Proceedings

ICLC 2010 ProceedingsiiThe 2 nd International Conference onLanguage and Communication"Dynamism of Language andCommunication in Society"ICLC 2010August 5-6, 2010ProceedingsGraduate School of Language and Communication,Address: National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA),118 Serithai Road, Klong Chan, Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240 ThailandTel: 0-2727-3138, 3143, 45, 47, 52 Fax: 0-2377-7892Website: http://lc.nida.ac.th/home/index.php

The 2 nd International Conference onLanguage and Communication"Dynamism of Language andCommunication in Society"ICLC 2010August 5-6, 2010Proceedings

iiICLC 2010 ProceedingsCopyright © 2011 the Graduate School of Language and Communication (GSLC)at the National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Bangkok – Thailandand Authors/Contributors. All rights reserved.Address: National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA),118 Serithai Road, Klong Chan, Bangkapi, Bangkok 10240 ThailandTel: 0-2727-3138, 3143, 45, 47, 52 Fax: 0-2377-7892Website: http://lc.nida.ac.th/home/index.phpAn Author/Contributor of these proceedings receives free CD-Rom proceeding.Publisher: The Graduate School of Language and Communication (GSLC),The National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), ThailandPublishing Service: Scand-Media Corp. Ltd., Bangkok, Thailand

ICLC 2010 ProceedingsiiiNotes to Authors/Contributors of Proceedings:1. Unless otherwise noted by the authors/contributors by email communications to theeditorial board in advance that their works are subject to crown copyright, anymanuscripts published in proceedings have been irrevocably copyrighted: Copyright© 2011 by two copyright sharers—the authors/contributors and the Graduate Schoolof Language and Communication (GSLC) at the National Institute of DevelopmentAdministration (NIDA), Bangkok – Thailand. The copyright transfer fromauthors/contributors to GSLC at NIDA covers all exclusive rights to store, reproduce,and distribute the contribution in part and as a whole by any means. By submitting anauthor’s/contributor’s revised manuscript, even the crown copyrighted materials alsogrant GSLC at NIDA an exclusive right to publish, disseminate, and distribute in anyforms including CD-ROM and in print.2. By submitting a revised manuscript to be published in this proceedings mean that theauthors/contributors have taken responsibilities to obtain permissions from thecopyright owners and/or any legal representatives wherever a copyrighted text,photographs, tables, figures, and any kinds of materials are used in his/hermanuscripts published in this proceedings. In other words, this is theauthor/contributor’s responsibility, instead of GSLC at NIDA, to ensure that thesepublished manuscripts are copyrightable.3. Except republication of the same and/or similar version of a manuscript in aconference proceedings, the authors/contributors retain his/her rights to reuse anyportion of his/her work without any fee charges for future works of the their ownincluding all other forms of publications, i.e., books, chapters in a volume, reprints,monographs, working papers, general journal papers, international referred journals aswell as lectures and media presentations in educational- and/or academic settings thatare at least 40% revised and expanded from his/her current edition published in thisproceedings. A proper acknowledgement to quote and/or cite his/her original workpublished in these proceedings is highly recommended and appreciated.

ivICLC 2010 ProceedingsNotes to Readers/Users when using any portion of these Proceedings:1. Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty:While the authors/contributors and the editorial board has made their best efforts toensure the quality of manuscripts published in these proceedings, they make norepresentations and no quality warranties in regard to the correctness andcompleteness in the contents of this publication. The editorial board has disclaimedany applied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for any specific use of thispublication. No warranties can be and should be created by marketing and salesrepresentatives on behave of the editorial board. The authors/contributors andeditorial board are neither responsible and nor liable for any losses and damages usingthis proceedings, because it may not be suited for your particular use.2. Readers/Users should be aware that references and/or resources from Internet mighthave been changed, modified, or removed between the time these proceedings wereprepared to be published on CD-ROM, and when it is read by you.

ICLC 2010 ProceedingsvFOREWORDThe Graduate School of Language and Communication (GSLC), through research andteaching revolving around human communication, realizes that language and communicationis pivotal to success in most, if not all, spheres of life in contemporary society. The testamentto this very fact lies in its International Conference on Language and Communication (ICLC2010) entitled “Dynamism of Language and Communication in Society,” which was held atthe National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) on August 5-6, 2010. The twodayevent was well received by over 150 participants, essentially representing scholars—Thais and Non-Thais alike—from near and far.Papers and research presented at the conference have lent strong support to GSLC’sconviction that language and communication are part and parcel of contemporary society,where acts of communicating and genres of language use never cease to become intertwined,thus redefining the traditional notion of human language as a scientific object and embracinga social turn in language that is ever-changing, perennially dynamic. All these have helpedshape the communication terrain a great deal. Because of the great insights and developmentthat the presentations have generated, GSLC has prepared this conference proceedings. I dohope that they will allow interested readers to savor this “food for thought”—one that rightlyreflects the dynamic interplay between language and communication in context.On this occasion, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the GSLCparticipants, and organizers for their hard work and effort in making all this successfullyhappen. I look forward to the next GSLC international conference in 2011.Saksit Saengboon, Ph.D.,Dean Assistant ProfessorGraduate School of Language and CommunicationNational Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), Thailand

viICLC 2010 ProceedingsFOREWORDThe Graduate School of Language and Communication firmly believes that dialogue andcontributions from various perspectives would enhance a fruitful discussion and that wouldhelp pushing the boundary of the study in language and communication. The 2 nd InternationalConference on Language and Communication was organized to serve as a platform whereacademics from all over the world could come and share their view on the issue. It was ourpleasure to welcome scholars with various backgrounds and we thank everyone for enrichingand broadening the theme of our conference ‘Dynamism of Language and Communication inSociety’. We do hope that we would be able to welcome you again in the conferences tocome.On behalf of the organizing committee, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for allparticipants, organizers and GSLC staff for making the 2 nd ICLC 2010 an inspiring andmemorable event.Savitri Gadavanij, Ph.D.,Associate Dean for Academic AffairsAsst. Prof, National Institute of Development Administration, ThailandCoordinator, 2010 International Conference on Language and Communication

ICLC 2010 ProceedingsviiFOREWORDWe are pleased to present the Proceedings of the 2 nd International Conference on “Dynamismof Language and Communication in Society” held August 5-6, 2010 at the School ofLanguage and Communication, National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok,Thailand. It was our great pleasure to welcome and accommodate experts from America,Australia, Europe, Middle East and Asia.Our special thanks go to the Keynote speakers, Professor Dr. Chetana Nagavajira, andProfessor Sachiko Ide for their contributions to the event. We also extend our heartfelt thanksto the authors for submitting their papers and the proofreaders who processed thesubmissions. The proceedings include a wide range of topics in language variations,translation, discourse, English language teaching, applied linguistics, and communicationrelated to language learning.We hope that the diversity of the proceedings will stimulate discussion and action on theroles of language and communication both inside and outside the classroom.The Editors

viii ICLC 2010 ProceedingsCONTENTSForeword Dean Assist. Prof. Dr. Saksit SaengboonICLC 2010 ProceedingsForeword Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Assist. Prof. Dr. Savitri GadavanijForeword The EditorsThe Study of English Varieties as Perceived by the Korean Learner of English in anInternational ContextAndee PollardDemocracy or Imperial Sovereignty?: A Critical Discourse Analysis of George W. Bush’sand Tony Blair’s Speeches on the “War on Terror”Chulamani ChantarawandiRecent Developments and Perspectives on Translation Studies in Thai Context KazuharuKazuharu YamamotoComparative Genre Analysis of English Argumentative Essays Written by English Majorand Non-English Major Students at a Chinese University – A Pilot StudyLi Qian and Issra PramoolsookA Comparative Study of Thai Children's Metalinguistic Awareness from Different AgeGroups and Educational ProgramsPornpimol Turbpaiboon and Chutamanee OnsuwanA Critical Discourse Analysis of Thai-ness in Children’s literatures: A Case Study of TKPark Children’s Books for the Southernmost Provinces of ThailandNattapol ZupasitThe Ability to Translate Verbal Complements from English to Thai:A case study of the 1st and 3rd year English Major StudentsPatchanok KitikananAuthentic Articles for Integrated SkillsSebastian BrookeThe Review Study: the Place of Culture in ELTSiros IzadpanahThe Review Study : The Effect of Task-Based Approach on the Advanced EFL Learners'Narrative vs. Expository WritingSiros IzadpanahUnique Categories of Errors in Thai Spellings of EnglishThomas Hamilton, Richard Watson Todd, Ph.D., and Nuttanart Facundes, Ph.D.An Analysis of English to Thai Business Document TranslationPatcharee Pokasamrit, Ph.D.PageNumbersvvivii112253445536074819097106

ICLC 2011 ProceedingsixStudents' Perceptions of Engaging a Virtual World in a Communication TaskThanaporn Srisunakrua and Punjaporn PojanapunyaCollege Students' Perceptions of English as a Medium of InstructionChadarat Hengsadeekul, Ravinder Koul, and Sittichai KaewkuekoolA Look at Changing Trends in Japanese Education: Teaching LicensesPeter Ferguson and Richard H. DerrahA Short History of Teacher Education in JapanRichard H. Derrah and Peter FergusonEnhancing Reading Comprehension and Attitudes through 4MAT System andBackground MusicNakonthep Tipayasuparat and Alisara Chuchart, Ph.D.Null Subject in a Chinese Learner of English's oral ProductionVarasiri SagaravasiThe Relationship between the Usage and the Understanding of Prepositions in ReadingComphrehension among Thai StudentsNatchaya Chalaysap, Ph.D.ELT Innovation : Students' Participation in Generating Academic Reading MaterialsNatchaya Chalaysap, Ph.D., Compol Swangboonsatic, Ph.D., Kanyarat getkham, Ph.D.,Kasma Suwanarak, Ph.D., Ketkanda Jaturongkachoke, Ph.D., Khwanchira Sena, Ph.D.,Natthinee Klamphonpook, Rujira Rojjanaprapayon, Ph.D., Saksit Saengboon, Ph.D., SavitriGadananij, Ph.D., and Varasiri SagaravasiInformation Status Dynamics and English Cleft ConstructionsJennifer A. PiotrowskiCan Only Native English Speaking Teachers Teach Aural and Oral Skills?Kasama Suwanarak, Ph.D.Communication Strategies by Thai University Students in English Language LearningSureepong Phothongsunan, Ph.D.Pidgin-English in the Nigerian Music and Films: the BenefitsOpoola B.T., Ph.D and Opoola A.F.Health Discourse and Health Knowledge: a Preliminary Study of the Thai Rath DailyNewspaperCompol Swangboonsatic, PhD.The Acquisition of Connective Expressions in Japanese: The Case of Thai-SpeakingLearnersTewich Sawetaiyaram, Ph.D.117127134140144160184195195202217228236249

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 1The Study of English Varieties as Perceived by the Korean Learner of English in anInternational ContextAndee Pollard (andeepollard@gmail.com)Curtin University of TechnologyAbstractThis paper attempts to identify which variety of English is considered to be the mostsuitable for the Korean learner of English. Suitability can be broken into several segmentswhich primarily look at which variety of English is perceived as being the ‘best’ while alsofactoring in perceived intelligibility of established English varieties by the participants. TheEnglish varieties subjected to assessment are General American English, British English,Australian English, Singaporean English and Korean English through the form of audiosamples that utilize the standard spoken language. Questions have been raised in recent timesrelating to the practicality of international communication relying on ‘native’ models such asGeneral American English and British English whereas others have proposed the wayforward is for further acceptance of English as a Lingua Franca within the ELT sector. Whatwe must keep in mind, however, is that the end-user is the English learner, and we need toanswer just which model of English is the most practical for their purposes. This studysuggests that what is deemed as the ‘best’ and what is interpreted as ‘ideal’ for the Koreanlearner of English may indeed be two different entities.KEYWORDS: ELF, Korean English, TESOL, Intelligibility, Variety, DialectIntroductionIt is common knowledge that English is a global language used in all corners of theworld by people from all walks of life (Crystal, 1997; Kubota & Ward, 2000). It is therefore anecessity for English to be investigated on the levels of how it affects the lives of the peoplethat use it (Kirkpatrick, 2007). Affects that need to be considered fall outside of the oldarguments of ‘native’ and ‘non-native’ and now land within the realms of intelligiblecommunication (Crystal, 1997; Elliot & Jenkins, 2010; Graddol, 2001; Jenkins, 2000).It is through intelligibility that successful communication can take place. It is thereforethe focus of this paper to attempt to look into the notion of perceived intelligibility through theeyes of the Korean learner of English (KLE) and also how a selection of English varieties areperceived accentually by these same learners. Instead of prescribing to the learners whichvariety of English they ‘should’ be exposed to, this paper will attempt to determine whichvariety of English they ‘want’ exposure to. Idealistically speaking, this paper aims to bring theconsiderations of the learner into the equation and to determine that if the ‘wants’ and ‘needs’of the learner are one and the same.Objectives of the ResearchWithin Korea and the ELT sector in general there is a strong preference for L1 speakersof English to act as English teachers. The basis for this appears to be built on the assumptionthat L1 speakers offer the ‘best’ model of English with respect to pronunciation and usage(Jenkins, 2006; Kirkpatrick, 2007; Shirazizadeh & Momenian, 2009). Within Koreaparticularly, there is often further discrimination in the shape of ‘North American’

2 ICLC 2010 Proceedingspronunciation models being more widely regarded than all others. It is therefore an objective ofthis research to examine which English variety from those tested is perceived as the ‘best’ forthe KLE.Further to the argument of which pronunciation model is the ‘best’ for the KLE,recent research suggests that the L1 speaker of English is often less intelligible than the L2speaker of English when communication involves L2 speakers (Kachru & Nelson, 2001;Smith & Rafiqzad, 1979). It is therefore, an objective of this research to determine whichvariety of English from the varieties tested is perceived as the most intelligible for the KLE.Significance of the ResearchThere is a substantial body of work already in existence that relates to which varietyof English it is that learners ‘should’ learn. This research is in contrast to this, however, as itis directed more toward which variety of English it is that the learner ‘wants’ to learn. Whileaccording to Kirkpatrick (2007), it is educational policy that often dictates which variety ofEnglish learners will be exposed to, this research attempts to address if the policy makershave the best interests of their students English language odyssey at heart.If we are to look at numerous ELT job advertisements placed on the internet (Sperling,n.d.), we can assert that possessing an undergraduate degree, valid passport and ‘native’speaker membership is often all that is needed to enter the ELT sector. This wanton neglect forteaching qualifications can only hinder, not only the ELT sector, but also the learner of English.This is somewhat ironic if we consider that an educator’s foremost thought should be of theirstudents.It is with this in mind that we can consider this research to be of significance throughoutthe ELT sector; from test writers, textbook writers and syllabus designers, to governmentbodies and policy makers, and all the way through to the grass roots level of teachers andstudents. It is through shedding light on the issue of which variety of English is perceived as the‘best’ by those that learn the language that we will be able to cater admirably to our students’needs.Literature ReviewThere are many notions surrounding English that predominantly appear within twodomains. These domains being those that believe in English being ‘norm-dependent’, as in‘Standard English’ (Lippi-Green, 1997; Strevens, 1977), and those that believe in Englishbeing 'norm-developing', as in English as a Lingua Franca (Dauer, 2005; Elliot & Jenkins,2010; Jenkins, 2000; Seidlhofer, 2002). According to Seidlhofer (2002), as English spreadsand commands a higher priority on the world stage, the latter view of ‘norm-developing’appears to be taking the stronger position. However, as is suggested by Jenkins (2005), andFauzia Sari and Yusuf (2009), the learners of English still appear to hold aspirations of beingusers of the ‘norm-dependent’ variety of English.The aspirations of the learner of English possessing a ‘norm-dependent’ variety ofEnglish are what Kachru and Nelson (2001) refer to as ‘native’ speaker idolisation and fallswithin the realm of the traditionalist or imperialist view where the Native English Speaker(NES) is perceived as ‘superior’ on a number of linguistic levels when directly contrastedwith the Non-Native English Speaker (NNES) (Kachru & Nelson, 2001; Kirkpatrick, 2007;Shirazizadeh & Momenian, 2009). This view is in direct opposition with the more modernand idealistic approach where English is seen as a global entity. An entity, which according

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 3to Lee (2005) and Selinker (as cited in Medgyes, 1992) now does not possess the polarpositions of NES and NNES, but instead a continuum that is related to competence.The notion that the NES is ‘superior’ to the NNES does still appear to have itssupporters however. According to the literature, due to the intrinsic ‘power’ of the NES, it isoften enough for someone wishing to enter the ELT sector to have little more qualificationthan that of being an L1 English speaker (Jenkins, 2006; Kirkpatrick, 2007). Thisphenomenon can be seen in countless job advertisements on the internet (Sperling, n.d.), andis suggested by Kirkpatrick (2007) to be instigated by the Ministries of Education in theirrespective countries.In addition to the ideal of the ‘native’ English speaker as teacher, there is still thewidespread belief that any pronunciation that diverges from the standards of ReceivedPronunciation (RP) or General American English (GAE) are perceived as being ‘incorrect’(Jenkins, 2005, 2006; Lippi-Green, 1997). The issue with this, as Graddol (2001), and Jin andCortazzi (2003) suggest, is the lack of consideration for the learner. The lack of considerationbeing that in an attempt to standardise the ELT industry, the learner is not consulted toestablish just which variety of English will stand to be the most instrumental in serving theirpurposes (Graddol, 2001; Jin & Cortazzi, 2003).If the notion of what is ‘correct’ or ‘incorrect’ where pronunciation is considered is tobe scrutinised, Jenkins (2000) makes the observation that for the adult learner in particular, itis often improbable to attain a ‘native-like’ accent in their L2. This, according to Jenner(1989), places the onus on the teacher to accept the difference between ‘perfection’ and‘acceptable’; thus empowering the continuum of competence to which Lee (2005) andSelinker (as cited in Medgyes, 1992) refer. Furthermore, as Dauer (2005) notes, accentualvariation is the norm in NNES and teachers should be capable of making a judgement callwhen it comes to their students' pronunciation. Moreover, if we consider that English as weknow it is comprised of countless variations (Kirkpatrick, 2007), then who is truly capable ofproducing accentual ‘perfection’ if even NES merely “tolerate” the varieties that one anotherutilise (Kachru & Nelson, 2001, p. 15).With the debate about English pronunciation norms appearing to be a never-endingone, the greater issue of intelligibility comes to the fore. The concern with mutualintelligibility across English users is considered by Jenkins (2000) to be moving away fromthe English speaker and onto the English listener. This switch in responsibility is an area thathas been under analysis by a number of scholars (Crystal, 1997; Deterding & Kirkpatrick,2006; Jenkins, 2000; Smith & Bisazza, 1982), with a prime factor of intelligibility being therelationship that a listener has with prior exposure and familiarity to any given Englishvariety. The literature suggests that the greater the exposure and familiarity to an Englishvariety, then the greater the degree of intelligibility (Crystal, 1997; Deterding & Kirkpatrick,2006; Jenkins, 2000; Smith & Bisazza, 1982).With increased intelligibility claimed to be gained through increased exposure to anEnglish variety, there is the suggestion that to facilitate communicative intelligibility, learnersof English must be granted exposure to a multitude of English varieties (Crystal, 1997;Deterding & Kirkpatrick, 2006; Jenkins, 2000; Kubota & Ward, 2000; Smith & Bisazza,1982). This raises the question for the need to enable greater exposure within the classroom.This is something that may not only assist in increased intelligibility, but also, as Neilsen(2004) notes, prioritise the language that the learner may encounter in the real world.

4 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsMethodologyInstrumentThis research is essentially a quantitative study utilising a questionnaire that isessentially a ranking system that looks at the perceptions of the participants with regard to anEnglish variety overall and how that same variety is perceived in terms of intelligibility.The English varieties that are subjected to testing number ten in total, with fivediffering origins. These origins consist of Australia, Korea, Singapore, United Kingdom andUnited States. All origins have been selected due to their relevance to this study. As thisstudy is conducted within Australia and the participants are Korean, inclusion of these twoorigins is a necessity. United Kingdom and United States are responsible for the two giants ofthe English language – RP and GAE – and as a result, these origins are also included asnecessity. Singaporean English speakers are what Kachru (1986) identifies as outer circlespeakers, and as such, are included to complete the three circle paradigm.All ten speakers in the audio samples have been selected for their pronunciation. Thetwo Australian English speakers represent either Standard Australian English or CultivatedAustralian English. The two speakers from the United Kingdom represent a non-regionalvariety of what is often referred to as ‘BBC English’ by the British general public. In realitythese speakers could be described as users of a less marked form of RP. The two speakersfrom the United States represent non-regional varieties of GAE. The two Singaporeanspeakers range from a strongly marked Singaporean English to a weakly marked SingaporeanEnglish. The Korean speakers represent Korean English (KE), again as strongly marked andweakly marked.The audio samples themselves are between 25 and 40 seconds in length and consist ofunscripted, natural speech targeted at the proficiency level of the participants.ParticipantsThe participants consist of a judgement sample that numbers 24, with the primary prerequisitefor inclusion being Korean nationality. Secondary considerations are age – 20 to 30years – and English proficiency. The participants’ level of English proficiency for inclusionin this study must be current enrolment in an Australian university program or technicalcollege program. This is the equivalent of an IELTS band 5.5 or above.Procedure of ResearchThe procedure of the research comprises of the participants listening to the ten audiosamples via noise-cancelling headphones. For the purposes of more accurately completing thequestionnaire, participants are informed that they may take notes relating to accent perceptionand perceived intelligibility during the listening of each respective audio sample. To furtherfacilitate note-taking, the audio sample playlist is not continued until the participant is readyto do so. All audio samples are only played once as it is deemed that further exposure to anygiven sample may increase its perceived intelligibility level.Upon completion of listening to all audio samples participants complete a largelyquantitative questionnaire (Appendix 1) that employs a two-fold ranking system. The aim ofthe questionnaire is to document the participant’s comparative perception of each respectivespeaker’s accent and perceived intelligibility level.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 5Methods of AnalysisAs the questionnaire is quantitative in nature, a statistical analysis of the data will takeplace. The analysis will focus on frequency, mean and standard deviation. As the sample sizeis a moderately small 24, it is deemed unnecessary to include probability findings. Data willbe presented primarily in tabular format, however, radar charts will also be utilised in anattempt to show a correlation between accentual rankings and perceived intelligibilityrankings.Findings and AnalysisFirstly, it must be stated that the findings of this research are by no means conclusivedue to the relatively small sample size and the quantitative nature of the methodology,however, the findings appear to reveal that trends are developing. These trends show thatthere are two audio samples coming to the fore where accentual preference is concerned.There is also evidence showing that two audio samples are standing out as those of nonpreference.If we are to look at Table 1.1, both US01 and KR01 show a high proportion of beingranked in the top two. A closer look will reveal that while the weakly marked KE speaker(KR01) shows a spread of ranking instances across nine of the ten positions, the rankings forUS01 appear to consistently be in the top five of ten positions with the exception of a singleinstance of a number ten ranking; an instance we can interpret as an outlier. It is interesting tonote that from one of the two audio samples of non-preference, a contrastive situation arises.The contrast being that while the weakly marked KR01 is emerging as a speaker of preference,the strongly marked KE speaker (KR02) is emerging as a speaker of non-preference.In Table 2.1 we can see that when perceived intelligibility is considered, however,there appears to be one stand-out audio sample in US01. KR01 is again becoming establishedas a forerunner, although the distance between KR01 and the remainder of the field is not asvast as is noted in the accentual ranking summary.AUDIOSAMPLENUMBER OF INSTANCES1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MEAN SDAU01 - 4 2 3 3 4 1 - 3 3 5.61 2.78AU02 1 3 3 3 3 2 2 1 2 3 5.43 2.86KR01 6 4 1 2 2 2 1 2 3 - 4.22 2.98KR02 2 3 - - 2 - 2 6 4 4 6.78 3.1SG01 2 - 3 5 - 4 4 2 2 1 5.79 2.4SG02 - - 1 2 1 1 3 5 4 6 7.78 2.13UK01 3 1 3 1 4 5 1 3 - 2 5.17 2.66UK02 3 2 1 1 4 1 4 3 2 2 5.65 2.92US01 5 5 5 3 2 - 2 - - 1 3.3 2.29US02 1 1 4 3 2 3 2 2 3 2 5.74 2.68Table 1.1: Accent ranking; summary n=23

6 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAUDIOSAMPLENUMBER OF INSTANCES1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MEAN SDAU01 2 6 2 2 - 5 - 2 4 1 5 3.01AU02 - 3 1 1 4 3 3 1 5 3 6.46 2.64KR01 3 6 4 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 3.96 2.56KR02 5 2 2 3 1 1 4 2 2 2 5 3.13SG01 2 1 2 5 1 1 5 2 3 2 5.79 2.77SG02 - - 2 2 5 - 2 5 4 4 7.04 2.35UK01 3 1 2 3 2 5 1 4 - 3 5.5 2.81UK02 2 1 1 2 3 2 3 2 4 4 6.46 2.89US01 7 3 5 5 4 - - - - - 2.83 1.49US02 - 1 3 - 2 4 5 4 1 4 6.71 2.35Table 2.1: Perceived intelligibility ranking; summary n=24When the speakers are combined into groups pertaining to nationality (see Tables 1.2and 2.2), the findings present somewhat differently and show a greater degree of uniformity.AUDIOSAMPLENUMBER OF INSTANCES1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MEAN SDAU 1 7 5 6 6 6 3 1 5 5 5.52 2.79KR 8 7 1 2 4 2 3 8 7 4 5.5 3.28SG 2 - 4 7 1 5 7 7 6 7 6.65 2.57UK 6 3 4 2 8 6 5 6 2 4 5.41 2.77US 6 6 9 6 4 3 4 2 3 3 4.52 2.75Table 1.2: Accent ranking; nationality n=46AUDIOSAMPLENUMBER OF INSTANCES1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MEAN SDAU 2 9 3 3 4 8 3 3 9 4 5.73 2.89KR 8 8 6 6 3 3 5 3 3 3 4.48 2.88SG 2 1 4 7 6 1 7 7 7 6 6.42 2.62UK 5 2 3 5 5 7 4 6 4 7 5.98 2.86US 7 4 8 5 6 4 5 4 1 4 4.77 2.76Table 2.2: Perceived intelligibility ranking; nationality n=48

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 7It is notable that when considered individually, US01 is being perceived as the mostintelligible, however when combined with US02 the intelligibility ranking becomesconsiderably lower. In fact, the combined KE speakers have risen to the fore as beingperceived as the most intelligible by the participants of this study.DiscussionAs this research is based on the previously conducted pilot study (Pollard, 2010a) – inwhich a GAE model of English is perceived as the most intelligible of those queried – it isbest to commence this discussion with the current findings relating to perceivedintelligibility. As the current study appears to indicate, US01 is emerging as being perceivedas the most intelligible for Korean learners of English with a perceived intelligibility rankingof M: 2.83 (SD: 1.49). The second ranked speaker is KR01 with a ranking of M: 3.96 (SD:2.56). These figures rapidly become closer should we combine the speakers by nationality,with the findings suggesting that two KE speakers are marginally more intelligible than theGAE speakers; M: 4.48 (SD: 2.88) as opposed to M: 4.77 (SD: 2.76).It is possible to link the reasons behind GAE and KE emerging as the two varieties ofEnglish perceived as being the most intelligible to the notion of familiarity. Familiarity is thenotion where it is claimed that the more exposure one receives to a particular variety oflanguage, the more intelligible it can become (Crystal, 1997; Deterding & Kirkpatrick, 2006;Jenkins, 2000; Smith & Bisazza, 1982). As KLE obviously receive large amounts of exposureto KE, it stands to reason that KE should be perceived as the most intelligible variety ofEnglish. It is also possible to understand how KLE receive large amounts of exposure toGAE. The exposure not only comes from the ESL/EFL materials that are used by learnersthroughout the country in public schools, private academies and universities, but it alsocomes from the number of American teachers present in Korea and the abundance ofAmerican television shows aired nationally.In regard to which speaker is the ‘best’ where accent and pronunciation is concerned,US01 holds a ranking M: 3 (SD: 1.8) once a solitary outlier is removed. When compared tothe other nine audio samples, this speaker is emerging as the ‘best’. This sits in line with whatKachru and Nelson (2001) suggest is the idolisation of the ‘native’ speaker.It is dangerous to do so, but if we are to assume that the participants of this study seethe ‘best’ accent as being the model they wish to acquire, there is a suggestion that theseparticipants are similar to those participants in the Jenkins (2005), and Fauzia Sari and Yusuf(2009) studies. The overall consensus in those studies appears to be that the learner is aimingat “native-like pronunciation” (Fauzia Sari & Yusuf, 2009, p. 125).However, as is noted, these trends are only partially emerging. There is an argumentagainst these considerations if with are to firstly consider speaker KR01. This weakly markedKE speaker is offering close competition in several areas and is consistently perceived asbeing amongst the ‘best’ in terms of accent (M: 4.22 (SD:2.98)). If we are to consider whatKirkpatrick (2007) suggests, in that, through the adoption of a NES model and employingNES teachers, the gap between the learner and the concept of an attainable model widens.This leaves the question that while a NES model is being perceived as the ‘best’, are they inactuality, the ‘ideal’?As we have seen in Table 1.2, when the speakers are merged into nationalitygroupings, there is no genuine consensus pertaining to which accent is emerging as the ‘best’.

