

sentence “The TV is in the table”. The correct preposition that had to be used is “on”.

Participant 3 used “under” in the wrong context. She probably intended to say “My

bag is under the bed on that shelf” but instead she said “My bag is on the bed under

the shelf”. It can be seen clearly that when the incorrect preposition was used, the

meaning of the intended sentence changed completely and this changed the context of

the sentence and the environment in which it had to be said.

4.Reactions when seeing a camera that causes the inability to produce words and

communicate with others

When having to communicate with people in different situations, there are many

reactions, emotions and attitudes that we can expect from the participants or

individuals who have to undergo such situations. In this study, there were many

different emotions, and expressions of the participants that were seen.

The first participant, when she saw the camera, got very nervous and looked away

from the camera. She felt shy. When interviewed, she even revealed that when she

saw the camera, she got a memory block and she wasn’t able to think or process her

thoughts clearly.

The second participant got a little shy in front of the camera and started to giggle.

When she was interviewed, she revealed that she felt like laughing in front of the

camera for no reason at all.

The third participant became nervous in front of the camera, but she got hyper when

asked about her thought processes. She began to laugh. She said that she laughs to

cover up the situation when she isn’t able to find the correct content words for the

situation.

The fourth participant initially seemed very nervous when she saw the camera in front

of her, after which she started giggling. After a few moments, she got over her

emotions and kept a calm attitude for the rest of the interview.

The fifth participant did not look into the camera at all. She tried her best to keep

herself calm throughout the interview. There were certain times during the interview

she would get nervous when she looked to the side where she knew there was a

camera that was recording the session.

5.Inability to articulate the intended meaning to the audience. Whether a school or a

business organization employee is able to articulate the intended meaning to the

audience is very important. It is very important that the intended meaning is passed to

the audience so there are no misunderstandings of any kind. Not being able to do this

creates a communication gap between the audience and the person making the

conversation. After conducting this research, it can be concluded that 2 out of 5 (40%)

of the participants were able to use the correct words for the context in which the

conversation was taking place. 3 out of 5 (60%) of the participants were not able to

use the correct vocabulary in the context where the conversation was being made.

4. Inability to use tenses with the correct rules in the right context

Table 11 – Inability to use tenses with correct rules

Participant Inability of using the tenses with correct

rules

Participant One Incorrect Usage

Participant Two Incorrect Usage

Participant Three Incorrect Usage

Participant Four Incorrect Usage

Participant Five Incorrect Usage

After conducting this research study, it was clearly evident that none of the

participants were able to use tenses in the correct manner. The implication of this is

that they are not familiar with the rules of the different types of tenses that lays the

foundation of the tenses to be used correctly. For example - Participant One usually

has a lot of problems with the simple present tense. During the interview, she

produced a sentence “I ran with my best friend everyday”. Instead of using “ran” she

has to use “run” in the above context. Another example would be that of the fifth

participant who usually has problems with the different types of continuous tenses for

the past, present and future tenses. She usually walks to work from the Sathorn pier.

She says the message in the following manner: “I walking to work from the boat

station everyday”. The correct sentence that she has to use for this context is “I walk

to work daily from the Sathorn pier”.

5.Finding substitution of context words in the mother tongue language

Table 12 – Finding substitution of context words in the mother tongue

language

Participant Finding substitution of context

words in the mother tongue

language

Participant One Yes for Substitution

Participant Two Yes for Substitution

Participant Three Yes for Substitution

Participant Four No for Substitution

Participant Five Yes for Substitution

The mother tongue of all the participants is the Thai language. 80% (4 out of 5) of the

participants find the need to use the mother tongue to find appropriate context words

in the English language and 20% (1 out of 5) of the participants do not find the need

to use the mother tongue to find the context words in the English language. In some

manner or the other, when participants are not able to find the appropriate words in

the English language, they seek help from the people around them. This can be in the

form of finding substitution words in the mother tongue or getting interpretation or

vocabulary from the people around them

CHAPTER 5

DISCUSSION, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

5.1 DISCUSSION-

The purpose of this study was to explore and find out the difficulties that Thai non-

English major graduates face when they perform speaking tasks. Interviews were

carried out with five participants with the aim to find out what problems they face

when they perform these tasks. After processing the data from the information that

was gathered during the interviews, the results suggested that the possible causes of

the inability of the participants to speak fluent English can be divided into two factors.

