Abstract:
To study the conditions and the problems of Chinese teaching administration in the private Chinese schools in Bangkok and its vicinity. The population was 28 private Chinese schools included 28 administrators, 28 heads of the Chinese academic affairs divisions and 147 Chinese language teachers. The research instruments consisted of questionnaires and observation. Descriptive statistics, namely frequency distribution and percentage, were used to analyze the data. The results of the study showed that 1) in terms of curriculum administration, the schools analyzed the Chinese teaching curriculum by studying curriculum-related, and core curriculum-related documents. They prepared their teachers by having them participate in seminars and trainings. They also provided those who used the curriculum with the information concerning the curriculum and facilities by, for example, setting up libraries, arranging Chinese language corners, and organizing classrooms to support Chinese language teaching and learning. Moreover, the schools supervised and evaluated the use of the curriculum by taking the students' achievements into account. They publicized the curriculum by organizing conferences for Chinese language teachers. However, the problem found that overwhelming workloads obstructed the administrators from analyzing and studying the curriculum. Other problems included the lack of budget to support curriculum administration and the lack of language labs. 2) Regarding teaching and learning the language, the schools assigned their teachers to teach various courses according to their knowledge and experience. This was conducted by arranging class schedules based on the appropriate time available. Analyzing the objectives of the Chinese language curriculum, the heads of the Chinese division, along with the committee or those responsible for the class schedule arrangement, wrote up a course syllabus to determine the expected learning outcome, the content as well as the teaching and learning activities. The activities were related to the content, for example, asking students to write Chinese characters, and encouraging students to use Chinese more than Thai as a means of communication. The schools also organized activities to promote Chinese language teaching and learning by establishing groups or clubs and providing extra group lessons after school to the students who had problems in learning Chinese. However, the problems were the deficiency of teachers and students' wide range of Chinese language background, leading to the difficulty in organizing activities. Moreover, heavy workloads prevented teachers from efficiently organizing teaching and learning activities. 3) When assessment and evaluation were considered, it was found that the schools encouraged the teachers to assess the students by giving them written tests at the end of the semester and the academic year. The problems were the lack of diversity in assessment and evaluation methods and procedures, and the difficulty in assessing and evaluating the students with very different proficiency levels. 4) In terms of media, teachers created their own materials related to the content of the lessons in advanced, but the problem was there were insufficient instructional media, and the teachers did not know how to use some types of media. 5) Regarding instructional supervision, the schools provided supervision by means of teaching observations as determined in the schedules of the Chinese teaching plan. However, the problem was the lacking of instructional supervisors.