8 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThis is strengthened further should we group the three inner circle varieties (Kachru, 1986)together as one:AUDIOSAMPLEAU,UK,US*NUMBER OF INSTANCES1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MEAN SD13 16 18 14 18 15 12 9 10 12 5.15 2.79KR 8 7 1 2 4 2 3 8 7 4 5.5 3.28SG 2 - 4 7 1 5 7 7 6 7 6.65 2.57Table 1.3: Accent ranking; circle modeln=46, *n=138AUDIOSAMPLEAU,UK,US*NUMBER OF INSTANCES1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 MEAN SD14 15 14 13 15 19 12 13 14 15 5.49 2.87KR 8 8 6 6 3 3 5 3 3 3 4.48 2.88SG 2 1 4 7 6 1 7 7 7 6 6.42 2.62*n=144Table 2.3: Perceived intelligibility ranking; circle modeln=48,Where the findings appear to indicate that while accentual preference still marginallylies with the inner circle speaker over the KE speaker – M: 5.15 (SD: 2.79) as opposed to M:5.5 (SD: 3.28) – the perceived intelligibility lie in favour of the KE speaker – M: 4.48 (SD:2.88) as opposed to M: 5.49 (SD: 2.87).There is a suggestion that the model of pronunciation that is deemed to be the mostsuitable for the student needs to be considered (Graddol, 2001; Jin & Cortazzi, 2003), even ifit deviates from what are the ‘desired’ models of GAE and RP (Jenkins, 2005, 2006; Lippi-Green, 1997). This is an idealistic stance that may show the students having a preference for aNNES teacher if the model is the most suitable for their needs.One of the key ingredients to successful language learning is likely to be the ability tocomprehend the teacher’s utterances, particularly within the ESL context. If we are toconsider the findings of the research, there does appear to be a relationship betweenperceived intelligibility and what constitutes the ‘best’ accent. Figure 1.1 suggests that aspeakers’ pronunciation is rated according to the perceived intelligibility levels, or vice versa,with the only exception being the strongly marked KE speaker (KR02) who presents figuresof M: 6.78 (SD: 3.1) and M: 5 (SD: 3.13) for accentual preference and perceivedintelligibility respectively. This is a discrepancy that we can assert comes from the

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 9participants' ability to identify him as a fellow KE speaker. Evidence of this can be found inPollard (2010b), where interviews conducted on the subject include participant responsesstating that as the speaker is Korean it is “not good” or that he may only be understandable tofellow Koreans.US0110AU027US02AU0141UK01KR02UK02KR01SG01SG02AccentPerceived IntelligibilityFigure 1.1: Accent and Intelligibility correlation; summaryn=23Support for this phenomenon is also provided by Jenkins (2005), and Fauzia Sari andYusuf (2009), who suggest that L2 speakers of English are able to identify their own Englishpronunciation ‘limitations’ when contrasted with L1 speakers of English. This tends tosuggest that while the KE speakers may be perceived as being highly intelligible for theparticipants, they may not be perceived as the ‘best’ due them being identifiable as Korean.This is a concept that appears to partially tie in with ‘native’ speaker idolisation (Kachru &Nelson, 2001).ConclusionThis research suggests that as KLE appear to receive a large amount of exposure toboth KE and GAE, then these two varieties of English are perceived as both being the ‘best’and the most intelligible. It is problematic, however, to draw the conclusion that the KLEconsiders GAE to be the ‘best’ as an entity. This is largely due to the fact that when groupedaccording to nationality, Korean English speakers appear to perform marginally ‘better’ thantheir GAE counterparts.There are more than just the perceptions of the participants at play here, with a greaternotion needing to be explored. The idea that ‘best’ and ‘ideal’ are in competition with one

10 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsanother is a strong one. On the one hand we have the perceptions of ‘best’, where a singleGAE speaker (US01) is sitting, and the interpretations of ‘ideal’, where a weakly marked KEspeaker (KR01) is sitting with the support of a strongly marked KE speakers (KR02). Weneed to further develop these notions for the benefit of the learner of English, as it maybecome apparent that the ‘ideal’ English variety may indeed be a weakly marked local varietywhere the learner of English receives exposure to not only an intelligible variety of English,but also a variety that is attainable without the ‘native’ speaker idolisation being present(Kachru & Nelson, 2001).It is evident that this paper focuses on the perceptions of the KLE and draws on thenotion of attainability, although, perhaps there exists the possibility to transcend theboundaries of Korea. Where ELT is present throughout the world, there exists the dichotomyof NES and NNES teacher. However, this research has shown that there is a trend developingthat appears to suggest that a weakly marked local variety is the ‘ideal’, and therefore, theNNES is perhaps the ‘best’ for the learner of English. It is bold to suggest that each and everyELT community around the globe will conclude that a weakly marked local variety is the‘ideal’ in their respective contexts, however, in this age of global communication, it is naïveto suggest that the NES is automatically the ‘best’.ReferencesCrystal, D. (1997). English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Deterding, D., & Kirkpatrick, A. (2006). Emerging South-East Asian Englishes andIntelligibility. World Englishes, 25(3/4), pp. 391-409.Dauer, R. M. (2005). The Lingua Franca Core: A New Model for Pronunciation Instruction?TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 543-550.Elliot, D., & Jenkins, J. (2010). An Interview with Jennifer Jenkins. Retrieved 7 May, 2010,from http://acorn-eikaiwa.chicappa.jp/Audio_Darren/audio_darren_an_ interview_with_jennifer_ jenkins.mp3.Fauzia Sari, D., & Yusuf, Y. Q. (2009). The role of attitudes and identity from nonnativespeakers of English towards English accents. English as International LanguageJournal, 4, 110-128.Graddol, D. (2001). English in the future. In A. Burns & C. Coffin (Eds.), Analysing Englishin a Global Context (pp. 26-37). London: Routledge.Jenkins, J. (2000). The Phonology of English as an International Language. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.Jenkins, J. (2005). Implementing an international approach to English pronunciation: The roleof teacher attitudes and identity. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3), 535-543.Jenkins, J. (2006). Current perspectives of teaching World Englishes and English as a LinguaFranca. TESOL Quarterly, 40(1), 157-181.Jenner, B. (1989). Teaching Pronunciation: The Common Core. Speak Out!, 4, 2-4.Jin, L., & Cortazzi, M. (2003). English language teaching in China: A bridge to the future. InH. W. Kam & R. Y. L. Wong (Eds.), English language teaching in East Asia today(pp. 131-145). Singapore: Times Academic Press.Kachru, B. B. (1986). The power and politics of English. World Englishes, 5(2/3), 121-140.Kachru, B. B. & Nelson, C. L. (2001). World Englishes. In A. Burns & C. Coffin (Eds.),Analysing English in a global context (pp. 9-25). London: Routledge.Kirkpatrick, A. (2007). World Englishes: Implications for international communication andEnglish language teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Kubota, R., & Ward, L. (2000). Exploring linguistic diversity through World Englishes.English Journal, 89(6), 80-86.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 11Lee, J. J. (2005). The native speaker: an achievable model. Asian EFL Journal, 7(2), 152-163.Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination inthe United States. London: Routledge.Medgyes, P. (1992). Native of non-native: Who’s worth more? ELT Journal, 46(4), 340-349.Neilsen, R. (2004). The Role of the Teacher. In C. Conlan (Ed.), Teaching English Languagein Australia (pp. 157-170). Perth: API Network.Pollard, A. (2010a). English and the Korean Learner: A Question of Wants, Needs andIntelligibility. TESOL Review, 2, 75-96.Pollard, A. (2010b). The Good, the bad, and the intrinsically ‘best’: How learners ofEnglish pass judgement on speakers of English. Paper presented at The Second AsianConference on Education, Osaka, Japan, 2-5 December, 2010.Seidlhofer, B. (2002). The shape of things to come? Some basic questions about English as aLingua Franca. In C. Meierkord & K. Knapp (Eds.). Lingua Franca Communication(pp. 269-302). Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Shirazizadeh, M., & Momenian, M. (2009). From EFL to ELF: Spotting the blind spots.English as International Language Journal, 4, 44-65.Smith, L. E., & Rafiqzad, K. (1979). English for cross-cultural communication: The questionof intelligibility. TESOL Quarterly, 13(3), 371-380.Smith, L. E., & Bisazza, J. A. (1982). The comprehensibility of three varieties of English forcollege students in seven countries. Language Learning, 32(2), 259-269.Sperling, D. (n.d.). The ESL Job Center. Retrieved September 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.eslcafe.com/jobs/.Strevens, P. (1977). New orientations in the teaching of English. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.AppendixYou will hear one person speaking at a time and ten people in total. When you are listening,please think of the way that they sound to you. How does their accent sound? How easy arethey to understand?1. Please rank the speakers based on their accent.(1= best accent; 10= worst accent)Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3 Speaker 4 Speaker 5[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]Speaker 6 Speaker 7 Speaker 8 Speaker 9 Speaker 10[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]2. Please rank the speakers based on your understanding of their speech.(1= easiest to understand; 10= hardest to understand)Speaker 1 Speaker 2 Speaker 3 Speaker 4 Speaker 5[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]Speaker 6 Speaker 7 Speaker 8 Speaker 9 Speaker 10[ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ]

12 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsDemocracy or Imperial Sovereignty?: A Critical Discourse Analysis of George W.Bush’s and Tony Blair’s Speeches on the “War on Terror”Chulamani ChantarawandiBackground and RationaleIn the context of post 9/11, the relationship of the United State with Great Britain—America’s closest ally—has played a critical role in determining their leadership style in theworld’s affairs. George W. Bush’s and Tony Blair’s administrations fought back against theinstigators of the 9/11 attacks and their allies in the midst of their rhetoric of power on a “waron terror”, claiming to make every effort to advance democracy in world affairs. However,the military intervention in Afghanistan in 2001 and more centrally with the attack on Iraq in2003, the rebirth of US and British imperial power has been cited as the actual agenda.This research concentrates on language use in the politics behind the “war on terror”.Thus it intends explore how the discourse of the two democratic government leaders has beenemployed and has seemingly succeeded in revealing change in the political paradigm. Thesecomplicated characteristics of the rhetoric and discourse practice generate three researchquestions:1. How have the discourses (macrostructures) in which the security narratives andpremises of democracy of George W. Bush and Tony Blair turned out to be discoursesof imperialism?2. What kind of discursive features (microstructures) are used in promoting the “war onterror” to earn public attention and support? How are these features achieved?3. What are the distinctive manners of George W. Bush and Tony Blair? How do thesemanners reflect American and British political cultures?Analytical FrameworkThe research embraces the critical discourse analysis (CDA) perspective as the pivotof the study. It takes two levels of analytical frameworks into consideration: the macro andmicro analyses, which were first adopted by Gandavanij in 2002. At the macro analysis level,the research employs a combination of Fairclough’s CDA and van Dijk’s SociocognitiveApproach (SCA) to develop the most effective tool in revealing the sociocultural practice andpolitical aspects that constitute the discursive practice. At the micro analysis, the researchconsists of Van Dijk’s ideological discourse analysis, politeness theory and speech act theoryin order to investigate the discursive features in the text to expose the speakers’ positions andthe strategies the speakers use to produce the language of politics.DataTwenty-six transcripts relating to the “war on terror” which were delivered from 2001to 2007 by George W. Bush and Tony Blair were analyzed. The selection of Bush’s andBlair’s transcripts was based on the adjoining period of their speeches’ release, whichtranspired from 2001 to 2007. The availability and sources of transcripts used as the corpus ofthis research can be seen in Table 1:

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 13YearThe WhiteHouseWebsiteThe availability and sources of transcriptsGeorge W. BushThe NationalReviewWebsiteThe OnlineNewsHourWebsiteThe New YorkTimes WebsiteTony BlairThe 10Downing StreetWebsite2001 2 - - - 22002 1 - - - 12003 2 1 - - 32004 - - - - 22005 2 - 1 - 12006 2 - - - 22007 1 - - 1 2Table 1: The availability and sources of transcriptsFindings1. Macrostructure AnalysisIn the Macrostructure Analysis, the sociocultural practice, discourse practice, andgeneral features of texts will be analyzed to reveal the overall picture regarding the “war onterror.”1.1 Sociocultural Practice of the Speeches on the “War on Terror”1.1.1 The Nature of the Speeches on the “War on Terror”Since politics is a social practice which constructs a range of positions for the peopleinvolved (Fairclough, 2000), the speeches on the “war on terror” were conventional sort oflanguage that Bush and Blair used in order to speak on behalf of their nations; as a result,this sort of language is not exclusively based on a personal characteristics. The speecheshave entailed great prominence for language and world politics because Bush and Blair bothplay the role of institutional actors in the political domain and “do politics” by engaging inglobal action in order to perform political acts, as well as to be representatives of theirrespective nations.1.1.2 The Audience of the SpeechesAll of the speeches were accessible by the public through the newspaper,broadcasting and Internet diffusion. Thus, it can be said that the public is the audience of thespeeches. The audience is heterogeneous, including those that are the war’s patrons, thosethat are adversaries of the US and its allies, those that are opposed to the concept of warfare,and those that are apathetic toward the war. As such, the speakers need to make the most ofthis chance in showing that they are capable of performing their leadership duties in nationaland international politics.1.2 Discourse PracticeAs society has an influence on discourse in the form of knowledge, the cognitiverepresentation of social situations becomes a critical element of the process of discourseproduction and consumption. Based on van Dijk’s SCA, social cognition is considered to bethe socially shared mental strategies and representations that reflect the construction andinterpretation of discourse. As such, social cognition is formed from attitudes about different

14 ICLC 2010 Proceedingssocial issues which may reflect the same basic opinions, comparable explanations and,especially, the instantiation of the same general norms or values.1.2.1 The Production of TextThe processes of the production of the speeches are overwhelmingly managed andpromoted by the commission of Bush’s and Blair’s governments. The committees of Bush’sand Blair’s governments are most likely to take control of the direction of the speeches that isunquestionably in line with the government. In addition, they aim at wining political supportfor particular visions by which the world can act. At this point, one can see that the process ofdiscourse production is the means of having access to or control over public discourse(Bourdieu, 1977, 1984, Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977, van Dijk, 1989, van Dijk, 1996; cited invan Dijk, 2003).1.2.2 The Consumption of TextccBased on van Dijk’s SCA, when consuming a text, the cognitive representation of thesocial situations becomes a critical element of the process of discourse comprehensionbecause it is a mental construct of the audience. This mental construct consists of theindividually variable interpretations of the ongoing social situations. Hence, the speeches ofBush and Blair on the “war on terror” play an important role in influencing people’sperception and belief in terms of how they form and reform each cognitive representation ofthe audience. Some people that are the patrons of the war may become anti-war, and somepeople that are insensitive toward the war at the start may be judicious toward the matter atthe end.1.3 General Features of Text and Schemata of TextThe speeches on the “war on terror” can be categorized into five phases: ritualbeginning, preface to the statement, statement, conclusion, and question-answer.2. Microstructure AnalysisIn the microstructure analysis, speech act theory, politeness theory, and ideologicaldiscourse analysis will be analyzed to reveal the discursive features of the spoken text.2.1 The Analysis of Speech ActsSpeech act theory is a sentence-based and speaker-oriented means of analysis (Brown,& Levinson, 1987). In this paper, the analysis of speech acts of Bush and Blair are analyzedby means of Searle’s concept of IFIDs in accordance with the five phases of the schemata ofthe text in order to reveal the intended illocutionary force in the speeches on the “war onterror.”The example of the analysis of Bush’s speech acts is illustrated as follows:1. Ritual beginningLine 1thanks the addressees2. Preface to statementLine 1-5states that the theme of the speech is to remind people of the attack onSeptember 11, 2001

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 153. The statementLine 6-22emphasizes that it is important for Congress to pass laws and to confirmnominees that will help the government defend the country and defeatterrorists and radicals…4. ConclusionLine 47-49tells the audiences that it is the end of the speech, thanks the audience, and letsthe audience know that he will answer some questions if they have any5. Question-Answer SectionLine 50-52Line 53-65Challenge 1: asks President Bush why he will not let Judge Mukasey saywhether he thinks that water boarding is illegal tortureexplains that the Congress and members of the Senate and House have beenbriefed on the law…(President Bush Previews War on Terror Speech on November 1, 2007)The example of the analysis of Blair’s speech acts is illustrated as follows:1. Ritual beginningNone2. Preface to statementLine 1-6raises the issue of the losses in Iraq and Afghanistan and reminds people ofBritain’s Armed Forces’ commitments and courage in order to ask them to beproud of the armed forces…3. StatementLine 27-30states the purpose of the speech to the addressees…4. ConclusionLine 345-348 concludes his point by saying that the struggle is about values and urgespeople to fight for these values5. Question-Answer SectionLine 351-352 Challenge 1: asks Tony Blair whether Britain can take the lead in speaking toIran and Syria directlyLine 353-364 explains that the message is absolutely clear and expresses anxiety about theway people lack the will to do what they need to do…(Speech to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council on August 1, 2006)

16 ICLC 2010 Proceedings2.2 The Analysis of George W. Bush’s and Tony Blair’s Intrinsic FTAsIn this section, Bush’s and Blair’s intrinsic FTAs will be analyzed, respectively, intwo terms: 1) threats to the addressees’ face and 2) threats to the speaker’s face. The aim ofthis section is to define each intrinsic FTA of the speaker and describe its potential functions.The example of the analysis of Bush’s Intrinsic FTAs is illustrated as follows:And these resolutions are clear. In addition to declaring and destroying all of its weaponsof mass destruction, Iraq must end its support for terrorism. It must cease the persecutionof its civilian population. It must stop all illicit trade outside the Oil For Food program. Itmust release or account for all Gulf War personnel, including an American pilot, whosefate is still unknown… (President Bush outlined Iraqi Threat, line196-207).Bush uses recurring expressions of order, “Iraq must end,” “It must cease,” “It muststop,” and “It must release” in order to stop the enemy from being involved in “weapons ofmass destruction,” “support for terrorism,” “the persecution of its civilian population,” “illicittrade outside the Oil For Food program,” and “all Gulf War personnel.” Bush thereforethreatens the enemy’s NF because he impedes the addressees’ freedom of action.The example of the analysis of Blair’s Intrinsic FTAs is illustrated as follows:But Saddam is not the only issue. We must restart the Middle East Peace Process. Wemust work with all concerned, including the US, for a lasting peace which ends thesuffering of both the Palestinians in the Occupied Territories and the Israelis at thehands of terrorists. It must be based on the twin principles of an Israel safe and securewithin its borders, and a viable Palestinian state (Prime Minister’s speech to TUCconference in Blackpool, line 102-106).Blair makes some ordering statements, “We must restart the Middle East PeaceProcess,” “We must work with all concerned…,” and “It must be based on the twinprinciples…,” in order to predicate some future act of the addressees. In doing so, he putspressure on the addressees to do what he wants. Thus, Blair threatens the addressees’ NF.The table summarizes intrinsic FTAs used by each speaker is demonstrated asfollows:SpeakersGeorgeW. BushTonyBlairIntrinsic FTAs1. Threats to the addressees’ face1.1 Acts that threaten the addressees’ NFa) orders and requests √ √b) suggestions and advice √ √c) remindings √ √d) threats, warnings, dares √ -e) offers √ -f) promises √ √g) compliments, expressions of envy or admiration √ √h) expressions of strong (negative) emotions √ -

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 17Intrinsic FTAsSpeakersGeorgeW. Bush1.2 Acts that threaten the addressees’ PFa) expressions of disapproval, criticism, contempt or ridicule,complaint and reprimands, accusation, insults √ √b) contradictions or disagreements, challenges √ √c) expression of violent (out-of-control) emotions - -d) irreverence - -e) bringing of bad new about the addressees or good news aboutthe speaker to cause distress to the addressees - -f) raising of dangerously emotional or divisive topics - -g) blatant non-cooperation in an activity - -h) use of address terms and other status-marked identifications - -2. Threats to the speaker’s face2.1 Acts that offend the speaker’s NFa) expressing thanks √ √b) acceptance of the addressees’ thanks or the addressees’ apology - -c) excuses - √d) acceptance of offers - -e) response to the addressees’ faux pas - -f) expression of unwilling promises and offers - -2.2 Acts that directly damage the speaker’s PFa) apologies - -b) acceptance of a compliment - -c) breakdown of physical control - -d) self-humiliation - -e) confessions - -f) emotion leakage - -Table 2: Summary of Speakers’ Usage of Intrinsic FTAsTonyBlairAccording to the table, it can be seen that the intrinsic FTAs that are predominantlyused by both speakers are acts that threaten the addressees’ face. In terms of the acts thatthreaten the addressees’ NF, one can notice that whereas Bush uses all of the acts to threatenthe addressees’ NF, Blair avoids using the acts of threatening, offering, and expressing strong(negative) expression to threaten the addressees’ NF. However, when threatening theaddressees’ PF, Bush and Blair use similar acts, such as expressions of disapproval, criticism,complaints, ridicule and expressions of contradiction or disagreement. Apart from the threatsto the addressees’ face, the acts that threaten the speaker’s face are also used by bothspeakers. However, there is a difference between the acts that Bush and Blair use to threatenthe speaker’s NF. Blair is more likely than Bush to offend his NF. As one can notice that

18 ICLC 2010 Proceedingswhereas Blair employs expressions of thanks and excuses, Bush only employs an expressionof thanks. Additionally, neither speakers employ acts that directly threaten their PF.2.3 Ideological Analysis of DiscourseIn the succeeding section, Van Dijk’s analysis of discursive strategies based onideological discourse is employed in order to provide reflective insight on the goal andorientation of the speakers in rhetoric of the “war on terror.” Here, some of the discursivestrategies, which are norm and value violation and presupposition, will be presented as theexamples of analysis.First, norm and value violation is the means of establishing a distinction between themand us. In this way, the speaker describes ourselves in benign terms and them in disparagingterms in order to indicate that the Others have violated the norms and values shared by ourgroup.The examples below are the use of norm and value violation of Bush:Americans are asking, why do they hate us? They hate what we see right here in thischamber—a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self- appointed.They hate our freedoms—our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, ourfreedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other (Address to a JointSession of Congress and the American People, line 106-109).This new enemy seeks to destroy our freedom and impose its views. We value life;the terrorist ruthlessly destroy it. We value education; the terrorist do not believewomen should be educated or should have health care, or should leave their home.We value the right to speak our minds; for the terrorists, free expression can begrounds for execution. We respect people of all faiths and welcome the free practiceof religion; our enemy wants to dictate how to thinks and how to worship even to theirfellow Muslims (President Discusses War on Terror, line 45-51).The next example is the use of norm and value violation of Blair:I believe it[s] cause is an ideology, a world-view, derived from religious fanaticismand that had we taken no decisions at all to enrage it, would still have foundprovocation in our very existence. They disagree with our way of life, our values andin particular in our tolerance. They hate us but probably they hate those Muslims whobelieve in tolerance, even more, as apostates betraying the true faith (line 84-89).From these examples, it can be seen that when the very norms and values are violatedby Others, they intuitively place themselves outside the realm of humanity.Second, presupposition is the means of implicitly highlighting our good entities andtheir bad ones. The speaker infers that our good entities are generally recognized, and hencethey are universal values and common sense.The below example is the use of presupposition of Bush:This is not, however, just American’s fight. And what is at stake is not just America’sfreedom. This is the world’s fight. This is civilization’s fight. This is the fight of allwho believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom. We ask every nation tojoin us… Perhaps the NATO Charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 19on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America’s side. Theyunderstand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens maybe next. Terror, unanswered, can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten thestability of legitimate governments. And you know what- we’re not going to allow it(Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People, line 165-179).Throughout the statement, Bush emphasizes “this is the world’s fight,” “This iscivilization’s fight” and “This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism,tolerance and freedom.” In this way, Bush indirectly says that our good entities are generallyrecognized, and hence they are universal values; thus, our presupposed entities are less liableto critique from those of Others who have questions about or do not practice the entitiespropagated by us (the speaker’s in-group members). Bush then presupposes that “An attackon one is an attack on all” and says that “The civilized world is rallying to America’s side.”He ignores the fact that although other civilized nations do not want to take part in this fight,it cannot be said that those nations are uncivilized.The next examples are the used of presupposition of Blair:In the first, I argued that the global terrorism that menaces us, can only be defeatedthrough pulling it up by its roots. We have to attack not just its methods but its ideas,its presumed and false sense of grievance against the West, its attempt to persuade usthat it is we and not they who are responsible for its violence. In doing so, we shouldstand up for our own values, asserting that they are not Western but global values,whose spread is the surest guarantee of our future security (PM’s foreign policyspeech- third in a series of three, line 2-8).The answer to terrorism is the universal application of global values. The answer topoverty is the same. Without progress- in democracy and in prosperity- security is atrisk. Without security, progress falters (PM’s foreign policy speech- third in a seriesof three, line 182-184).Here, Blair emphasizes “our own values” as “global values.” In this way, ourpresupposed entities are less liable to critique from those of the Others that have questionsabout the entities propagated by us (the speaker’s in-group members). Moreover, Blair alsopresupposes that “global values” exist and there is “the universal application of globalvalues” to be abided by. He overlooks the fact that no one or no institution has ever inscribedwhat ‘global values’ are constituted of.The table summarizes the discursive strategies involved in the ideologically-baseddescription of Others used by each speaker is demonstrated as follows:

20 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsSpeakersDiscursive StrategiesInvolved in Ideological BasedDescription of the OthersGeorge W. BushTony BlairNegative Lexicalization √ √Hyperbole - -Compassion Move √ √Apparent Altruism Move √ √Apparent Honesty Move - √Negative Comparison √ -Generalization √ √Concretization √ √Alliteration √ √Warning √ √Norm and Value Violation √ √Presupposition √ √Table 3:Summary of Speakers’ Usage of Discursive Strategies Involved in Ideological DiscourseFrom the findings, it can be seen that both speakers employ remarkably high degreeof the discursive strategies involved in ideological discourse. Ten out of twelve discursivestrategies are used by both speakers. Only one discursive strategy, which is the use ofhyperbole, is not used by either speaker. Note that whereas another strategy that is not usedby Bush is the use of apparent honesty move, another strategy that is not used by Blair isnegative comparison. With a greater variety of strategies, the speaker’s discourse is able toperform more functions. Therefore, it can be said that both Bush and Blair are able to enactunderlying ideologies and to use essentially powerful means of persuasion that influencepreferred mental models and preferred attitudes and ideologies.Discussion of the Three Research QuestionsDiscussion of Research Question 1: True to American and British DemocraticIdeals?Based on the findings, the US and UK have asserted the power of imperialism bymeans of imposing the set of institutions and values of the superior states on the imperializedstates or societies through the use of language. The forces of power functioning in andthrough the mechanism of the imperial power have been sold in a package of democratic

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 21ideals. Although the US’s and UK’s constitutions are founded on the basis of freedom, thetwo states have constituted the world of their empire, a world of their values and laws.Discussion of Research Question 2: “They,” “Evil,” ‘We,” “Good”Discursive strategies based on ideological discourse have been used by Bush andBlair to an immense degree (see the findings of Ideological Discourse Analysis). Thestrategies which have been used are based on in-group and out-group polarization in order togive preferentiality to the in-group and to show inconsiderateness to the out-group. In Bush’sand Blair’s rhetoric, a polarization between “evil,” “evil doers,” “the axis of evil” and“decent,” “civilized doers,” “the axis of good” has been constructed throughout the speeches.When labeling the Others as “evil” through the use of discursive strategies, Bush andBlair simply exempt themselves from giving an explanation as to why the Others act as theydo, feel infuriated or subjugated, aim for suicidal terror rather than protest or politicalengagement. Therefore, the scheme in the face of the description of “evil” simply loadsantagonism rather than analysis of mutual understanding and conciliation.Discussion of Research Question 3: The Rhetoric of Bush and Blair -The Mirror ofAmerican and British Political CultureBased on the microstructure analysis of Bush and Blair, the dissimilarity between thestyles of Bush and Blair reflects the distinctiveness between American and British politicalcultures. During the epoch of the “war on terror,” American policies for achieving powerbasedforeign policy strategies are largely coercive ones. Although the democratic ideal is thecore value that the US has claimed to stand for in the world, the nation aims at becoming auniversal dominion of right.On the other hand, during the era of the “war on terror,” British political culture hasbeen in sync with the doctrines of the international community. Blair simultaneously carrieson his ambitious form of internationalism and plants the seeds of ideological discourse in hisrhetoric in a courteous, circuitous manner. Blair does not shrink from using power, butalways chooses to do it to maintain the implicit hegemony.ReferencesAcharya, A. (2007). State Sovereignty After 9/11: Disorganised Hypocrisy, Political Studies55, 274–296. Retrieved January, 11, 2008, from Blackwell Synergy database.Bjørgo, T. (2005). Conclusions. In T. Bjørgo (Ed.), Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths,Reality, and Ways Forward, (pp. 256-264). New York: Taylor & Francis.Bourdieu, P. (1982). The Production and Reproduction of Legitimate Language. In L. Burke,T. Crowley & A. Girvin (Eds.), The Routledge Language and Cultural TheoryReader, (pp. 467-477). London and New York: Routledge.Brown, P., & Levinson, C. S. (1987). Politeness: Some universals in language usage.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Brown, S. (1995). New Forces, Old Forces, and the Future of World Politics: Post- ColdWar Edition. New York: HarperCollins College Publishers.Chandler, D. (2003). Rhetoric without responsibility: the attraction of ‘ethical’ foreign policy.British Journal of Politics and International Relations 5 (3), 295–316. RetrievedNovember 19, 2007, from the Blackwell Synergy database.Charoensinolarn, C. (2006). Nation-State and the New World (Dis) Order [rathchat kapkuamrairabiap lok chut mai]. Bangkok: Wiphasa.

22 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsChilton, P., & Schäffner, C. (1997). Discourse and Politics. In A. T. van Dijk (Ed.),Discourse as Social Interaction, (pp.206-230). London, California, and New Delhi:Sage.Cohen, J. (2006). Deliberation and Democratic Legitimacy. In R. E. Gooding & P. Petti(Eds.), Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology, (pp. 159-170). MA,Oxford, and Victoria: Blackwell Publishing.Chomsky, N. (1992). Deterring Democracy. New York: Hill and Wang.Cutting, J. (2002). Pragmatic and Discourse: A resource book for students. London and NewYork: Routledge.Dallmayr, R. F. (1984). Language and Politics: Why Does Language Matter to PoliticalPhilosophy?. Notre Dame and London: University of Notre Dame Press.Dupont, A. (2005). Transnational Violence in the Asia- Pacific: An Overview of CurrentTrends. In P. J. Smith (Ed.), Terrorism and Violence in Southeast Asia: TransnationalChallenges to States and Regional Stability, (pp. 3-18). New York: M.E. Sharpe.Duranti, A. (1997). Linguistic Anthropology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Elters, J. (2006). The Market and the Forum: Three Varieties of Political Theory. In R. E.Gooding & P. Petti (Eds.), Contemporary Political Philosophy: An Anthology, (pp.144-158). MA, Oxford, and Victoria: Blackwell Publishing.Fairclough, N. (2003). Analysing Discourse: Textual Analysis for Social Research. Londonand New York: Routledge.Fairclough, N. (n.d.). Blair’s contribution to elaborating a new doctrine of internationalcommunity. Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.ling.lancs.ac.ukFairclough, N. (n.d.). Critical discourse analysis. Retrieved January 4, 2008, fromhttp://www.ling.lancs.ac.ukFairclough, N. (n.d.). Critical discourse analysis in trans- disciplinary research on socialchange: transition, re- scaling, poverty and social inclusion. Retrieved January 4,2008, from http://www.ling.lancs.ac.ukFairclough, N. (n.d.). The Dialectics of Discourse. Retrieved January 4, 2008, fromhttp://www.geogr.ku.dk/courses/phd/globe-loc/papers/phdairclough2.pdfFairclough, N. (2000). New Labour, New Language?. London and New York: Routledge.Fairclough, N., & Wodak, R. (1997). Critical Discourse Analysis. In A. T. van Dijk (Ed.),Discourse as Social Interaction, (pp. 258-284). London, California, and New Delhi:Sage.Gadavanij, S. (2002). Discursive Strategies for Political Survival: A Critical DiscourseAnalysis of Thai No- Confidence Debates. Leeds: University of Leeds Press.Glassner, I. M. (1993). Political Geography. New York, Chichester, Brisbane, Toronto, andSingapore: John Wiley & Sons.Grice, H. P. (1975). Logic and Conversation. In Cole, P. & Morgan, J. L. (Eds.). Syntax andSemantics vol.3: Speech Acts, (pp. 41-58). New York: Academic Press.Gumperz, J. J. (1992). Discourse Strategies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gupta, K. D. (2005). Exploring roots of terrorism. In T. Bjørgo (Ed.), Root Causes ofTerrorism: Myths, Reality, and Ways Forward, (pp. 16-32). New York: Taylor &Francis.Holm, H. H., & Sørensen, G. (1995). Whose World Order?: Uneven Globalization and theEnd of the Cold War. Boulder, San Francisco, and Oxford: Westview Press.Hobson, A. J. (1954). Imperialism: A Study. London: George Allen & Unwin.Huntington, P. S. (1996). The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking World Order. London,New York, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, and Singapore: Samuel P. Huntingdon.Kegley, Jr, W. C., & Raymond, G. (1994). A Multipolar Peace?: Great-Power Politics in theTwenty-first Century. New York: St. Martin’s Press.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 23Kellner, D. (2007). Bushspeak and the Politics of Lying: Presidential Rhetoric in the “War onTerror”. Presidential Studies Quarterly 36 (4), 622-645. Retrieved November 19,2007, from the Blackwell Synergy database.Laïdi, Z. (1998). A World Without Meaning: The Crisis of Meaning in International Politics.London and New York: Routledge.Levinson, C. S. (1983). Pragmatics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.McLean, C., & Patterson, A. (2006). A Precautionary Approach to Foreign Policy? APreliminary Analysis of Tony Blair’s Speeches on Iraq. Political Studies Association8, 351-367. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from the Blackwell Synergy database.Mohammad, A. (2005). Roots of terrorism in the Middle East: Internal pressures andinternational constraints. In T. Bjørgo (Ed.), Root Causes of Terrorism: Myths,Reality, and Ways Forward, (pp. 103-118). New York: Taylor & Francis.Phillips, L., & Jørgensen, W. M. (2002). Critical Discourse Analysis. Discourse Analysis asTheory and Method. London, California, and New Delhi: Sage.Sadock, J. (2004). Speech Acts. In L. R. Horn & G. Ward (Eds.), The Handbook ofPragmatics. (pp. 53-73). MA, Oxford, Victoria: Blackwell Publishing.Sarangi, S. (2001). A comparative perspective on social theoretical accounts of the languageactioninterrelationship. In N. Coupland, S. Sarangi, & C. N. Candlin (Eds.),Sociolinguistics and Social Theory, (pp. 29-60). London: Pearson Education Limited.Silberstein, S. (2004). War of Words: Language, Politics and 9/11. New York: Routledge.Slater, D. (2007). Imperial Geopolitics and the Promise of Democracy. Development andChange 38 (6), 1941-1054. Retrieved January, 11, 2008, from Blackwell Synergydatabase.Smith, N. (Ed.). (2004). Chomsky: Ideas and Ideals. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.Tuathail, O. G., & Luke, W. T. (1994). Present at the (Dis)integration: Deterritorializationand Reterritorization in the New Wor(l)d Order. Annals of the Association of theAmerican Geographers 84(3), 381-398. Retrieved November 19, 2007, from theBlackwell Synergy database.Tugwell, M. (1987). Terrorism and Propaganda: Problem and Response. In P. Wilkinson &A. M. Stewart (Eds.), Contemporary Research on Terrorism, (pp. 409-418). AberdeenUniversity Press.van Dijk, T. A. (1997). Cognitive Context Models and Discourse. In M. Stamenow (Ed.),Language Structure, Discourse and the Access to Consciousness, (pp. 189-226).Amsterdam: Benjamins. Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (1995). Discourse Analysis as Ideology Analysis. In C. Schäffner & A.Wenden (Eds.), Language and Peace, (pp. 17-33). Aldershot: Dartmouth Publishing.Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (2003). Critical Discourse Analysis. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E.Hamilton (Eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, (pp. 352-371). MA, Oxford,Victoria: Blackwell Publishing.van Dijk, T. A. (1993). Discourse and Cognition in Society. In D. Crowley & D. Mitchell(Eds.), Communication Theory Today, (pp. 107-126). Oxford: Pergamon Press.Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (2001). Discourse, Ideology and Context. Folia Linguistica, xxx (1-2), 11-40.Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (1996). Discourse, power and access. In C. R. Caldas- Coulthard & M.Coulthard (Eds.), Texts and Practices: Reading in Critical Discourse Analysis, (pp. 84-104). London: Routledge. Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.org

