Enhancing Thai elementary students’ English and maintaining Thainess using localized materials: Two putative confronting forces

Abstract

In Thailand, concerns over the imperative need to improve its citizens’ English proficiency and the unsatisfactory English learning outcomes have long been present. In addition, ongoing globalization has raised another concern that Thainess is being eroded due to external influences. This study attempted to compromise these two seemingly conflicting forces by enhancing Thai students’ global English and maintaining local Thainess associated with three regions of Thailand. First, a set of instructional innovations for elementary English education was constructed in each region. These were based on prominent characteristics of local Thainess elicited through a questionnaire completed by local community members and subsequently implemented in Grade 4 classes at three schools in each region of Thailand for ten weeks. Next, two separate sets of pretests-posttests corresponding to each instructional set were constructed and administered to assess their local Thainess and English knowledge. Finally, to ensure that the knowledge gained from the instruction was put into practical use, a tour guide simulation task was conducted by the students. The analysis of the test scores demonstrates that localized lessons were beneficial, enhancing their local Thainess knowledge and associated English vocabulary. The accomplishment of the task thus represented their knowledge of local Thainess and English, contributing to a sense of pride in their nation and a sense of achievement in their English proficiency and instruction.

Ethnic folktale-based materials development for secondary students’ learning

“…Similarly, a study conducted in Iran indicated that the incorporation of L1 culture into learning materials can improve students' language proficiency as well as facilitate the learning process and increase their interests and motivation in L2 cultural learning (Meraji & Zamanian, 2014). In the Thai context, earlier studies have shown that the use of localized materials (e.g., temples and folktales) can promote students' learning of cultural aspects and develop their sense of cultural belonging and appreciation (Kanoksilapatham & Channuan, 2018), enhance students' knowledge of local Thainess and the English language (Kanoksilapatham & Suranakkharin, 2021), and facilitate the learning of knowledge from a folktale (Boonyananta & Imsamraan, 2022). These imply that the incorporation of ethnic cultures into foreign or second language materials is vital since teachers can utilize those materials to engage and maximize students' learning of languages and cultures, promote their identities, and provide ethnic cultural learning for students along with its multicultural education worldwide.…”

“…In materials development, communicative and authentic aspects should be considered since they enable the teacher to select specific types of materials and specifications to match students' learning conditions, connect the materials to their interests, help them experience authentic language use, make learning more engaging, and gain more knowledge from the tasks (McDonough et al, 2013). These concepts can be seen from the use of materials development based on ethnic folktales of Makassar for students' learning of ethnic cultures in Indonesia (Batari et al, 2015), learning L1 culture in second language materials in Iran (Meraji & Zamanian, 2014), using localized materials development to enhance students' English and knowledge of Thainess (Kanoksilapatham & Suranakkharin, 2021), and designing teaching and learning activities based on a folktale for youths (Boonyananta & Imsamraan, 2022) in the Thai context. The results of these studies showed positive outcomes related to students' needs, knowledge of cultures, and attitudes towards learning.…”