An Analysis of Speaking Activities in Local Thai English Textbooks

This study aims to investigate speaking activities of two English textbooks, ‘English for Tourism II’ and ‘English in Airline Business’, by employing PPSIGAKI Model, a combination of Hymes’ (1967) SPEAKING Model and Munby’s (1978) Communicative Needs Processor, to compare the similarities and the differences of speaking activities found in these ESP textbooks. The findings reveal that both textbooks have speaking activities which are consistent with the elements of the PPSIGAKI model. This implies that both authors designed the speaking activities in the textbooks based on the communicative theoretical concepts. From an ESP perspective, both textbooks were designed according to learners’ needs for both tourism and airline professions and the purposes of these ESP courses. From the SPEAKING Model perspective, the speaking activities in these textbooks were authentic and served the purposes of social interactions, particularly in the field of tourism and airline situations among various speakers from different cultures. Furthermore, noteworthy, both textbooks contain their own uniqueness and features in terms of purposes, participants, channels of communication, patterns of language use, settings, and genres. The findings suggest that future research studies should focus more on linguistic perspectives and should gather data in the perspectives of textbook authors or users in order to reflect on the usefulness and effectiveness of the textbooks. 

Chinese students’ metaphorical descriptions of Thai teachers at a Thai university

Purpose – This paper discusses Chinese students’ negative and positive written feedback about Thai teachers using metaphorical descriptions and the links between it and their classroom experiences. Methodology – An open-response questionnaire was employed to collect the data from 21 Chinese female students. The questionnaire provided both positive and negative “people” or “thing” metaphors of Thai teachers for students’ selection. In addition, students were allowed to use their own metaphors to describe their teachers. Data was analyzed by using open and axial coding techniques. Findings – The results revealed that Chinese students were able to compare Thai teachers with either a “person” or “thing” metaphor and could write a metaphorical description that reflected different aspects of their instructors’ teaching, both positively and negatively. The quality of their descriptions was rich enough to link with their classroom learning experiences. Both positive and negative “people” and “thing” metaphorical descriptions were associated with three different viewpoints: academic, power dynamics, and emotion. The positive “people” metaphorical descriptions were linked to four classroom issues: knowledge and experience, teaching style, motivation, and guardian/protector. In contrast, the positive “thing” and negative “people” and “thing” metaphorical descriptions were linked to three classroom issues: knowledge and experience, teaching style, and emotion. Significance – These findings help to strengthen Thai-Sino understanding of the relationship between Chinese students and Thai teachers. Findings also suggested that Chinese students’ metaphorical feedback should be used with the non-metaphorical assessment form to evaluate and improve Thai teachers’ instructional practices in the Thai Chinese student exchange curriculum