24 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsvan Dijk, T. A. (1995). Ideological Discourse Analysis. In E. Ventola & A. Solin (Eds.),Special issue Interdisciplinary approaches to Discourse Analysis, (pp. 135-161).Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (2002). Political discourse and political cognition. In A. P. Chilton & C.Schäffner (Eds.), Politics as Text and Talk, Analytical approaches to politicaldiscourse, (pp. 204-236). Amsterdam: Benjamins. Retrieved January 4, 2008, fromhttp://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (1993). Principles of critical discourse analysis. Discourse & Society 4 (2),249-283. Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (1989). Social Cognition and Discourse. In H. Giles & R. P. Robinson (Eds.),Handbook of Language and Social Psychology, (pp. 163-183). Chichester: Wiley.Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgvan Dijk, T. A. (1981). Studies in the Pragmatics of Discourse. The Hague, Paris, and NewYork: Mouton Publishers.van Dijk, T. A. (2005). War rhetoric of a little ally: Political implicatures and Aznar’slegitimatization of the war in Iraq. Journal of Language and Politics 4(1), 65-91. In L.Chouliaraki (Ed.), Special issue “The Soft Power of War: Legitimacy and communityin Iraq war discourses.” Retrieved January 4, 2008, from http://www.discourses.orgWilkinson, P. (1987). Terrorism: An International Research Agenda. In P. Wilkinson & A.M. Stewart (Eds.), Contemporary Research on Terrorism, (pp. xi-xx). AberdeenUniversity Press.Wilson, J. (2003). Political Discourse. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.),The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, (pp. 352-371). MA, Oxford, Victoria:Blackwell Publishing.Websiteshttp://www.number10.gov.uk (The 10 Downing Street Website) retrieved on November 20,2007.http://www.whitehouse.gov (The White House Website) retrieved on November 20, 2007.http://www.pbs.org (The Online NewsHour Website) retrieved on November 20, 2007.http://www.nationalreview.com (The National Review Website) retrieved on November 20,2007.http://www.nytimes.com (The New York Times Website) retrieved on November 20, 2007.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 25Recent Developments and Perspectives on Translation Studies in Thai Context 1Kazuharu Yamamoto 2AbstractThis study investigates characteristics of recent developments in TranslationStudies (TS) in a Thai context with no specific language pairs, institutions forpublishing research, or research types. This study deals with bibliographicdatabases at the National Library of Thailand (NLT) and the Research Library ofthe National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) and resulted in 201 studiesfrom the period of 1982 to 2009 being found. The results of the survey indicate thevarious wide-range and long term research trends concerning translation in theThai context that have been proposed by various institutions. It provides insightsthat have the potential for researchers interested in the field of TS to discuss andfurther research in the future. However, it may become necessary for a suitableeducational environment to be established as soon as possible in order to continueto research at the doctoral level in the field of TS studies within a Thai context.Key Words: Translation Studies, Thai context, Translation programs and educationIntroductionTS has spread to target areas and languages including Asian contexts 1 . Encyclopedia ofTS (Aveling & Yamada, 2008) is a most authoritative book in this field. However, TS in aThai context has been only mentioned as a part of the Southeast Asian tradition, and is onlyhighlighted in the religious and literary aspects. Little has been explained about TS itself. Inthe text Asian Translation Traditions (Hung & Wakabayashi, 2005), the term “Thai” was notfound at all.Although TS within a Thai context could be a relatively uncharted research area,Srisunthornthai’s study (2006) does indicate the general characteristics of TS within a Thaicontext. It is a valuable study because no researcher has ever previously attempted to tacklethis subject, especially analysis of research methods, and analysis of approachesdemonstrated the growing TS within a Thai context. However, there are limitations in theSrisunthornthai’s study on publication types, language pairs, and institutions for publishingresearch.This study attempts to investigate characteristics of the recent developments of TS in theThai context with no specific publication types, language pairs, and institutions. In1 The earlier version of this paper was presented at the 2th International Conference of Language andCommunication (ICLC) held at National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA) in Bangkok on6 August 2010.2 Kazuharu Yamamoto is a Thai-Japanese based translator and interpreter. He is also a doctoral student atGlobal Human Studies Program, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University, Japan. Hisresearch interests include community interpreting and translation, cross-cultural communication, andlanguage education.E-mail: kazuharu120@gmail.com1 The term ‘context’ focuses on not only language as objects of the study but also the specific regionalculture and society as discourses.

26 ICLC 2010 Proceedingscomparison with the Srisunthornthai’s survey, this study intends to extend the survey of theearlier research in scope .Context of this studyRecently published academic texts in the field of translation within an Asian contextincludes the aforementioned 2005 publication edited by Hung and Wakabayashi. However,there is no examination of the “Thai” tradition in their discussion. As for other Asiancontexts, there are some texts translated into Asian languages such as Munday’s IntroducingTranslation Studies (2008) and Pym’s Exploring Translation Theories (2009), which havehelped to develop TS at a local level.Recently, there have been many international conferences held in Asian countries for TSscholars. For instance, the Asian Translators’ Forum is held every three years, and which washeld in Macau in 2010. Thailand also will have a First International Conference onTranslation and Interpreting Studies in 2010. This implies that TS and the community of TSscholar has been growing in Asia.The field of TS in the Thai context has also been growing. From a point of educationalbackgrounds, TS programs in Thailand have made an impact on increasing the amount ofpublished research concerned with TS, especially master’s thesis and independent study aspublication types. TS programs for master’s degrees have been begun since the 1990s 2 . Forexample, the first TS program was offered at Thammasat University in 1993, and a programat Ramkhamheang University was established in 1995. TS programs at Mahidol Universityand Chulalongkorn University also were offered in 1990s. Language pairs in these TSprograms are English and Thai or French and Thai. There are still no Asian language pairs.Research in the field of TS in a Thai context has mainly been created as TS programs at themaster degree level.MethodThe method adopted for this study is a literature survey using a quantitative approach.Three main items of analysis are publication types, institutions, and research contents. Theresearch contents include language pairs, research categories, genre of translation works,areas of research contents, and research categories by year. Regarding the framework of theresearch categories, I refer to the Holmes’s map 3 of the TS (Holmes, 2004 & Toury, 1995)and Srisunthornthai’s study (2006).This study deals with data from NLT and the NRCT conducted over the 28-year periodfrom 1982 to 2009 in order to discover the relational research by searching the titles andsubjects. Keywords 4 for searching, which were collected from terms of Palumbo (2009) wereused in both Thai and English. As a result, 201 samples were found.2 See Uehara (2008) for more information, which reports and analyzes translation education atmaster’s level in Thailand.3 This concept consists of ‘pure’ areas and ‘applied’ areas of research and has subsequently beenpresented by Toury.4 Hitting keywords on databases in English are translation, translations, translating, and translator. Theirkeywords in Thai are การแปล (translation), นักแปล (translator) หนังสือแปล (translation book), and งานแปล(translation work). On the other hand, no hitting keywords are translated, traduction, translatability,equivalence, domestication, and subtitle.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 27As for the scope and limitation in this survey, TS research which was not hit in thedatabases is not addressed. In addition, TS research which did not register on the databases isalso beyond the scope of this survey.Results and DiscussionPublication typesFigure 1 shows percentage of publication types which were published from 1982 to 2009.Master’s theses account for 62.7% (n=126) of publication types, followed by journal articlesand the independent studies, with each accounting for 14.4% (n=29). Although there are nospecialized TS journals in Thailand, these articles were found in journals published byuniversities. As for dissertations, there seems to be fewer than other publication typesbecause there are no TS programs at a doctoral level in Thailand.Fig. 1 Percentage of publication types which were published from 1982 to 2009Figure 2 indicates the amount of each publication types by year. From this chart, it clearlyappears that the amount of research at the master’s level has been dramatically increasingover the last 10 years. TS programs started during the 1990s could have had a significantimpact on the research amount. Although Srisunthornthai’s study focused on the master’sthesis as publication types, this study needs to take into account the independent study andthe articles when discussing TS in a Thai context.

28 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsFig. 2 Amount of each publication types, breakdown by yearPublishing InstitutionsFigure 3 summarizes the amount of published research by different institutions. The barsare arranged from the institution with the highest number of published research to theinstitution with the lowest number of published research, with the most at the top. Researchwritten in Thai and English are both illustrated.Fig. 3 Amount of published research (n=201) by institutions

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 29It can be seen that the highest number of published research is from Mahidol University(n=66). The next is Thammasat University (n=44). The third is Chulalongkorn University(n=29). These top three universities opened TS programs in 1990s. However, the othervarious institutions which have no TS programs also collectively published as much researchas universities with TS programs. This result are worthy of attention. How do students atuniversities which have no TS programs progress their researches? The potential of TS in aThai context could be greater than previously considered.Research contentsFigure 4 presents the language pairs or combinations in each research as objects of theresearch. English and Thai pairs take up the highest percentage (73.5%), and the secondhighest percentage in language pairs is French and Thai (15.0%). These main language pairsare the same as language pairs in TS programs. Language pairs between Asian languagessuch as Japanese or Chinese and Thai are still uncommon.Fig.4 Percentage of language pairs or combinations (n=147) as objects of the researchFigure 5 examines the breakdown of research categories of each research. Contentsanalysis accounted for 43.8% (n=88) of research categories, which was first in rank. Contentsanalysis usually adopted a linguistic approach, and tended to analyze based on the notion ofequivalence. Translation works account for 25.4% (n=51), ranking second. Translation workmeans a study of translating something as a work and they are typically an independent typeof study. On the other hand, TS in terms of sociology or cultural studies accounts for only6.5% and 4.5% respectively. Translator act accounts for only 4% (n=8) in spite of receivingheavy results from the keywords of community translation, localization, and cognitive.

30 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsFig.5 Percentage of research categories (n=201) in each researchFigure 6 shows the breakdown of the translation work by genre. Literature accounted for73.1% (n=38), which was the most popular genre. The second rank was audio visualtranslation which accounted for 15.4% (n=8). In contrast, the other genres of politics policy,poem, song, legal, and history are still uncommon, and represented only within the range of1.9% (n=1) to 3.8% (n=2) of translation work's total of 51 researches.Fig.6 Percentage of translation work (n=51) by genreFigure 7 reflects the breakdown of contents analysis by area. In this case, literatureaccounted for 53.4% (n=47), which is the highest percentage. The second highest percentagewas audio visual translation with 13.6% (n=12). This result is similar to the results of thebreakdown of translation works by genre. In general, journals concerned with TS haverecently discussed comic, community, and audio visual translation as a topic. Furthermore, inthe areas of medical and tourism in a case of TS in Thai context can be addressed byresearchers in the future.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 31Fig.7 Percentage of content analysis (n=88) by areaFigure 8 illustrates the changes for research categories between each four year period. Thefirst research case was found in 1982. There was a sharp but sustained increase from 1982 to2005, followed by a further rise to reach a peak in the period 2002 to 2005, followed by onlya small dip in the period 2006 to 2009. As can be seen, translation work has increasedsignificantly to the end of 2009. This is due to the offer of TS programs by the variousinstitutions, which is shown in Figure 3. On the other hand, the contents analysis researchcategories reached peak during the period 1998 to 2001 and then steadily declined to the endof 2009.Fig. 8 Changes in the research categories (n=201), breakdown for each four year

32 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsTranslation aid or translator act rose from 1998, which contributes to diversity of TS inThailand, with new categories including translation cultural studies and translation trainingwhich have gradually spread over the last decade. This may indicate the development andwidening of perspectives in TS within a Thai context.Conclusion and RecommendationsTS in a Thai context has been proposed by various institutions over a long period, especiallyduring the 2000s. As for diversity of research types, in recent years, journal articles have alsobeen found. Nevertheless, research has been primarily undertaken at a master’s level. Not onlylanguage pairs or combinations but also research categories including research areas and genrecontinue to be unbalanced.Finally, I would like to suggest possible directions for TS in a Thai context in the future.Firstly, it would be necessary to start a doctoral program that is specifically designed for TS,otherwise Thai students wishing to continue to study at a doctoral level will have to look forinstitutions outside of Thailand. Without a doctoral program within the country, it is far moreproblematic for Thai students to continue to study at a doctoral level.Secondly, TS researchers need to cooperate with researchers in other fields such as languageeducation. This will result in TS becoming more interdisciplinary and useful. Finally, it would benecessary to undertake further discussions and communication to develop TS within a Thai context.It is my hope that this study helps build the momentum to deepen future study in the field of TS.AcknowledgementsI would like to thank the anonymous reviewers who provided valuable comments andsuggestions. I would also like to thank Assoc. Prof. Dr. Savitri Gadavanij, Dr. CompolSwangboonsatic, Dr. Khwanchira Sena, and Dr. Nareenoot Damrongchai at NIDA for organizingICLC 2010. Needless to say, the responsibility for any errors and any opinions expressed in thispaper are those of the author.ReferencesAveling, H. & Yamamda, T. S. (2008). ‘Southeast Asian Traditions’ In Encyclopedia ofTranslation Studies. Mona Baker and Gabriela Saldanha (eds.), pp 527-532. 2 nd edition.London and New York: Routledge.Holmes, J. S. (2004) 'The name and nature of Translation Studies' In: Venuti, L. (ed.) TheTranslation Studies Reader. London and New York: Routledge. pp 180-192.Hung, E. & Wakabayashi, J. (eds). (2005). Asian Translation Traditions. Manchester andNorthamptom: St.Jerome.Munday, J. (2008). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. translatedby Torikai, K (ed). 2009. 2 nd edition. London and New York: Routledge.Palumbo, G. (2009). Key Terms in Translation Studies. London and New York: Continuum.Pym, A. (2009). Exploring Translation Theories. translated by Takeda, K. 2010. London andNew York: Routledge.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 33Srisunthornthai, J. (2006). A Synthesis of Research in Translation. During 2541-2546 B.E..Unpublished Master's Thesis. Faculty of Graduate Studies. Mahidol University.Toury, G. (1995). Descriptive Translation Studies: And Beyond. Amsterdam andPhiladelphia: John Benjamins.Uehara, M. (2008) Tai no daigakuin ni okeru tsuyaku honyaku kyouiku no genjou to kadai[Interpreting and Translation Education of the Graduate Schools in Thailand]Interpreting and Translation Studies, 8, pp 337-354.

34 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsA Comparative Analysis of English Argumentative Essays Written by English Majorand Non-English Major Students at a Chinese University – A Pilot StudyLI Qian and Issra PramoolsookSchool of English, Suranaree University of Technology, THAILANDABSTRACTArgumentative writing has long been regarded as an essential mode of written discourse.However, argumentative writing is a difficult type of text for students, especially for nonnativelearners. Despite some studies on argumentative essays across ages, grade levels,cultures and languages, research has not yet been conducted on writers from differentdisciplines in the Chinese context. The purpose of this pilot study was to test whether theselected model is workable or not for the main study with a bigger corpus. Two sets of corpusof English argumentative essays written by Tongren University students were built, 10 fromEnglish majors and the other 10 from non-English majors. A selected analytical frameworkwas used to analyze the move-step structure of the essays and some linguistic features werealso investigated. Results revealed that the majority of the argumentative essays were foundto follow the three stages set in the model. Findings also showed some differences in terms ofmove-step structure between the essays written by these two groups of students. Therefore,the selected model is workable in this pilot study. And this model will continue to be used inthe main study.Keywords: Argumentative essay, Genre analysis, Move-step structure, Linguistic features,English and non-English major studentsINTRODUCTIONArgumentative writing has long been highly regarded as an essential mode of writingdiscourse and it plays an important part of second language learners’ academic experience atthe university level (Zhu, 2001). Argumentative texts are required to be produced in a varietyof contexts.First, in academic settings, argumentative writing is an important instrument for studentswho face the task of writing research papers before finishing their university careers(Crowhurst, 1991). Next, for test-takers, argumentative essay is a required genre to producein different tests or exams, ranging from national level tests (College English Test [CET] andTest for English Majors [TEM] in China) to international tests (TOEFL and IETS). Finally, inthe workplace, individuals may need to persuade others to support their proposals oropinions. Given the importance of argumentative writing, it is clear that argumentativewriting plays a significant role both for academic success and for general life purposes(Crowhurst, 1990). Therefore, finding a suitable way to teach writing of this text type willprepare the students, especially non-native speakers of English, to handle this writing taskwell and successfully for the academic and professional purposes.However, argumentative writing is a difficult type of text for students to produce. Oneweakness is poor organization associated with a lack of knowledge of argumentativestructure. The student writers have inadequate exposure to argumentative writing structure,and have little knowledge of this genre. Normally, their writing lacks clear organization, andthey may produce inappropriate style of writing by using inappropriate language, and wrong

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 35connectors (Crowhurst, 1987). Several studies have mentioned this problem exists in avariety of contexts (e.g. Ferris, 1994; Hyland, 1990; Connor, 1990; Crowhurst, 1990,Crowhurst, 1991, etc.). Chinese ELT learners have been reported to suffer with this difficultyas well (e.g. Gao, 2007). However, more study in particular ELT context is needed to enrichthe existing findings.This pilot study is a part of the main study that will be conducted at Tongren University(TU). With a student population of about 7,000, TU is situated in Tongren city, which lies inthe east of Guizhou, China. It is a newly founded local comprehensive university, and itprovides English language programs for both English majors and non-English majors.College English is a required basic course for all first and second year undergraduatenon-English major students at TU. The objective of College English is to develop students’ability to use English in a well-rounded way (CMOE, 2007). Normally, in the CollegeEnglish classroom, every English teacher is required to teach all four skills, the practice isknown as the “one-teacher-package-class” model in the Chinese ELT context (Lu, 2007).Unsurprisingly, in three hours per week teaching, compared with instruction in listening andreading, much less attention has been devoted to writing. Inadequate attention to writingattributes to large class size, time constraint, students’ relatively low English proficiency, andthe teacher’s limited training in teaching writing (You, 2004).For English majors, a writing course is offered to them only in term seven with twohours per week. The writing course aims to improve students’ writing ability and help themcompose good pieces of writing. The textbook for this course consists of eight chaptersarranged in the order from word, sentence, and paragraph level to essay level. Normally,writing instruction follows the textbook based on the principle of ‘from simplicity todifficulty’. However, one substantial flaw of this textbook is the absence of writing anargumentative essay in the essay composition chapter, which would lead to the students’unfamiliarity with the structure of argumentative essay.Obviously, most English and non-English majors at TU are struggling with composingargumentative essays. Writing an argumentative essay is a demanding task for them due toinadequate exposure to this genre, insufficient explicit instruction, and unfamiliarity with thestructure of argumentative writing.Gao (2007) confirmed the problem of the lack of input of genre knowledge in teachingEnglish writing at Chinese universities. Traditionally, grammatical competence has beengiven the most important place in the teaching of languages, but generic competence has beenoverlooked. Neither the writing course nor the textbooks put enough weight on genreteaching. As a result, learners are not sensitized to the generic conventions concerning whythe texts are written as they are and how they work.The major purpose of the main study is thus to investigate current rhetorical patterns ofargumentative essays produced by English and non-English major students at TU, so that theweaknesses of their writing can be identified, and therefore improvement can be suggested.The second purpose is to explore current linguistic features of the argumentative essaywritten by English and non-English major students at TU so that information about languageuse can be obtained. The third purpose is to reveal the similarities and differences bycomparing the argumentative essays written by these two groups of students, so that theteachers can adapt in different ways when teaching different groups of students this genre.The last purpose is to explore a possibility of using the findings from this research to

36 ICLC 2010 Proceedingscompliment the good argumentative essay framework to propose a more suitable model forChinese students in this particular context.In this paper, the pilot study which was conducted to test whether a selectedargumentative essay model is workable or not was reported. The result will help theresearchers make a sound decision to adopt the selected model for the main study.METHODOLOGY1. Data and Data Collection“The analysis of a genre based on data obtained from a small corpus of texts has becomea widely used method of obtaining information about language use” (Henry and Roseberry,2001. p. 93). This statement provides a reason for the data collection method for this pilotstudy. With the intention to obtain information whether the selected model is workable forthe main study, one possible way is to try this model with an analysis of a small corpus. Inthis study, 20 students were selected based on their good performance as reflected from theirtest scores from College English for non-English majors and Intensive Reading and WritingClasses for English majors. Among them, 10 are English majors and the other 10 are non-English majors. These 20 selected students were required to write an argumentative essay onthe given topic of Online Evaluation to Teachers with at least 200 words in one hour. In thetask sheet, the Instructions part provides some background information about the topic aswell as the requirements of length, content and basic elements needed to be present in theargumentative essay (See Appendix A for the task sheet used for data collection). Finally,these 20 written texts were complied to create the corpus for this pilot study.2. Data AnalysisAnalytical frameworkDespite the availability of four other argumentative essay analysis frameworks proposedby Toulmin (1958), Veel (1997), Lock and Lockart (1998), and Derewianka (1990), Hyland’smodel (1990) was chosen as a framework for the analysis of these 20 argumentative essaysfor the following reasons. First, Hyland’s framework is a comprehensive model for analyzingargumentative essays, It provides a detailed description of each stage and move, which offersa clearly explained rhetorical structure of an argumentative essay that can be used as asuitable sample model for analysis, while Veel (1997) just provided the generic structure ofthis genre without giving detailed description of each stage of the genre of exposition. Thesecond reason for using this model is because of its validity. This framework has proved validbecause Hyland arrived at it by analyzing 65 top 10% of essays submitted for a high schoolmatriculation in English. Finally, this framework has been employed to analyze the textsproduced by non-English speakers, which are similar to the target writers in this presentstudy, while the other available models except Lock and Lockart’s (1998) aim at analyzingtexts written by native speakers.According to this model, the English argumentative essay is characterized by a structurewith three stages, namely: Thesis, Argument and Conclusion. The Thesis introduces theproposition to be argued; the Argument discusses grounds for the thesis; and the Conclusionsynthesizes discussion and affirms the validity of the thesis. Each stage contains severalmoves, which are either obligatory or optional. The structure of the argumentative essayproposed by Hyland (1990) is presented in Appendix B.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 37Analysis ProcedureGenre analysis consists of moves analysis and linguistic features identification. Both thecorpus categorization and the corpus analysis took a coding system. Two corpora werecategorized according to students’ majors. One set of corpus was coded EM which stands forEnglish major, while the other was coded NEM which stands for non-English major. Thetexts from these two corpora were labeled from EM01 to EM10 and from NEM01 to NEM10,respectively. As for move analysis coding system, ‘I’ stands for Information, ‘P’ forProposition, etc. The advantage of using a coding system is that the information can beinterpreted easily and correctly even by using some simple codes.Both analysis of move structure and linguistic features were conducted manually. Thismay lead to low reliability of the results. To alleviate this problem, the inter-rater method wasused as suggested by Crooks (1986) to obtain higher reliability. Two researchers firstlyworked independently and separately on conducting move and linguistic features analyses.Then, they convened to work collaboratively and had the analysis finalized by comparing anddiscussing their results. Whenever different opinions occurred, they negotiated until theagreement was reached on a case by case basis.RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONSome interesting results emerged after the 20 texts were analyzed. In general, 19 out ofthe 20 texts were found to follow the three-stage structure proposed by Hyland (1990). Theresults are reported here from two perspectives: move analysis and linguistic features.Appendix C summarizes the results of the move analysis.1. Move Analysis1.1. Moves that are not used at allGambit move in the Thesis stageAccording to Hyland (1990), the Gambit is attention grabber. The function of thismove is to capture the reader’s attention, rather than to inform. None of the students’ texts isfound to contain this move. The reason may be that the students lack such backgroundknowledge about the function of this move, and also the move requires certain skills whichare beyond students’ awareness and ability.Evaluation move in the Thesis stageThe Evaluation provides a positive comment on the proposition, and it may follow theproposition to give a brief support. However, all students stated their own standpoints andstopped there, and none of the texts contain the move of Evaluation. It is assumed thatsubconsciously students would rather give reasons later in the Argument stage. This mayresult from their lack of confidence because they worry about having nothing to say in theArgument stage which is supposed to provide reasons for acceptance of the proposition.Restatement move in the Argument stageThe Restatement is a repetition of proposition. The move functions as a reminder of thesubject. The reason why students did not use it is probably because restatement is regarded assomething unnecessary and tedious in the Chinese tradition. Therefore, the students tried toimpress the reader that they were skilled writers by avoiding this unnecessary move.

38 ICLC 2010 Proceedings1.2. Moves that are always or mostly presentInformation move in the Thesis stageInformation is almost a universal feature in the argumentative writing. This move usuallypresents background materials for topic contextualization. All the texts contained this move.One possible reason is L1 transfer. People usually tend to provide necessary backgroundinformation before the proposition is presented in Chinese culture. Therefore, the students usedthe Information move easily and naturally. Another reason may be the information provided inthe instruction section was sufficient. When the topic was given to the students, some relatedbackground information was also provided in Chinese. The students possibly borrowed theseideas and presented them as the Information move.Proposition move in the Thesis stageAccording to Hyland (1990), the Proposition is the central move in the Thesis stage, and itis the only obligatory move in this stage. The function of this move is to state the writer’s positionand delimit the topic. Among the 20 texts, only one text failed to present this move. When writingan argumentative essay in Chinese, the writer is expected to state clearly his or her viewpointabout a specific topic. Thus, they can transfer this skill and knowledge from the Chinese tradition.This could explain the presence of this move as an obligatory move as well.Claim move in the Argument stageA central move in the Argument stage is the Claim. This move states reason for acceptanceof the proposition. 18 out of 20 texts had the move of claim in the first move cycle. The highfrequency may result from the same reason discussed for the Proposition. In the Chinesetradition, where there is the proposition, there is a claim. However, the number of claims in thethird move cycle was reduced to seven. That is to say, most students could only offer two reasonsto explain why they accepted the proposition. The failure of giving insufficient reasons andsupport may result from the lack of particular knowledge related to the topic.1.3. Differences between EM and NEM essaysMarker in the Argument stageThe Marker indicates the sequence, and functions as the connector between the steps in theargument and the proposition. It signals the introduction of a claim and relates it to the text. Asignificant difference between EM and NEM essays lies in the use of markers in the Argumentstage, which consists of possible three move cycles. This is to say that the four moves in theArgument stage formed a cycle repeated in the order of Marker, Restatement, Claim and Support.In the first move cycle, eight texts written by English majors presented the move of marker, whileonly two by non-English majors have this move. Interestingly, the density of the marker becomeslower and lower as move cycles go on.This difference between EM and NEM may result from two factors. Firstly, English majorsare more aware of the use of markers than non-English majors because they have more exposureto the English language, including more hours of English classes and more tasks outside theclassroom. The second reason has something to do with students’ language competence. Eventhough these 20 students were considered to have ‘good performance’ in their groups, their levelof performance is different because of the different disciplines they belong to. Generallyspeaking, English majors have better English language proficiency than non-English majors on

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 39average, so they know how to connect two sentences coherently and cohesively and how toindicate a topic change by shifting to a new sequence with the use of markers.1.4. A Non-Argumentative EssayThere is an extreme case that needs to be mentioned here. NEM07 has only one move(the information move) in the whole text. Strictly speaking, this piece of writing cannot beviewed as an argumentative essay because it fails to have basic components and features ofthis genre. It is assumed that the writer of NEM07 has no schemata of argumentative writing.He or she does not know what an argumentative essay is, or how it is structured. He or shedid not even realize the clues from the instruction given. Also, this may reflect the untouchedarea in composition teaching at TU.1.5. New MoveContradiction move in the Argument stageThe Contradiction move, a new move which does not exist in Hyland’s model,provides a contradictory claim to the original proposition. The function of this move is togive a positive perspective of something that has been stated negatively. EM03 presented thecontradiction move which appeared in the Thesis stage to state the advantages of onlineevaluation. However, the writer originally held the point that he or she disagreed with theonline evaluation, and already provided two reasons as claims to support the proposition. Thethird claim, nevertheless, is contradictory to the standpoint which the writer held. Thepresence of this new move is probably attributable to the neutral personality of the Chinesepeople who hold a neutral attitude towards people or things. They tend to seek eclecticpathways and rarely take the risk of standing firmly on one side.Example:(EM03) Its advantages are the students needn’t worry about their evaluation to be knownby anybody and it shows the equality between teachers and students.2. Linguistic FeaturesThe analysis of linguistic features was concerned with tenses, specific functional words(attitudinal stance) and auxiliary verbs. Due to the large number of the moves in Hyland’smodel, these three aspects were just mentioned in three moves: Information, Proposition, andClaim. The selection of these moves is based on two criteria. The first is moves with highfrequent presence in students’ texts and the second is moves with the status as central movesaccording to Hyland (1990).2.1. The Information MovePresent tense or present perfect tense is used in this move to indicate the liveliness andcontemporary relevance to the thesis to be argued. In addition, adverbs of time such asrecently and nowadays were used to correspond with the tenses used in the Informationmove. 100% of texts used present tense or present perfect tense, and 50% contained thewords such as recently and nowadays.

