With the impending ASEAN Free Trade Agreement scheduled for 2015, the push for English linguistic communication proficiency has been deriving impulse. An increasing figure of native English talkers are being employed in the belief that the criterions of English linguistic communication instruction can be increased at an exponential rate. This inflow of sensed foreign endowment tends to miss the experience of English linguistic communication instructors from the host state in that they have non had to analyze English as a 2nd or foreign linguistic communication ; in peculiar the apprehension of how a peculiar L1 influences the acquisition of English in given contexts.
This paper looks beyond English ( Ginsberg, Honda & A ; O’Neil 2011 ) and focuses on the incorporation of linguistics into English linguistic communication course of study in one university in north-eastern Thailand by showing to the pre-service and station alumnus instructors taking the classs that their bilingual accomplishments are an advantage ( Finn 2011 ) and non a hinderance.
Keywords
Linguisticss, English linguistic communication, instruction, acquisition, Thailand
Introduction
Not everyone agrees that a pupil ‘s first linguistic communication ( L1 ) interferes with their 2nd linguistic communication ( L2 ) acquisition. On reaching in Thailand as an English linguistic communication instructor, the writer of this article was shortly able to see a form of mistakes that were being made by secondary school pupils ( rate 7-12 ) and so subsequently on, university pupils. On probe it appeared that many of the pupils had the same mistakes which had been fossilised over the old ages ensuing in pupils in third instruction holding the most basic of mistakes ingrained into their normal usage of English.
The usage of English in Thailand is non widespread outside Bangkok. As 85 % of the population unrecorded outside the capital, the job for English linguistic communication scholars is that they learn English in school from the first class and do non hold the chance to utilize the new linguistic communication outside the schoolroom and as a consequence do non hold the opportunity to develop their linguistic communication accomplishments through existent life experiences ( Larsen-Freeman 2012 ) . In add-on, the huge bulk of Thai instructors of English who teach English in Thailand ‘s primary schools have non been trained to learn English in a pupil centred manner utilizing communicative activities in line with the 1999 Education Act, which was passed in order for Thailand to alter from a instructor centred rote larning manner of instruction.
Thai instructors of English in basic instruction scenes have graduated in topics other than English and those in rural countries find themselves overworked, underpaid and with the load of inordinate administrative undertakings. With lone speedy hole short classs available with no continuance preparation or staging, these instructors find themselves learning the manner they were taught.
It is really rare to happen qualified aliens working lawfully at primary and secondary schools in rural communities in Thailand, as they are by and large excessively expensive. Some up-country schools have voluntaries who live locally who work illicitly without makings carry oning conversation categories and some basic lessons. Schools in the metropolis are better financed, so there is more chance for aliens to happen employment. Research has shown that many aliens arrive as tourers and so populate for many old ages on little local wages, some working as English instructors ( Howard 2009 ) .
This paper puts frontward the statement that the employment of aliens may non be the charming slug that the general public thinks it is and that the Thai instructors of English are a far better resource that needs to be nurtured and made aware of the accomplishments that they have which puts them in a far better place to learn Thailand ‘s pupils. Having overcome the trouble of larning English as a foreign or 2nd linguistic communication, it would do sense that these Thai instructors of English would be in a better place to understand the jobs that their pupils were confronting and with some preparation, they would be able to expect job countries and program schemes to get the better of them.
Students go toing the B.Ed. English and MA TESOL courses over an eight twelvemonth period in a university in the north E of Thailand were taught a class called Academic Reading and Writing where a survey of two pieces of work were used to do the pre-service instructors and MA pupils cognizant of the manner that the Thai linguistic communication interferes with the acquisition of English and how they as instructors can fix ways to get the better of these jobs.
Literature reappraisal
Whilst carry oning the literature reappraisal on this topic, it was of import to look at different countries that contribute to the apprehension of linguistics and its associated neighbors. For illustration, the four accomplishments can be investigated separately in order to appreciate similarities and appreciation differences and job countries. An probe by Silva ( 1993 ) explained that L2 authorship is easier to read and less fluid, less effectual and less accurate than L1 composing as the authors in his survey had jobs be aftering, puting ends and organizing their stuff.
