Attitudes and motivations of Northern Thai high school students towards the English language

(1)

ATTITUDES AND MOTIVATIONS OF NORTHERN THAI HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS TOWARDS THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE

Jenna Kosonen 241724

Master’s Thesis

English language and culture

University of Eastern Finland

Faculty of Philosophy

School of Humanities

March 2017

(2)

ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

Tiedekunta – Faculty Filosofinen tiedekunta

Osasto – School Humanistinen osasto Tekijät – Author

Jenna Kosonen Työn nimi – Title

Attitudes and motivations of Northern Thai high school students towards the English language Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä –

Date

Sivumäärä – Number of pages Englannin kieli ja kulttuuri Pro gradu -tutkielma x 21.03.2017 81

Sivuainetutkielma Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

Tässä tutkimuksessa selvitettiin miten pohjoisthaimaalaiset lukiolaiset ovat asennoituneet ja motivoituneet englanninkielen opiskeluun. Asenteet ja motivaatio ovat tärkeitä tekijöitä kielenoppimisessa. Negatiiviset asenteet tai alhainen motivaatio voivat vaikuttaa merkittävästi oppimiseen (Dörnyei, 2005).

Tutkimuksessa etsittiin vastauksia seuraaviin tutkimuskysymyksiin:

1) Pitävätkö opiskelijat englanninkieltä heille tärkeänä nyt ja tulevaisuudessa?

2) Kuinka paljon osallistujat altistuvat englannin kielelle koulun ulkopuolella?

3) Oliko Kaakkois-Aasian vapaakauppasopimuksella (AEC 2015) vaikutus heidän motivaatioonsa opiskella kieltä?

4) Onko eri kouluista tulevien opiskelijoiden vastausten välillä merkitseviä eroja?

Aineisto koostui kyselyistä, jotka jaettiin viiteen eri koulun Pohjois-Thaimaan alueella. Yhteensä osallistujia oli 231. Kyselyssä oli sekä Likert -väittämiä että avoimia kysymyksiä.

Tutkimuksen tulokset näyttävät, että suurin osa osallistujista kokee englanninkielen tärkeänä nyt ja tulevaisuudessa. Monet opiskelijoista haluaisivat parantaa kielitaitoaan, koska he kokevat osaavansa kieltä huonosti. Opiskelijat altistuvat englanninkielelle hyvin rajallisesti koulun ulkopuolella. Opiskelijat altistuvat englannin kielelle esimerkiksi median käytössä, asiakaspalvelutyössä, tavatessaan ulkomaalaisia sekä matkustaessa ulkomailla. Muutamat opiskelijoista myös kertoivat käyttävänsä englantia kansainvälisten ystäviensä kanssa. Suurelle osalle opiskelijoista vapaakauppasopimuksen (AEC 2015) alkamisella ei ole ollut vaikutusta heidän näkemyksiinsä englannin kielestä, sillä heidän mielestään kieli on maailmankieli, joka on tärkeä riippumatta ASEAN:ista.

Koulujen välisiä eroja testattiin tilastollisesti ja vastaukset erosivat merkitsevästi joissain kysymyksissä. Näin ollen, opiskelijoiden koululla on vaikutusta jossain määrin heidän asenteisiinsa ja motivaatioonsa.

Avainsanat – Keywords

Toisen kielen oppiminen, motivaatio, asenteet kieltenopiskelussa

(3)

ITÄ-SUOMEN YLIOPISTO – UNIVERSITY OF EASTERN FINLAND

Tiedekunta – Faculty Philosophical Faculty

Osasto – School School of Humanities Tekijät – Author

Jenna Kosonen Työn nimi – Title

Attitudes and motivations of Northern Thai high school students towards the English language Pääaine – Main subject Työn laji – Level Päivämäärä –

Date

Sivumäärä – Number of pages English language and culture Pro gradu -tutkielma x March 21st, 2017 81

Sivuainetutkielma Kandidaatin tutkielma Aineopintojen tutkielma Tiivistelmä – Abstract

This study aimed to discover the types of attitudes and motivations high school students in Northern Thailand have towards the English language. Attitudes and motivation play a key role in language learning and negative attitudes or low motivation can hinder learning significantly (Dörnyei, 2005).

The study aimed to answer the following research questions:

5) Do the students feel the English language is important for them currently and in the future?

6) How much exposure do the participants have to the language outside of school?

7) Did the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 have an effect on the views and motivation of the respondents to study the language?

8) Are there significant differences between the attitudes of students from different schools?

The data consisted of questionnaires that were distributed to five different schools in the region of Northern Thailand. The total number of respondents was 231. The questionnaire included Likert scale items and open-ended questions.

The results of the study show that the majority of the participants feel that the English language is important for them both now and in the future. Many of the participants would like to improve their English skills, because they feel they have a need for proficiency in the English language. The respondents have quite limited exposure to the English language outside of school. Extracurricular situations for language use included the media, customer service, meeting foreigners and traveling. A few participants also said they had international friends they used English with. Some of the participants see the English language as even more important than before because of AEC 2015. However, for many of the respondents the launch of the economic community has had no effect, as they view the English language as a global language that is important with or without ASEAN.

The differences between the responses from different schools were tested statistically and the responses differed on some of the items. Thus, the participants’ school has an effect on some aspects of attitudes and motivations.

Avainsanat – Keywords

Second language acquisition, motivation, language attitudes

(4)

List of figures

Figure 4.1 A map of Northern Thailand ... 30 Figure 4.2 The distribution of the participants’ first languages. ... 31 Figure 5.1 Item 1: I think going to school is useful and helps me learn new things. ... 33 Figure 5.2 Item 6: The Thai English teachers at the school I go to are expert and knowledgeable. ... 35 Figure 5.3 Item 2: English is a fun language to learn. ... 36 Figure 5.4 Item 8: I think studying English is boring. ... 37 Figure 5.5 Item 5: I do not like to speak English because I am afraid of making mistakes. ... 38 Figure 5.6 Item 4: When looking for a job in the future, I’m going to need to know English.