40 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsExamples:(EM01) Recently, the problem of whether should evaluate teachers by students withoutsign their names online has aroused public concern.(NEM04) Nowadays, some universities encourage students to evaluate teachers throughthe Internet to promote teaching quality.2.2. The Proposition MoveThe writers usually express their standpoint linguistically by using such words orphrases as follows:Ain my opinion,…personally speaking,…when it comes to me,…BI strongly disapprove of…,I agree with…,I prefer to support the former one,…The phrases in group A listed above signal the coming of the writer’s position of aparticular controversial issue. These phrases that 90% of students used help to prepare thereader that the writer is going to state his or her proposition. Also, the functional words ingroup B such as agree, disapprove, and support were used to signal the writer’s stance. Suchwords appeared in 55% of the texts. One function of these words is to claim ownership of theproposition. Some examples are given below.(EM08) As far as I’m concerned, I prefer to support the former one.(EM10) However, I strongly disapprove of this way of evaluating.(NEM03) Personally speaking, I support the former one.(NEM08) As for me, I agree to the former one.2.3. The Claim MoveAuxiliary verbs such as can and will were used in this move. For can, it helps the writerillustrate the potential of the online evaluation. Can was used in the Claim move in 18 texts(90%) and it appeared 37 times in total. The writer uses will to indicate the probability andpossibility the online evaluation may bring. Will was present only in 8 texts but appeared 15times altogether. Some examples are given below:(EM02) The students can express their ideas freely about the way of teaching.(NEM02) I believe the feedback from students will enclose the relationship betweenstudents and teachers.The results reported in this section are analysis results from trialing Hyland’s model(1990) with the pilot corpus. It was found that the model provides sufficient explanations forthe current rhetorical patterns of AE produced by students at TU. The findings from the mainstudy on both rhetorical structure and linguistic features will benefit teaching materials design

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 41and writing classroom practice in order to equip TU students with genre knowledge and assistthem in composing such crucial but ignored genre of argumentative essay.CONCLUSIONThe results of the analysis of two corpora of 20 English argumentative essays by Englishmajor and non-English major students at TU showed that almost all the texts have three stages,and the majority contain the central moves which are Proposition and Claim, which correspondwell with Hyland’ model (1990). Results also showed that similarities and differences existbetween the texts by English majors and non-English majors, and a new move, Contradiction inthe Argument Stage, has been found as well. In conclusion, Hyland’s model can be used toexplain the rhetorical structure of the pilot corpus effectively and it yields interesting findings.Therefore, it is workable as an analytical framework for argumentative essays in this pilotstudy. Hyland’s model will continue to be used in the main study, and more interesting andvalid findings are expected.ReferencesChinese Ministry of Education (CMOE). (2007). College English Curriculum Requirements.Beijing: People’s Education Press.Connor, U. (1990). Linguistics/Rhetorical measures for international persuasive studentwriting. Research in the Teaching of English. 24 (1), 67-87.Crookes, G. (1986). Towards a validated analysis of scientific text structure. AppliedLinguistics, 7(1), 351-358.Crowhurst, M. (1987). Cohesion in argument and narration at the three grade levels.Research in the Teaching of English. 21, 185-201.Crowhurst, M. (1990). Teaching and learning the writing of persuasive/argumentativeDiscourse. Canadian Journal of Education. 15 (4), 348-359.Crowhurst, M. (1991). Interrelationships between reading and writing persuasive discourse.Research in the Teaching of English, 25(3), 314-338.Derewianka, B. (1990). Exploring How Texts Work. Rozelle, New South Wales: PrimaryEnglish Teaching Association.Ferris, D. R. (1994). Rhetorical strategies in student persuasive writing: Differences betweennative and non-native English speakers. Research in the Teaching of English, 28 (1), 45-65.Gao, J. (2007). Teaching writing in Chinese universities: Finding an eclectic approach.Asian EFL Journal, 20, 18-33.Henry, A. and Roseberry, R. (2001). Using a small corpus to obtain data for teaching agenre. In Ghadessy, M., Henry, A. and Roseberry, R. (eds.). Small Corpus Studies andELT Theory and Practice. (pp. 93-133). Philadelphia: John Benjamins PublishingCompany.Hyland, K. (1990). A genre description of the argumentative essay. RELC Journal, 21(1),67-78.Lock, G. and Lockhart, C. (1998) Genre in an academic writing class. Hong Kong Journal ofApplied Linguistics, 47-64.Lu, M. J. (2007). ELT in China and a ‘China English’ Model. English Today, 86 (28), 45-51.Toulmin, S. E. (1958). The Uses of Argument. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Veel, R. (1997). Learning how to mean – scientifically speaking: apprenticeship intoscientific discourse in the secondary school. In Christie, F. and Martin, J. R. (eds.).Genre and Institution: Social processes in the workplace and school, pp. 161-195.Continuum Studies in Language and Education.

42 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsYou, X. Y. (2004). “The choice made from no choice’’: English writing instruction in aChinese University. Journal of Second Language Writing, 13 (2), 97-110.Zhu, W. (2001). Performing argumentative writing in English difficulties, processes, andstrategies. TESL Canada Journal, 19(1), 34-50.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 43Appendix AInstruction for the Writing TaskIn order to improve the quality of our education, students are encouraged togive evaluation to their teachers online during or at the end of the courses in someuniversities. Some people think it is a good idea because it provides feedback to teachersand they can adjust the way of teaching so as to achieve good teaching quality. However,other people feel it will cause the loss of respect and discipline in the classroom. What’syour opinion about this? Write an argumentative essay with 200-250 words in 1 hour onthe topic ‘Online Evaluation to Teachers’. Your essay should cover: 1. your own opinionabout the evaluation to the teachers; 2. supporting details to support your idea; 3.conclusion to your statements.一 些 大 学 采 取 学 生 给 任 课 老 师 网 上 匿 名 评 价 的 方 式 来 促 进 教 学 。 评 价 可以 在 课 程 学 习 过 程 中 或 者 是 课 程 结 束 之 后 。 有 人 赞 成 这 种 观 点 , 因 为 教 师 能 从 学生 的 反 馈 中 调 整 自 己 的 教 学 方 式 , 从 而 提 高 教 学 质 量 ; 但 有 人 却 认 为 这 样 会 导 致对 老 师 失 去 应 有 的 尊 重 , 甚 至 导 致 课 堂 纪 律 混 乱 。 你 的 观 点 是 什 么 ? 写 一 篇 题 为Online Evaluation to Teachers 字 的 议 论 文 ( 英 语 专 业 学 生 200-250 字 ; 非 英 语 专 业 学生 200 字 左 右 ), 内 容 包 括 :1. 对 这 个 有 争 议 的 话 题 进 行 介 绍 ;2. 论 点 及 论 据 ( 你的 观 点 及 支 撑 你 观 点 的 论 据 );3. 对 你 的 观 点 陈 述 做 出 总 结 。Appendix B: Elements of Structure of the Argumentative EssayHyland’s Model (1990)Stage1. ThesisIntroduces the proposition tobe argued.2. ArgumentDiscusses grounds for thesis.(four move argumentsequence can be repeatedindefinitely)3. ConclusionSynthesizes discussion andaffirms the validity of thethesis.Move(Gambit)Attention Grabber – controversial statement of dramatic illusion.(Information)Presents background material for topic contextualization.PropositionFurnishes a specific statement of position.(Evaluation)Positive gloss – brief support of proposition.(Marker)Introduces and /or identifies a list.MarkerSignals the introduction of a claim and relates it to the text.(Restatement)Rephrasing or repetition of proposition.ClaimStates reason for acceptance of the proposition.SupportStates the grounds which underpin the claim.(Marker)Signals conclusion boundaryConsolidationPresents the significance of the argument stage to the proposition.(Affirmation)Restates proposition.(Close)Widens context or perspective of proposition.

44 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsNote: Bracketed elements are optional components in the structure and indicate thatsuch a move need not occur but will appear in that position if it does.Examples of MovesI. The Thesis Stage1. The Gambit MoveMany foreign employers complain about the sub-standard graduates produced in PNG.2. The Information MoveSince independence PNG has spent a lot of money financing the tertiary system and hasnot obtained good value for its money.3. The Proposition MoveI strongly propose the idea that our rural community schools be given first priority interms of government funding.4. The Evaluation MoveThis is primarily because it is the base of our education system.5. The Marker MoveThere are a number of reasons for increasing assistance to community education.II. The Argument Stage1. The Marker MoveAnother way to improve the standards is to …2. The restatement MoveThe second reason why more money should be directly at the tertiary sector is …3. The Claim MoveWith the basic skills we learn from community schools it would be easier for us tounderstand the trade and economy of our country.4. The Support Move…all children should be allowed a basic education.III. The Conclusion Stage1. The Marker MoveTo conclude …2. The Consolidation MoveThus the quality of the graduates is improved and the various sectors of the communityare satisfied.3. The Affirmation MoveTo sum up, I strongly advise that more money should be spent on the primary sector.4. The Close MoveThe future of the country will be jeopardized if nothing is done to improve this sector.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 45AbstractA Comparative Study of Thai Children’s Metalinguistic Awarenessfrom Different Age Groups and Educational ProgramsPornpimol Turbpaiboon, Department of Linguistics, Thammasat Universitypturbpaiboon@gmail.comChutamanee Onsuwan, Department of Linguistics, Thammasat Universityconsuwan@tu.ac.thThis study explores Thai children’s metalinguistic awareness in phonological, lexical,and syntactic-semantic domains across age groups (5-6 and 8-9 years old) and educationalprograms (regular and international programs). Data were collected, using 10 different testscreated for examining metalinguistic awareness, from 40 Thai children at the ages of 5-6 and8-9, attending regular (Thai) and international (Thai/English) programs.Overall, both age groups and educational programs performed best in syntactic andsemantic domains but worst in lexical domains. Among the 5-6 year olds, the regularprogram group outperformed the international program group in phonological and lexicaldomains while among the 8-9 year olds, the regular program group did better in phonologicaland syntactic-semantic domains. However, these differences were not statistically significant.In both programs, the 8-9 year olds performed significantly better than the 5-6 yearolds in all tasks except for the test on onset - coda identification and those on wordarbitrariness.The findings suggest that metalinguistic awareness of monolingual children and ofthose with sequential bilingualism does not differ. Importantly, bilingualism (at least in theseage groups) does not seem to inhibit the development of their mother language.BACKGROUND AND MOTIVATIONNot only do humans possess the ability to use language but they also have the abilityto recognize language as systematic patterns. Speakers of a language can analyze languageuse. They are able to tell if it is consistent with the language’s grammatical rules and correctit if necessary. This type of language ability, namely, metalinguistic awareness, is quitedifferent from basic language skills and is generally acquired afterwards (Cazden, 1976;Bialystok, 1991; Romaine, 1997). In fact, in this study, Thai children aged 5-9 years couldcorrectly produce /b,,h,t,l,and r/ in the onset position, but they had difficultyidentifying these onset phonemes in real words (a metalinguistic task) regardless of whetherthey are from monolingual or bilingual classroom settings.One of the most important features of human language is Cultural transmission (Hockett,1960). Specifically, infants are able to (consciously or unconsciously) acquire more than onelanguage without any disruption. Using the age of language acquisition as a criterion,bilingualism can be categorized into 2 groups: simultaneous bilingualism and sequentialbilingualism. The former occurs when a child is exposed to two languages simultaneously –mostly within the first three years. The latter occurs when a child learns a second language afterhaving acquired the mother language. This usually occurs between the ages of 3 and 12.Sequential bilingualism is sometimes called second language acquisition, a process which can beinfluenced by different environments. For example, in the Philippines, a child might learn one ofthe 70 dialects at home before being exposed to English and Tagalog.

46 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsIn some languages, contradicting findings have been reported regarding metalinguisticawareness in bilingual children. A number of studies suggested that bilingual childrenpossess a higher level of metalinguistic awareness (especially in lexical arbitrariness domain)than monolingual children (Leopold, 1961; Vygotsky, 1986), although Ben – Zeev (1977)Cummins (1978), Edward and Christopherson (1988) suggested the contrary. Those whosupported the bilingual advantage supposition believe that because bilingual children havewords in two different languages to refer to the same thing, they can more easily grasp theconcept of the arbitrariness between word and referent, and can understand that the sound ofa word has no relation to the meaning. Moreover, the fact that bilingual children see alanguage as one system among many might lead them to be more aware of the differentphenomena in each language (Leopold; 1961, Vygotsky; 1986).Research conducted on metalinguistic awareness has focused on many linguisticdomains, i.e. phonological, lexical, and structural domains. For phonological domain,relations between phonological metalinguistic awareness and children’s reading skills havebeen reported (Carroll, 2004). Moreover, with bilingual children having more phonologicalawareness, one can deduce that bilingualism lends itself to better reading skills.Durgunoğlu, Nagy, and Hancin-Bhatt (1993) conducted a study on native Spanishspeakingstudents who are learning English as a second language and found that phonologicalawareness and word recognition skills in Spanish can predict word recognition skills inEnglish. The study concluded that there is cross-language transfer. However, Bialystok,Majumder, and Martin (2003) argued that Spanish and English share a number of similarities,which could be mistaken for phonological awareness. They carried out a new study whichshowed that Spanish-speaking children have more phonological awareness of English, butnative Chinese-speaking children do not develop the same phonological awareness ofEnglish.As for the lexical domain, Yelland, Pollard and Mercuri (1993) explored theawareness of referential arbitrariness of kindergarten and Year 1 students in Australia. Theytested the children’s understanding of how the length of word for an animal has no relation tothe size of the actual animal. For example, ‘caterpillar’ is a long word that refers to a tinyinsect while ‘whale’ is a short word that refers to a large animal. The results show thatEnglish-Italian bilingual children did better on the test than monolingual children. Evenchildren who had just started learning a second language surpassed the monolingual group onthe same test.In the structural domain, Ricciardelli (1992) compared structural metalinguisticawareness in Year 1 English-Italian bilingual students and English-speaking monolingualstudents. The students were asked to correct ungrammatical sentences said by a puppet. Theresults show that balanced bilinguals had more metalinguistic awareness than unbalancedbilinguals.Most of the findings previously mentioned lend support to claims of a bilingualadvantage. Therefore, the main focus of this work is to investigate if those assumptions aresubstantiated among the Thai monolingual and Thai/English bilingual population.Of interest here is metalinguistic awareness in the Thai bilingual population. Althoughbilingualism has become a common phenomenon in Thai society, issues in bilingualism ofThai (and other languages) have not been fully investigated. The scope of this study includesmetalinguistic awareness of Thai children in three domains: phonological, lexical, andstructure-meaning across age groups. It is generally assumed that different stages of cognitive

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 47development could explain the difference in development of language skills. This study takesthis into account and therefore divides subjects into two age groups: 5-6 year-old and 8-9year-old. According to Piaget (1959), the cognitive ability of the 5-6 year-olds is in thepreoperational stage, which is when the child starts using symbols, develops memory anduses imagination. At this age, the child starts to develop full linguistic abilities, althoughlogical thought and the ability to look at a situation from another person’s viewpoint are stillnot achieved. The 8-9 year-olds have their cognitive ability in the concrete operational stage,which is when the child learns to use symbols in a concrete, systematic and logical way, andcan adopt other people’s viewpoints when looking at a situation.It is noteworthy that the intention of using educational programs as a variable in thisstudy, rather than the number of acquired languages, is to represent a realistic language/bilingual situation in Thailand. Specifically, a large number of Thai bilinguals might beconsidered unbalanced bilinguals with Thai being their dominant language and English theirsecond language. Thai children who are enrolled in international programs are influenced bythe two languages, unlike those enrolled in regular schools who are mainly exposed to Thai inthe classroom.METHODSI. SubjectsSubjects are 80 Thai students attending Grades 1 and 4 at Kasetsart UniversityLaboratory School (Bangkok). They all took Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices test(designed by John C. Raven). This test was designed to overcome the language and culturelimitations of 5-12 year-old children. Out of 80 students, 40 students within designatedranges of age and levels of IQ (Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children) were selected. TheirWISC scores are shown in Table 1.5-6 years old (G1)(20 children)8-9 years old (G4)(20 children)Regular program(RP)International program(IP)89 - 104 91 - 10698 - 106 99 - 106Table 1. Wechsler Intelligence Scale of 40 children participated in the studyWith regard to language use in the classroom, Thai students in the regular programare taught in Thai in all classes, except in their English classes which they start learning fromYear 3 onwards. Thai students in the international program have English as a medium ofinstruction, except in their Thai language classes. They usually start learning and usingEnglish from pre-primary school.II. Testing materialsThe research included ten tests testing three metalinguistic domains of the Thailanguage: phonological, lexical, and structural-meaning. All tests were conductedindividually for each subject and performed in Thai in a game-like manner with shortfamiliarization sessions.1) Three phonological tests: a rhyme-tone detection, a phoneme identification, and aphoneme substitution

48 ICLC 2010 Proceedings1.1 rhyme-tone detection (adapted from Ho, C.S. and Bryant, P. (1997)) (6 test items: 3for rhyme and 3 for tone)Students are asked to choose one of the two words that has the same rhyme and toneas that of the first word. The test takes around 4 - 5 minutes.Example: first word choice I choice IIแจก /tk/ แขก /kk/ แข่ง /k/1.2 phoneme identification (32 test items: 16 for onset and 16 for coda)Students are asked to identify an onset (or a coda) of each given word. The test lastsabout 6 - 10 minutes.Examples: test word target phonemeonset identification test เต่า /taw/ /t/coda identification test เงา /aw/ /w/1.3 phoneme substitution (adapted from Bialystok, E., Majumder, S., and Martin, M.M.(2003)) (10 test items: 5 for onset and 5 for coda)Students are asked to substitute an onset (or a coda) in the second word with that ofthe first word. The test takes around 14 - 18 minutes.Examples: first word second word target answeronset substitution test ชน /ton/ ลิง /li/ ชิง /ti/coda substitution test หยิบ /jip/ เจ็ด /tet/ เจ็บ /tep/2) Four lexical tests: a noun classifier test and three referential arbitrariness tests2.1 noun classifier test (15 test items)Students are shown a set of pictures and asked to justify and correct a noun classifierof each word. The test takes about 2 - 5 minutes.Example: noun given classifier target classifierกระจก ใบ บาน/kra-tok/ /baj/ /ban/mirror classifier for tree classifier forleaf, fruit,mirror anddocument, and windowcontainer2.2 referential arbitrariness: three different tests including Lelu-Bobe (2 test items),Sun-Moon (3 test items), and Dog-Cat (3 test items) (adapted from Osherson, D.N., andMarkman, E. (1975)). Each test takes no longer than five minutes.Example: a picture of a leaf is shown and subjects are asked if it can be called‘snow’. If yes, what color would it have?(the correct answer is ‘yes’ because we can use any word including ‘snow’ to refer tothe referent leaf and it wouldn’t affect the color (green) of the referent (the leaf).3) A structure-meaning test (23 test items)A set of pictures is shown and students are asked to justify and correct syntacticalstructure and meaning of each given sentence. The test takes about five minutes.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 49Example: given sentence target sentenceผู้ร้าย ไล่จับ ตํารวจ ตํารวจ ไล่จับ ผู้ร้าย‘thief’ ‘chase’ ‘policeman’ ‘policeman’ ‘chase’ ‘thief’A thief is chasing a policeman. A policeman is chasing a thief.All tests were carried out such that the subjects start with the less complicated tasksand progress to the more complicated ones, i.e. the structural-meaning domain, the lexicaldomain, and the phonological domain respectively. They were divided into two sessions ontwo separate days. The first session tested the subjects’ structural and lexical awareness. Thesecond session tested the subjects’ phonological awareness. Each session lasted about 20-30minutes.For the classifier and structural-meaning tests, apart from analyzing the students’responses, error corrections made by each student were collected and categorized for furtherinvestigation.RESULTSFigure 1 compares the test results across three different language domains. It showsthat all age groups in all programs have the highest awareness in the structure-meaningdomain, followed by the phonological domain. The lexical domain is the domain in which allthe subjects showed the lowest metalinguistic awareness.RP-G1 IP-G1 RP-G4 IP-G41008585899690947562615557504137250phonological lexical structure-meaningRP average (phonological: 73.5 , lexical: 48 , structure-meaning: 89.5)IP average (phonological: 73 , lexical: 47 , structure-meaning: 95)Figure 1: Percent average correct responses from 3 metalinguistic domains(pooled across 10 tests)

50 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsI. Phonological domain100755025rhyme-tone detection onset identificatiomcoda identification onset substitutioncoda substitution95 9610095 98 9891 948576768056 58 6052454840180RP-G1 IP-G1 RP-G4 IP-G4Figure 2: Percent average correct responses from 5 phonological testsOverall, as shown in Figure 2, every group performed best in the onset identificationtest and worst in the coda identification test. A notable difference in test scores in the test ofcoda substitution was found between the two programs (RP: 58 vs. IP: 49). However, nostatistically significant difference was reported between the two educational program groups(RP: 73.5 vs. IP: 73 as shown in Figure 1). Moreover, the 8-9 year olds from both programsshowed significantly higher test scores in the onset substitution and coda substitution teststhan the 5-6 year olds.II. Lexical domain1007550250Classifier Lelu-Bobe Sun-Moon Dog-Cat787.5305071413690 8758700 0 0RP-G1 IP-G1 RP-G4 IP-G4Figure 3: Percent average correct responses from 4 lexical testsAs shown in Figure 3, every group did best on the classifier test and worst on the Lelu-Bobe test. The 8-9 year olds from both programs showed significantly higher test scores in the6376

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 51noun classifier test than the 5-6 year olds. No statistically significant difference between thetwo educational program groups was found (RP: 48 vs. IP: 47 as seen in Figure 1).III. Structure-meaning domain1007589 90 96 9350250RP-G1 IP-G1 RP-G4 IP-G4Figure 4: Percent average correct responses from structure-meaning testThe two educational programs showed no statistically significant difference in thestructure-meaning test score (RP: 92.9 vs. IP: 91.9 as seen in Figure 1). Moreover, the 8-9year olds of regular program had significantly higher test scores in the structure-meaning testthan the 5-6 year olds of the same program.When correcting linguistic errors, most children succeeded, and very few failed tocorrect classifiers that are not frequently used. Likewise, most of them could correct clearlyunacceptable meanings and syntactic errors. Only a few did not succeed in correctingcomplex sentences. In fact, some justifications and corrections from the children did notidentically match the target answers, yet they were suitable with the use of words andstructures which are possible and more familiar.DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONEven though the findings do not support the argument that bilingual children possesshigher metalinguistic awareness in any linguistic domain than monolingual children, theystrongly suggest that sequential bilingualism does not inhibit development of the motherlanguage (Thai). Moreover, stages of metalinguistic development of the two groups (regularand international programs) do not seem to differ. From these findings, the metalinguisticdevelopment seems to emerge first age wise in structure-meaning domain, then phonological,and lastly lexical as shown in Figure 1. Interestingly, at around the ages of five and six, Thaimonolinguals and bilinguals show a strong level of metalinguistic awareness in structuremeaningdomain. That is, they not only are able to produce grammatical sentences, but alsohave the knowledge of syntactic rules, consistent with previous studies on other languages(Carroll, 2004).In both educational programs, the 8-9 year olds performed significantly better than the5-6 year olds in all tasks except for the test on onset - coda identification and those on wordarbitrariness. Different stages of cognitive development as proposed by Piaget (1959) mightexplain different levels of metalinguistic awareness found between the two age groups.

52 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsACKNOWLEDGEMENTSWe are grateful to Kasetsart University Laboratory School Center for EducationResearch and Development for allowing and assisting us in the data collecting process. Acomplete version of this work was the first author’s MA thesis (2010) at Department ofLinguistics, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Thammasat University.ReferencesBen – Zeev, S. (1977). The influence of bilingualism on cognitive strategy and cognitivedevelopment. Child Development, 48, 1009-1018.Bialystok, E. (1991). Metalinguistic dimensions of bilingual language proficiency.In E. Bialystok (Ed.), Language processing in bilingual children(pp. 113-140). Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press.Bialystok, E., Majumder, S., and Martin, M.M. (2003). Developing phonological awareness:Is there a bilingual advantage? Applied Psycholinguistics, 24, 27-44.Carroll, D.W. (2004). Psychology of language (4th ed.). Belmont: Thomson/Wadsworth.Cazden, C. B. (1976). Play with language and metalinguistic awareness: One dimension oflanguage experience. In J. S. Bruner, A. Jolly, and K. Sylva (Eds.), Play: Its role indevelopment and evolution (pp. 603-608). New York: Basic Books.Cummins, J. (1978). Bilingualism and the development of metalinguistic awareness.Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 9, 131-149.Durgunoğlu, A.Y., Nagy, W.E., and Hancin-Bhatt, B.J. (1993). Cross-language transfer ofphonological awareness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85, 543-465.Edward, D., and Christopherson, H. (1988). Bilingualism, literacy, and metalinguisticawareness in preschool children. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 6,235-244.Gass, S. M., and Selinker, L. (2001). Second language acquisition: An introductorycourse (2 nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Ho, C.S. and Bryant, P. (1997). Development of phonological awareness of Chinesechildren in Hong Kong. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 26, 109-126.Hockett, C.F. (1960). The origin of speech. Scientific American, 203, 88-96.Leopold, W.F. (1961). Patterning in children’s language learning. In S. Saporta (Ed.),Psycholinguistics: A book of readings (pp. 351-358). New York: Holt.Osherson, D.N., and Markman, E. (1975). Language and the ability to evaluatecontradictions and tautologies. Cognition, 3, 213-226.Piaget, J. (1959). Language and Thought of the Child (13th ed.). London:Routledge and Kegan Paul.Raven, J. C. (1976). Standard progressive matrices: Sets A, A B , and B. Oxford:Oxford Psychologists Press.Ricciardelli, L.A. (1992). Biligualism and cognitive development in relation to thresholdtheory. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 21, 301-316.Romaine, S. (1997). Bilingualism (2nd ed.). Oxford: Blackwell.Vygotsky, L.S. (1986). Thought and Language (revised edition). Cambridge, MA:MIT Press.Yelland, G.W., Pollard, J., and Mercuri, A. (1993). The metalinguistic benefits of limitedcontact with a second language. Applied Psycholinguistics, 14, 423-444.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 53A Critical Discourse Analysis of Thai-ness in Children’s literatures: A Case Study ofTK Park Children’s Books for the Southernmost Provinces of ThailandNattapol ZupasitAbstractThis paper aims to analyze the representations of Thai-ness and Malay Muslimidentity in the children’s books published for the deep south of Thailand. Based onFairclough’s CDA and van Dijk’s ideological square, the analysis reveals that there arediscursive strategies of positive representation of Thai-ness (Us) and “the assimilation ofMalay Muslim identity (Them) into the mainstream Thai culture” subtly enacted at bothtextual and visual levels. The strategies at textual level include: nominalization; the use of theMuslim voice to express the appreciation of Thai-ness; the use of the terms Thai, ThaiBuddhist, and Thai Muslim which connotes unequal representation; the misrepresentation ofthe Muslim; and legitimization of Thai-ness as normalcy in disguise of reconciliation. Thevisual strategy includes the signification of the sense of inferiority and minority of theMuslims and their Islamic way of life displayed in the pictures of the books.Keywords: Thai-ness, Malay Muslim Identity, deep south, assimilation, hegemony, racism,children’s literature, Critical Discourse AnalysisIntroductionThis study aims to analyze the representation of different cultural identities in thecollection of children’s literature, especially published for the children in Yala province in theSouth. The collection is a part of the children’s literature project for its local branches in fourmain regions of the country initiated by Thailand Knowledge Park (TK Park). In general, thebooks are aimed as a tool to develop reading habits of children in Yala and other neighboringdistricts in the deep south. In specific, the books can be classified as multicultural children’sliterature. They are intended to encourage those children to learn more about their own‘unique’ local history and culture in order to promote a better understanding of culturaldiversity, and develop a sense of harmony among three different ethnic groups; Muslims,Thai Buddhists, and Sino Thais, living together amid the current tension in the southernmostprovinces of Thailand.Given the current situation there, it is apparent that children’s books, designedespecially for Yala children and published in 2007 by TK Park, are also aimed as a mediumto help reduce conflict, create trust and bring back a united and multicultural environmentinto the regions. The books, then, should not be considered as a simple narrative, but adiscourse articulated with specific intentions and ideologies, thus making them political innature.As a product of state agency under direct supervision of The Office of the PrimeMinister, it is possible that the books could serve as a political tool of the central Thaigovernment to cultivate a certain perspective among the readers in the region. Theirnarratives might presuppose a certain set of knowledge, beliefs and ideologies which lead tothe reproduction of ethnic prejudice, discrimination and racism in a subtle manner. It is in thissense that the books are worth studying. Here, the asymmetrical representations andrelationships of the books about Thai-ness or Thai National identity (as based on the threepillars of Nation, Buddhism and Monarchy) and Malay Muslim identity (which is grounded

54 ICLC 2010 Proceedingson the Malay race, Malay language, and the Islamic religion) will be focused on as the mainscope of this paper.Analytical Frameworks: Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA)Considering language as social practice, Critical Discourse Analysis (and henceforthCDA) is an interdisciplinary approach to the study of discourse or language in use, mediatingbetween language, mind and society under critical perspective. CDA, then, emphasizes therole of language in the production and reproduction of social reality (Fairclough, 1992, 2003,cited in Kjær and Palsbro, 2008:606). It primarily focuses on the relationships betweendiscourse, power, dominance, and social inequality (van Dijk, 1993:249, cited in Mayr,2008:8) which are enacted, produced, reproduced and challenged by text and talk in socialand political context (van Dijk, 2003:352). An important goal of CDA, then, is to uncover theimplicit arguments and meanings in texts which tend to marginalize non-dominant groups,while justifying the values, beliefs, and ideologies of dominant-hegemonic groups in a givensociety (Ricento, 2003:615). It is in this sense that CDA is best applicable for the purpose ofthis study in order to expose the hidden set of ideology expressed by means of textual andvisual signs of these children’s literatures.Data Description: the General Characteristics of the BooksThe collection of children’s literature subjected in this study is made up of 12volumes: six of them are published in a form of picture books, and another six in a form ofchapter books. The picture books are written for the children at the age 6-9 years old below,whereas the rest is composed for those at the age 9-12 years above.Of all twelve volumes, there are four books that are adapted from the local MalayMuslim oral folktales. The rest of them are newly invented, and intricately grounded much onthe basis of Nation, Buddhism, and Monarchy of Thai-ness as channeled through variousforms of discursive features in these books.In terms of authorship, it is interesting to note that, from all of the total of twelvebooks here, there are 7 writers who are Buddhists, in comparison to only one Muslim writer;and there are 4 Buddhist illustrators compared to 3 who are Muslims. Such facts seem to notcorrespond to the fact that the books are aimed at Yala children who are made up of Muslimsas the majority, and can be seen as a very first signification of asymmetrical representation,as focused in this research.Discourse AnalysisThe analysis of discourse shows that there is a trace of asymmetrical representationand relationship between Thai-ness and Malay Muslim identity which can be explained in aform of strategies as guided by van Dijk’s Ideological Square, i.e., the positive representationof Us (Thai-ness) and the negative representation of Them (Islamic/ Malay Muslim identity).And since the children’s literatures here are composed of both linguistic and visual signs, thediscursive strategies in this analysis can be divided into two main levels; the textual and thevisual levels.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 55Textual AnalysisPositive representation of Us: NominalizationExtract“คือในสมัยรัชการที่ 5 พระบาทสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู ่หัวได้มีการปรับปรุงการปกครองส่วนภูมิภาค โดยกําหนดการปกครองแบบเทศาภิบาล ทั ้งเจ็ดหัวเมือง คือ เมืองปัตตานี หนองจิก ยะหริ่ง สายบุรี ระแงะ รามัน และยะลา......”(โสภณ, 2550:84)The extract here is the most apparent case for the legitimate strategy of Thai-ness. Ascan be noticed, you might see that the agent of the action in this passage is left out and turnedinto circumstance instead. Here the action of King Rama V is transformed or ‘nominalized’into the noun ‘improvement’ or การปรับปรุง. The word ‘การปรับปรุง’ here can also be seen as aeuphemism employed to project a more positive sense of his actions. In fact, the word is usedto mitigate and legitimize the negative actions of the Siam court i.e. the intervention, orseizure of the former Pattani Malayu dynasty, not improvement.Negative representation of ThemExtract“ยะลาเป็นส่วนหนึ ่งของเมืองปัตตานี ใน พ.ศ. 2002 ถึง 2020 กองทัพมะละกาได้เข้ายึดเมืองปาหัง ตรังกานู กลันตัน และไทรบุรี ซึ ่งเป็นเมืองประเทศราชของไทย กองทัพนี ้ได้ทําลาย พระพุทธรูป หลักฐานเกี่ยวกับพุทธศาสนา รวมทั ้งบรรดาเทวสถานเทวรูปต่างๆในศาสนาพราหมณ์ จนย่อยยับ กรุงศรีอยุธยาไม่สามารถส่งกองทัพมาช่วยป้ องกันได้ทัน เพราะพัวพันกับศึกเชียงใหม่ ประกอบกับพระยาอินทิราผู้ปกครองเมืองปัตตานีก็ได้เปลี่ยนจากการนับถือศาสนาพุทธมารับนับถือศาสนาอิสลาม เพื่อโอนอ่อนตามกษัตริย์มะละกา ศาสนาอิสลามจึงเริ่มแผ่ขยายทั่วเมืองปัตตานี ยะลาก็เป็นส่วนหนึ ่งของปัตตานีด้วย”“แสดงว่ายะลาก็ถูกกองทัพมะละการุกรานด้วยใช่ไหมครับ” ไข่นุ้ยถาม“ใช่ กองทัพมะละกาได้ทําลายพระพุทธรูป เทวรูป โบราณสถานจนหมดสิ้น” เป๊ าะจิ๊ตอบให้“รวมทั ้งทําลายพระพุทธรูปที่ถํ ้าศิลป์ ด้วยใช่ไหมครับ” ไข่นุ้ยถาม“มีความเป็นไปได้มากทีเดียว” เป๊ าะจิ๊ว่า (โสภณ, 2550:90-91)As can be seen, the passage seems to emphasize the negative action of the Malaccaarmy as the intruders through verb actions ‘seized’ เข้ายึด, ‘destroyed’ ทําลาย. In addition, theadverb ‘disastrously’ จนย่อยยับ and ‘completely’ หมดสิ้น put in the passage also function as amodalizer which helps evaluate and amplify the actions of the Malacca soldiers here in amore negative light. The symbols of Thai national identity, i.e. images of Buddha and theThai state, are represented as the victim of them, or the Malacca who were ‘Muslim’. Thethen governor of Pattani is also to blame here, since he converted himself to Islam and cannotresist the action of the Malacca troops. So, the Muslim and Islam are implicitly represented asthe other who intruded into Thai territory, and also destroyed the national Buddhist treasures,which are the major discursive elements of Thai-ness.Apart from these aforementioned examples, there are also the more subtle forms ofasymmetrical representations of Us and Them as follows:

