Opportunity for developing intercultural competence in the EFL textbooks at secondary level in Thailand

Name: Atima Kaewsa-ard

Organization : Mae Fah Luang University

keyword: intercultural competence

LCSH: English language -- Study and teaching -- Thailand

Classification :.LCCS: PE1130.T45

LCSH: English language -- Study and teaching -- Thailand

LCSH: Intercultural communication -- Study and teaching -- Thailand

LCSH: Language and culture -- Study and teaching -- Thailand

Abstract: In the last two decades, there has been a marked increase in developing a language learner to become an intercultural speaker who is able to function effectively in an increasingly multicultural world. Being an intercultural speaker, a language learner needs to develop intercultural competence which is the ability to be more aware of and understand one’s own and other cultures in order to avoid miscommunication and misunderstanding in intercultural communication. To develop this ability, language learners need some direct experiences of the culture through the engagement in the authentic environment where the target language is used. However, in Thailand English is used mainly in the classroom, and textbooks seem to be the main material used in Thai EFL context as textbooks provide guidance, suggestion, activities and resources for teachers and also provide the content of cultural diversity that could foster learners’ intercultural competence. However, selecting the right textbook for teaching is difficult as there are numbers of textbooks on the market. This study, therefore, aimed at investigating the opportunity for developing intercultural competence in the EFL textbooks at secondary level in Thailand. To achieve the objective of this study, the materials under the investigation were six secondary students’ books from two publications: Access and Mega Goal. These books were chosen for the study because they were some of the popular books currently being used in Thailand for teaching English language for secondary education and were under the inspection and approval of the Ministry of Education. Moreover, to answer the research questions, this study applied both qualitative and quantitative methods of content analysis as content analysis is proved to be a useful technique for dealing with large volumes of data, and is an appropriate research tool in exploring and interpreting written words, texts or visual contents of document. Overall, the study showed that the six EFL textbooks could help Thai secondary learners develop general knowledge of English-speaking cultures focusing on the knowledge of the conventions of verbal communication, typical daily routines of American and British people, and cultural products involve such elements as traveling places, buildings, TV and movies and et cetera. The findings also revealed that the cultural information in the six EFL textbooks was represented in the static view of culture teaching. Thai secondary learners acquired and observed the cultural facts represented in the textbooks with few opportunities to practice comparing, analyzing, and reflecting meaningful cultural practices which are significant for developing intercultural competence. All in all, even though there was little focused on integrating learning tasks for developing intercultural competence, the evidence showed that Thai secondary learners also had some opportunities to interpret and evaluate the values of their own and other cultures and also practice negotiating a degree of acceptance of the cultures to some extent. Therefore, the results of the investigation could be identified that EFL textbooks at secondary level in Thailand moderately help Thai learners to acquire and develop intercultural competence.

Mae Fah Luang University

Address: CHIANG RAI

Email: library@mfu.ac.th

Name: Sorabud Rungrojsuwan

Role: Advisor

Created: 2017

Issued: 2561

Modified: 2018-10-03

Issued: 2018-10-03

วิทยานิพนธ์/Thesis

application/pdf

Thesis PE1130.T45 A872o 2017

eng

DegreeName: Dotor of Philosophy

Level: Doctoral Degree

Descipline: English for Professional Development

Grantor: Mae Fah Luang University

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