... 39 Figure 5.7 Item 7: I don’t need English in my life now or in the future. ... 40 Figure 5.8 Item 9: I think I can still find a job without knowing English. ... 41 Figure 5.9 Item 13: Knowing English is more important now than before because of the ASEAN Economic Community 2015. ... 42 Figure 5.10 Item 12: English grammar is quite easy. ... 43 Figure 5.11 Item 3: English is a universal language for communication. ... 44 Figure 5.12 Item 10: I think knowing English is useful, because it helps me communicate with more people. ... 45 Figure 5.13 Item 11: Knowing English can be helpful because it will give me a wider access to movies, books, information, etc. ... 46

(7)

1

1 Introduction

In the modern-day world, the English language has become a global language, a lingua franca used for cross-cultural communication even between people of whom no one speaks the language as their mother tongue. This has led to the language being studied in schools all over the world, leading to a concept of “world Englishes”, as the language is now used by so many people from several different linguistic backgrounds.

Thus, research related to English around the world is a relevant topic of study. This study will specifically examine the English language in the Southeast Asian nation of Thailand. The English language is used in the country mainly for international and business purposes and it is not an official language of the kingdom. In addition, Thailand is the only Southeast Asian country that was never colonized. Therefore, the country has no historical ties to the English language (Kachru, 2006: 1). Due to these circumstances, Thailand is considered to belong to the expanding circle in Kachru’s three circle model of world Englishes (Kachru, 2006: 185).

In recent years, the significance of the English language in the Southeast Asian contexts has become a relevant topic of discussion. The language has been chosen as the working language of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which Thailand also belongs to (Low, 2012: 1). There has been a substantial amount of discussion related to the English proficiency of Thai citizens, because currently the level of English in the country is weak, especially compared to most of the other ASEAN countries.

(8)

2 Against this backdrop of ASEAN, the complex linguistic situation in Thailand and the country’s strong national identity, how is the English language viewed? Could the prevailing attitudes in the country be one reason for the low proficiency in the language?

The following quote is taken from the Thai basic education core curriculum:

“The learning area for foreign languages is aimed at enabling learners to acquire a favourable attitude towards foreign languages, the ability to use foreign languages for communicating in various situations, seeking knowledge, engaging in a livelihood and pursuing further education at higher levels.”

(The Basic Education Core Curriculum, 2008: 252)

Thus, the curriculum states that the attitude of Thai students should be favorable towards foreign languages. One of the objectives of this study is to discover if this favorable attitude exists or not.

The interest in Thailand specifically stems from my personal history with the country. I lived in Thailand for almost 12 years as a child. More than half of this time I lived in the city of Chiang Mai, located in the North of Thailand. As a future language teacher, I am also interested in language learning. In the little teaching experience I have myself, I have seen the importance of motivation in language learning and acquisition.

The aim of this study is to discover attitudes and motivations Northern Thai high school students have towards the English language. It aims to answer the following questions:

(9)

3 1) Do the students feel the English language is important for them currently and in the

future?

2) How much exposure do the participants have to the language outside of school?

3) Did the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015 have an effect on the views and motivation of the respondents to study the language?

4) Are there significant differences between the attitudes of students from different schools?

My hypothesis is that the students feel the English language is important and that their interest in the language has increased due to AEC 2015.

Firstly, the linguistic situation of Thailand will be presented as a backdrop against which this study has been conducted. Afterwards, theory underlying language attitudes and motivation will be discussed. Next, the methodology of the study will be presented. Following this, the results of the study will be presented and analyzed. Finally, conclusions will be drawn based on the results of this study and possible future study directions shall be presented.

(10)

2 Languages in Thailand

In this chapter, Thailand will be examined from a linguistic perspective. First, the overall linguistic situation in the country will be discussed. Secondly, a brief overview of the Thai language will be provided. Finally, the role of English in Thailand will be inspected from different perspectives.

2.1 The linguistic situation in Thailand

Thailand is a linguistically complex country and consequently this linguistic background should be taken into consideration as we examine the role of the English language in the nation. In this section a brief overview of the history of languages in Thailand shall be presented, after which the current linguistic situation will be discussed.

Thai was declared the national language of Thailand in 1940 (Kosonen & Person 2014: 202- 203). At the time, only the Thai language was to be spoken and written by the citizens of the country, as other languages were seen as a threat to national identity. The attitude towards minority languages improved slightly in the 1980s and continued to do so in the 1990s (ibid).

In the 1999 National Education Act, “local wisdom and culture” were encouraged to be incorporated into the curriculum. At this point, interest in English, Japanese and Chinese increased for business and trade purposes (ibid).

Many regard Thailand to be a monolingual country and officially it is such. Standard Thai, which is based on Central Thai (spoken in Bangkok, the country’s capital) is the only official

(11)

5 and national language of the country (Kosonen & Person 2014: 204). The language is spoken all over the country and high proficiency in the language is necessary for all white-collar jobs or to be able to complete higher education successfully (ibid). However, Standard Thai is estimated to be the first language of only 40 percent of Thailand’s population (ibid).

Immediately after Standard Thai come three regional varieties: Northeastern Thai, which is spoken by 29.1% of the population as a first language, Northern Thai with 11.6% of the country’s population speaking it as their mother tongue, and Southern Thai spoken by 8.7%

of the population (Kosonen & Person 2014: 206). These languages are sometimes considered mere dialects of Standard Thai, but they are in fact languages of their own and are not mutually intelligible with the standard variety. After these regional languages come Northern Khmer at 2.7% with over 1 million speakers, Min Nan Chinese at 2.1% with over 1 million speakers and Pattani Malay at 1.9% with 1 million speakers (ibid). The remaining 4.8% of the population speaks other minority languages as their first language. Over 70 different languages are spoken in the country (ibid).