56 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsUse of the Voice of the Muslim character in Favor of Thai-nessExtractหมวยเขย่าขาเป๊ าะจิ๊ไปมา เกิดความสงสัยขึ ้นบางอย่าง จะต้องถามเป๊ าะจิ๊ให้ได้“สงสัยอะไรหรือ อาหมวย” เป๊ าะจิ๊ถาม“เป๊ าะจิ๊จ๋า ตากับยายนับถือศาสนาพุทธหรือจ๊ะ” หมวยถาม“รู้ได้อย่างไรล่ะ เจ๊หมวย ” ไข่นุ้ยถาม“ก็รู้ซิ ตากับยายไปหาไข่มดแดงมาเป็นอาหาร คนอิสลามเขาไม่กินไข่มดแดงกัน” หมวยอธิบาย“เรื่องอาหารการกินเป็นเรื่องวัฒนธรรมและความเชื่อที่แตกต่างกันของคนแต่ละกลุ่ม แต่ละสังคม แล้วแต่จะถือปฏิบัติ แต่คนทุกคนจะเหมือนกัน นั่นคือ การเกิด แก่ การเจ็บป่วย และการตาย หากทุกคนเข้าใจกันก็เป็นมิตรกันได้ ช่วยเหลือกันได้ อยู ่ร่วมกันได้”เป๊ าะจิ๊อธิบาย (ปราณี, 2550:48-49)At facial value, the excerpt seems to be multiculturalism since it tries to lead us tovalue the notion of cultural diversity. In fact, as described at the end of this excerpt, thepassage is latently aimed at emphasizing and legitimizing the concept of the Four Signs inBuddhism as universal and primacy. This is shown by the word choice ‘everybody’ and thesyntactical modal choice which suggest a high level of certainty of the speaker. It is apparentthat the idea of Buddhism, as one of the most important pillars of Thai-ness, here is assertedand promoted through the voice of the Muslim character who affirms and represents suchideas as absolute truth.The Unequal Representation of terms ‘Thai’, Thai-Buddhist, and ‘Thai-Muslim’Throughout the books, it is interesting to note that The Muslims are alwaysrepresented as ‘Thai-Muslims’. This can be seen as an attempt to cultivate the sense of Thainessand, in turn, suppress and exclude Their authentic Malay ethnicity, which is consideredto be the threat to the unity of Thai-ness. Besides, it should be noted that the use of this termalso reflects unequal representation, since the word ‘Thai-Muslim’ is the marked term,whereas the term Thai is unmarked and pragmatically referred to as Thai-Buddhist only. Thisresonates the idea of Thai-ness i.e. to be Thai is to be Buddhist as shown in the example.Extractในปี พ.ศ. 2490 เจ้าเมืองที่มาปกครองเมืองยะลาเป็นคนไทย ชื่อนายเมือง เป็นบุตรของนายพ่าย นายพ่ายนั ้นเป็นเจ้าเมืองยะหริ่ง นายเมืองก็เป็น...”“ชาวยะหริ่ง” ไข่นุ้ยต่อให้“ใช่แล้ว คนไทยแถวยะหริ่งสนิทชิดเชื ้อกับนายเมืองดี พอทราบข่าวว่านายเมืองจะมาเป็นเจ้าเมืองยะลา คนไทยพุทธที่สนิทกับนายเมืองก็ยกครอบครัวมาอยู ่ยะลาพร้อมกับนายเมือง” (โสภณ, 2550:10)“แถบภูเขาถํ ้าวัดนอกจากคนไทยสิบครัวเรือนแล้วก็มีชาวไทยมุสลิมอาศัยอยู ่มากเหมือนกัน ไทยพุทธส่วนหนึ ่งอยู ่ที่บ้านเปาะเส้ง ห่างจากภูเขาวัดถํ ้าประมาณ 4-5 กิโลเมตร” (โสภณ, 2550:11)Misrepresentation of the MuslimsExtractเป๊ าะจิ๊นั่งขัดสมาธิลงบนพื ้น หลับตา ปากขมุบขมิบอยู ่ครู ่หนึ ่งแล้วลืมตาขึ ้นมองไปรอบๆ สายตาทุกคู่มองตรงไปที่เป๊ าะจิ๊ เพราะไม่รู้ว่ากําลังทําอะไร หมู ่บ้านป่ายังคงปรากฏให้เห็นอยู ่เช่นเดิม แต่ไม่สามารถเข้าไปได้ ยิ่งเดินเข้าไปใกล้ มันยิ่งถอยห่างออกไป หมวย ไข่นุ้ย เกิดนั่งพักอยู ่ใต้ต้นไม้ใหญ่ ปล่อยให้เป๊ าะจิ๊นั่งบริกรรมคาถาไปตามลําพัง (บุญส่ง, 2550:70)

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 57ร่างของบุรุษยามวิกาลได้เคลื่อนที่เข้ามาเกือบถึงตําแหน่งที่คนทั ้งห้ายืนอยู ่แล้ว.....เป็นจังหวะเดียวกับที่เดินมาถึงทรายเสกที่เป๊ าะจิ๊โรยไว้รอบๆเป็นวงกลม ... (บุญส่ง, 2550:80)As can be seen in the extract here, PawChee, the Muslim character, is narrated as he iscasting some forms of magic. In fact, the use of magic can be seen as shirk or sinful in Islam,and thus strongly forbidden for the Muslims. The role ascribed to PawChee here is not onlymisrepresented as deviant to the norm and principle of Islam, but also inclined to conform tothe beliefs in Animism, or Brahmanism, and Buddhism of Thai-ness.Legitimization of Buddhism as normalcy in disguise of reconciliationExtractเป๊ าะจิ๊มาร่วมงานในวันนี ้ด้วย แกเป็นเพื่อนกับหลวงพ่อเจ้าอาวาสวัดลําพะยาองค์ปัจจุบัน ความเป็นมุสลิมของแกไม่ได้เป็นอุปสรรคต่อการคบหาสมาคมกับชาวไทยพุทธแต่ประการใด ชีวิตของเป๊ าะจิ๊เติบใหญ่มาพร้อมๆกับเพื่อนๆ ชาวไทยพุทธหลายคน ศาสนาจึงไม่ได้เป็นเครื่องแบ่งแยกความเป็นคนไทยเลย การเข้ามาในวัดจึงไม่ได้เป็นความรู้สึกที่แปลกแยกแต่อย่างใด ยิ่งเป็นการดีเสียอีกที่จะได้มาพบปะเพื่อนเก่าๆ ที่ไม่เคยพบหน้าค่าตากันมาหลายปี วัตรปฏิบัติอย่างนี ้ของแกทําให้เป็นที่รักของคนในหมู ่บ้าน โดยเฉพาะเด็กรุ่นใหม่จะรัก และเคารพเป๊ าะจิ๊เหมือนญาติผู้ใหญ่ เพราะแกเป็นนักเล่านิทานตัวยงของตําบลเลยทีเดียว คบหาสมาคมกับคนได้ทุกวัย ข้อสําคัญเป็นผู้รอบรู้คนหนึ ่ง ทั ้งที่เกี่ยวข้องกับชีวิตของคนไทยพุทธและไทยมุสลิม (บุญส่ง, 2550:9)As can be seen, the passage seems to legitimize the action of PawChee, joining theBuddhist temple fair, as preferred. It argues that all the Muslims ‘can’ and ‘should’ visit theBuddhist temple since it is the opportunity for them, the Muslims, to socialize with the othersin order to be included and accepted. However, it also can be seen that this should be theresponsibility of those Muslims to push themselves in the mainstream community of Thaipeople for the sake of ‘reconciliation’. In order to maintain social relationships and restorepeaceful conditions, it is obviously not the job of our Thai people to make such an effort, butit is Their duty. By this, the asymmetrical representation of Us and Them is signified.Image AnalysisAs visual signs can also be seen as a matter of choices in the semiotic system madeby the illustrators, the analysis shows that, in some cases, there are certain choices that can beinterpreted as a part of the asymmetrical representation of Us and Them.Though the Muslims are included, the sense of inferiority and minority can always beconnoted from such representations. The sense of inferiority of the Malay Muslim identitycan be connoted when the discursive features of Buddhism and Chakri Monarchy are assertedin; whereas the sense of minority is signified when they are relatively represented with Thais,or Buddhists included in the same picture. Due to the limited space of this paper, only onepicture will be taken and analyzed as follows:

58 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsFigure 1 Cover of the book titled ‘Muang Na Yu Ti Nu Rak’This picture is taken from the cover of the picture book titled “เมืองน่าอยู ่ที่หนูรัก”. As canbe seen, the image includes the iconic signs which represent different ethnic groups ofpeople. There are 4 Muslims, followed by a Chinese, a Sagai man, as identified by theirclothes and other physical appearances. The rest are presumed to be ethnic Thai. In general, itcan be said that the picture connotes a sense of harmony and multiculturalism among thedifferent ethnic groups of people in Yala province, which is informed by their gestures, suchas the way they are holding hands, talking to each other, and also their smiles.But, conversely, the way in which the Muslims’ hands are led by the Thais and theChinese might connote that they are inferior and bound to be led by the others. It also shouldbe noted that there is a relatively smaller number of Muslims included in this picture thanthose of the Buddhists. The city gate is also the most salient essence of the picture connotingthat this is a Yala city, but a part of Thailand under the protection of the Thai monarchy, assymbolized by the picture of two war elephants beside the gate. So it is in this sense that thesense of inferiority and minority of the Muslims is signified.ConclusionsThis study is an interdisciplinary effort which provides a political and criticalinvestigation into the power of language used in TK Park children’s literature as aneducational media text. The analysis shows that though the books are intended to promote thenotion of cultural diversity and mutual acceptance, they indirectly create asymmetricalrepresentations by favoring Thai-ness as superior to Islamic and Malay Muslim identity. This,in turn, leads to a subtle form of discrimination and racism against the Malay Muslimminority under the cover of multicultural and reconciliatory discourse.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 59ReferencesKjær, A. L. and Palsbro, L. (2008). National identity and law in the context ofEuropean integration: the case of Denmark. Discourse &Society 19(5): 599-627Mayr, A. (2008). Language and power : an introduction to institutionaldiscourse. London ; New York : Continuum.Ricento, T. (2003). The Discursive Construction of Americanism. Discourse &Society, 14(5): 611-637.van Dijk, T. A. (2003). Critical Discourse Analysis. In the Handbook ofDiscourse Analysis. D. Schiffrins et al (Eds.). Mass: Blackwell. Pp. Pp. 352-371.โสภณ พฤกษวาณิช (2550). วัดถํ ้าคูหาภิมุข. กรุงเทพฯ: สํานักงานอุทยานการเรียนรู้ปราณี ทองธรรมชาติ (2550). พระเศวตสุรคชาธาร. กรุงเทพฯ: สํานักงานอุทยานการเรียนรู้บุญส่ง ลอยสุวรรณ (2550). แดนคนธรรพ์. กรุงเทพฯ: สํานักงานอุทยานการเรียนรู้

60 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThe Ability to Translate Verbal Complements from English to Thai:A case study of the 1 st and 3 rd year English Major StudentsPatchanok Kitikanan 3AbstractAccording to Givon (1990), verbal complements are ‘propositions functioning in therole of either subject or object argument of the verb’. They are often found in academic texts,rather than common texts. For cross-cultural communication, verbal complement translationis important, as it helps the texts to be understandable and coherent. To translate verbalcomplements, translators should have adequate proficiency of both the source language andtarget language. This study aims at investigating the levels of verbal complement translabilityof the first- and third-year English major students of Naresuan University, Thailand. Sixtyparticipants: 30 first-years and 30 third-years, who have taken translation courses, were askedto translate 21 sentences containing verbal complements. The result shows that the thirdyearshave a little higher extent of ability in translating verbal complements than the firstyears;however, the statistic result shows that there are no significant differences betweenthese two groups. Nevertheless, there is a significant difference of translability of verbalcomplements which follow modality verbs of these two groups of participants. It is hopedthat this study will be beneficial in terms of verbal-complement-translation teaching, andapplyed with other general translation pedagogy.Keywords: verbal complement, translability, functional syntaxIntroductionA verbal complement sentence is defined as a complex sentence where a clause (thecomplement clause) functions as an argument of a predicate (Noonan, 1985: 42). Definedsemantically by Givon (1990: 515), sentential complements are ‘propositions functioning inthe role of either subject or object argument of the verb. They often display a nominalizedform’. For example, in the sentence ‘He wants to eat.’, ‘to eat’ is a verbal complementfunctioning as an object of the verb ‘wants’.The occurrence of complement is not irrational or accidental. Verbal complementclause types and complement-taking predicates are interrelated systematically (Ransom,1986). Particular complement-taking predicates can only take particular complement clausetypes (Cristofaro, 2008). For example, in English, knowledge predicate such as ‘know’generally takes only indicative complements, while desiderative predicates like ‘want’ mostlytake infinitive complements. Cristofaro added that the meaning of complement clause can bechanged – depending on the complement clause types of a predicate. For instance, in English,utterance predicates, e.g. ‘tell,’ have a different meaning, as the indicative complements areused to report statements, while infinitive complements are used to make a command or asuggestion.Since a verbal complement refers to subordinate construction completing a verb in amore complex sentence, it is not easy to acquire complement knowledge, even for the native3 Lecturer of English and Student of Linguistics, Humanities Faculty, Naresuan University,Thailand

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 61speakers. According to Clark (2003), children usually lack the complementizer such as ‘that’in their speech. For instance, ‘And I think we need dishes’ (Clark, 2003: 255). Themissing of a complementizer in such a case indicates that it takes time for young nativespeakers to form their understanding towards verbal complements, which is an essentialelement in the complex conversation. Although native speakers of English might be able tojudge whether the use of verbal complements is correct or not, they are unable to explain therationale of the uses of verbal complements, and even grammarians classify verbalcomplements as an unteachable part because of its complexity (Bourke, 2007).For non-native speakers, in the same way, to distinguish the meaning of verbalcomplements is a difficult task. Verbal complement interestes theorists and teachers ofEnglish as a second language since verbal complements were sometimes the problem fornon-native speakers (Duffley and Tremblay, 1994). For example, a Japanese teacher ofEnglish wrote a letter to one of Duffley and Tramblay and asked for the explanation of thedifferences between try and infinitive, and try and gerund. An additional study that adds tothe list is the study of Altenberb and Granger (2001). They investigated the use of highfrequency verbs, and focusing on the use of the complement-taking verb ‘make’ by EFLlearners: Swedish- and French-speaking learners. Their article emphasizes what proves to bethe two most distinctive uses of ‘make’, which are the delexical and causative uses. Theirresults advocated that EFL learners have many difficulties in using ‘make’. From the abovepoint, verbal complements are difficult to acquire for both native and non-native speakers.Although Thai students study English as a Foreign Language (EFL), it might not betoo difficult for them to understand verbal complements of English, as the construction ofwords in a sentence between Thai and English is mostly similar: SOV. However, to translateto their native language, the ability in selecting appropriate choices of complementizers andThai verbal complement construction is important. Sometimes, the constructions of Englishverbal complements cannot apply with Thai ones, as they will sound like Englishexpressions, rather than Thais’. For instance:(1) chaň rúu waâ cà kèet a-rai kɨ̂nI know COMP will happen what up‘I know what will happen.’From the example above, the verbal complement of ‘I know what will happen.’ istransferred to ‘waâ chà kèet a-rai kîn’ which is the construction of ‘waâ + verb-phrase’. Asthere has been no study about translability of verbal complements before, it is worthconducting the research study with this focus. Therefore, the objective of this study is toinvestigate the levels of verbal complement translability of the first and fourth year Englishmajor students, Naresuan University, Thailand, and find some reasons beyond the results.Hopefully, this study will be beneficial in terms of being applied to translation pedagogy forthe students, and designing teaching materials suitable for the proficiency levels of thetranslability of students.Purpose of the studyThis study aims at investigating the levels of verbal complement translability of thefirst and third year English major students, Naresuan University, Thailand.

62 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsScopes of the StudyThe scope of the study is divided into two parts. Firstly, this study was conducted inthe first semester of the year 2009, and the participants of this study were sixty English majorstudents: thirty third-years, and thirty first-years studying at Naresuan University. Their ageswere ranged from nineteen to twenty-two years old, approximately. Secondly, another scopeof the study is the data used as a tool to collect translation ability of students was drawn fromHarry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, written by J.K. Rowling and published byScholastic Press, a division of Scholastic Inc. in the year 1999, and the Thai translatedsentences, used to compare sentences of students and the professional translator, are from theThai version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, translated by Sumali Bamrungsookand published by Nanmeebooks in the year 2000. The use of this English novel is due to itspopularity and the contemporary language in the text; moreover, its Thai version was used asa possible way of translating to check if the translated sentences of participants are close tothe original translated sentences since it has got the Honorable Mention Award of TranslatedBook for Children of the year 2001 by the Committee of National Book Development.Preliminary StudySome scholars have studied Thai verbal complementation such as Singnoi (2000),Prasithrathsint (2009); nonetheless, there is no research study describing aspects of Thaiverbal complementation in depth. To answer the research question, therefore, I have selectedfour Thai journals by purposive sampling method to find the aspects of Thai verbalcomplement aspects.From the data, ten aspects of Thai verbal complements have been found as follows:1) nominalized verbal complement;2) verb-phrase verbal complement;3) ‘wâa’ followed by verb-phrase verbal complement;4) ‘hây’ followed by verb-phrase verbal complement;5) ‘thîi’ followed by verb-phrase verbal complement;6) ‘thîi-chà’ followed by verb-phrase verbal complement;7) sentential verbal complement;8) ‘wâa’ followed by sentential verbal complement;9) ‘hây’ followed by sentential verbal complement;10) ‘wâa’ followed by direct quote.Related Theory and LiteratureVerbal Complement TheoryAccording to Givon (1990), verbal complements are ‘propositions functioning in therole of either subject of object argument of the verb.’ Verbs usually followed by verbalcomplements are categorized into three types: modality verbs, cognition and utterance verbs,and manipulative verbs. These three major classes of verbs; namely modality, cognition andutterance and manipulative verbs. Givon (1990) elaborated in detail on the definitions ofthese complement-talking verbs as follows:1) Modality VerbsA modality verb is a verb whose subject is identical to the subject of the main verb, sothe subject of the verbal complement, or the ‘equi-subject’ will not be repeated – it is deleted.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 63For example, ‘John wants to work.’ From the example, the main clause is ‘John wants…. [todo something]’, and the complement clause is ‘John (will) work [is what John wants to do]’.The semantic definitions of modality verbs are; the main verb codes inception, termination,persistence, success, failure, attempt, intent, obligation or ability – vis-à-vis the complementstate/event, and the subject of the main clause is obligatorily also the subject of thecomplement clause.2) Cognition and Utterance VerbsGenerally, cognition and utterance verbs have their complements which are surfacesentences. As the subject of a complement sentence is not necessarily the same as the subjectof the main clause, it usually appears overtly within the complement sentence. For example,‘John knew that Mary left’, thus the main clause is ‘John knew …..[that something], and thecomplement clause is ‘Mary left [is what John knew]’. The complements of cognition andutterance verbs are sub-divided into three groups: Indirect quote complements, Direct quotecomplements and Embedded question complements, according to the types of complementsthey take. Semantic definition of cognition-utterance verbs; the main clause contains a verbof perception, cognition, mental attitude or verbal utterance, the complement clause codes aproposition that in turn represents a state or event that is the object of the mental or verbalactivity coded by the main verb, and no coreference restrictions hold between arguments ofthe main and subordinate clauses.3) Manipulative VerbsAs manipulative verbs usually have a human/animate object, this object is a consciousparticipant. Not only does the participant play a role of manipulee object of the main clause,it also takes a role as a manipulating agent of the complement clause. For example, ‘Sheforced him to leave’. Semantic definition of manipulative verbs; the main clause codes amanipulation by one agent of another potential agent, the manipulating agent is coded as thesubject of the main clause, the manipulee as its object, the complement clause codes thetarget performed – or to be performed – by the manipulee, and the manipulee is the subjectagentof the complement clause.Thai verbal complementationFor verbal complementation in Thai, there are some scholars who study Thai verbalcomplements. For example, according to Singnoi (2000), there are four types ofcomplementation which are categorized on the basis of their syntactic characteristics. Eachconstruction is different from one another according to complement-taking verbs,complementizers and the occurrence of complementizers. The first type of complement iscalled ‘finite/bare complementation’ since there is no marker and the predicate ofcomplement bare grammatical relation in the main clause. In addition, complements of thistype occuring with the verb mii ‘exist’ in the verb-subject construction. The second type ofcomplement is called ‘waa-complementation’ which takes ‘wâa (say, scold)’ as its marker.This complementation generally occurs with ‘cognitive’ verbs and ‘utterance’ verbs. Thethird type of complement is called ‘hay-complementation’ which takes ‘hây (give)’ as itsmarker. This type of complement often occurs with ‘causative’, ‘manipulative’, and ‘modal’verbs. As the subject of the complement clause is the same as the object of the main clause(equi-subject), the subject in the complement is sometimes deleted. The fourth type ofcomplement in Thai is called ‘thîi-chà (in order to, to)’. It usually occurs with two verbs tomake the complement more prominent. Another extra complement is called ‘nominalizedcomplement’. ‘Khwaam’ or ‘kaan’ has been put in the front of the verb to nominalize a verb.

64 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsPrasithrathsint (2009) examined three complementizers in Thai: ‘thiî’, ‘waâ’, and‘hây’. It was found that the complementizer haŷ ‘to give’ occurs with directive verbs: verbsof causation, e.g. pen-hèet ‘to cause’, and verbs of pressure, e.g. sàng ‘to order’. Waâ is acomplementizer occurring with communicative verbs such as verbs of saying (e.g. phuût ‘tosay’), verbs of thinking and cognition (e.g. khít ‘to think’), verbs of feeling (e.g. klua ‘fear’),verbs of seeing (e.g. duu ‘to look at’), verbs of hearing (e.g. daŷ-yin ‘to hear’) and verbs ofacting (e.g. seě-seâng ‘to pretend’). Lastly, thiî complementizer occurs with emotive verbssuch as verbs of feeling (e.g. siǎ-cay ‘to be sad’), verbs of intention (e.g. tâng-cay ‘tointend’), verbs of mental character (e.g. cing-cay ‘to be sincere’), and verbs of possibility(e.g. pen-pay-daây ‘ to be possible’).Nevertheless, the study of ‘Complementizers and verb classification in Thai’ hassome limitation; it does not include the zero complementizer and compound complementizersin Thai. The zero and compound complementizers are of the same extent of significance asother categories of Thai complementizers.Although, Singnoi and Prasithrathsint’s studies are similar in categorizing Thai verbalcomplements according to complementizers, they have some parts that are different. First,Prasithrathsint focuses only three complementizers, ignoring compound and zerocomplementizers, e.g. ‘thîi-chà’, and examine the type of verbs they occur with. According toSingnoi, the study on Thai complementation does not provide distinctive account of verbaland nominalized complementation. Rather, the study comprises finite/bare complementation,waa-complementation, hây-complementation, thîi -chà complementation, and nominalizedcomplement.MethodologyParticipantsAs this study is a cross-sectional study, I would like to test whether the period ofEnglish exposre affects the level of proficiency in translating. Therefore, this study includedsixty students of English major, Naresuan University, Thailand who are thirty first-year andthirty third-year students, who enrolled in the second semester of the year 2009. For the firstyears,they had passed two English compulsory courses – Fundamental English andDevelopmental English courses, and other four major courses. Their ages ranged from 19-20years of age. They did not have any official experience in translating, neither from Thai toEnglish, nor English to Thai. For the third-years, even though they had passed two Englishcompulsory courses, they had also studied almost twenty English major courses. They werebetween the ages of 20 to 22. The third-years had studied Translation I course for almost asemester, so they had some experience in translating various texts both from English to Thai,and from Thai to English. However, these two groups studied English as a Foreign language(EFL) with the English texts for their major courses. However, some major courses weretaught in Thai, and some were in English – depending on teachers’ consideration.Research InstrumentThis study is a mixed research study – both quantitative and qualitative. The researchtools of this study are questionnaires which comprise open-ended and close-ended sections.For close-ended questions, each participant was asked to fill in their name, surname, studentcode, age, year of studying, overall GPA, year of English studying started, their favorite skillin language learning, English daily activities, own-assessment towards English proficiency,chance to read Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, language they read Harry….,

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 65chances of traveling abroad. For open-ended questions, 21 questions, which were drawn fromEnglish-version novel according to three types of main verbs – manipulative, modality, andcognition and utterance verbs, were provided for participants to translate them to Thai. Anexample is shown in Table 1, and all questions of verbal complement translation arepresented in Appendix.Table 1 Sample of English sentence containing verbal complement___________________________________________________________________________George tried to signal to Wood and stop the Bludger breaking Harry's nose at the same time.___________________________________________________________________________To prevent participants from gaining the points by chance, there were no multiplechoices in this part. Thus, the participants were allowed to freely translate twenty-one Englishsentences containing verbal complements in any way they wanted.Data Collection ProceduresAfter reviewing related literatures and studies in both Thai and English verbalcomplements, and conducting the preliminary study, twenty-one-question questionnaires tomeasure the ability of translating and the Thai version of translated sentences were proofreadby three teachers who were teaching Translation courses to ensure each Thai and Englishsentence matched one another. Then, the questionnaires were provided to the first-year andthe third-year participants. The period of time for doing the test was one hour. Theparticipants were allowed to use dictionaries: either electronic, or paper, except for adictionary in a mobile phone, to prevent them sending some clues of the answers to theirfriends. To make sure participants would do the best they could, they were told that this testcounted ten percent of all scores. Next, the researcher collected all questionnaires, and drewsixty questionnaires by random sampling method: thirty of the first-years, and thirty of thethird-years, to have the same number of questionnaires for each group of particiapnts. Allquantitative and qualitative data were collected and analyzed systematically by the use ofsoftware called, ‘Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).’ For the qualitative data,they were analyzed to investigate the participants’ knowledge towards their translability ofverbal complements. All of the processes were conducted in the second semester, year 2009.Data Analysis ProceduresAs there were no theories or frameworks in verbal complement translation strategies,the researcher has employed the constructions of verbal complements gained from thepreliminary to analyze the translated verbal complements by Sumali Bamrungsook.Therefore, the correct constructions have two components: a complementizer and verbalcomplement construction. For example, ‘no one need ever know we flew the car.’ istranslated as follows:(2) mây mii taŋ thîi khai chà rúu [wâa rawno have way prep who FUT know [COMP weao ród pay bin maa]take car go fly come]‘No one need ever know we flew the car.’

66 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsFrom this example, the verbal complement is ‘wâa + sentence’, thus participants hadto write a Thai translated version using this construction to get the point. If they wrote inother constructions, such as ‘wâa + verb-phrase’, ‘thîi + sentence’, ‘hây + sentence’, and soforth, their point for this question would be ‘zero’.Findings and DiscussionAs the aim of this study is to investigate the levels of verbal complement translabilityof the first- and third-year English major students, their overall level of translating ability isshown in table 2.Table 2: Overall levels of translability of two groupsGroup of students Mean Score Std. Deviationfirst-year students 10.23 3.664third-year students 10.80 2.551From the table above, the mean score of the third-year students is little higher than thefirst-year students as they got 10.80, and 10.23 respectively. However, when considering theindependent samples test, it is found that there is no significant difference between these twogroups of participants, as shown in table 3.Table 3: Significant difference of overall mean scorest-test for Equality of MeanstDegree ofFreedomSig. (2-tailed)MeanDifferenceEqual variances assumed -.699 58 .487 -.57Equal variances notassumed0.05.-.699 51.312 .488 -.57* There is no significant difference because the obtained 2 tailed-value is higher than

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 67Table 4: The mean scores of verbal complements of each complement-taking verbs byboth groupsType of verbalcomplements ofcomplement-taking verbsStudents Mean Score Std. DeviationManipulative Verbs First-year students 3.67 1.729Third-year students 4.10 1.583Modality Verbs First-year students 2.10 1.296Third-year students 2.73 1.015Cognition-utterance Verbs First-year students 4.47 1.502Third-year students 3.97 0.928From the total scores of 7 for verbal complements of each type of complement-takingverbs, the mean scores of the first- and the third-year students are not much different;however the translability’s mean scores of verbal complements of manipulative verbs bythese two groups are different; the mean score of the third-years is higher than the mean scoreof the first-year students, 4.10 and 3.67 respectively. The mean scores of verbal complementsof modality verbs by both groups of participants do not reach half of the total mean scores.Moreover, the mean score of verbal complement of cognition-utterance verbs of the thirdyearstudents is, surprisingly, lower than the first-year students as shown in Table 4.In addition, when comparing verbal complements following three types ofcomplement-taking verbs: modality, manipulative, and cognition-utterance verbs; there is asignificant difference of translability of verbal complements which follows modality verbs ofthe first- and the third-year students as illustrated in table 5.Table 5: Significant difference of verbal complements following different types ofcomplement-taking verbsType ofcomplementtakingverbstt-test for Equality of MeansDegree ofFreedomSig. (2-tailed)MeanDifferenceManipulative Equal variances -1.012 58 .316 -.43Verbs assumedEqual variances -1.012 57.558 .316 -.43not assumedModality Equal variances -2.108 58 .039* -.63Verbs assumedEqual variances -2.108 54.848 .040* -.63not assumedCognitionutteranceEqual variances 1.551 58 .126 .50VerbsassumedEqual variances 1.551 48.311 .127 .50not assumed* There is a significant difference because the obtained 2 tailed-value of verbalcomplements following modality verbs is lower than 0.05.