With respect to academic English, Phakiti & A ; Li ( 2011 ) published an article which looked at Asian ESL pupils go toing an MA TESOL class at an Australian university. Areas covered were the general academic troubles these pupils encountered every bit good as academic reading and composing troubles. Time direction and covering with assignments were deemed major faltering blocks every bit good as the administration and usage of academic vocabulary, location and paraphrasing of information, plagiarism and an apprehension of what academic authorship represents.
Looking from a more Thai specific point of view, Jenwitheesuk ( 2009 ) found that clinchers, capable verb understanding, tenses and prepositions were the four dominant mistakes demonstrated by the participants of the survey and concluded that this was due to L1 intervention, a deficiency of cognition of the sentence constructions of English, every bit good as non being able to understand the grammatical regulations of English.
The tenses past simple and present perfect were investigated by Baker ( 2002 ) as to how they contrast with the Thai linguistic communication. His ground was to place what Thai scholars needed to cognize when analyzing these tenses. In add-on, he stated that he felt that if instructors were cognizant of how these tenses are used and their differences to the Thai linguistic communication, instructors would be more aware of which countries to give accent to when learning their pupils.
Suthatsanee ( 2011 ) explained how senior twelvemonth Thai university pupils demonstrated a deficiency of ability to utilize the right cohesive looks when composing argumentative essays. Problem countries included excessively much repeat, excessively many lists, an impersonal manner and a deficiency of focal point on decisions. Having identified these countries, it is possible for instructors to step in and let their pupils the chance to look into these troubles and get the better of them.
To counter the charge that pronunciation is non given the same attending in Thailand when compared to the 4 chief accomplishments ( reading, composing, listening and talking ) , Khamkhien ( 2010 ) identifies a job for pupils when utilizing the 4 accomplishments if pupils are non able to articulate words right. He besides stated that pupils did non hold the chance to pattern English outside the schoolroom ; so as a effect, instructors must utilize the mark linguistic communication every bit much as possible. In add-on, instructors were asked to do scholars cognizant of the English emphasis forms as it would by and large profit the instructors and more specifically be good to the pupils.
Looking beyond English
The stimulation to compose this paper came from an article on the cyberspace by Finn ( 2011 ) which gave a drumhead about research conducted by Ginsberg, Honda & A ; O’Neil ( 2011 ) into the usage of linguistics and how it could be incorporated into the course of study of ESL scholars so that they had the chance to compare and contrast their L1 and L2 in what they called incompatible analysis ( Dulay & A ; Burt 1974 ) . As such a course of study did non be, O’Neil had to compose one. This incident resonated with the writer as he had been in a similar state of affairs at a university in Udon Thani in north-eastern Thailand where two articles were used to show some of the mistakes Thai pupils of English were doing when they were larning English.
If we start at the beginning, English is taught in Thai schools from Prathom 1 ( rate 1 ) . New research shows that babies every bit immature as 6-9 months can larn the significance of new words through mundane experience with linguistic communication ( Bergelson & A ; Swingley 2012 ) . Four experiments by Horst & A ; Samuelson ( 2008 ) urges cautiousness as they found that 24 month old babies demonstrated illimitable referent choice abilities ; nevertheless, they did non demo important keeping when it came to calling the referents in the experiments conducted.
In add-on, monolingual yearlings who were proficient in their ain linguistic communication were found to be able to larn foreign nomenclature from foreign talkers and did non widen the cognition of the freshly learned foreign words to talkers of their L1 ( Koenig & A ; Woodward 2012 ) . The research workers province they are ill-defined how this works ; nevertheless, research like this and a survey by Medina, Snedeker, Trueswell & A ; Gleitman ( 2011 ) into how immature kids make initial conjectures as to what a word means and so maintain that guess alive until proven incorrect, demo us how ductile kids are when it comes to linguistic communication acquisition.
Butzkamm ( 2003 ) , cited by Song & A ; Kellogg ( 2011 ) , stated that humans merely learn linguistic communication one time and after the initial foundation of L1 vocabulary has been laid, L2 is merely a bed placed on top of the original as a palimpsest. Whether you agree with Butzkamm or non, how kids learn linguistic communications and the influence of bilingualism ca n’t be ignored.