Many of these languages are not incorporated into the educational system and thus many children are forced to start school in a language they do not know (Standard Thai). This clearly makes their learning more difficult, as they do not understand the language of instruction. Standard Thai is a language of prestige in the country, but English is also considered a prestigious language, though its use is limited mainly to the educated elite (Kosonen & Person 2014: 204). In Thailand’s language hierarchy, English comes behind Standard Thai, but ahead of the minority languages spoken in the country.

(12)

6 Unlike the neighboring countries, Thailand was never colonized. The country has a strong national identity and patriotism is still maintained. Standard Thai is the language of prestige in the nation and thus English has never been considered as important and it has not been needed, as it was never enforced on the country. The strong nationalism of the kingdom has kept Standard Thai at the top of the language hierarchy and this has kept the learning of other languages as seemingly unimportant and unnecessary. This could be one reason that could account for the low level of proficiency in the English language in the country.

This study focuses on Northern Thailand specifically. Therefore, the linguistic situation of Northern Thailand will be examined next. For almost 88% of the people of Northern Thailand, the Northern variety, Kammuang, is the language used at home (Kosonen &

Person, 2014: 212). Central Thai is used by only 3% of the Northerners at home and around 10% use both varieties (ibid). In the Northern region of Thailand, proficiency in Standard Thai is somewhat limited among the working class. However, in this study, the participants should have quite high proficiency in Standard Thai as they have received more education than most. The participants of this study are in high school and have completed over 10 years of school.

There have been no studies conducted on the difficulties that the people who speak Northern Thai as their first language would have in learning or acquiring Standard Thai (Kosonen &

Person, 2014: 212). The differences in these languages could provide challenges in learning Standard Thai, and will be discussed in the following section.

(13)

7 2.2 An overview of the Thai language

The Thai language differs significantly from English. In this section, a brief overview of the language will be provided. This will be a description of the “ideal” Standard Thai, as it is the sole official language of Thailand. However, as with all languages, there is much variation even within Standard Thai (Smalley 1994: 39). Thai belongs to the Tai-Kadai language group, whereas English belongs to the Indo-European language group (Lewis & al, 2015).

Thai has been influenced by Pali and Sanskrit, which are ancient South Asian languages (Hoare, 2004: 225-226). Thai has its own writing system, which differs greatly from the roman one (ibid). The Thai alphabet consists of 44 consonants (ibid). Some of these share the same basic sounds and some are rarely or never used (ibid). Over 30 vowel sounds appear in the Thai language, when adding together all the long and short vowels as well as diphthongs (ibid). In addition, Thai is a tonal language, which means that the sound pattern of a word is a part of the word’s meaning (ibid). There are five different tones in Thai:

middle, rising, falling, high, and low.

The syntax and grammar of Thai differ considerably from English. In Thai, nouns and verbs are not conjugated. The form of the words stays the same, whatever the tense, person or number (Hoare 2004: 226). Short prefixes can be used to indicate simple past or future tenses (ibid). This difference may cause difficulties for Thai-speakers when learning English, as the concept of, for example, conjugating verbs does not exist in their own language.

(14)

8 Differences between consonant sounds also add to the dissimilarity between English and Thai. There is a total of nine consonant sounds in English which do not appear in Standard Thai (Kanokpermpoon, 2007). Furthermore, there are consonant sounds that appear in both languages, but are used in different syllabic positions, which might cause some English words to be difficult for Thai speakers to pronounce (ibid). In addition, the consonants /l/ and /r/ can be used interchangeably in Thai, which in turn may result in challenges in using these sounds correctly in English (ibid). These phonetic differences in the languages may result in difficulties for Thai speakers when speaking English, as it might take time to learn sounds they are not accustomed to using. However, what should be taken into consideration is that the other languages spoken in Thailand might have different phonetic systems and might be more like English than Standard Thai.

When taking into consideration that this study focuses on Northern Thailand, it is vital that we also examine the language of the North: Northern Thai or Kammuang. Just as it is elsewhere in the country, Standard Thai is the official language, and the language of education, but in the North Kammuang is what many of the locals would use among themselves (Smalley, 1994: 71). Standard Thai and Northern Thai are not mutually intelligible.

Kammuang differs from Standard Thai in various aspects. For example, while Standard Thai has five distinct tones, Kammuang has six (Smalley, 1994: 74). Moreover, there are phonetic differences between the languages (ibid). Although grammatical differences between

(15)

9 Standard and Northern Thai do exist, grammatically the two languages are quite similar, especially if compared to a language such as English (ibid). Thus, the challenges that the speakers of either Standard or Northern Thai would have with English are most likely relatively similar in nature.

2.3 The role of English in Thailand

In addition to the multiple languages spoken by Thai citizens as their mother tongue, the English language also plays a major part. In this section, the role of English in different contexts will be discussed. First, we shall examine the role of English in ASEAN. Secondly, discussion on the role of English in the Thai media will be discussed. Thirdly, the teaching of English in Thailand will be observed. Lastly, the role of tourism in the country will be examined.

2.3.1 English in ASEAN

Despite the strong position of Standard Thai and Thailand’s nationalism, the need for English proficiency has arisen, especially in the past few years. There has been much pressure on the Thai government to improve the English language competence of the Thai people. One of the main reasons for this has been the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015. ASEAN is the Association of South East Asian Nations. AEC is a single market system and since 2015 people from the ASEAN countries have been able to move around and work in any other ASEAN country. English has been chosen as the association’s lingua franca and since the ASEAN Charter of 2009 it has been the sole official language of the association (Kirkpatrick, 2012: 331). However, the use of English as the community’s lingua franca had practically

(16)

10 been the case for the first forty years that ASEAN had existed (Kirkpatrick, 2010: 8-9) and thus there has been no practical difference in the linguistic situation of the association since the Charter of 2009.