68 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsFrom all verbal complements of different complement-taking verbs, it is discoveredthat the mean scores of the verbal complements of modality verbs of both groups do not reachhalf of the overall score since the first-year students got 2.10, and the third-years got 2.73;while the mean scores of verbal complements of other types of complement-taking verbsexceed half of the overall scores.There are some possible reasons why the scores of verbal complements of modalityverbs of these two groups are quite low. First, the translator of Thai version of Harry Potterand the Chamber of Secrets does not employ Thai verbal-complement constructions totransfer the source text to the target text. Rather, she uses no Thai verbal-complementconstructions, and chooses other syntactic constructions according to the contexts, forexample:(3) khăw kɔ̂ krà-joon khɨ̂n aw hŭa chòk kàb nâa-tàŋ yàaŋ-rɛɛŋPRO FUR leap up take head knock with window forcefully‘He leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window.’(4) khun Norris yaŋ-koŋ duu-mɨǎn wâa phə̂ŋ tòok jàb sa-taf wáy duu lêenPRO Norris still seem COMP just PAS touch sturr PAR look play‘Mrs. Norris continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.’* The bold words are complement-taking verbs.*Moreover, another possible reason accounting for the under-half mean scores of thesetwo groups when translating verbal compelments of modality verbs is the changing of the useof complement-taking verbs of translator, for instance:(5) phuâk-khǎw maŷ yɔɔm haây phǒm phák ŋan nay ton rɛ̂ɛkthey not let COMP PRO rest work in section first‘They didn’t agree to suspend me in the first place.’From the above instances, the translator transferred ‘agree’ which requires thîicomplementto ‘let (yɔɔm)’ requiring haây-complement. The changing of the main verb ledto the changing of verbal complement construction. Most students translated this sentencedirectly by maintaining ‘agree (hĕen-dôwy)’ with thîi followed by verb-phrase complement;thus the score of most students for this question is ‘zero’.From the observation, the translator does not employ the verbal-complementconstructions in transferring verbal complements of modality verbs, nor maintain the directtranslatedmain verbs of this type of verbs, yielding the changing of verbal-complementconstruction. It is not surprising that most students could not opt the similar main verbs, orconstructions.Apart from that, we see that there is a significant difference of translability of verbalcomplements which follow modality verbs of these two groups. This can be accounted for bythe ‘transfer of training (Odlin, 1989)’ which is the ‘influences that arise from the way astudent is taught.’ As the third-year students have enrolled in a few translation courses, theytend to give more consideration to the translation context which is truly important,particularly in novel translation, than the first-year students. The translations of verbalcomplement of modality verbs rely mainly on context; therefore, they are mostly translated

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 69without the use of Thai verbal-complement constructions, and often changed the main verbs,resulting in the changing of complementizers and other verbal complement constructions.Although, the scores of two groups are not high when translating verbal complementsof cognition-utterance verbs, they are the highest among three types of verbal complements,especially the seventh question, ‘He understood why he kept making odd things happenwithout meaning to,’ it appeared that most participants: 26 out of 30 of the first-year students,and 25 out of 30 of the third-year students, gained a score for this question. This may be dueto the similarity of this type of Thai and English verbal-complement construction. Forsimilarity, the verbal complement of cognition-utterance verbs can be directly translated, forexample:(6) khăw khâw-cay wâa tham-may khăw …PRO understand COMP why he …‘He understood why he …’From the above illustration, the verbal complement of cognition-utterance verbs ofthis English clause has the exact order as Thai’s; that is ‘wâa followed by sentence.’ With thesimilar constructions between Thai and English, Thai students could translate this kind ofverbal complement with ease. This is in line with Odlin (1989) claiming that learners tend tohave less difficulty when the syntactic structures of their own language are the same as theones in the target language.However, it is surprising that the third-year students had lower scores in translatingverbal complements of cognition-utterance verbs than the first-year students. The reason forthis incident might be due to the third-years’ individual differences. Two-third of third-yearstudents transferred ‘Harry tried to find out what would happen…’ using direct constructionfrom the source text, which is an English expression as follow:(7) * Harry pa-yaa-yaam khŏn wâa a-rai chà kèet-khɨ̂nHarry try find COMP what FUT happen‘Harry tried to find out what would happen…’To translate to Thai Expression, this statement should be translated to:(8) Harry pa-yaa-yaam khǒn wâa chà kèet a-rai khɨ̂nThe inversion of ‘chà’, ‘kèet’, ‘a-rai’ and ‘khɨ̂n’ is the main difference in constructionbetween Thai and English indirect quote. In Thai, ‘a-rai’ in this context, should be in theobject position of the complement clause following the verb ‘kèet (occur)’; however, mostThird-year students misunderstood that ‘what would happen’ can be directly translated toThai using waa followed by sentential verbal complement; while the first-year studentscorrectly perceived and produced in Thai expression: waa followed by verb-phrase verbalcomplement.Conclusion and ImplicationProfessional translation requires experience and vocabulary repertoires of both sourcetarget and target language. Although the third-year students could do better in translatingverbal complements of modality verbs, as they have more context-consideration than thefirst-years, the overall scores of both groups barely exceed half of the total scores. Thisimplies that Thai university students need to have more translation experience, and theteachers should provide, or assign learners to be exposed to more various translating contexts.

70 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsNevertheless, this study has some limitations that should be noted. First, thetranslability of students might need more considerations of the content and language. It ispossible that a student gets the score by selecting the appropriate complementizer, and thesame verbal complement construction as the translator of Harry Potter and the Chamber ofSecrets employed. Second, the source text can possibly be translated in various ways whichhave the same meaning, and yield successful communication. Thus, the use of othertranslated text by students might refer to similar content as the source text, and the translator;however, a participant loses points because of the differences of complementizers and verbalcomplementconstructions.To sum up, this study is just an attempt to combine the syntactic and semanticconstructions to measure the translability of students. It might not be able to generalize thatthe participants have low proficiency in translating, or cannot translate verbal complementsfrom English to Thai at all.ReferencesAltenberg, B., & Granger, S. (2001). The Grammatical and lexical patterning of make innative and non-native student writing. Applied Linguistics, 22(2), 173-195.Bourke, J. M. (2007). Verbal complementation: A pedagogical challenge. Reflections onEnglish Language Teaching, 6, 35-50.Clark, E.V. (2003). First language Acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Cristofaro, S. (2008). A Constructionist approach to complementation: evidence from ancientgreek. Linguistics, 46(3), 571-606.Duffley, P. J. and Trembly. (1994). The infinitive and the –ing as complements of verbs ofeffort. English Studies. 6, 566-575.Givon, T. (1990). Syntax: A Functional Typological Introduction. Amsterdam/Philadelphia:John Benjamins Publishing Company.Noonan, M. (1985). Complementation. In Language Typology and SyntacticDescription:Volume 2: Complex Constructions, Timothy Shopen (ed.), 42–140.Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.Odlin, T. (1989). Language Transfer. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Prasithrathsint, A. (2009). Complementizers and verb classification in thai. Journal of theSoutheast Asian Linguistics Society , 2, 145-160.Singnoi, U. (2000). Nominal Constructions in Thai. Doctoral Dissertation. University ofOregon.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 71Appendixตอนที่ 1 ข้อมูลส่วนตัวคําชี้แจง แบบสอบถามนี ้เป็นแบบสอบถามข้อมูลทั่วไปของนิสิต เมื่ออ่านแล้ว จงทําเครื่องหมาย ลงในช่องว่าง ( ) และเติมข้อความลงในช่องว่าง (_______) ให้ตรงกับความเป็นจริง1. ชื่อ_________________________สกุล________________________รหัส นิสิต______________2. อายุ ______ ปีชั ้นปีที่ _____ เกรดเฉลี่ยรวม__________3. นิสิตเริ่มต้นเรียนภาษาอังกฤษตั ้งแต่อายุเท่าไร _______ ปี4. ทักษะที่ชอบ( ระบุ 1-4: โดย 1 หมายถึง ชอบมากที่สุด และ 4 หมายถึง ชอบน้อยที่สุด)___การฟัง___การอ่าน___การพูด___การเขียน5. กิจกรรมที่ท่านมีโอกาสได้ใช้ทักษะภาษาอังกฤษ (ตอบได้มากกว่า 1 ข้อ)О ฟังเพลง О ชมภาพยนตร์ О อ่านหนังสือ О สนทนากับชาวต่างชาติО ติดต่อสัมพันธ์กับชาวต่างชาติทางอินเทอร์เน็ต О อื่น ๆ_______________6. ท่านคิดว่าประสบการณ์ในการเรียนภาษาอังกฤษของท่านอยู ่ในระดับใด (4 ระดับ)( ) ดีมาก ( ) ดี( ) พอใช้ ( ) ควรปรับปรุง7. ท่านเคยอ่านหนังสือนวนิยายแฮร์รี่พอตเตอร์หรือไม่( ) เคย (ถ้าเคย ตอบข้อ 8) ( ) ไม่เคย8. หนังสือแฮร์รี่พอตเตอร์ที่ท่านอ่านเป็นภาษาอะไร9. ท่านเคยไปศึกษาที่ต่างประเทศหรือไม่( ) ไทย ( ) อังกฤษ( ) อื่นๆ ................. (ระบุ) ( ) ทั ้งไทยและอังกฤษ( ) เคย .............................. (ระบุ) ( ) ไม่เคย----------------จบตอนที่ 1----------------

72 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsตอนที่ 2 จงแปลข้อความที่กําหนดให้จากภาษาอังกฤษเป็นภาษาไทย (มี 21 ข้อ)1. “If you want proof, Harry, that you belong in Gryffindor, I suggest you look more closelyat this sword."______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2. He leapt up and started banging his head furiously on the window.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We decided to get started on the Polyjuice Potion.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3. I need a teacher to sign for it - I'm sure it would help me understand what you say inGadding with Ghouls about slow-acting venoms.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4. Harry was glad that most people were leaving.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________5. Harry managed not to shout out.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6. He understood why he kept making odd things happen without meaning to.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________7. We were tired and wanted to go to bed.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________8. This makes the Dursleys sound almost human.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________9. They were allowed to do magic before the holidays.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 7310. I don't know if this is a good idea.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________11. George tried to signal to Wood and stop the Bludger breaking Harry's nose at thesame time.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________12. They didn't agree to suspend me in the first place.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________13. Harry tried to find out what would happen if you fed a Filibuster firework to asalamander.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________14. Harry had been forced to play a simple Transylvanian villager.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________15. He would have refused to do it.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________16. Mrs. Norris continued to look as though she had been recently stuffed.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________17. He says he's done.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________18. "Why do you want it?" said Harry.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________19. Underage wizards are not permitted to perform spells outside school.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________20. I wish I hadn't left my copy at home.______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

74 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAuthentic Articles for Integrated SkillsSebastian BrookeAssociate Professor, Kogakuin University, Tokyosjbrooke@hotmail.comAuthentic ArticlesMuch has been written in the field of language learning in the last twenty yearsregarding the advantages and disadvantages of using authentic texts with language learners.Firstly, before looking more closely at some of the supposed advantages and disadvantages, itwill be useful to define what exactly the term ‘authentic text’ refers to in the world oflanguage learning.Authentic texts have been defined as “...real-life texts, not written for pedagogicpurposes” (Wallace, 1992: 145). Another way to look at these texts is to assume they arewritten for native speakers, and therefore, contain “real” language. Peacock (1997) alsodiscussed authentic texts as being materials from the target language community, designedfor social or communicative purposes, as opposed to non-authentic texts, which are usuallydesigned with the language learners’ levels and linguistic needs in minds, that is, designed forlanguage learning purposes first and foremost.Many academics tend to point to both the disadvantages and advantages of usingauthentic texts, rather than taking a strong position one way or the other. Nuttall (1996)states that “authentic texts can be motivating because they are proof that the language is usedfor real-life purposes by real people” (p. 172). He does also however point to the difficultylevel of many authentic texts for language learners, conceding that "linguistically difficulttexts are unlikely to be suitable for developing most reading skills" (ibid: 177), somethingthat is particularly true with lower level language learners who have yet to develop asufficient vocabulary for dealing with most authentic texts. However, again there have beendebates on this issue, with Widdowson in particular stating that “it has been traditionallysupposed that the language presented to learners should be simplified in some way for easyaccess and acquisition. Nowadays there are recommendations that the language presentedshould be authentic” (Widdowson, 1990: 67).Authentic materials have been found to have positive benefits for the languagelearning environment by bringing a sense of reality, which can contribute to creating on thepart of the learners a more positive attitude toward learning (Kelly et al., 2002: 1). Authenticmaterials can provide the language learner with opportunities to gain real, up-to-dateinformation and ideas and opinions, and know what is going on in the linguistic and culturalworld being studied. Many authentic texts have something to say, be it giving informationabout current world or community events, or giving opinions on certain topics and issues.They also produce a sense of achievement for language learners. Being able to interact withinformation in a real text in a new/different language can be extremely motivating, thereforeincreasing students' motivation for learning (Guariento & Morley, 2001).One important reason for the use of authentic texts in the task-based learning processbeing introduced here, and another seeming advantage, is their accessibility. Most teachersand teaching environments have access to newspapers and magazines in English, and

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 75increasingly, access to such authentic materials in the form of news articles on the Internetthrough news and other websites. The exact approach or process being introduced for usingsuch resources in task-based integrated learning will be detailed later. It is, however, aprocess that is flexible and open for adaptation to different teaching approaches, styles,learner levels and language learning outcomes.News articles represent valid authentic texts in the target language that are readilyavailable, involve current, content-based language structures and vocabulary, and thepotential for language learners to self-select interesting themes and topics for their languagelearning. Jacobson et al. (2003) carried out an interesting study, which although focused onadult literacy education in America, and not exclusively on language learning of an additionallanguage, nonetheless presents some interesting results that should be considered by allteachers. The study, titled “The Literacy Practices of Adult Learners Study”, found thatstudents who participated in classes that included authentic materials and activities increasedthe amount of time they spent engaging in literacy activities outside of school.Newspapers and authentic news articles have also been shown to efficiently promotelearning, critical thinking, creativity and resourcefulness in learners of all ages (Lakin, 1998:5). Several studies have shown that students who use newspapers and authentic news articlesin learning score higher in reading comprehension tests and develop stronger critical thinkingskills, as well as develop compassion and tolerance for other cultures (Cornish, 2004; Lakin,1998). A United Nations’ publication, “Newspapers in adult education: A sourcebook”(Lakin, 1998), introduces a range of successful outcomes through adult educators in countriessuch as Argentina, Cameroon, Mali, Mexico, and South Africa, using newspapers to developliteracy skills in their adult citizens who became more knowledgeable and informed about notonly their occupations and professions but also about social and political issues.Given there is usually a wide range of news sources available in both print and onlineforms in the target language being learned, it stands to reason that there is an almost limitlessarray of topics and content areas available, ranging across the natural sciences, arts,economics, law, consumerism, current events, career exploration, civics, environmentalism,propaganda and advertising, entertainment, sports, etc. There is certain to be something toappeal to every student’s interests, and one aspect of the approach being described here isstudent self-selection of texts for the task-based assignment. This self-selection helps toensure higher levels of motivation towards the task, as student reactions and motivation levelshave been shown to be optimized when student involvement in tasks and the learning processincreases through self-responsibility and self-directed learning autonomy (Dornyei &Ushioda, 2009).Integrated SkillsAnother important gain from using authentic texts is that they can stimulate theintegration of the four language skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Theintegrated-skill approach helps students to recognize that English is not just an object ofacademic interest to be studied in disparate skill-based classes, nor merely a key to simplypassing an examination; instead, English becomes a very real tool for approaching an issuefrom all angles, as one would typically do in their first language when studying issues, or insituations requiring use of the language being studied. The Longman Dictionary of AppliedLinguistics defines the integrated skill approach as “the teaching of the language skills ofreading, writing, listening and speaking in conjunction with each other as when a lesson

76 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsinvolves activities that relate listening and speaking to reading and writing” (Richards, Platt& Weber, 1985: 44).Integrating the language skills promotes the learning of real content, not just thedissection of language forms, and is a far more natural approach to learning a language, as itis a fairly rare occurrence for language skills to be utilized in isolation in real-worldsituations. This approach also allows teachers to track students' progress in multiple skills atthe same time. The integrated-skill approach, whether found in content-based or task-basedlanguage instruction or some hybrid form, can also be highly motivating to students of allages and with diverse geographic and knowledge-based backgrounds. To employ anintegrated approach it is necessary to choose instructional materials, textbooks, andtechnologies, that promote the integration of listening, reading, speaking, and writing, as wellas the associated skills of syntax, vocabulary, and so on. The current task being introduced inthis article focuses on the integrated use of authentic texts, namely news articles, forpromoting the use of all four skills.Authentic Articles for Integrated Skills: A Task-based ApproachThe task being introduced here consists of four different stages, covering all languageskills in an integrated approach, with an additional review and reflection stage.In Step 1, the students self-select an article in which they are interested and whichthey feel would make for interesting discussion in groups. It is useful to suggest possiblycontroversial topics or issues that other students may have different opinions about when theyare initiating their search. A list of Internet sites and publications can be given to students toaid them in their search. Once they have selected an article they are required to do a closereading of it, including making note of possibly difficult vocabulary items, followed bycritical reflection and thinking before moving to Step 2, a written response to the article. InStep 2, students follow the outline given to them (see Appendix A) for noting the keyinformation and summarizing the article, as well as writing their own opinion regarding theissue. Vocabulary items can also be included here, and most importantly, some discussionquestions regarding the topic are to be included. It is important to explain the differencebetween yes/no and open-ended questions that allow for in-depth discussion of the issues inthe article. An example of student work, neither outstandingly good nor bad, is included asAppendix B and is also to be given to students as a handout in class along with Appendix A.Step 3 involves speaking and listening skills as each student takes turns introducing theirarticle to the group and leading discussion. One way of doing this is for each student to be

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 77allotted a certain time period to introduce their article content, their opinion, any difficultvocabulary, discussion questions, and free discussion on the topic. Once all students in thegroup of 3 or 4 have finished, it is also possible to have a complete class roundup oftopics/issues. Step 4, the final step, involves reflection and review of the task. This can takeseveral different forms, from vocabulary testing of the new vocabulary through to journal oronline blog writing and reflection. This is the approach taken by the current author, withstudents detailing their experiences within the group and their reflection upon the discussionand the topic in blog form. A blog site has been constructed for this purpose which retainsstudent anonymity, with only the instructor having access to the backend of the site, andtherefore to student details. This site is www.liveinenglish.com and currently hasapproximately 1200 students registered.The task-based integrated approach detailed here is open and flexible enough to allowindividual instructors to adapt it as they see fit. A greater focus can be placed on any of theindividual components of the task, from more detailed written responses, vocabularyapproaches, through to oral presentations and debate. It has been successfully utilized forseveral years and across a range of teaching environments and with all levels of languagelearners. This task does lend itself well to repeated uses, given that the first attempt bystudents is usually the poorest. Once they understand and learn from their first effort,subsequent work shows vast improvements. Consequently, it is best suited to being set as atask two or three times per semester course. It is also important that it is assessed as part of afinal grade if students are to take it more seriously. Again, this is open and flexible, but a tenpercent grade loading has been shown to have the desired effect of improving studentmotivation towards the task.ReferencesAlderson, J.C., & Urquhart, A.H. (Eds.). (1984). Reading in a foreign language.London: Longman.Anderson, J.R. (1995). Learning and memory: An integrated approach. New York: JohnWiley & Sons, Inc.Breen, M.P. (1985). Authenticity in the language classroom. AppliedLinguistics, 6(1), 60-70.Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.). (1991). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. U.S.A.:Heinle & Heinle Publishers.Cornish, J. Newspapers in the classroom. Retrieved Aug 10 2010, fromhttp://corporate.classroom.com/newslettersamples/NewspapersintheClassroom.pdfDornyei, Z., & Ushioda, E. (Eds.). (2009). Motivation, language identity and the L2 self.Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Fredericks, Anthony D. (1998). The integrated curriculum. Colorado: Teacher Ideas Press.Freeland, K., & Hammons, K. (1998). Curriculum for integrated learning: A lesson-basedapproach. New York: Delmar Publishers.Guariento, W., & Morley, J. (2001). Text and task authenticity in the EFLclassroom. ELT Journal, 55(4), 347-353.Jacobson, E., Degener, S., & Purcell-Gates, V. (2003). Creating authenticmaterials and activities for the adult literacy classroom: A handbook forpractitioners. Washington: National Centre for the Study of Adult Learning andLiteracy.Kelly, C., Kelly, L., Offner, M., & Vorland, B. (Nov 2002 ). Effective ways touse authentic materials with ESL / EFL students. The Internet TESL Journal, 8(11).Lakin, M. (1998). Newspapers in adult education: A source book. Paris: UNESCO.

78 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsMartinez, A.G. (2002). Authentic materials: an overview. Retrieved Aug 192010, http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/authenticmaterials.htmlNuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Oxford:Heinemann.Olivares, R. (1993). Using the newspaper to teach ESL learners. Newark:International Reading Association.Peacock, M. (1997). The effect of authentic materials on the motivation of EFLlearners. English Language Teaching Journal, 51, 2.Richards, J., Platt, J., & Weber, H. (1985). Longman dictionary of appliedlinguistics. London: Longman.Sanderson, P. (1999). Using newspapers in the classroom. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Shortall, T. (2001). Distinctions and dichotomies: Artificial and authentic.English Teaching Professional, 21, 35.Wallace, C. (1992). Reading. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Widdowson, H. (1990). Aspects of language teaching. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 79Appendix AFor this task students need to select a short article in English. You can find an article in theEnglish newspapers and magazines or on the internet. Controversial or interesting topics thatpeople have different opinions about work best.a) Print or copy the article and note down the source of information, eg:Wright, R. (21 Sep, 2008). Portents for future learning. Japan Times, p65.b) In point form, note the key information:Who? What? Where? When? Why? How?c) Write a summary of the article using your own words. Do not copy from the article.d) Write your opinion about the topic.e) Write 3 discussion-based questions for your group discussion about the themes in thearticle. Yes/No questions are not appropriate.Make 3-4 copies of the article and your information sheet to give to your group members andbe prepared to introduce the article and lead a short discussion of it. On one side of A4 papercopy the article and on the other side your typed summary etc.NOTES:1. Vocabulary items are an additional option: ten items with definitions and examplesentences.2. Set the task as assessed course work so students take it more seriously, e.g. two times persemester course with 10% of final grade allocation for each time – a total of 20%.3. Reflection can be done in written journals or online in the form of blogs. I use the sitehttp://www.liveinenglish.com4. Give students a double-sided copy of this handout and the student example to help themprepare.

80 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAppendix B

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 81The Review Study: the Place of Culture in English Language TeachingSiros IzadpanahIslamic Azad University—Zanjan branch, Zanjan, IranAbstractThis study aims to investigate teachers’ opinions and beliefs on the place of target culturalinformation in English language teaching, as well as their related practices and applications inEFL classrooms in higher education context. Particularly, it tries to explore three researchquestions: (a) how do teachers of English define culture? (b) What are the EFL teachers’attitudes towards incorporating cultural information into their teaching? and (c) What role dothey allocate to the culture of the target language in their classrooms? The study shows thatteachers mostly define culture in the sociological sense, such as values and beliefs. Theirdefinition of culture in the framework of ELT slightly shifts towards more visible culture,such as food and clothing. The study also reveals teachers’ positive attitudes towardsincorporating cultural information in their instruction.Key words: Culture, English as a Foreign Language (EFL), teachers’ perceptions,universities, academic English.IntroductionAs long as languages have existed, there also have been cultures. Culture is a vital partof the communication process. Learning a language without its culture is a recipe forbecoming a “fluent fool”. “A fluent fool is someone who speaks a foreign language well, butdoes not understand the social or philosophical content of that language” (Bennett, 1993, p.9). This is to say that even though one may know the language, they may not be successful inthe target language because of their lack in cultural knowledge.A language consists of culturally loaded rudiments (Pennycook, 1989; Phillipson, 1992;Alptekin, 1996). While learning a foreign language, it is likely for its learners to need culturalinformation for better communication.However, in the language-learning process, some of those cultural elements might affectits learners. What is more, they may be naturally imposed on them. Similarly, meaningfullanguage learning requires context. Byram (1988) asserted that language has no functionindependent of the context in which it is used, thus language always refers to somethingbeyond itself—the cultural context. This cultural context defines the language patterns beingused when particular people come together under particular circumstances at a particular timeand place. This combination of elements always has a cultural meaning, which influenceslanguage use. The context entails not only the way of life, but also the codes of thecommunity in which that language is used. Therefore, when learning a language, the learnersare influenced by the values—or the value system—of another culture, and some of thosevalues may be passed on to them (Işık, 2003; 2004). That is to say, apart from being a crucialcomponent of language teaching and learning, transferring cultural information mayencompass various changes in the language learners’ modes of thinking.In this sense, culture and language learning have a multi-dimensional relationship.Cultural knowledge embedded in a language is important for its speakers on the one hand;

82 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsand on the other hand, this knowledge has an impact on the philosophy of its learners.Correspondingly, foreign language learning is a window opening to new horizons by buildingup connections to other cultures, but may also be a form of assimilation promoted by thedomination of its culture—especially when the language itself is dominant in the world arena.Thus, foreign language teachers may sometimes find themselves in the dilemma of trying toavoid creating fluent fools, but at the same time trying to avoid becoming a tool of “linguisticimperialism” (Phillipson, 1992).Although the importance of incorporating culture into language teaching and learningmay appear to be obvious, not everyone in the field acknowledges this importance. In fact,“only one third of (language teaching) programs offer a course in culture” (Reid, 1995; 1996,p. 3). Historically, one reason for this oversight has been that language teachers are moreinterested in the practical aspects of communication. Language teachers often treat culture assupplemental or incidental to “the real task” (p. x).Over the past decade, these problems resulting from not teaching culture with languagehave started to be recognized. Language teachers try to avoid turning out fluent fools bydeliberately helping students learn to experience reality in a new way through culture. Manyinternational and national foreign language associations have begun to address theseproblems by incorporating culture in their standards. In 1996, TESOL published as its thirdgoal in ESL Standards for Pre-K—12 Students “to use English in socially and culturallyappropriate ways” (p. 17). Additionally, the national standards for foreign language educationdeveloped in part with American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), werebased on “knowing how, when and why to say what to whom”. The national standards werecreated with the ultimate goal of foreign language teaching being “the ability to communicatein meaningful and appropriate ways with users of other languages”. With this in mind, theydeveloped a framework based on the explicit and the implicit forms of culture.Even though there has been an increase in the amount of attention given to the lack ofculture incorporated in language teaching, there is still a dearth in the extent of informationabout “how, when and why” to incorporate culture in the language classroom. Many linguistsand interculturalists have started to address this problem with series, such as New Ways inTeaching Culture (Fantini, 1997). However, the need to understand this issue and itssolutions more still exists.In a qualitative study, Önalan (2005) in Turkey showed that teachers mostly definedculture in the sociological sense, such as values and beliefs. Their definitions of culture in theframework of English Language Teaching slightly shift towards more visible culture, such asfood and clothing. The study also revealed teachers’ positive attitudes towards incorporatingcultural information in their instruction. In learning a foreign language, learners need culturalinformation for better communication (Önalan, 2005). Therefore, language teachers try toavoid turning out fluent fools by deliberately helping students learn to experience reality in anew way through culture.Teachers believed that their main aim in giving cultural information in their classes is to“develop a global understanding of other cultures and people”. ( Önalan , 2005) “I thinkbeing aware of other cultures and recognizing the differences among people are the bestmotivation to learn a language. Just out of curiosity, one can learn a language”. “In classes,we talk about the issues in Africa, best cheese in Italy, and bull fights in Spain. We comparefeatures of our culture with those of British and American cultures. While focusing on theEnglish language, this is making them aware of the beauties of other languages and cultures,

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 83too”. Teachers’ major goal in giving cultural information to their students was to “make themacquire better communication and comprehension skills”. “These students will be doing lotsof reading. They need to understand what they read as fully as possible and the texts are fullof cultural knowledge”. “We want to increase their language proficiency. Cultural knowledgeis a part of that (proficiency) and successful communication requires it it(italics added)".”.Finally, few teachers stated that target language culture had a very minor role in teaching aforeign language, if any. Developing an awareness of other cultures is the most important roleof cultural information in the EFL (English Foreign Language) classrooms, while the secondmost important role is perceived to foster better communication.ObjectiveTo review the Place of Culture in ELT, it tries to explore three research questions: (a)how do teachers of English define culture? (b) What are the EFL teachers’ attitudes towardsincorporating cultural information into their teaching? and (c) What role do they allocate tothe culture of the target language in their classrooms?MethodSystematic review of the relationship between culture and ELT was done by searchingin the reliable Databases (Springer, Informa World, Elsevier, Cambridge…) which havebeen published from 1921 until now.ContentsThe dialectical connection between language and culture has always been a concern ofL2 (Second Language) teachers and educators. Whether culture of the target language is to beincorporated into L2 teaching has been a subject of rapid change throughout languageteaching history. In the course of time, the pendulum of ELT practitioners’ opinion hasswung against or for teaching culture in context of language teaching. For example, duringthe first decade of the 20th century, researchers discussed the importance and possibilities ofincluding cultural components into L2 curriculum (Sysoyev & Donelson, 2002); the adventof CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) in the late 1970s marks a critical shift forteaching culture, for the paradigm shift from an approach largely based on form and structureto a plurality of approaches causing an unintended side effect—the negligence of culture(Pulverness, 2003).Recent studies focus on the seamless relationship between L2 teaching and target cultureteaching, especially over the last decade in the 20th century with the writings of scholars suchas Byram (1989; 1994a;; 1997a; 1997b) and Kramsch (1988; 1993; 1996; 2001). Peopleinvolved in language teaching have again begun to understand the intertwined relationbetween culture and language (Pulverness, 2003). It has been emphasized that without thestudy of culture, teaching L2 is inaccurate and incomplete. For L2 students, language studyseems senseless if they know nothing about the people who speak the target language or thecountry in which the target language is spoken. Acquiring a new language means a lot morethan the manipulation of syntax and lexicon. According to Bada (2000),the need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly from the fact that most language learners, notexposed to cultural elements of the society in question, seem to encounter significant hardshipin communicating meaning to native speakers. (p. 101)In addition, nowadays the L2 culture is presented as an interdisciplinary core in manyL2 curricula designs and textbooks (Sysoyev & Donelson, 2002).