The survey of bilingualism gives greater understanding as to the benefits to both instructors and pupils who embrace the usage of at least two linguistic communications on a day-to-day footing. A recent survey by Barac & A ; Bialystok ( 2012 ) showed that three bilingual groups outperformed their monolingual opposite numbers when it came to task exchanging. Importantly in this survey, they were able to turn out that the bilingual procedures acted independently from the known variables when act uponing not verbal results. These variables included cultural background, linguistic communication similarity and linguistic communication schooling. In a old survey, Bialystok ( 2007 ) stated that bilingual kids were able to successfully obtain executive control maps before their monolingual opposite numbers and this was besides the instance for bilingual grownups when the executive demands became more complex. In add-on, the rate of diminution in these maps was reduced for those grownups who were bilingual.
A survey by Omaki & A ; Schulz ( 2011 ) highlights the processing similarities between L1 and L2, which gives acceptance to some academic positions that province that there is non much qualitative difference between L1 and L2.
With respect to the pick of whether to utilize native talkers or non-native talkers of English as instructors, Liu ( 1999 ) informs us of the benefits of being a non-native English instructor in great item, evidently reflecting on his ain experiences. How non-native instructors of English are perceived and what instructors from different civilizations are thought to be able to make are classified as racialist by Holliday & A ; Aboshiha ( 2009 ) in their survey of the non-native instructor label.
An interesting probe by Borg ( 2006a ) into how instructors from other subjects perceive English linguistic communication instructors emphasised how those learning through the medium of a foreign linguistic communication were thought to hold to pass more clip fixing their lessons to explicate everything right. In add-on, the usage of a foreign linguistic communication to learn a category was deemed to perchance distance the instructors from the pupils as they are non utilizing the pupil ‘s L1. This is in contrast to Moussu & A ; Llurda ( 2008 ) who detail the empathy that non-native English instructors have with their pupils compared to native talkers.
Application in the schoolroom
The usage of a book chapter by Smyth ( 1987 ) in which he looks at the pronunciation jobs that Thai scholars experience when larning English was used to show to the pre-service instructors and those more experient pedagogues how the Thai speech pattern tends to emphasize the concluding syllable of words, makes it hard to joint concluding consonants and harmonic bunchs ; and gives a disconnected consequence to Thai talkers English linguistic communication use. This disconnected consequence sounds really much like Spanish where there is equal timing and weight given to every syllable, syllables being given tones, the shwa being used between some initial consonants and the decrease of harmonic bunchs at the terminal of a word to a concluding consonant.
The writer found it unusual to hold to utilize work by a alien explicating how the Thai L1 interfered with the production of English L2 ; nevertheless, it proved to be a really effectual technique in the schoolroom. Students who were introduced to this text were asked to either expression at their ain English linguistic communication larning experiences or that of their friends and to do comparings and contrasts with what Smyth was stating. Those instructors analyzing for the MA TESOL were asked to see their pupils as good.
One illustration deserves a peculiar reference and that is a shop called Global House which tends to be pronounced “ Gohben How. ” Analyzing the peculiar jobs refering this name was both enlightening and diverting. Once the analysis of pronunciation was seen as a tool to show differences and job countries, the pupils were motivated and engaged, doing it easier to reflect on their past acquisition experiences and those of their friends and pupils.
When finishing their course-work, all the 92 pupils that took portion in either the group-work or single assignments agreed with Smyth ‘s observations of Thai talkers of English. Students were encouraged to add farther illustrations of the types of pronunciation mistakes that they made leting them to show their experiences with assurance in spoken and written signifier.
The 2nd resource was an article by Lush ( 2002 ) where he studied the authorship mistakes in his Thai schoolroom of 3rd twelvemonth university pupils. He found that definite and indefinite articles, remarkable and plural nouns, present simple/past simple, capable verb understanding and prepositions featured extremely on the graded list of mistakes. This was used to reflect and corroborate to the pre-service and experient instructors what they already knew.
The writer used this chance to inquire the pupils in the assorted categories analyzing this text whether they agreed or differ with what Lush had stated and to supply more elaborate accounts of why he was right. Again, all 92 pupils were in understanding and they were really happy and able to explicate in great depth why certain mistakes were prevailing. For illustration, there are no articles in Thai. This was explained by several pupils as there non being a demand for articles because in Thai there are clinchers which acted as a replacement for an article at specific times. Some pupils were non in understanding and this led to some interesting treatments.