The latest development in the ASEAN community is the economic community of 2015, which brings together 10 nations from this Southeast Asian region to work in economic cooperation. The member states of ASEAN are Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Vietnam. When examining these countries from the perspective of the use of the English language, five of these countries would be categorized as outer circle countries (Kachru, 2006: 1)¹. English is one of the official languages in four of these countries: Brunei Darussalam, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore (Association of Southeast Asian Nations, 2016). In addition to these four, Myanmar would be considered an outer circle country, due to its colonial history with Great Britain.

Thus, English plays a strong role in many of these ASEAN countries. In comparison to Thailand, most of them are also stronger in their English language proficiency. Thailand could be at a disadvantage due to its collective lack of knowledge in English. Due to this, there has been “hype” in Thailand to improve the level of English in the country and several educational reforms have been discussed in light of AEC 2015 (Education key to AEC

1 English varieties can be grouped into three categories: Inner-Circle, Outer-Circle and Expanding-Circle varieties. The first set includes countries such as the Unites States or Great Britain. The Outer-Circle varieties include varieties from countries that have a long history with English, mainly because of colonization, and the language has an official status in the country. Examples include India, Nigeria and Singapore. In Expanding- Circle countries English is used mainly for international purposes and the language has not gone through nativization (Kahcru, 2006).

(17)

11 success, 2012). Currently, English is almost exclusively the only foreign language taught, and the minority languages of the country are only included in some small educational programs that are not funded by the government (Draper, 2012: 23).

2.3.2 English in the media

In the past few years, there has been much discussion on the level of English in Thailand and many articles have been written on the topic in the national newspaper, the Bangkok Post.

One of the main reasons for this recent interest in the language has been AEC 2015 and this topic has emerged in numerous articles.

The topic was already discussed in January 2012. The Bangkok Post published articles related to the English language skills and use in the country. 2012 was an “English-speaking year” in Thailand and students were encouraged to speak English every Monday (Marukatat, 2012).

On these English-speaking days students were supposed to use English in school. The teachers would teach subjects in Thai, but otherwise students were encouraged to communicate in English. No further regulations were given for how or how much English was supposed to be taught or used (Boonyai, 2012). This was three years before the launch of AEC 2015 and the Education Ministry was attempting to improve English skills in the country before the new single market system was launched.

In February 2012, the Bangkok Post published another article related to this topic (“Testing time for students a pain in the class”, 2012). The article displayed statistics on the English

(18)

12 skills of Thai students from the previous year (2011). The article presented the results from the General Aptitude Test (GAT), which is a standardized test required as part of the admission into Thai universities (Thailandeducation.info, 2016). Oral and written skills in English as well as knowledge of vocabulary and structure are tested in the exam (ibid). In 2011, 126,760 students were examined and their average GAT score in English was 28.43 out of 100 (“Testing time for students a pain in the class”, 2012). The highest score was 92.5 and the lowest was 1.25 (ibid). Thus, the average score for English was 28.43%, which is not even close to a standard passing grade of 50%. The scores were generally low in other subjects as well (ibid). These results indicate a low level of English proficiency among the general population of Thais.

The topics of education and AEC 2015 were discussed in the Bangkok Post in April 2012 as well (“Education key to AEC success”, 2012). The article discussed the concern ministers had as AEC 2015 approached, but most of the Thai citizens had not even heard of the economic community. Educational reforms were seen as the key for improvement. According to the article, the general view in Thailand is very nationalistic and this needs to change in order to improve proficiency in English (ibid).

Articles on the topic of English in Thailand continued to be published the following year as well. Thailand’s Minister of Education urged for the English teachers around the country to help with inventing new and innovative teaching methods in order for the students’ English communication skills to improve (“Chaturon urges English teaching reform”, 2013). The

(19)

13 Nation, another national English-language newspaper, also discussed the topic of improving the level of English in the kingdom (“Improving English skills is vital: Surin”, 2013).

The year before the launch of AEC 2015, the need for improvement in English language proficiency was again discussed in the Bangkok Post. The need for proficiency in the language was considered vital for the country’s future economy, as the other ASEAN countries are at a clear advantage due to their English language competence (“Thais face skills 'challenges'”, 2014).

The role of the English language in the media has also increased in that English names and code-mixing have become more common (Snodin, 2014). This is the case even when the intended audience of the mass media are Thai. Thus, the role of English has increased in significance and code-mixing between English and Thai has become more common. Even between people who share a common language, the importance and use of English has grown significantly. For example, almost all the magazines used in Snodin’s (2014) study were named entirely in English, even though these magazines are targeted at a Thai audience and the content of the magazines is in Thai.

Among some citizens of Thailand, the use of English has spread. Glass (2009) studied how graduates from bachelor’s degree programs completed in English in Thai public universities wrote to Thais and other nationalities. It was discovered that most of the respondents use English frequently in writing with people outside of Thailand as well as with other Thais

(20)

14 (ibid). There were numerous reasons for using English among Thais (ibid). The results of this study show that English has become an intranational language to those residents of the country that have more fluency in the language.

As can be seen, the topic of English language proficiency and the lack of skills in the language have been topics of interest in newspapers in the country. AEC 2015 has been referred to multiple times. However, this concern seems to stem only from a marginal group of people in the country. It is mainly the ministers and Thais with higher levels of education that are concerned with English language competence and AEC 2015. The majority of the people seemed to not have heard of the project before it launched in 2015, as was mentioned in one the articles. Hence, the general view in the country does not reflect the views presented in the newspapers. Thus, if the proficiency in English is to be improved in the whole country, changes must be made so that all citizens become more aware of the importance of competence in the language.

In the light of the results of this study, there is knowledge of AEC 2015 and the importance of the English language is evident at the high school level as well. Therefore, the issue is perhaps not being aware of the importance of the language but rather something else. This will be discussed in more detail later on in sections 5.1.3 and 5.2.3.

(21)

15 2.3.3 English teaching in Thailand

When conducting a study related to the role of a language in a country, it is crucial to consider the teaching of the language. In the following section, some studies related to English language teaching in Thailand will be examined. The quality of teaching and the methods used are issues that have arisen in studies related to English teaching in Thailand.