84 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThere is no such a thing as human nature independent of culture; studying an L2, in asense, is trying to figure out the nature of another people (McDevitt, 2004). If as McDevittheld human nature is seamlessly related to the culture, then studying L2 involves the study ofL2 culture. Actually, the conditionality of the previous sentence could be provedinappropriate. The mutual relation between language and culture, i.e., the interaction oflanguage and culture has long been a settled issue, such as Wittgenstein (1980; 1999),Saussure (1966), Foucault (1994), Dilthey (1989), Von Humboldt (1876), Adorno (1993),Davidson (1999), Quine (1980) and Chomsky (1968). These are the names first to come tomind when the issue is the relation between language and culture. Yet, the most strikinglinguists dealing with the issue of language and culture are Sapir (1962) and Whorf (1956).They are the scholars whose names are often used synonymously with the term “linguisticrelativity” (Richards et al., 1992). The core of their theory are (1) we perceive the world interms of categories and distinctions found in our native language, and (2) what is found inone language may not be found in another language due to cultural differences.Although the ground of discussion on language and culture has been cleared for ages, itis not until the 1980s that the need of teaching culture in language classes is indicated,reaching its climax in the 1990s .For instance in the case of ELT, Pulverness (2003) assertedthat due to the undeniable growth of English as an international language cultural content asanything other than contextual background was began to be included in language teachingprograms.Although by the mid of 1980s, various advantages of teaching culture in L2 classes werevirtually universally accepted, and culture was widely taught in language classes, there werestill some problems about what should be taught and how culture could be taught mostbeneficially. These questions were faced more and more in 1990s (Kitao, 2000).If we turn to the relationship between culture and language, we can see some remarkablecomments, for example, Sapir (1921) argued that “language, race, and culture are notnecessarily correlated”, adding the remark “language and our thought-grooves areinextricably interrelated, are, in a sense, one and the same”. Yet, this single remark does notsupply a satisfactory reply to the question of why culture teaching should be involved inlanguage teaching. Kitao (2000) giving reference to several authors listed some of thebenefits of teaching culture as follows:Studying culture gives students a reason to study the target language as well as renderingthe study of L2 meaningful. (Stainer, 1971)From the perspective of learners, one of the major problems in language teaching is toconceive of the native speakers of target language as real person. Although grammar books giveso-called genuine examples from real life, without background knowledge those real situationsmay be considered fictive by the learners. In addition providing access into cultural aspect oflanguage, learning culture would help learners relate the abstract sounds and forms of alanguage to real people and places. (Chastain, 1971)The affect of motivation in the study of L2 has been proved by experts like Gardner andLambert (1959; 1965; 1972). In achieving high motivation, culture classes do have a great rolebecause learners like culturally based activities such as singing, dancing, role playing, doingresearch on countries and peoples, etc.. The study of culture increases learners’ not onlycuriosity about and interest in target countries but also their motivation. For example, whensome professors introduced the cultures of the L2s they taught, the learners’ interests in thoseclasses increased a lot and the classes based on culture became to be preferred more highly thantraditional classes and post-modernism, in an age of tolerance towards different ideologies,

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 85religions and sub-cultures, we need to understand not only the other culture but also our ownculture. Most people espouse ethnocentric views due to being culture bound, which leads tomajor problems when they confront a different culture. Being culture bound, they just try toreject or ignore the new culture. As if it is possible to make a hierarchy of cultures they begin totalk about the supremacy of their cultures. This is because they have difficulty understanding oraccepting people with points of view based on other views of the world. This point is alsohighlighted by Kramsch (2001).People who identify themselves as members of a social group (family, neighborhood,professional or ethnic affiliation and nation) acquire common ways of viewing the worldthrough their interactions with other members of the same group. These views are reinforcedthrough institutions like the family, the school, the workplace, the church, the governmentand other sites of socialization through their lives. Common attitudes, beliefs and values arereflected in the way members of the group use language, for example, what they choose tosay or not to say and how they say it (p. 6).Besides these benefits, studying culture gives learners a liking for the native speakers of thetarget language. Studying culture also plays a useful role in general education; studying culture,we could also learn about the geography, history, etc. of the target culture (Cooke, 1970).McKay (2003) contended that culture influences language teaching in two ways:linguistic and pedagogical. Linguistically, it affects the semantic, pragmatic and discourselevels of the language. Pedagogically, it influences the choice of the language materialsbecause cultural content of the language materials, and the cultural basis of the teachingmethodology are to be taken into consideration while deciding upon the language materials.For example, while some textbooks provide examples from the target culture, some othersuse source culture materials.Previously, we argued that ethnocentricity limits the self, hence, individuals have to lookat themselves from a different perspective to surmount such limitation; thus, culture classesare vital in enabling individuals to see themselves from a different point of view. Similarly,Pulverness (2004) stressed this point by stating that just as literature ostracizes the familiarobject to the self, e.g., Russian literary critic Viktor Shklovsky explained how Tolstoyostracized the familiar object—culture class ostracizes the learner to him, which helps him tosee himself from a different perspective. As argued above, most people are so ethnocentricthat when they begin to study another language their restrictedness in their own culturesprevents them from seeing the world via different ways of looking. Overcoming the limits ofmonoculture perspective and reaching the realm of different perspective could be facilitatedby studying another culture.To sum up, culture classes have a humanizing and a motivating effect on the languagelearners and the learning process. They help learners observe similarities and differencesamong various cultural groups. Today, most of L2 students around the world live in amonolingual and monoculture environment. Consequently, they become culture-boundindividuals who tend to make premature and inappropriate value judgments about their andothers’ cultural characteristics. This can lead them to consider others whose language theymay be trying to learn as very peculiar and even ill-mannered, which, in turn, plays ademotivating role in their language learning process.Some experts, however, approach the issue of teaching culture with some kind ofreservation. Bada (2000) reminded us that awareness of cultural values and societalcharacteristics does not necessarily invite the learners to conform to such values, since they

86 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsare there to “refine the self so that it can take a more universal and less egoistic form” (p.100). Besides, we are reminded of the fact that English language is the most studied languageall over the world, whereby the language has gained a lingua franca status (Alptekin, 2002;Smith, 1976). Alptekin (2002) in his article favoring an intercultural communicativecompetence rather than a native-like competence, asserted that since English is used by mostof the world for instrumental reasons, such as professional contacts, academic studies andcommercial pursuits, the conventions of the British politeness or American informality proveirrelevant. Quite in the same manner, Smith (1976) highlighting the international status ofEnglish language lists why culture is not needed in teaching of English language: (1) There isno necessity for L2 speakers to internalize the cultural norms of native speakers of thatlanguage, (2) An international language becomes de-nationalized, (3) The purpose ofteaching an international language is to facilitate the communication of learners’ ideas andculture in an English medium (McKay, 2003 ).Önalan (2005) in Turkey showed that teachersmostly defined culture in the sociological sense, such as values and beliefs. Their definitionof culture in the framework of ELT slightly shifts towards more visible culture, such as foodand clothing. Their study also revealed teachers’ positive attitudes towards incorporatingcultural information in their instruction. In learning a foreign language, learners need culturalinformation for better communication (Önalan, 2005).Mohammed Ali Akbari (2004) investigated that the place of culture in the Iranian EFLhigh school levels was limited not only in depth of cultural information, but also in the rangeof the culture depicted.ConclusionReview of studies showed that the need for cultural literacy in ELT arises mainly fromthe fact that most language learners, not exposed to cultural elements of the society inquestion, seemed to encounter significant hardship in communicating meaning to nativespeakers. In addition, nowadays the L2 culture is presented as an interdisciplinary core inmany L2 curricula designs and textbooks. Various advantages of teaching culture in L2classes were virtually universally accepted, and culture was widely taught in languageclasses, there were still problems about what should be taught and how culture could betaught most beneficially, for example, studying culture gives students a reason to study thetarget language as well as rendering the study of L2 meaningful, also gives learners a likingfor the native speakers of the target language.The study of culture increases not only learners’ curiosity about and interest in targetcountries but also their motivation and it also plays a useful role in general education;studying culture, we could also learn about the geography, history, etc. of the target culturebut some foreign language teachers may sometimes find themselves in the dilemma of tryingto avoid creating fluent fools but at the same time trying to avoid becoming a tool of“linguistic imperialism”.ReferencesAdorno, T. (1993). The Culture Industry: Selected Essay on Mass Culture. Routledge.Alptekin, C. (1996). Target-language culture in EFL materials (53-61). In Hedge, T. &Whitney. N. (Eds.), Power, Pedagogy and Practice. Oxford: OUP.Alptekin, C. (2002). Towards intercultural communicative competence. ELT Journal, 56(1),57-64.Alptekin, C., & Alptekin, M. (1984). The question of culture: EFL teaching in non-Englishspeaking countries. ELT Journal, 38(1), 14-20.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 87Bada, E. (2000). Culture in ELT. Cukurova University Journal of Social Sciences, (6), 100-110.Bates, D. G., & Plog, F. (1991). Human adaptive strategies. New York: McGraw-Hill.Bayyurt, Y. (2006). Non-native English language teachers’ perspective on culture in Englishas a foreign language classrooms. Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. TurkeyTeacherDevelopment, 10(2), 233-247.Bentahila, A., & Davies, E. (1989) Culture and language use: A problem for foreign languageteaching. IRAL, 17(2), 99-112.Bennett, M.J. (1993). How not to be a fluent fool: Understanding the cultural dimension oflanguage. The language teacher, 27 (9).Byram, M. (1988). Foreign language education and cultural studies. Language, Culture, andCurriculum, 1, (1), 15-31.Byram, M. (1997b). Cultural studies and foreign language teaching. In Bassnett, S. (Ed.),Studying British cultures. An Introduction (pp. 53-65). London: Routledge.Byram, M., & Morgan, C. (1994b). Teaching-and-learning language-and-culture. Clevedon:Multilingual Matters Ltd.Byram, M. (1989). Cultural studies in foreign language education. Clevedon: MultilingualMatters Ltd.Byram, M. (1997a). Cultural awareness’ in vocabulary learning. Language Learning Journal,16, 51-57.Byram, M. (Ed.). (1994a). Culture and language learning in higher education. Clevedon:Multilingual Matters Ltd.Byram, M., & Fleming, M. (1998). Language learning in intercultural perspective.Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Carr, J. (1999). From sympathetic to dialogic imagination: Cultural study in the foreignlanguage classroom. In J. Lo Bianco, C. Crozet, & A. Liddicoat, (Eds.), Striving forthird place: Intercultural competence through language education (pp. 103-112).Language Australia: Australia.Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Chomsky, N. (1968). Language and Mind. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.Davidson, D. (1999). The Philosophy of Donald Davidson. (Ed) Lewis Edwin Hahn. Illinois:Open Court Publishing Company.Dilthey, W. (1989). Introduction to the Human Sciences: An Attempt to Lay a Foundation forthe Study of Society and History. Wayne State University Press.Evans, G., & González, O. (1993). Reading inside the lines: An adventure in developingcultural understanding. Foreign Language Annals, 26(1), 39-48.Fantini, A. (1997) Language: Its Cultural and Intercultural Dimensions. In A. Fantini (Ed.).New Ways of Teaching Culture (pp. 3-15). Alexandria, VA: TESOL PublicationsFiorito, C. (2000). Foreign language and culture: Some background and some ideas onteaching. NASSP (National Association of Secondary School Principals) Bulletin, 84,30-34.Flewelling, J. (1994). The Teaching of culture: Guidelines from the national core Frenchstudy of Canada. Foreign Language Annals, 27(2), 132-134Foucault, M. (1994). The Order of Things: An Archaeology of the Human Sciences. USA:Vintage BooksGardner, R. C., & Lambert, W. E. (1972). Attitudes and motivation in second languagelearning. Rowley, Mass: Newbury House.Humboldt, K. W. (1876). The heterogeneity of language and its influence on the intellectualdevelopment of mankind.Kitao, K. (2000). Teaching culture in foreign language instruction in the Unites States.

88 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsRetrievedfrom http://ilc2.doshisha.ac.jp/users/kkitao/library/article/culture.htm. [14.06.2004].Kramsch, C. (1988). The cultural discourse of foreign language textbooks. In A. Singerman(Ed.), Towards a new integration of language and culture (pp. 63-68). Middlebury, VT:Northeast Conference.Kramsch, C. (1993). Context and culture in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.Kramsch, C. (2000). Context and Culture in Language Teaching, 4th ed, Oxford UniversityPress: Oxford. TextIşık, A. (2003). Linguistic imperialism and its reflection in foreign/second language teaching(FLED 308 Lecture Notes). Istanbul: Boğaziçi University.Işık, A. (2004). Linguistic imperialism and foreign language teaching (Unpublished paper).Lafayette, R. (1978). Teaching culture: Strategies and techniques. Language and Education:Theory and Practice, 11, 1-33.Lalande, J. (1988). Teaching culture in the intermediate level college course.Unterrichtspraxis, 21(1), 89-96.Libben, G. & Lindner, O. (1996). Second Culture Acquisition & Second LanguageAcquisition: Faux Amis? Zeitschrift für InterkulturellenFremdsprachenunterricht, 1,1, Translated Online, (Online, accessed 15 June2000). http://www.ualberta.ca/~german/ejournal/libben2.htmLiddicoat, A. (1997). Everyday speech as culture: Implications for language teaching. In A. J.Liddicoat, & C. Crozet (Eds.), Teaching language, teaching culture (pp. 55–70).Canberra: Applied Linguistics Association of Australia.Lo Bianco, J. (1999). Intercultural competence: From language policy to language education.In J. Lo Bianco, J., C. Crozet, & A. Liddicoat (Eds.), Striving for third place:Intercultural competence through language education (pp. 1-20). Language Australia:Australia.Mohmmad A.A. (2004). The Place of Culture in the Iranian Textbooks in High School LevelPan-Pacific-Association of Applied Linguistic Conference –August 19-20 NamseoulUniversity ,Korea..McDevitt, B. (2004). Negotiating the syllabus: A win-win syllabus. ELT Journal, 58(1), 3-9.McKay, S. L. (2003). The cultural basis of teaching English as an international language.Retrieved from http://www.tesol.org/pubs/articles/2003/tm13-4-01.htmlMcMillan, J. H., &Schumacher, S. (1989). Research in education. Glenview, Illinois: Scott,Foresman and Company.Önalan, O. (2005). EFL teachers’ perceptions of the place of culture in ELT: A survey studyat four universities in Ankara/Turkey. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 1(2),215-234.Pennycook, A. (1989). The Concept of Method, Interested Knowledge, and the Politics ofLanguage Teaching. TESOL Quarterly, 23(4) 589-618Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: OUP.Pulverness, A. (2003). Distinctions & dichotomies: Culture-free, culture-bound. Retrievedfrom http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/forum/distanddich.htmPulverness, A. (2004). Here and there: Issues in materials development for interculturallearning. Retrieved from http://elt.britcoun.org.pl/forum/handt.htmQuine, W. V. (1980). From a Logical Point of View: Nine Logico-Philosophical Essays.Harvard University Press.Reid, J. (1995/1996 December/January). President’s message: Let’s put “T” back inTESL/TEFL programs. TESOL Matters, p.3.Richards, J. C., Platt, J., and Platt, H. (1992). Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 89Linguistics. Essex: Longman.Sapir, E. (1962). Culture, language and personality .Berkeley, CA: University of CaliforniaPressSapir, E. (1921). Language: An introduction to the study of speech. Retrieved fromhttp://www.bartleby.com/186/10.html#txt17Saussure, F. de. (1966). Course in general linguistics. (C. Bally, A. Sechehaye, & A.Riedlinger (Eds.), W. Baskin Trans). New York: McGraw-Hill Book CompanySimpson, C. (1997). Culture and foreign language teaching. Language Learning Journal,(15), 40-43.Smith, L. (1976). English as an international auxiliary language. RELC Journal, 7(2), 38-43.Stern, H. H. (1992). Issues and options in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.Stainer, F. (1971). Culture: A motivating factor in the French classroom. In C. Jay & P.Castle (Eds.), French language education: The teaching of culture in the classroom.Springfield, IL: State Department of Public Instruction.Sysoyev, P. V., & Donelson, L. R. (2002). Teaching cultural identity through modernlanguage: Discourse as a marker of an individual’s cultural identity. Retrieved fromhttp://www.actr.org/JER/issue4/11.htmTESOL. (1996). Promising futures: ESL standards for pre-K-12 students. Alexendria, VA:AuthorValdes, J. M. (1986). Culture-bound: Bridging the cultural gap in language teaching. NewYork: Cambridge University Press.Wadham-Smith, N. (2003). The intercultural language teaching debate. Retrieved fromhttp://www.counterpoint-online.orgWhorf, B. L. (1956) Language, Thought, and Reality: Selected Writings of Benjamin LeeWhorf. (Ed) John B. Carroll. Cambridge: MIT Press.Wittgenstein, L (1999). Philosophical Investigations. (trans. by. G. E. M. Anscombe)Prentice Hall.Wittgenstein, L. (1980). Culture and Value. (trans. by Peter Winch) Chicago: ChicagoUniversity Press.

90 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThe Review Study: The Effect of Task-Based Approach on the Advanced EFLLearners’ Narrative vs. Expository WritingSiros IzadpanahIslamic Azad University—Zanjan Branch, IranAbstractThis study was an attempt to determine the effect of task-based approach vs. traditionalapproach on the narrative and expository writing of the EFL (English as a ForeignLanguage) learners. This study also tried to see if there is any difference between thenarrative and expository writing of the advanced EFL learners’ when the task-basedapproach is the instruction of methodology. It was concluded that teaching writing toEFL learners through task-based approach is more effective than teaching writing to theadvanced EFL learners traditionally. But, it was found that task-based approach is notbiased toward one of the two narratives vs. expository writing modes. For EFL contextsin many countries, there is a strong need for learners to develop their EFL writingability.Keywords: TBLT (Task-Based Language Teaching), writing modes, narrative writing,expository writingIntroductionLiving in the era of information and communication, we need to convey our ideas andnew research findings to the people in other countries through writing. On the other hand,English is an international language and most of the well-known publishers, journals andwebsites publish accept only those materials which have been written in English. So in manycountries, there is a strong need for learners to develop their EFL (English as a ForeignLanguage) writing ability.As far as the modes of writing are concerned, narration and exposition are two highlyvalidated and frequently used writing modes. Accordingly, EFL learners are interested inwriting their own narrative and expository essays in English in order to send them to Englishpublishers. A lot of techniques and procedures have been used in EFL context for teachingnarrative and expository writing to the learners, however, most of which have not beenpractical and communicative or have not yielded good results.In spite of all of the developments in the teaching of writing in other EFL contexts, thetraditional approach, i.e., “product approach”, is still used in teaching writing by learners inmost universities and colleges. The situation is even worse when the teaching of writingmodes, like narration and exposition, is concerned. Therefore, there is an urgent andnecessary need to find effective ways of teaching narrative and expository writing foradvanced EFL learners. Such a strong need for change in the position of writing at theacademic level motivates and encourages researchers to do research. Because of the poorposition of EFL writing and the use of traditional, product-based approaches, the paperstudies the use of Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) as a new and validated approachSiros Izadpanah, lecturer ofBranch.English Department, Islamic Azad University—Zanjan

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 91to the teaching of writing. This paper also tries to determine if TBLT can improve the EFLlearners’ narrative and expository writing.ObjectiveTo review the effect of task-based approach on the advanced EFL learners’ narrative vs.expository writing. In doing the current study, we try to answer the following questions: (1)Does teaching writing through task-based approach have any significant effect on theadvanced EFL learners’ writing? (2) Is there any significant difference between the narrativesvs. expository writing of the advanced EFL learners?MethodsThe systematic review of “effect of task-based approach on the advanced EFL learners’narrative vs. expository writing” was done by searching with key words: Task; Task-BasedLanguage Teaching, writing mode, narrative writing, expository writing using of “or”, “and”from reliable Databases (Springer, Informa World, Elsevier, Cambridge…)which have beenpublished from 1921 until now.ContentsTask-Based Language TeachingThe emergence of the CLT (Communicative Language Teaching) in the 1980s was alandmark in the history of language teaching. CLT proposed that the goal of languageteaching should develop “communicative competence”, not just “linguistic competence”. Assuch, CLT suggested that language learning should be done through meaningfulcommunication (Celce-Murcia, 2001, p. 16). According to Ellis (2003), CLT is a meaningbasedand leaner-centered approach and that all of the four skills need to be integrated. Howat(1984 ,as cited in Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p. 155) distinguished between weak version andstrong version of CLT. Howat defined the weak version as learning language in order to useit and defined the strong version as using language in order to learn it. Generally, CLT isconsidered as an approach rather than a method and it has given birth to many methods, oneof which is TBLT.Ellis (2003) has distinguished between task-supported language teaching and task-basedlanguage teaching. According to Ellis, task-supported language teaching parallels the weakversion of CLT using a procedure of Presentation, Practice and Production (PPP). In tasksupportedlanguage teaching, tasks only have a supportive function in the production phase.Also, Harmer (2001) has criticized “PPP” for being teacher-centered and for ignoring thenature of language and human learning. The criticism against “PPP” prepared the grounds forthe task-based language teaching.Based on Ellis (2003, p. 30), task-based language teaching parallels the strong version ofCLT and uses tasks as the basis for the whole language teaching curriculum. As an extensionof CLT, TBLT assumes that language is a means of making meaning (Ellis, 2000). In TBLT,all the four language skills are considered as important. Due to the centrality of the “tasks” inTBLT, many definitions have been proposed for the notion of task. J. Willis (1996) arguedthat tasks are those activities which learners do in order to achieve an outcome in the targetlanguage. According to Ellis (2003, pp. 9-10), a task is a work plan that involves themeaningful, real-world processes of language use aiming at achieving a communicativeoutcome, and it may use one of the four skills. But the most comprehensive definition of“task” is that of Nunan (2004):

92 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsA task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending,manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention isfocused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and inwhich the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. The taskshould also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicativeact in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end. (p. 4)With regard to the classification of task components, Ellis (2003, p. 21) claimed that a taskhas five components: goals, input, conditions, procedures and predicted outcomes. Nunan’s(2004) classification of task components includes goals, input, procedures, and teacher andlearner roles. Littlewood (2004) has stated that there are some differences between tasks andexercises. He held that tasks are those classroom activities which are primarily meaning- andcontent-focused, but exercises are primarily language-focused. But there is not a clear-cutdistinction between tasks and exercises. Accepting such a difference, Ellis (2003) argued thatboth tasks and exercises are useful and important for language teaching.As far as task types are concerned, Nunan (1989) has distinguished “between pedagogicaland real world tasks”. Real world tasks are those based on a need analysis and are foundeffective in real world language use. But pedagogical tasks are designed for instructionalpurposes. Target tasks and communicative tasks are other names for real world tasks.With regard to the theory of language, Richards and Rodgers (2001) believed that TBLTdraws on functional, interactional, and in some cases, structural theories about the nature oflanguage. TBLT uses a task-based syllabus which is a type of analytical syllabi. Somepsychologically-oriented researches and theories support TBLT. Moghadam (2007, pp. 54-59) have discussed Krashen’s input hypothesis, interaction hypothesis, output hypothesis andVygotsky’s theory as theories that strongly support TBLT.Both J. Willis (1996) and Ellis (2003) suggested that all of the classroom instructions inTBLT can be organized in terms of pre-task, during task and post-task phases. The overallpurpose of the pre-task is to prepare the learners for completing the task through providingstudents with the task instruction and activating the background knowledge. In the duringtask phase, learners complete the task. In the post-task phase, learners practice some specificlinguistic features of the task. Therefore, this phase is also called the “language focus phase”.D. Willis and J. Willis (2001) presented a model with task, planning and report phases in thetask cycle and a language focus phase after the task cycle (p. 178).ESL (English as a Second language) /EFL (English as a Foreign Language) WritingWriting is a basic language skill and a considerable amount of human communication isdone through written language. But unfortunately, this productive skill has been marginalizedin the language research. One reason for this negligence was the traditional view whichconsidered writing as a mere representation of speech. In the era of audiolingualism, it wasbelieved that language was speech and writing was an orthographic representation of speech.Such a view toward, writing developed the “controlled composition” tradition in the 1950sand 1960s. Silva and Matsuda (2002) depicted the position of writing in this approach as:In the controlled composition tradition, writing functions as a service activity,reinforcing other language skills. The goal of writing instruction is habit formation.Students manipulate familiar language structures; the teacher is an editor, privileginglinguistic factors over ideas. The text is seen as a collection of vocabulary and sentencepatterns; there is negligible concern for audience or purpose. (pp. 258-259)

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 93The “paragraph pattern approach” (Silva & Matsuda, 2002, p. 259) or the “currenttradition approach” (Reid, 2001, pp. 28-29) in the late 1960s and early 1970s was one of thereactions against the controlled composition and emphasized the importance of organization,logical construction and arrangement at the above-sentence level. The “expressivistapproach” was another trend which became dominant in 1970s. Reid (2001, p. 29) arguedthat in this approach “writing was taught as a process of self discovery, writers expressedtheir feelings in a climate of encouragement”. The proponents of this approach-claimed thatfree expression of ideas led to self discovery and finally to develop effective writing skills inlearners.All of the above-mentioned approaches in teaching writing were product-based. All ofthem paid attention to the final product of writing. The sentence-level grammar andmechanical aspects of writing such as punctuation and spelling were the focus of the writinginstruction in these approaches. The linear and prescriptive nature of the product approachesand their failure in developing, effective writing skills in ESL/EFL learners paved the way forthe emergence of the “process approach” in teaching writing.When it comes to “process approach”, Seow (2002) stated that it focused on theprocesses of writing, i.e., the different stages that learners go through in their writing:planning, drafting, revising and editing (p. 316). Kroll (2001) has defined this approach inthis way:What the term captures is the fact that student writers engage in their writing tasksthrough a single-shat approach. They are not expected to produce and submit completeand polished responses to their writing assignments without going through stages ofdrafting and receiving feedback on their drafts, be it from peers and/or from the teacher,followed by revision of their evolving texts. This is what is truly meant by the processapproach. (pp. 220-221)Weigle (2002) commented that process approach views writing as a recursive andexploratory process not as a linear one (p. 24). Process approaches primarily focus on whatwriters do as they write rather than on textual features. According to Chastain (1988, p. 251),in order to improve the quality of written product, the instructor should assist the learners toimprove the process of writing. Badger and White (2000) recommended that writing shouldbe done outside the boundaries of assessment, as a dynamic process in a learner-centeredclassroom. From the viewpoint of Hedge (2000), “the process view of writing sees it asthinking, as discovery” (p. 302).There are some arguments against the dichotomy between product and processapproaches. For example, Reid (2001) has called the dichotomy a “false” one (p. 29). Brown(2001) believed that there should be a balance between the two. And best of all, Nunan(1999) put it “although proponents of these two approaches try to portray them as mutuallyincompatible, they are in fact, complementary” (p. 298).There have been a lot of studies on the issues involved in ESL and EFL writing. Suchstudies have used speak-aloud protocols and interviews to investigate the students’composing and revision strategies (Reid, 2001). Some other studies have examined thestudents’ preferences concerning peer feedback or teacher feedback on their compositions.Other researchers have investigated the academic writing tasks and how they are used inEFL/ESL contexts (Spack, 1997, as cited in Reid, 2001). Silva (1993) has named some of theimportant differences between L1 (First Language) and L2 (Second Language) writing interms of processes and the textual features. He has analyzed 72 reports and then has

94 ICLC 2010 Proceedingssynthesized the findings of those reports. Matsuda (1997) has analyzed what he calls the“static model of L2 writing” based on rhetorical studies and then has proposed a “dynamicmodel” of second language writing. This model shows how linguistic, cultural andeducational backgrounds of the learners are negotiated in the process of writing.When it comes to the practice of teaching writing, Chastain (1988) proposed three stagesfor teaching writing, namely, pre-writing, while writing (writing the composition) and postwriting.Brown (2001) has recommended a three-stage process for writing a composition:prewriting, drafting and revision.Modes of WritingIn the recent years, a lot of research has been done on the concept of “genre” and its rolein writing. Genre studies have focused on the recognizable patterns and norms oforganization and structure of written texts. One branch of genre studies addresses the generaltypes or modes of writing. According to Stifter (2002), modes of writing or rhetorical modes“are patterns of organization aimed at achieving a particular effect in the reader” (p. l).Generally, modes of writing have been classified into four types: descriptive, narrative,expository and argumentative (Connor, 1996; Richards & Schmidt, 2002).Narrative WritingThe most familiar and the simplest mode of writing is the narration. Richards andSchmidt (2002, p. 337) defined this writing mode as “narrative writing reports an event ortells the story of something that happened”. The purpose of a narrative text is to inform,entertain and excite the readers (Dickson, Kameenui, & Simmons, 2007, p. 11). “Narrativetext depicts events, actions, emotions, or situations the people in a culture experience”(Graesser, Golding, & Long, 1991, as cited in Dickson et al., 2007). But the mostcomprehensive definition is that of Jewell (2004),“Narration” or a “narrative” provides details of what happened. It is almost like alist of events in the order that they happened, except that it is written in paragraph form.A narration or narrative doesn’t have to show any cause and effect; it only needs toshow what happened in the order that it happened. (p. 4)Expository WritingThe purpose of this mode of writing is to provide information about a particular subjectand explain it. Text books, essays and many of the articles published in magazines areexpository texts which communicate information (Richards & Schmidt, 2002, p. 337). Thestructure of this mode is more complex than other modes. Consequently, ESL/EFL learnershave more problems in learning to write expository texts. Expository mode has varioussubdivisions. “Common expository text structures include compare/contrast, classification,illustration, procedural description, sequence, enumeration or collection and problemsolution”(Meyer & Rice, 1982; Weaver & Kintsch, 1991, as cited in Dickson et al., 2007).Having many serious problems in their essay writing, the advanced EFL learners shouldbe helped to overcome these problems and develop effective essay writing skills. The purposeof this study is to investigate the practical usefulness of task-based approach in teachingwriting in general and in teaching narrative and expository writing for the EFL learners in theadvanced writing courses in particular.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 95ConclusionThe review of studies showed that teaching writing to EFL learners through task-basedapproach is more effective than teaching writing to the advanced EFL learners traditionally.This study made this clear that TBLT is definitely more effective than traditional approach inteaching writing in general and in teaching writing modes like narration and exposition inparticular. In fact, teaching writing to EFL learners through task-based approach has all of theadvantages of the process approach to writing, such as the focus on the processes involved inthe pre-writing, while writing and post-writing phases. That is the task-based approach wasmore effective than the traditional approach in teaching expository writing to the advancedEFL learners. Based on Ellis, superiority lies in the meaningful, purposeful, communicativeand authentic nature of the task-based approach. As a piece of valid evidence which supportscharacteristics in favor of the task-based approach is the fact that the difference between theperformance of the task-based classes and the performance of the traditional classes wasgreater on those parts of the used scale for scoring ESL compositions which focused onmeaning, content, and communication rather than formal aspects of language. It seems thattask-based approach is really communicative and meaning—centered or in a better word“uses language in order to learn it”. To summarize, this study found that task-based approachis more effective than the traditional approach for teaching writing in general and in teachingnarrative vs. expository writing in particular but it was observed that TBLT was not biased inits effectiveness toward one of the two narrative or expository writing modes.The findings of this study have various pedagogical implications in TEFL/TESL. Thesevarious implications can be used in different domains of TEFL like language teachingmethodology, syllabus design and material development, and language assessment.Task-based approach can be applied to teach other writing modes such as descriptive vs.argumentative writing. Task-based approach can be applied to teach other language skills andsub-skills like listening comprehension, vocabulary and grammar.ReferencesBadger, R., & White, G. (2000). A process genre approach to teaching writing. ELT Journal, 54(4),153-160.Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy (2nd.ed.). New York: Pearson Education.Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of language learning and teaching (5th ed.). New York: PearsonEducation.Celce-Murcia, M. (Ed.). (2001). Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Boston: Heinle& Heinle.Chastain, K. (1988). Developing second language skills: Theory and practice (3rd ed.). Virginia:Harcourtbrace Jovanovich Publishers.Connor, U. (1988). Research frontiers in writing analysis. In T. Silva & P. K. Matsuda (Eds.),(2001), Landmark essays on ESL writing (pp. 75-90). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Connor, U. (1996). Contrastive rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of second-language writing.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Dickson, S. V., Kameenui, E. J., & Simmons, D. C. (2007). Text organization and its relation toreading comprehension: A synthesis of the research. Retrieved from http://idea.uoregon.edu/ -ncite/ documents/ techrep/tec17.htmlEllis, R. (2000). Task-based research and language pedagogy. Language Teaching Research, 4(3),193-220.