Firstly, it is the difficulties within the participants themselves. From my interpretation,

the factors are the limited knowledge of the participants relating to the vocabulary and

the grammar structures of the English language, their daily life experiences, their

thinking process, and the anxiety that they face. During the interviews, the

participants revealed that when they come across situation where they do not

understand what is asked and what is being talked about, they think in Thai and then

they translate the utterances into English and give the replies, rather than processing

the meaning in English to give immediate responses. Secondly, the difficulties

seemed to be coming from some external factors, specifically, the interlocutors or the

conversation partners with whom the participants are having conversations with and

the environments where the conversations were taking place.

In accordance to the previous research from the literature review, globalization and

the development of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has effectuated greater

needs for English language education in Thailand. However, the imbalance of native

English teachers and Thai students has continued to yield problems until today.

Moreover, the chances that the Thai learners have to practice English is very limited,

especially practice with native speakers of the language. The pedagogical implication

from this study has shed light on the importance of initiating English for Specific

Purposes courses for Thai students and learners in order for them to be ready for

communication in the real environments where they will be employed. In terms of the

data collection, the data was collected through a form being filled in and then an in-

depth interview that was conducted. The questions asked were very varied. The data

was analyzed individually before combining, discussing and reaching conclusions.

The small scale of the study is considered to be a limitation in the methodology of the

study. For further studies, it will be challenging to repeat this same study with more

thorough procedures and more triangulation for data collection, especially the

inclusion of observation in each participants’ real working environment to get a more

detailed study.

5.2 CONCLUSION

Overall, there are many things that can be commented on regarding the problems

faced by the non-English Thai major graduates while they perform speaking tasks.

The English language learning in Thailand apparently has many loopholes that need

to be filled. Since the commencement of the AEC (ASEAN Economic Community),

English Language is considered to be very important for the effective communication

between different nations. The Thai government spends a large amount of money on

the development of English language education in Thailand but the country’s ranking

in English language usage is at the lowest levels. Thailand’s ranking is 62nd out of 70

countries in terms of English proficiency and is the third lowest amongst Asian

nations on the (EPI) English Proficiency Index (PCL,2015).

The Stimulated Recall Protocol (SRP) was used for this research to detect the

underlying psychological and linguistic problems that are faced by the participants of

the study. The problems faced by the participants were grouped into six different

categories, in order to be able to outline the details of the problems that were faced by

the participants. The six categories are as follows:

1. Inability to use context words (vocabulary) that are related to the topic of

conversation

2. Problems related to the placing of Subject – Verb – Object in the correct

manner

3. Problems with using the correct prepositions in different contexts

4. Reactions when seeing a camera that causes the inability to produce words and

communicate with others

5. Inability to articulate the intended meaning to the audience

6. Inability to use tenses with the correct rules in the right context

In addition to the problems mentioned above, the main reason for the inability of the

participants to produce effective English language while communicating is the

interference of the mother tongue. The other reason is the lack of proper education

tools for the positive learning environment that enhances the opportunities to bring

about a positive attitude of the participants towards learning a language.

5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS

Recommendations regarding what will be needed for the Thai learners to develop

themselves and their language learning abilities would be the following:

a. Getting access to better learning materials like books, computers and other

instructional media that drives the participants to study and learn the language

effectively

b. The participants should get the opportunity to study with teachers and

instructors who are native speakers of the English language and who will be

able to give them the proper guidance that is needed for learning the language

c. The participants should get a chance to be able to practice the language in

formal classroom settings and not only learn the language.

d. There are some drastic changes that have to be made in the English Language

curriculum so it fits the needs of the participants and others so they are able to

fully benefit from the language

e. Being able to use the English Language effectively and communicate with

others without creating a misunderstanding would lead to the personal

development of the participants.

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APPENDICES

APPENDIX A

1.1 BACKGROUND AND EDUCATION INFORMATION SHEET

APPENDIX B

1.2 CONSENT FORM FOR THE PARTICIPANTS TO SIGN

BIOGRAPHY

Name Miss. Niphaporn Sachdev (Sabina)

Date of Birth July 26th, 1989

Educational Attainment

2014: Bachelors in Business Administration

(B.B.A) – Marketing

2015: Masters in Arts

(M.A.) – English Language Teaching

Work Positio Teacher and Tutor

ACE Academy

2014 to Present

Work Experiences - IGCSE Business Tutor, IGCSE

Economics Tutor, Mathematics Tutor

from ages 2 to 16 years, Phonics Tutor

and Co-ordinator 2014 to Present

ACE Academy

- English Language Tutor

2013 to 2014

GET English (Pet Kasem Soi 81)