Thailand’s 1999 National Educational Act sought to change and improve teaching, emphasizing learner-centered methods and varying methods of assessment, such as portfolios, as opposed to simply using regular tests (Foley, 2005: 225). The English curriculum has been divided into “four C’s”: culture, communication, connection and communities (ibid). There is a standard set for each of these categories that should be met by the students (ibid). Teachers are encouraged towards a learner-centered environment.

Prapaisit (2004) conducted a case study of three English teachers in Thailand. According to the results of the study, the teaching was very teacher-centered and non-communicative. The teachers also felt that their own proficiency in the language was low and they did not feel confident using the target language (ibid).

In a study conducted in the Western Thai province of Ratchaburi it was found that the attitude of sixth grade students towards learning the English language improved significantly when they were learning under a cooperative teaching method rather than under the traditional Thai communicative teaching method (Chayarathee & Waugh, 2006: 120). The traditional communicative method is a teacher-focused behaviorist style of teaching, which includes

(22)

16 repeating words and phrases after the teacher. In addition to this, students work individually by reading texts and answering questions. All communication is between the students and the teacher. The cooperative method is more interactive. In this teaching method, students work in groups to complete instructional activities. The results of Chayarathee and Waugh’s (2006) study could indicate that currently students are not very motivated to learn English and that their attitudes towards the language are not very positive due to the teaching methods used.

Prapaisit de Segovia (2009) conducted a study related to the implementation of the communicative methods emphasized in the National Education Act of 1999. Grades 5-6 English classes were observed in the study and the results showed that there was no use of communicative methods in the classroom. The study included interviews with teachers, who seemed confused about the meaning of the principles in the reform of 1999 and how they should be applied. Concerns regarding their own English proficiency, insufficient training and inadequate resources also arose in the interviews with the teachers.

In a more recent study, it has also been discovered that the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) has been an issue and despite this method being incorporated into the national education act, the fluency and proficiency of English has not improved (Teng &

Sinwongsuwat, 2015). Teng and Sinwongsuwat’s (2015) study also discussed issues that teachers had with the implementation of CLT and reasons behind the difficulties that teachers and students have in English. According to Wanchai (2012), teachers were not successful in the implementation of CLT due to their own insufficient proficiency in the language.

Moreover, there are other studies which demonstrate that teachers often feel that they are not

(23)

17 well-enough prepared to use English in class, even if they have an undergraduate degree majoring in English (Hengsadeekul & al, 2014: 42)

Several issues have emerged from studies conducted in relation to CLT and English teaching.

In English classes, Thai teachers tend to focus on grammar skills, repetitive, drill-like exercises and memorization (Teng & Sinwongsuwat, 2015; Saengboon, 2004). In addition, classes tend to be quite large as the average class has over 40 students (Teng &

Sinwongsuwat 2015; Dhanasobhon, 2006). Moreover, there is a wide range of fluency between the different students within a class (ibid).

In Thailand, English teaching and especially the attempted implementation of CLT focuses strongly on attaining a native-speaker level of fluency and sets an Anglo-American standard as the goal (Methitham & Chamcharatsri, 2011). The teaching of English focuses on learning a Western standard in order to communicate with and understand those who speak English in this way (ibid). This has perhaps influenced the attitudes of some of the respondents in this study as well, as in some responses using the English language was related specifically to

“Western” foreigners (see section 5.2.2).

These issues related to English-language teaching could be seen in the results of this study as well, which emerged in the replies of some of the participants. This will be discussed further in chapter 5.

(24)

18 2.3.4 Tourism in Thailand

For many people, tourism is one of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about Thailand. The country is, after all, very well-known for its beaches in the south. This section briefly presents some statistics on the number of people that visit the country and from which parts of the world they come from.

According to the Thai Department of Tourism, there were a total of 29.88 million international tourists that visited Thailand in 2015. From these international tourists, 66.5%

came from East Asian countries, 18.84% came from European countries and 4.13% came from the Americas. The three countries from which the most tourists that visit Thailand came from are China, Malaysia and India. From the total number of tourists, over 70% came from Asian countries.

Although the tourism industry is strong in the country, McDowall & Wang (2009) writes of some weaknesses the nation has. These weaknesses are mainly related to language; English- speaking employees are scarce (ibid). English is focused on and highlighted in the education system, which leaves other languages such as Mandarin, Japanese or German receiving less attention (ibid). Thus, Thailand needs to progress linguistically in order to maintain development in the tourism industry and to be able to keep up with international trends and changes taking place.

(25)

3 Language attitudes and motivation

This chapter will discuss the topic of language attitudes and motivation. First, the most prominent theories on the role of attitudes and motivation in second language learning and acquisition will be presented. Following this, some relevant studies related to language attitudes and motivation in the context of Thailand will be discussed.

3.1 General theory on attitudes and motivation

When considering learning a language, a major influence on the process is the learner’s motivation and attitudes towards the language in question. In fact, the motivation to learn a language is one of the most important factors in language learning and acquisition (Dörnyei 2005). Even if the learner has a weak aptitude for language learning, success can be achieved through high motivation. Therefore, high motivation can cover for weaker aptitude. On the other hand, learners with a low motivation are usually not successful in language learning, even if their aptitude would be high (ibid). When studying language acquisition, it is therefore crucial to take attitudes and motivation into account.

Attitudes are defined in Baker (1988: 114) as “inferred, conceptual inventions hopefully aiding the description and explanation of behavior. Attitudes are learned predispositions, not inherited or genetically endowed, and are likely to be relatively stable over time.” However, experience can affect and change attitudes. Attitudes are tied closely to lasting knowledge of a language. Baker (1988: 112) considers language attitudes to have two variables: the causal input variable and the outcome or output variable. When examining an attitude as an outcome

(26)

20 variable, it could be considered that a positive attitude towards the language in question will produce more efficient and longer lasting learning than a simple want to pass an examination (ibid). The content studied simply for a test will not last long, and this could result in the language abilities not being as successfully maintained.

