Problems and solutions of native Thai teachers in using the English language to teach Thai as a foreign language to non-Thai learners

This research aimed to investigate problems native Thai teachers have when using the English language to teach Thai as a foreign language to non-Thai learners and to survey the solutions the teachers used to deal with the problems. Thirty native Thai teachers who worked at language schools in Bangkok were recruited to answer a questionnaire with close-ended and open-ended items to collect the data. The results revealed that listening was the problem of most concern for the native Thai teachers, while changing the form of communication from spoken language to written language and using body language and pictures were the most effective solutions. In addition, cultural differences between the native Thai teachers and their learners were a concern as this led to listening, speaking and writing problems; meanwhile, using learners’ preferred languages, such as their mother tongue, could help mitigate the problems.

本研究旨在探究泰国本土教师使用英语向非泰语学习者教授泰语作为外语时所面临的问题，并调查教师针对这些问题采用的解决方案。研究招募了30名在曼谷语言学校任职的泰国本土教师，通过包含封闭式和开放式题项的问卷收集数据。结果显示，听力问题是泰国本土教师最关注的问题，而将沟通形式从口语转为书面语、使用肢体语言及图片是最有效的解决方案。此外，泰国本土教师与学习者之间的文化差异也是一个值得关注的问题，因其导致了听力、口语及写作方面的困难；同时，使用学习者偏好的语言（如母语）有助于缓解这些问题。