Kirkpatrick ( 2007 ) puts frontward the thought of utilizing a tongue franca attack when planing an English linguistic communication course of study with the ASEAN context in head. For this pupils have to be made cognizant of the lingual characteristics of their linguistic communication and that of English that could give jobs to people from other states. In add-on, attending would hold to be given to cultural differences for effectual transverse cultural communicating to take topographic point and eventually, the schemes that are needed for this communicating to take topographic point ; for illustration, socio-linguistic criterions and how to get the better of misinterpretations.
Khon Kaen University International College in Thailand have already integrated elements of these three constructs into a class called English for Communication in Multi-Cultural Societies ( Graham 2011 ) , so that pupils have an apprehension, consciousness and tolerance of other civilizations, linguistic communications and differences while analyzing English. Research in intercultural communicating puts frontward the impression that pupils should be instructed in how to cover with cultural issues in order to interact in an appropriate manner if civilization is an issue ( Busch 2009 ) .
Discussion
Linguisticss can best be defined by Widdowson ( 1996 ) as the survey of human linguistic communication, which happens to be highly dynamic and continually capable to alter. By doing pupils cognizant of the L1 intervention they had antecedently experienced and the mistakes that were made while they were larning English, pupils were motivated and engaged as recounted by Ginsberg, Honda & A ; O’Neil ( 2011 ) . This comparative analysis that pupils undertook as portion of their surveies made them cognizant that the tests and trials they experienced as scholars of English, and will set them in good position when it comes to being instructors of English now or in the hereafter.
Possibly the lone manner to follow the linguistic communication developmental procedure and to the full understand it would be to carry on several coincident undertakings such as the Human Speechome Project ( MIT Media Lab n.d. ) where kid development is recorded over a long period of clip. Comparisons between different states would expose some interesting informations which could be compared by state and gender.
Whether we like the thought or non, English is the on the job linguistic communication of ASEAN ( Charter of the Association of Southeast Asiatic Nations, 2007, p. 28 ) and in order to better English linguistic communication instruction throughout ASEAN, English linguistic communication plans need to be good designed and led by proactive principals who hire qualified instructors who know how to join forces and are prepared to undergo professional development ( Han 2012 ) .
With the ASEAN economic community in 2015 fast looming and Thailand doing a late scuffle for English linguistic communication competency, it is deserving observing that a survey by Mann & A ; Pirbhai-Illich ( 2007 ) of another ASEAN state, Singapore, illustrates how immature Singaporeans see the usage of English as a manner to show international position and influence. By utilizing incompatible analysis during mistake rectification, it is still possible to retain a proud sense of individuality every bit good as the usage of English as a tongue franca for covering with our ASEAN neighbor. This performative position of linguistic communication ( Barinaga 2009 ) gives the scholars focus as they can associate to the relationship between English and its usage in an ASEAN context.
Without desiring to sound like a “ lexifascist ” or a “ prescriptibitch ” ( Smith 2011 ) it is of import to province that an speech pattern is expected and sometimes even welcomed when talking an L2 linguistic communication ; nevertheless, it must non interfere with the communicating act that is taking topographic point. When an speech pattern prohibits apprehension of the vocalization, so communicating has broken down and does non take topographic point.
Some pupils in Thailand speak English with a intentionally thick Thai speech pattern called “ Tinglish ” which could be described as Ethnic Group Affiliation ( EGA ) . This EGA may good keep the key as to the ground why some scholars fail to demo their true unwritten proficiency ( Gatbonton, Trofimovich & A ; Segalowitz 2011 ) ; nevertheless, these Thai pupils would be in the minority if national trial consequences were to be taken into consideration. The lone manner to get the better of this phenomenon would be for instructors and pupils to utilize L2 every bit frequently as possible in the schoolroom. Furthermore, there are pupils who are from parents of assorted race matrimonies who sometimes find themselves in a similar state of affairs as white hip-hoppers ( WHH ) where they have jobs with their ain lingual individuality ( Guy & A ; Cutlet 2011 ) in that they try to travel off from the manner of address they grew up talking due to peer force per unit area. More exposure to teacher selected reliable stuffs, including movies, docudramas and pictures from YouTube would give pupils more realistic illustrations to work with.