Attitudes cannot be simply split into positive or negative attitudes, as there is everything in between as well (Baker, 1988: 115). They can also be a combination of negative and positive, as learners can view one element of a language positively and another negatively (ibid).

Laine (1987: 10-12) considers there to be seven different aspects of attitudes. These are general school learning attitudes, attitudes towards the target language (TL) group, attitudes towards the TL culture, attitudes towards the target language, attitudes towards the TL course, attitudes towards the teaching methods and attitudes towards the TL teacher (ibid).

Attitudes between these different attitudes can vary and although a student can feel positively towards one aspect, another might be viewed less positively (ibid). However, it is most likely that different aspects also affect each other. For example, a negative attitude towards the teacher will most likely also result in a negative attitude towards the teaching methods and the course (ibid).

In addition to attitudes, motivation is another important aspect in language learning. Baker (1988) makes a distinction between motives and motivation. Baker (1988: 143) defines a motive as “a hypothetical construct used to describe the stored potential or predisposition to behave in persistent fashion.” Motives are also not activated, but rather they are more like potential that is waiting to be used (ibid). Motivation is “the activation of that motive” (ibid).

(27)

21

Gardner (1985: 10) refers to motivation as “the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favourable attitudes toward learning the language.” In this definition, motivation is a sum of multiple elements. Effort alone does not mean motivation and neither does a favorable attitude by itself. Motivation is defined in Laine (1987: 7-8) as “a tendency to act, to approach a goal, or to refrain from action, to turn away from the goal.” Motivation is described per three parameters: direction, strength/intensity, and orientation (ibid). Laine (1987) presents three orientations: integrative, instrumental and intellectual curiosity. Gardner (1985) also refers to motivation as being either integrative or instrumental in orientation. Integrativeness in language learning refers to assimilating into and communicating with a community that speaks that language (ibid). Instrumentally oriented learners wish to learn a language because of the advantages the knowledge in that language brings (Dörnyei, 2005: 70).

Both Dörnyei (2005) and Gardner (1985) consider integrativeness to be an important element in one’s motivation to learn a foreign language. For the participants of this study, this is most likely not the major motivation for learning English. As can be seen in the results of this study, the participants have very little exposure to the language outside of school or the media. Therefore, their motivation is mainly not integrative as they do not have a community to assimilate into. On the other hand, the instrumental motivation of Thais to learn English should be increasing due to AEC 2015, as proficiency in the language might be important for them in the job market.

(28)

22 However, integrative motivation is more effective in producing long-lasting language learning and integrative motivation produces more successful language acquisition than instrumental motivation does (Baker, 1988: 155). Those with integrative motivation are perhaps more likely to have more exposure to the language as well, which would, in turn, also improve their language skills.

Gardner’s Attitude/Motivation Test Battery (1985: 177-184) was examined to obtain an idea on a possible way to test attitudes and motivation. Gardner’s battery has been used in many studies related to second language attitudes and motivation. The battery was designed for a bilingual setting; it tested attitudes and motivations of English-speaking Canadians towards the French language. For this study, the questionnaire used in Kitjaroonchai’s (2013) study was more applicable. This questionnaire was influenced by Gardner’s (1985) battery, but it was designed to test attitudes and motivations of English teachers in Thailand. Due to the Thai context being rather different from the Canadian one, Kitjaroonchai’s (2013) study was more relevant as a source of inspiration for the questionnaire of this study.

3.2 Previous studies on language attitudes in Thailand

The following section will discuss some relevant studies related to language attitudes and motivation in Thailand.

Kitjaroonchai (2012) studied English major students at the Asia-Pacific International University and the kinds of motivation they had towards the language. The correlation

(29)

23 between their motivation to learn the language and their academic success was also tested.

The results showed that the students’ integrative and instrumental motivations were both high. However, it was discovered that their instrumental motivation was slightly higher. The findings of the study also showed that the grade point average of the students correlated positively with their motivation. Thus, those that were successful in their studies were also more motivated towards their studies.

Draper (2012) conducted a study in Northeastern Thailand in which he analyzed community language experience, attitudes towards, and ability in the English language. The study examined the largest minority in the country, the Lao Isan. This group was chosen because the region of Northeastern Thailand is ranked the weakest region in English in national testing. The findings of the study showed that the participants considered their abilities in English to be very low and they did not feel the language was important to them. Moreover, they had very little exposure to the language. There was a difference between the older and the younger generations in both self-reported language ability and experience in the language.

This study was conducted in a rural area, where exposure to English is very limited which could be a factor explaining why the language was not seen as relevant to the participants of the study.

Kitjaroonchai (2013) studied the motivation of high school students in the Saraburi Province in Central Thailand towards English language learning. It was discovered that both the integrative and instrumental motivation of the students was high. In addition, the study tested

(30)

24 the relation between the motivation of those students with a high grade point average and others and the results showed that those with better grades were also more motivated to learn.

In addition, Kitjaroonchai (2013) studied the attitudes that teachers in two districts in the Saraburi province had towards the English language. According to the findings of this study, the teachers’ attitude towards English was slightly positive. It was also discovered that there was no significant difference in the attitude of teachers with just a few years of teaching experience and with those who had multiple years of teaching experience behind them. This was somewhat surprising, as one might have expected there to have been a change in attitudes and that younger teachers would have viewed English as more important. It does perhaps reflect the language hierarchy in the country, showing that language attitudes have remained the same for a number of years.

Attitudes towards the English language in relation to ASEAN have also been studied.

Trakulkasemsuk & Ploywattanawong (2014) researched the view that Thai graduates had towards English as the lingua franca of ASEAN. The study examined the acceptability and understandability of distinct grammatical features occurring in ASEAN English. The features were neither completely accepted nor completely rejected and none of these features posed problems in understanding. Therefore, although the ASEAN English variety is not yet fully accepted, its use does not hinder understanding and communication. Findings like this should encourage learners of English to use the language, as it shows that grammatical perfection is not required for comprehension. Even though these grammatical features were not yet fully accepted, they were also not fully rejected, which could indicate that there is a general shift

(31)

25 towards considering comprehension to be more important than complete correctness in a language. This could indicate changes in language attitudes in Thailand.

