Needs analysis on language training for Thai state enterprise staff receiving a scholarship to study abroad

Every year the Thai state enterprise organization provides scholarships for their staff to study for a master's degree abroad. They may encounter culture shock in their cross-cultural experience of studying abroad and suffer from stress and disorientation due to the inadvertent clashes of the differences between the two cultures. Consequently, it could be beneficial for the organization or scholarship provider to understand the importance and needs of analyzing language training, so they could provide appropriate training for their scholarship granted employees. The objective of this study is to investigate the intercultural adaptation tactics used by staff receiving a scholarship to study abroad and the language training needed by staff receiving a scholarship to study abroad.This study used a mixed-method design. The participants were 26 staff receiving a scholarship from an organization to study for a master's degree abroad in various programs at global universities. The participants were from different occupations such as engineers, lawyers, and accountants. Data were obtained through questionnaires and were analyzed with Microsoft Excel version 2016 and the results were revealed in descriptive statistics. Content analysis and thematic analysis were used to analyze the collected data to emerge themes for the intercultural adaptation tactics.The findings of the study revealed that the culture shock that they encountered the most was that they may be stressed from the effort to adapt to a new culture, miss family and friends back home and that they wanted to return to their home country before they graduated. Moreover, writing skills were the biggest problem for the staff. Consequently, the organization may not have to provide language training for their staff but suggest they should practice academic writing more to prepare to be ready to study abroad effectively.