A simplified signifier of English is a version called Globish ; nevertheless, realistically, this is non an option. A simplified signifier of English that uses 1500 words with simple grammar may look like a good thought for ASEAN as it is geared towards touristry and easy concern communicating, but it is systematically criticised for “ dumbing down ” the English linguistic communication ( Ribes-Gil 2012 ) . A more natural signifier of ASEAN English as a tongue franca will happen its niche more in line with Kirkpatrick ( 2007 ) . Piller ( 2007 ) believes that for intercultural communicating to take topographic point, a more natural linguistic communication has to be used, which one time once more follows the ASEAN tongue franca attack by Kirkpatrick. The ASEAN states will happen their ain manner and develop their ain manner of English to be used in the ASEAN context. The usage of lingual incompatible analysis can assist in the consciousness, similarities and contrasts with the talker ‘s L1 and L2 every bit good as with other linguistic communications from the part.
The quality of instructors plays an of import function in how our pupils turn into alumnuss. The long term impacts that good elementary and in-between school instructors have on their pupils has been studied by Chetty, Friedman & A ; Rockoff, ( 2011 ) by mensurating their “ value-added ” . This trial mark value-added step can assist in make up one’s minding which instructors create great value and their survey concluded that although it could demo the value of good and bad instructors it should non be taken in isolation when covering with wages and wage policy. More significantly, this American survey found that the pupils who had the best instructors were more likely to travel to university, less likely to hold teenage gestations and have a better likeliness of gaining more money in maturity.
If we are to look for the best instructors, Medgyes ( 1992 ) has an reply for us. The ideal native talker is person who has a high proficiency in the L1 of the scholars and the ideal non-native talker is the individual who has a near-native similar proficiency in English. The writer is of a different sentiment. Non-native instructors of English have experience of larning the linguistic communication themselves and have been through the acquisition procedure their pupils are set abouting now ( Walkinshaw 2007 ) . They have a shared instruction, linguistic communication and civilization, every bit good as likely being more cognizant of what attacks and methods are successful in their schoolrooms. Surely the non-native instructors of English are a better option.
Equally long as native talkers and non-native talkers have the same ability and accomplishments, holding acquired English by birthright should non intend that native talkers can claim to be top of the nutrient concatenation. Learning a linguistic communication through analyzing must be looked at as a positive feature ( Walkinshaw 2007 ) and due to globalization, it will non be long before non-native instructors of English find themselves at the head of our learning profession ( Hogg 2005 ) .
If instructors possess the cognition and are watchful to lingual and cultural differences, they will happen themselves best disposed to back up their pupils. Linguists have much to larn from these instructors ( Mallinson, Hudley, Strickling & A ; Figa 2011 ) . To exemplify this point, Mulder ( 2011 ) stated that there is an of import function for academic linguists to take if there is to be a “ linguistically informed attack to English linguistic communication instruction and in back uping instructors in fostering their accomplishments in linguistic communication and grammar learning teaching method, as finally such an attack rests on research-based linguistics ” ( p. 44 ) .
This paper was presented at the 8th CamTESOL conference in February 2012. For a similar incompatible analysis to take topographic point in Kampuchean schoolrooms there is a demand for instructors to take up the challenge and advance lingual question in their ain categories and so to administer it throughout the state without disaffection and confusion ( Kennedy 2011 ) . Borg ( 2006b ) provinces that the tenth status for teacher research is that research must be made public for all to profit and this is particularly of import in Cambodia due to a deficiency of publications on this topic as highlighted by Bounchan & A ; Moore ( 2010 ) . In their article they were able to demo some differences in of import countries of writing system, grammar and pronunciation every bit good as offer counsel to non native instructors who do non possess plenty item refering the Khmer linguistic communication.
If we are to implement a plan that compares Khmer to English, learning guidelines associating to Second Language Acquisition ( SLA ) research by Ellis ( 2010 ) can be adopted leting for classs to be developed utilizing bing research in incompatible analysis and related EFL Fieldss. Ellis reminds us all that it is the instructor and non the research worker that decides the significance of SLA concepts. Now is the clip for Kampuchean instructors to research and publish!