Overall, previous studies related to attitudes and motivation show that general attitudes towards English are positive. Although there are groups that do not see English as important (Draper, 2012), there are also those that have very high motivation (Kitjaroonchai, 2013).

When examining these studies, the high school students and those with an integrative motivation (Kitjaroonchai, 2012) seem to be more motivated.

(32)

4 Data and methodology

This study examined the attitudes and motivation of high school students in Northern Thailand towards the English language. The data was collected from five different schools in the area.

High school students were chosen for this study since they are at an age when they should already have thoughts and ideas and they are capable of answering a survey. In addition, they are at an age when they are most likely thinking about their future: possible further studies and a future career. Thus, thoughts on sufficient language skills are relevant and therefore they were considered an ideal group to examine to obtain an idea on language attitudes and motivations. Moreover, it is interesting to discover how their studies at school have shaped their views and thoughts on the English language.

The data for the study was collected via a questionnaire that included Likert scale statements and open-ended questions. The statements and questions in the questionnaire were influenced by Gardner (1985) and Kitjaroonchai (2013) as was discussed in section 3.1 Additional statements and questions were included by the author of this paper. The questionnaire was written in English and it was then translated into Thai to ensure that the students understood the questions and could answer them as fully as possible. The translation was done by a native speaker of Thai. The responses to the questions were written in Thai and they have been translated into English for this study by the researcher.

(33)

27 The methodology was first tested in the spring of 2015 when I conducted a pilot study related to the topic. A questionnaire was distributed to a school in Chiang Mai and to some teenagers taking extra English lessons at the British Council. There was a total number of 39 participants. Based on this pilot study, the questionnaire was then edited for the data to be as relevant as possible. The data from the pilot study also raised some questions, which I wished to address and so included in the revised version of the questionnaire.

The first part of the questionnaire consisted of statements that the participants rated using the Likert scale. There were four alternatives for each item; “1” or “completely disagree”, “2” or

“disagree”, “3” or “agree” and “4” or “completely agree”. A scale with an even number of choices was selected to disable the participants from choosing a “neutral” option. There was a total of 13 items in this part of the questionnaire. These items were divided into five groups based on the theme they discuss. However, the statements were placed in random order in the questionnaire to keep the questions following each other more varied, which was intended to force the participants to read and think about the statements more carefully.

The five groups the items were divided into include attitudes towards school and learning (items 1 and 6), attitudes towards learning English and the English language in general (items 2, 5 and 8), attitudes towards the importance of English in the job-market and in the future (items 4, 7, 9 and 13), attitudes towards English grammar (item 12), and attitudes towards English as a language of information and communication (items 3, 10 and 11). The Likert items were analyzed statistically using the chi-square test.

(34)

28 In addition to the Likert scale items, the questionnaire contained 12 questions to obtain further information about the participants and their use of the English language. The respondents were requested to complete information on their gender, age, grade and mother- tongue. In addition to this information, the questionnaire included a question on what the respondents felt about the level of their own English communicational skills. This question included five choices: very good, good, average, needs improvement and not acceptable. The layout of this question in the Thai version did not turn out clear and it seemed confusing to choose between the different options. Therefore, the information on the perceived language skills needed to be discarded in the results of this study.

In addition to this basic information on the participants, the following questions were included in the questionnaire:

5. Since which grade have you been studying English at school?

6. If you had the chance, would you take extra English lessons outside of school?

7. How often do you use English outside of school?

8. If you use English outside of school, what situations do you use it in?

9. Do you have foreign friends? If yes, do you speak English with them?

10. Have you heard about the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) 2015? If yes, do you think knowing English is more important now and in the future than before because of AEC 2015?

11. Do you have any other comments regarding the ASEAN Economic Community 2015 and its choice of English as the working language?

(35)

29 12. Do you have any additional comments regarding the English language?

The data of this study was obtained from a total number of 231 participants from five different schools. All the schools are in Northern Thailand. The questionnaires were given to the English teachers at the schools, who then distributed them to their students. The questionnaires were then retrieved a few days later. Due to this, the researcher is not aware of how the participants from each school were chosen. It could be that the questionnaires were given to students that volunteered to participate and this could have influenced the results, as these students would most likely be more motivated in their studies in general as well.

However, the students participating could just be the ones that were present in class at the time the questionnaire was distributed.

The following figure displays a map of Northern Thailand. Two of the schools in this study are located in the city of Chiang Mai (school WW and school WR). It is one of the largest cities in the country. The other three schools are in the Chiang Rai province. It is the northernmost province in Thailand, bordering Myanmar to the Northwest and Laos to the Northeast. School SS is located in the city of Chiang Rai. School MSW is located in Mae Suai which is slightly to the South of Chiang Rai city. School MS is located in the town of Mae Sai in the Chiang Rai province. Mae Sai is located right at the border of Thailand and Myanmar. Schools MS and MSW are more rural, whereas the other three schools are located in a more urban area.

(36)

30 Figure 4.1 A map of Northern Thailand

Retrieved from:https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Topography_of_northern_Thailand.png

Schools WR and WW, both of which are in Chiang Mai, are private schools. According to their website, the program at school WR is taught partly in English and some of the English lessons at the school are taught by native speakers of English. This differs from the average Thai school where everything is taught in Thai and the teachers are also Thai and do not speak English as their native language. Interestingly, the English teacher at school WR commented that the students at the school are not at all motivated to learn.

School SS, located in Chiang Rai, is also a private school but the school receives government funding as well. Most the students are hill tribes and mainly non-native speakers of Thai.

Schools MSW and MS are government-funded public schools.

(37)

31 Of the total number of participants, 162 were female and 64 were male. Five participants did not include information on gender. The age of the participants ranged from 15 to 19, the average age being 16.4. The following table displays the different mother tongues the participants reported:

Figure 4.2 The distribution of the participants’ first languages.

The participants reported a total of 11 different languages as their first language. Those that are labelled under “multiple” reported more than one; these were a combination of Thai and Chinese or Thai and Burmese. Thus, the linguistic background of the participants is quite varied.

Thai 56%

Akha 11%

Kammuang 8%

Unnkown 8%

Chinese 5%

Lahu 3%

Multiple 3%

Yao 2%

Hmong 1%

Karen 1%

Thaiyai 1%

Lisu 1%

Burmese

L1

0%

(38)

32

5 Results and analysis

5.1 Items on attitude

In the following sections, the 13 items from the questionnaire are grouped into categories based on the theme of the statement. Each group is then examined as a whole, since the items included in each are related to each other. There is a total of five groups.

Each of the Likert items is presented here as a graph. The graphs display the distribution of the responses in percentages. The average distribution is also presented to attain an idea of the responses as a whole.

(39)

33 5.1.1 General attitudes towards school and learning

Figure 5.1 Item 1: I think going to school is useful and helps me learn new things.

The first item on the questionnaire was included to attain an idea of the general attitude of the participants towards going to school, as this could have an influence on their motivation towards a specific subject they were to study.

In general, the attitude towards school and learning was positive. In two of the schools, all participants chose either “agree” or “strongly agree” for this item. However, there were highly significant differences² (x²= 31.44048, p<0.01, df=12) between the different schools in their responses. Therefore, the attitude the respondents have towards school and learning is highly significantly dependent on the school they go to. This could be a factor that helps to explain possible differences in other attitudes and motivation as well.

2 Unless otherwise stated, all statistical analysis refers to chi-squared analysis, where p ≤ 0.05 is significant, p ≤ 0.01 is highly significant, and p ≤ 0.001 is very highly significant.

0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

5.8%

0.0% 1.2%

4.3% 0.0% 0.0%

9.6% 10.0%

4.8%

51.1%

37.3%

28.0%

46.2%

43.3% 41.2%

44.7%

62.7%

72.0%

38.5%

43.3%

52.2%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

MS MSW SS WW WR Average

1 Strongly disagree 2 Disagree 3 Agree 4 Strongly agree

(40)

34 The two schools that seem to stand out in this item are schools WW and WR, which are both private schools. A higher percentage of students in these schools do not consider going to school to be important. These students are more privileged than the average public school student in Thailand. They might not feel education as a privilege, but rather as a duty. On the other hand, students from schools SS and MSW are highly motivated with their studies. Not everyone in Thailand has the chance to go to high school. Thus, students from schools SS and MSW feel privileged to be able to receive education further than merely a few years.

As most the participants agreed with this statement, the role of education seems to be important to them in general, so their motivation to learn new things should be relatively high as well. If the general attitude of the participants towards school and learning would be negative, they would most likely not feel motivated about studying English either.

(41)

35 Figure 5.2 Item 6: The Thai English teachers at the school I go to are expert and knowledgeable.

Although the majority of the participants viewed their teachers as expert and knowledgeable, there were still a number of participants who disagreed with this statement. School SS seemed to be the exception in this, as 98% of the students agreed with the statement. In the other schools, the number of students disagreeing is much higher. However, when tested statistically, this factor did not depend on the school. There were no significant differences between the responses of participants from different schools (x²=20.7729, p>0.05, df=12).

Overall, views towards learning are positive, although some of the students have a somewhat critical approach towards the teachers. Attitudes towards the teaching methods will be discussed further in section 5.2.4, as this topic arose in the responses to the final question of the questionnaire as well.

0.0% 0.0% 0.0% 1.9%

0.0% 0.4%

21.3%

17.6%

2.0%

19.2% 23.3%

16.7%

74.5%

62.7%

74.0%

57.7%

53.3%

64.4%

4.3%

19.6%

24.0% 21.2% 23.3%

18.5%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

(42)

36 5.1.2 Attitudes towards learning and studying English

In this section, the attitudes of the participants towards learning and studying English are examined. There is a total of three items in this section. The aim of these items is to evaluate the feelings the participants have towards the learning of English specifically.

Figure 5.3 Item 2: English is a fun language to learn.

Although the majority of the participants considers English to be a fun language to learn, quite a few of them disagreed with this statement. On average, around 17% of the participants considered English not to be a fun language to learn. There were no significant differences between the schools (x²=11.88165, p>0.05, df=12) on this item. Thus, the response does not depend on the school.

2.1% 3.9%

0.0% 1.9%

6.7%

2.9%

8.5%

19.6%

8.0%

23.1%

13.3% 14.5%

57.4%

51.0% 54.0%

50.0% 50.0% 52.5%

31.9%

23.5%

36.0%

25.0%

30.0% 29.3%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

(43)

37 Figure 5.4 Item 8: I think studying English is boring.

Although the majority of the participants disagreed with this statement, on average over 25%

of them considered studying English to be boring. The answers to this item varied based on which school the participants attended and there are highly significant differences between schools (x²=26.52609, p<0.01, df=12). The school that diverges in its replies is school SS.

The students from this school seem to have a more positive attitude towards learning in general and it is also reflected in numerous other items. 12% of the students from school SS agreed with this statement. In all the other schools, the percentage was above 20, in school WR the percentage was as high as 40.

42.6%

19.6%

44.0%

28.8%

10.0%

29.0%

31.9%

49.0%

44.0%

50.0% 50.0%

45.0%

23.4%

27.5%

8.0%

19.2%

26.7%

21.0%

2.1% 3.9% 4.0%

1.9%

13.3%

5.1%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

Attitudes and motivations of Northern Thai high school students towards the English language

Contents

List of figures

1 Introduction

2 Languages in Thailand

3 Language attitudes and motivation

4 Data and methodology

L1

5 Results and analysis