96 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsEllis, R. (2003). Task-based learning and teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Harmer, J. (2001). The practice of English language teaching (3rd ed.). Edinburgh: PearsonEducation.Hatch, E., & Lazaraton, A. (1991). The research manual: Design and statisticsfor appliedlinguistics. New York: Newbury House Publication.Hedge, T. (2000). Teaching and learning in the language classroom. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.Howatt, A. P. R. (1984). A history of language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Jacobs, H. V., Fay Hartflel, V., Hughey, J. B., & Wormuth, D. R. (1981). ESL composition profile.New York: Newbury House Publisher.Jewell, J. (2004). Rhetorical modes. Retrieved from http://www. College writing.infoKroll, B. (2001). Considerations for teaching an ESUEFL writing course. In M. Celce-Murcia(Ed.), Teaching English as a second or foreign language (pp. 219-232). Boston: Heinle &Heinle.Littlewood, W. (2004). The task-based approach: Some questions and suggestions. ELT Journal,58(4), 319-327.Matsuda, P. K. (1997). Contrastive rhetoric in context: A dynamic model of L2 writing. Journal ofSecond Language Writing, 6(1), 45-60.Meyer, B. J. F., & Rice, G. E. (1982). The interaction of reader strategies and the organization oftext. Text, 2, 155–92.Moghadam, Z. A. (2007). The effect of task-based approach on the Iranian ESP learners/readingcomprehension (Unpublished M.A. thesis. Allame Tabatabai University. Tehran, Iran).Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.Nunan, D. (1999). Second language teaching and learning. Boston: Newbury House Publication.Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching: A comprehensively revised edition of designingtasks for communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Reid, J. (2001). Writing. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), The Cambridge guide to teaching Englishto speakers of other languages (pp. 28-33). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching (2nded.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (2002). Longman dictionary of language teaching and appliedlinguistics (3rd ed.). London: Pearson Education Limited.Seow, A. (2002). The writing process and process of writing. In J. C. Richards & W. A. Renandya(Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp. 315-320).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Silva, T. (1993). Toward an understanding of the distinct nature of L2 writing: The ESL researchand its implications. TESOL Quarterly, 27(4), 657-675.Silva, T., & Matsuda, P. K. (2002). Writing. In N. Schmitt (Ed.), An introduction to appliedlinguistics (pp. 251-266). London: Oxford University Press.Stifter, B. (2002). Rhetorical modes. Retrieved from http://users.cdc.net/-stifler/enll a/modes. htmlWeigle, S. C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2001). Task-based language learning. In R. Carter & D. Nunan (Eds.), TheCambridge guide to teaching English to speakers of other languages (pp. 173-179).Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Willis, J. (1996). A frame work for task-based learning. Harlow: Longman.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 97Unique Categories of Errors in Thai Spellings of EnglishThomas Hamilton, thomas.h@nida.ac.thNational Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)Assoc. Prof Dr. Richard Watson Todd, coauthorAsst. Prof Dr. Nuttanart Facundes, coauthorKing Mongkut’s University of Technology ThonburiABSTRACTSecond language writing systems (L2WS) research offers insights into the differenttypes of problems spellers of an L2 face. Previous cross-language spelling research hasfocused on errors derived from phonological differences between L1 and L2 (see Figueredo,2006 for a review). Other research has examined differences in orthographic depth betweenL1 and L2 (e.g. Patcharee, 2003, Wei, 2005). Generally, researchers often assume thatcategories of L1 spelling errors, noted by previous research of native English speakingmonolingual children (e.g., Read, 1986; Treiman, 1993), would also exist in L2 spellings.Although these areas of spelling research have helped to enlighten researchers about theL2WS, research in cross-linguistic spelling with differing L1 and L2 alphabets is sparse.Furthermore, L2WS studies are often focused on single categories of errors, and no one studyhas attempted to measure the varying weight of influence error categories have on the overallL2WS. By categorizing three large corpora of L2 writing by Thai learners of English, thispaper attempts to encompass a wide range of possible L2 spelling errors and analyze theirdegree of occurrence in an L2WS. Because this paper focuses on writing systems withdifferent alphabets, novel categories of errors are proposed, namely, writing systemcharacteristics, letter combination rules, and grapheme-phoneme frequency. The impact ofsuch novel categories on L2WS is discussed.Theories of spellingHalf a century ago linguists became interested in spelling as a means of understandinghuman language learning and cognitive processes. This era of spelling research focusedmainly on native English speaking children’s spellings of English words as the data providedabundant developmentally influenced spelling patterns (e.g. Read 1986). Such researchsuggested that nasal phonemes were often confused by spellers, as were vowel sounds—especially diphthongs and schwas. Researchers of adult native spellers of English have alsosuggested that homophones are frequently used erroneously.More recent native spelling research has focused on cognitive processes and specificlanguage abilities of spellers suffering from damaged linguistic-related areas of the brain.This research suggests that spellers are using specific areas of the brain for certain types ofspelling i.e. from a speller’s lexical database—(memorized spellings), or Grapheme PhonemeCorrespondence (GPC) constructed spellings—(novel word spellings).First language models of spelling include the Dual-Route Model (Frith, 1980) and theConnectionist Models (Bullinaria, 1993; Plaut et al., 1996). Both of these models theorizethat more commonly encountered spelling patterns are more likely to be spelled correctly

98 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsmore often than rarely encountered spellings. The current research will assume that based onfirst language models of spelling words more frequently used in the British National Corpus(BNC) will be spelled correctly more often than words rarely found in the BNC.It has been suggested that more than half of the people on earth are bilingual (Crystal,2003). Spelling models that focus on L1 therefore seem limiting. Recent interest in the fieldof second language acquisition has resulted in some L2 spelling research focusing on transferof orthographic depth (the degree of sound to spelling correspondence of a Writing System(WS), also referred to as ‘regularity’ of spelling), (Frost, 1992). Such research suggests thatspellers with a highly regular L1WS are likely to spell L2 words relying on sound to spellingcorrespondence. Therefore, according to this hypothesis, this study’s data from Thai spellersof English would follow patterns of sound-to-spelling based on transfer of Thai’s translucentorthographic depth.Other L2 research has focused on speech perception as a key factor contributing toL2WS spelling errors, e.g. Perceptual Assimilation Model (PAM) (Best, 1993). Suchresearch suggests that L2 sounds not found in a speller’s L1 will be assimilated to a similarsound that is in the speller’s L1. The speller would then apply their L1 GPC rules to thenewly assimilated sound. This research utilizes a contrastive analysis of phonemes found inL1 and L2 to create hypotheses about which sounds would be problematic for Thai spellers ofEnglish.Second language models of spelling usually focus on cross-linguistic spelling errorswhere the L1WS and the L2WS both utilize the Roman alphabet. Research addressing crosslinguisticspelling where L1 and L2 use different writing scripts found a decrease in L1 to L2transfer (Oller and Ziahosseiny, 1970). Therefore, this research acknowledges that Thaispellers of English may have unusual spelling patterns determined by characteristicdifferences between L1 and L2 scripts.PurposeThis research hopes to help bridge the gaps between the many models of spellingdiscussed above. Instead of choosing one model to analyze data, this research attempts tojudge the degree to which each model accounts for the data. To accomplish this, threecorpora of Thai spellings of English were collected using varying degrees of control.Nonstandard spellings of words were broken into categories of errors based on their ability tofit hypotheses created from the aforementioned spelling models.This research proposes to test the hypotheses and sub-hypotheses derived from thedifferent models of spelling. The following hypotheses were generated from previous modelsof spelling to explain the corpora data:L1 Influences: Words more frequently used in the British National Corpus (BNC)will be spelled correctly more often than words rarely found in the BNC. Nasal and vowellocation errors should be significantly higher in less frequent words than in more frequentwords.L2 Influences: Letter sounds not found in L1 should have a greater frequency of errorthan letters sounds found in both L1 and L2. Thais should be relying on sound-to-spellingpatterns while spelling English words. Therefore English words spelled by Thais should bespelled according to Thai pronunciations of those words.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 99Orthographic Script Differences: As Thai script has no spacing between words in asentence, we can assume that Thais will be more prone to errors with compound words, i.e.whether or not to put a space between the words.Thai GPC (with rare irregular exceptions) does not utilize double letters to represent asingle phoneme sound. Therefore, we would expect a high tendency for errors in doublelettering positions.MethodCorpus 1Data CollectionCorpus 1 was constructed from the English hand-written journals of 57 Thaiuniversity English major students. In total the corpus consists of more than 125,000 words,in which 733 alternative spellings of words were identified. This first corpus was intended torepresent spelling problems that would be observable in the subjects’ normal writtenacademic and work life. The percentage of recoverable alternative spellings was relatively(0.6%) low because the students were expected to highly filter their spellings as the journalswere submitted as academic work to be graded. The students had the opportunity to checktheir spelling and choose words they felt confident spelling.Data InclusionSince the journals were hand-written, there were some problems identifying theintended letters. In an attempt to determine misspelled words and phonemes, letters in corpus1 were deemed recoverable based on comparative samples of easily identifiable letters foundthroughout the subject’s writing. Unrecoverable letters resulted in unrecoverable wordswhich were excluded from the corpus. More than 1,000 words were excluded from thecorpus because letters were unrecoverable. Even with clearly recoverable letters many wordswere determined to be unrecoverable because the intended word could not be identifiedthrough context, grammatical position, or similar word usage found in the subject’s writing.These words were also excluded from the corpus. Therefore, this corpus of spelling does notcontain a complete list of alternative spellings. Thus, it is possible that extreme variants ofstandard spellings would be more difficult to recover and therefore the data could be biasedtowards more standardized spellings.Corpus 2Data CollectionThe second corpus is a compilation of hand-written notes 50 Thai English majoruniversity students took in class. It consists of more than 5,000 words containing 322alternative spellings. Although less likely to reflect students’ polished writing, this type ofsound to spelling writing may impact students in situations like dictation tests or cloze tasksin university English listening and speaking classes. The percentage of nonstandard spellingsis higher than in corpus one as students did not have the same freedom to choose all wordsspelled while taking notes based on a lecture. Students may have needed to spell unfamiliarwords based on the sound of word rather than their lexical knowledge, thus we founddifferent spelling patterns than in corpus 1.

100 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsData InclusionSince corpus 2 was also hand-written, the same methods for determining recoverableletters and words were used as in corpus 1. Because corpus 2 was based on notes, the lecturescript was used as a means of recovering some words. However, corpus two contained manymore unrecoverable letters and words, most likely because students took the notes under timepressure and were unable to rewrite their notes. Therefore, there exists in this corpus agreater possibility that extreme variants of standard spelling were included while mildvariants were more often recoverable.Corpus 3Data CollectionThe same group of students used in corpus 2 were again used in corpus 3. The thirdcorpus was more controlled in that it asked students to spell specific words which arepronounced similarly in Thai and English. A list of 14 chemical and country names weregiven in Thai, and 39 students were asked to write the English counterparts. As studentswere told that that the pronunciations were similar it was expected that they may use systemsof transliteration/transcription to produce the spellings. In this corpus the students had nofreedom to choose which words they spelt. Therefore this corpus least likely reflects realwriting of Thai students, but may yield a crystallization of certain L1 influences.Data InclusionThe same methods for determining recoverable letters were used as with the othercorpora. However, there were very few problematic letters as students were aware of the needto write identifiable letters. Recoverable words were not an issue as the intended words werealready determined by the spelling task. Therefore, all data was included.Methods for analysis of L1 Influence:From the corpora, subjects’ spellings were categorized into incorrectly and correctlyspelled totals for each attempted word. Inflectional and derivational affixes added to rootswere treated as separate words. A percentage of attempts spelled incorrectly out of totalattempts of spelling for that word were recorded for the most frequently misspelled words incorpora 1 and 2. Those percentages were then correlated with frequency of occurrence in theBNC.Methods for analysis of L2 Influence:The following phonemes categories were derived from the PAM of spelling:1. Same in L1 and L2: h, m, n, y, w, f, t h /k h /p h initial, ŋ final2. Nonexistent in Thai: z, v, g, 3, t∫, ∫, θ, d3, ð, consonant clusters except ก, ข / ค, ต, ป, ผ / พwith ร, ล, วFinal f, final b, final p h , final s, final d, final t h , final k h , final l, final r, final tɕ h , tɕ (ch/japproximant)

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 101initial ng, –, –, unaspirated t/p/k, initial From a Perceptual Assimilation perspective the following categories might also be true:4. More variants in Thai than English: t, t h , d, k, k h , p, p h , b, initial and finalWord combinationsVowels: long and short distinctions5. More variants in English than Thai: s/z (as associated with Thai s), ch/sh/j (as associatedwith Thai’s t h , t), f/v/w as associated with Thai w) r/l (as associated with Thai l --incommon spoken Thai), t h , , ð (as associated with t h )The problematic phonemes to be analyzed based on the hypothesis include:/r,lg,k,d,t,i/I,p,b,,t,z,s/Methods for test of Orthographic Script Influence:Spelling errors made in the location of a word where two letters equal a singlephoneme were recorded and compared with the frequency with which those double letterswere correctly applied in corpus spellings. The total number of double letters which wereinappropriately applied to spellings were also included in the data.Inclusion of Nasal PhonemesAs a means of comparing the relative influences of L1, L2, and orthographic script,nasal phonemes (L1 type errors) were also included in parallel categories of the data chart.FindingsError Frequency Correlated with BNC Frequency in Tables 1.1 and 1.2To determine the degree of L1 influence as hypothesized by Connectionist models ofspelling, alternative spellings from corpus 1 and 2 were analyzed in terms of the frequency ofa word’s misspellings divided by attempted spellings for that word in the corpus giving apercentage of error. That percentage of error was correlated with frequency of occurrence inthe BNC. BNC frequencies were ranked so that the first 1000 words were listed as category1 words. The second 1000 words were listed as category two words. The process continueduntil after the most frequent 6000 words, all words thereafter were listed as category 7.The correlation for both corpus 1 and 2 showed a significance between the twofrequencies, at p < .05. This implies that there is a relationship between the frequency whichthe words were misspelled and the frequency with which they are likely to be encountered inlanguage use.

102 ICLC 2010 Proceedingstimesmisspelledwordattemptedtimes incorpuspercentwrongBNCfrequencyBNCRanking14 every time 23 60.87% 2180 410 free time 30 33.33% 153 79 eating 35 25.71% 4295 38 clothes 75 10.67% 7327 28 fruit 37 21.62% 5118 28 japanese 40 20.00% 5008 78 neighbour 14 57.14% 4919 28 restaurant 56 14.29% 5100 2Table 1.1 Corpus 17 delicious 32 21.88% 1086 56 everything 103 5.83% 18675 16 medicine 14 42.86% 3040 36 too 426 1.41% 70164 16 until 49 12.24% 40784 16 wear 104 5.77% 14434 15 bedroom 52 9.62% 5865 25 bought 134 3.73% 9073 25 grandmother 25 20.00% 1461 55 motorcycle 28 17.86% 289 75 stranger 9 55.56% 2316 45 tomorrow 39 12.82% 9243 25 boyfriend 95 5.26% 1285 54 every night 25 16.00% 679 73 unfortunately 5 60.00% 4656 2p= 0.273031significance

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 103918 wordsmisspellings142 wordsattemptsBNCBNCcategory26 26 legitimate 26 100.00% 1575 424 24 textbook 23 100.00% 875 614 14 referent 14 100.00% 186 711 11 power 23 47.83% 38824 19 9 coercive 9 100.00% 180 78 8 grammar 20 40.00% 2549 37 7 psychology 7 100.00% 2536 3Table 1.2 Corpus 26 6 babbling 6 100.00% 58 76 6 ice-cream 6 100.00% 3223 36 6 different 15 40.00% 48373 15 5 information 25 20.00% 38656 15 5 language 20 25.00% 18778 15 5 reference 5 100.00% 9638 24 4 ceremony 4 100.00% 2142 44 4 colleague 4 100.00% 7209 24 4 communicate 17 23.53% 2634 34 4 composition 4 100.00% 2720 34 4 cooing 15 26.67% 58 74 4 government 6 66.67% 66894 14 4 lecture 4 100.00% 2867 34 4 special 10 40.00% 22040 1p= 0.42significance of

104 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsTable 2.1 Relative Phonemic ErrorsNasalr/lg/kd/tb/pz/sch/shi/eeDoublingL1L2L2L2L2L2L2L2OSCorpus 1% out of total error words 7.23% 16.51% 3.00% 9.82% 1.09% 9.55% 2.18% 1.09% 11.46%% out of total errors 4.64% 10.59% 1.92% 6.30% 0.70% 6.12% 1.40% 0.70% 7.35%% out of total occurrences in corpus 0.14% 0.34% 0.17% 0.14% 0.06% 0.31% 0.42% 0.02% 1.07%% out of total occurrences in errors 9.69% 20.37% 9.87% 12.29% 3.83% 22.58% 43.24% 2.10% 58.11%Corpus 2% out of total error words 16.77% 24.84% 1.86% 15.22% 0.93% 14.60% 3.11% 11.49% 10.25%% out of total errors 7.86% 11.64% 0.87% 7.13% 0.44% 6.84% 1.46% 5.39% 4.80%% out of total occurrences in corpus 3.07% 4.76% 1.01% 2.25% 0.35% 4.95% 7.81% 3.03% 8.55%% out of total occurrences in errors 20.22% 24.54% 4.92% 19.22% 2.46% 49.47% 58.82% 19.79% 36.67%Corpus 3% out of total error words 3.46% 16.35% 6.15% 5.58% 0.38% 12.31% 4.04% 10.00% N/A% out of total errors 2.02% 9.55% 3.60% 3.26% 0.22% 7.19% 2.36% N/A N/A% out of total occurrences in corpus 2.61% 16.19% 16.67% 5.99% 1.05% 24.81% 53.85% N/A N/AProblematic Spelling Categories in Table 2.1To determine the degree of PAM influence, selected phonemes which did not matchin L1 and L2 were analyzed to determine their relative frequency of error according toattempted spellings in each corpus, namely [r/l, g/k, b/p/pʰ, d/t/tʰ, z/s, ʃ/tʃ, i/i:/I]. Accordingto the relative frequency of attempted spellings in the corpora, letter doubling and [ʃ/tʃ]showed the highest proportion of errors, while [g/k, b/p/pʰ] showed the lowest proportion oferrors.As a comparison, nasals /m,n, ŋ/ were also measured for frequency of error todetermine the degree of L1 influence compared to PAM influence. The relative degree ofnasal error appeared to be considerably less than PAM related errors.Finally, letter doubling errors were included to determine the relative degree ofinfluence that the orthographic script characteristics had on Thai spellers of English. Thetotal number of errors in the double letter category was higher than many of the PAMpredicted phoneme errors, suggesting a strong influence.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 105ConclusionThe Connectionist hypothesis of L1 spelling appears to also be applicable to L2 spelling,although to a lesser degree than it would apply to L1 spellings, in that it did not appear to be themost significant factor when superficially compared to the data results from the other hypotheses.The PAM generated L2 spelling hypotheses suggest the predicted problematic phonemeshad a strong influence on errors when compared to L1 nasal errors. The phoneme data resultsgenerally follow the pattern that the larger the difference between English and Thai, the morefrequent the errors. However, the complexity of the data for r/l suggests that this is not quite sostraightforward. Also, the low frequencies for category 2 suggest that influences are predicated onunidirectional differences, not bidirectional differences (i.e. where English makes a distinctionnot made in Thai errors occur, but where Thai makes a distinction not made in English there arefew effects).The results were unexpectedly high for orthographic script influenced errors. This isinteresting as most current spelling models in L1 and L2 do not account for this phenomenon.This under-researched area of influence shows promising potential as a means of betterunderstanding L1 influences on L2.Because the data suggests that multiple factors could be working together to influencespelling data, further experimentation is currently being designed to attempt to isolate andpredict when certain spelling models are most influential.ReferencesBest, C.T. & Strange, W. (1992). Effects of phonological and phonetic factors on factors oncross-language perception of approximants. Journal of Phonetics. 20, 305-330.Bullinaria, J. (1993). Neural network models of reading without Wickelfeatures. Unpublishedmanuscript, University of Edinburgh.Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. Cambridge University Press; 2 edition (July 28,2003)Figueredo, L. (2006). Using the known to chart the unknown: A review of first-languageinfluences on the development of English-as-a-second-language spelling skill. Readingand Writing 19:873-905Frith, U. (Ed.). (1980). Cognitive Process in Spelling. London: Academic Press.Frost, R. (1992). Orthography and phonology: The psychological reality of orthographic depth.In: P. Downing, S.D. Lima & M. Noonan (eds.), The linguistics of literacy (pp. 255-274).Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins.Oller, J. W., & Ziahosseiny, S. M. (1970). The contrastive analysis hypothesis andspelling errors. Language Learning, 20, 183–189.Imsri, Patcharee (2003) The Perception and Production of English stop consonants by ThaiChildren and Adults. Proceedings of the Boston University Conference on LanguageDevelopment.Plaut DC, McClelland JL, Seidenberg MS, Patterson K. (1996) Understanding normal andimpaired word reading: computational principles in quasi-regular domains. PsychologicalReview;103:56–115.Read, C. (1986). Children’s creative spelling. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul.Treiman, R. (1993). Beginning to spell. New York: Oxford University Press.Wei, Youfu (2005) “The relationship between phonological Awareness and Reading Ability ofThai Students in English and Thai in Primary Schools of Thailand” Unpublisheddissertation. Oxford University. Department of Curriculum and Instruction.

106 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAn Analysis of English to Thai Business Document TranslationAssociate Professor Patcharee Pokasamrit, Ph.D.ABSTRACTThis study analyses Business English translation into Business Thai. The data consist of 715Business English documents which were translated and published. The main purposes of theresearch are to find the translation techniques and their examples, and to find out byquestionnaires to Business English Thai translators about their most important techniquesemployed in their translation. The results of the first purpose are the 19 translationtechniques such as one to one equivalent, secondary meaning, implicit and explicit meaning,generic and specific meaning and loan translation. From the questionnaires in which 12translators were asked to rank their most important 14 translation techniques, it was foundthat, one to one equivalent, secondary meaning, implicit and explicit meaning and loantranslation were among the most important choices. Results on different techniques foundare discussed and implications and further research topics are suggested.Key words: Translation, Business English, Applied LinguisticsINTRODUCTIONAt present translation from English into Thai is one of the most important means ofcultural and technological transferring. Business English is translated to facilitatetechnology, education, entertainment, and communication businesses. Vocabularies whichcannot be coigned in time by the Royal Academy of Thailand are loaned so that loan-wordusage has become an obvious feature of business Thai. Language academists and translatorsalike are interested in business translation and loan-word usage since there is a trend towardsThai language conservation against the influx of the practical loan-word usage as a means tofacilitate business conduction. As a result, there is a need to analyze English-to-Thaibusiness translation in order to understand its translation techniques and their preferences,loan word usage, and other significant linguistic features found in English-to-Thai businesstranslation. The findings from the analysis could lead to further input into English-Thaitranslation methodology, a confirmation of the translation theories, a practical businessEnglish to Thai translation teaching material and finally on up-dated and authentic materialsfor English-to-Thai translation text book.Purposes of the StudyBusiness English-to-Thai Translation documents were analyzed to find1. important translation techniques and their examples2. loan word translation and examples3. significant linguistic forms4. ranking of translation techniquesScope of the StudyThe study aims to analyze business English-to-Thai translation in Thailand whenpresented both in the form of Thai version (Receptor language / RL) only, and in the form ofEnglish (Source language / SL) and Thai version. The translation theoretical frameworkfollows the models presented by Larson 1998, New Mark 1988, and Bell 1991. The semantic

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 107theory is adapted from Kreidler 1998, and Larson and Segal 1995. The cross-culturaltheories follow Thriveni 2002 and Amovanetal 1998.MethodologyDataData were collected from English to Thai translation by1. gathering Business English-to-Thai translation materials which have beenpublished during 2006-20102. categorizing data according to their business purposes3. selecting only the translation work which fit Larsons (1998) definitionI. Translation data of Business English-to-Thai translation during 2006-2010Types numbers pagesAnnual report 30 100Interview 10 20Company meeting report 50 100Business Brochure 30 60Business analysis 10 20Marketing documents 20 40Translated business text books 5 120Stock market documents 10 20Business academic articles 20 100Business translation documents 25 25Administrator biography 30 30Total 310 715II.Questionnaires and interviews to translators1. Twelve translators were asked to fill in the questionnaires, ranking thetranslation techniques they employed from the list of 14 techniques.2. Twelve translators were then interviewed about their opinions on 4 importanttranslation issues:a. Coinage Wordsb. Loan Translationc. Characteristics of Business Translationd. Translation tools e.g. specialized dictionaries.ResultsFrom the data analysis, the results can be categorized into the translation techniquesemployed by the translators together with the translation examples of the receptor language inliteral Thai.

108 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsI. Translation Techniques and examples1. One to One Lexical Equivalent: a technique in which there is a one to onematch in meaning between a word in SL and RL (Larson, 1998, p. 169)Source LanguageA lot of business leadersTheir coperate models were too rigidhave the right to free lunchMy wonderful partnerLiteral Thaileaders in businessmodels (of) cooperatesrightpartner2. Secondary Meaning: a meaning when a word is used in some particularcontext which is different from the primary meaning when that word is usedalone. (Larson 1998, p. 115)Source Languagethe peak levels during the high seasonDuring the first quartertraditional department storesThe development costs are based on a verysimple principleLiteral Thaiseason for travelingthree monthsof original typeeasy to understand3. Explicit to Implicit: a word or phrase in the source language which is fullyexpressed has been translated as an implicit word or phrase in the receptorlanguage (Larson 1998, p. 43)Source LanguageLiteral ThaiThe shareholders should knowthe total value of bondthe partners of the companycan develop their objectivenecessarytotal valuepartnersobjectives

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 1094. Implicit to Explicit: a word in the source language which is not expresseddirectly, but which is expressed fully in the receptor language. (Larson 1998,p. 43)Source LanguageOne of your great successesmore than 90 songsan investor that put in 40 percenthe’s negotiating on the phoneLiteral Thaisuccesses in business90 songs you could sellput into this businessnegotiate payment and deliverydates5. Generic to Specific: a technique when the translator chooses to translate ageneric word in SL with a more specific word in RL.Source LanguageNew share allocationPeople are less specificWe keep close track of the stock levelsthe machine break down at a critical timeLiteral Thaiadditional investmentbuyerskeep detailed accountsurgent period of production6. Specific to Generic: a technique of substituting a specific word in SL with ageneric one in RL.Source Languagematurity of bondin a large companyaccording to the obligationsacquired by outsidersLiteral Thaiagebusinessagreementspeople in generalActive Voice and Passive VoiceActive Voice is used to indicate that the grammatical subject of the verb isperforming the action designated by the verb. In contrast, passive voice is used to indicatethat the grammatical subject of the verb is the recipient of the action designated by the verb.

110 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsActive to Active: active voice in SL is translated into active voice in RL.Source LanguageDecision-making takes a long timepeople expect business presentations to beformalPartners evaluate the projectProduction techniques will improve thequalityLiteral Thaimust take a long timehave expectationevaluatewill improve7. Active to Passive: passive voice in SL is translated into passive voice in RL.maintaining similar meaning.Source LanguageThey have closed the restaurantThe company fired many new employeesPeople specify the objectivePeople inquired usLiteral Thaithe restaurant have been closedemployees were firedthe objective was specifiedWe were inquired8. Passive to Passive: passive voice in SL is translated into passive voice in RL.Source LanguageI was taught to give backDecisions are taken by senior managersAutomation and robotisation were offeredthe first letter was signed by a clerkLiteral Thaiwas taughtare takenwere offeredwas signed9. Passive to Active: passive voice in SL is translated into active voice in RLmaintaining similar meaning.Source LanguageYou will be known for your philanthropy.Sales can be reported by email.Can take-overs be justified?The company sought to be taken over.Literal ThaiPeople know you.We can report sales.Can we justify take-overs?Company sought people to takeover.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 11110. Negating Antonym: antonyms are pairs of words with opposite meaning. Theuse of negating antonyms can create lexical equivalents between SL and RL.Source LanguageIt would be uneconomic to organizebe expected to have an identical productionbeing turned away, possibly permanentlyan unenviable taskextravaganceLiteral Thainot different from each other atallnever coming back againrepulsive11. Common Expression to Idiom: SL common expressions are translated into RLcommonly known idioms to maintain the dynamics of the language.Source Languageof humble originmost popular amongso much funenchanting colorLiteral Thaiborn from the soilcome on strongtopcapture the heart12. Loan WordsA loan word refers to a word from SL and is unknown to the speakers ofthe RL. Loan words can be translated in many forms: single loan word, loan wordswith classifiers or modifiers or sometimes with RL translation.Examples:1. Single loan wordsSLCan you email the report?to confirm the appointmentits stereo sound systemOur own slogansent via BlackberryRLemailconfirmstereosloganBlackberry

112 ICLC 2010 Proceedings2. Loan words with classifiersSLThey are cheaper than barcodesa velvet jacketa new flagship storeto extend its linespackagingrap berryRLbarcodes systemjacket shirtflagship store shopproduct linespackagingraspberry fruit3. Loan words written in English in RLSLRLthe ready-to-wear brandmovement of Micro-RotorDolce & GabbanaOne of the “must haves”sparkling wineready-to-wearMicro-RotorDolce & Gabbanamust havessparkling wine4. Loan words written in English with Thai translated version (literal Thai)SLRLwould have to be of utilitarian style clothes focusing on theirpractical usage (utilitarianstyle)gigantic wooden bornGo green, our new columnwooden silo (wooden born)Green Earth (go green)the presentation of the “Three Seas” “there Seas” (three seas)corn flower cuff braceletcorn flower pattern (Cornflower)

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 113II.Ranking of Translation Technique PreferencesFrom the questionnaires, translators ranked translation techniques according totheir priority as:InformantsTranslationTechniquesPerson1Person2Person3Person4Person5Person6MarksPerson7Person8Person9Person10Person11Person12A One to One 14 14 13 12 10 13 14 13 10 14 14 14 155 1TotalRankB SecondaryMeaningC ExplicitandImplicitD Generic andSpecificE Active andPassive13 10 12 13 13 14 11 12 9 13 11 9 140 212 9 14 11 14 11 13 11 13 11 12 8 139 311 11 8 14 9 12 12 14 12 10 13 10 136 48 12 2 10 8 8 6 8 14 12 6 11 105 6F Loan words 10 13 11 9 6 7 8 9 7 9 5 12 106 5G CulturalsubstituteH NegatingAntonym9 5 7 5 12 6 9 10 6 8 10 13 100 76 6 1 6 5 5 10 7 8 7 9 5 75 9I Coinage 7 4 9 7 6 10 7 6 2 6 8 4 76 8J Generic +formK Generic +function3 7 10 8 4 1 1 5 1 5 7 7 59 104 8 3 4 11 4 2 4 5 1 1 6 53 11L Footnotes 2 3 6 1 3 3 4 1 11 4 2 3 43 12M Variations 1 2 5 2 2 9 5 2 4 3 3 1 39 13N Expressions 5 1 4 3 1 2 3 3 3 2 4 2 33 14

114 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsDiscussions on the techniques1. Primary and secondary meaning are the most employed techniques. Primary meaningis the first meaning of each entry in a dictionary and the meaning when the word occursin isolation. It’s the meaning of business in the sentence “I have a family business”.Secondary meaning occurs in “This is none of your business”.2. Explicit and Implicit meaning are used regularly in order to conform to the naturallinguistic format of the receptor language. Since the two language systems do notalways coincide in the structure of their words, some components of meaning may beleft implicit in a language but may have to be stated explicitly in another. For examplein English “He writes with his left hand” is translated in Thai as “He writes with lefthand.” His does not have to be stated overtly in Thai, or if stated, will be redundant.3. Generic and Specific Meaning is important in the translation with the aim to convey theclosest possible meaning to the receptor language in its most natural way. Twolanguages may have different levels of generic and specific differentiation of meaning.In Thai “rice” has double meaning: a generic meaning is “a meal” while specificallymeans “rice” as a “cooked cereal” or rice as “uncooked grain.” Sometimes when exactone to one meaning word cannot be found, the translator has to turn to the closest,either more specific or more generic translation.Summary of the interviewTwelve translators expressed the following interesting points about business translation.1. Some coinage words are still difficult to understand and take time to be adapted inplace of the loan words. The main problem could be the slow speed of the coinage andthe preference to use English loan words in some types of business.2. Loan words add colors and flavors to the Thai business language. As a result, forinformal language use, sometimes loan words can deliver exact and unambiguousmeaning while coinages have to be learned. The trend in loan words translation comeshand in hand with other cultural transfers.3. Business translation emphasizes meaning transfer more than perfect grammaticalformats. Non-traditional usage of some Thai expressions capture attention and caneasily identify with some groups of business. This causes the Thai language to changetowards English.4. Specialized dictionary facilitates translation. It helps to bring in the technical terms orjargons which can eliminate wordiness or shade of meaning. General dictionary givegeneral meaning-but to select the right choices of words, a specialized dictionary canspeed up the process. There should be more up-dated specialized business dictionary.Recommendations1. There should be different translation analysis of specialized topics concerning laws,medicine and sciences in order to provide data for practical translation textbooks.2. Knowledge gained from translation analysis can be applied in specialized dictionariesfocusing on vocabulary and meaning changes.3. Lists of loan words can facilitate and speed up the Royal Academy work both in thedictionary compiling and word coinage.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 115ReferencesBaker, M. (1997). In Other Words: A Course Book on Translation. London: Routledge.Barnwell, K. G. L. (1980). Introduction to Semantics and Translation. Horsley Green,England: Summer Institute of Linguistics.Bell, T.R. (1991). Translation and translating: Theory and Practice. New York: Longman Inc.Brislin, R.W. (1976). Translation: Application and Research. New York: Gardner Press Inc.Brown, G., and Yule, G. (1983). Discourse Analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary. (2003). Cambridge University Press (2 nd ed.).Retrieved October 21, 2006, from http://dictionary.cambridge.org/cald/Carnap, R. (1942). Introduction to Semantics. Cambridge: Mass M.I.T. Press.Catford, J.C. (1965). A Linguistic Theory of Translation. London: Oxford University Press.Chadaporn, C. (1965). An Analysis of the Translation of “My Life Bill Clinton”. A researchpaper for LA 900 submitted in partal fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofMaster of Arts in Language and Communication, School of Language andCommunication the National Institute of Development AdministrationChilver, J. (1992) English for Business: A Functional Approach. London: DP PublicationLTD.Collin Cobuild Dictionary 1995. Harper Collins Publishers. London.ESCAP. (1984). Technology for Development. United Nation Fortieth Session of theCommission: Tokyo.Goedde, B. (2007). The New York Times; Nonfiction in Translation. Retrieved Jan15, 2009from http://www.creativenonfiction.org/brevity/craft_goedde.htmGrice, H. P. (1975). Logic and Conversation, in Cole P. and Morgan, J.L. (eds), Syntax andSemantics: Vol.3. Speech Acts. New York: Academic Press.Hatim, B. and Mason, I. (1990). Discourse and the Translator: New York: Longman Inc.Hariyanto, S. (1996). Implication of Culture on Translation Theory and Practice. Malang:State Polytechnic.Karamanian, A.P. (2002). Translation and Culture. Translation Journal, V.6, No.1 January2002. Retrieved December 9, 2006 from http://accurapid.com/journal/19culture2.htmKatz, J. 1972. Semantic Theory. New York: Harper & Row.Kempson, R. M. (1996). Semantic Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Kreidler, C. W. (1998). Introducing English Semantics, London: Routledge.Kloepfer, R. (1967). Translation Theory and Intercultural Relations. Munich: Wilhelm Fink.Kurland, J. D. (2000). Fiction vs Nonfiction. Retrieved January 19, 2009, fromhttp://www.criticalrcading.com/fictionvnonfiction.htmLarson, M. (1998). Meaning-Based Translation: A Guide to Cross-Language Equivalence.Oxford: University Press of America.Larson, R & Segal, G. (1995). Knowledge and Meaning: An Introduction to semantic theory.USA: Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Lefevere, A. (1975). Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint. Accent: Van Gorcum.Lyons, J. (ed) (1997). Semantics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Munday, J. (2001). Introducing Translation Studies: Theories and Applications. London:Routledge.Nabokov, V. (1964). Translator’s Introduction. New York: Bollingen Foundation.Newmark, P. (1988). A Textook of Translation. London: Prentic Hall International Ltd.Newmark, P. (1992). Approaches to Translation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Newmark, P. (1995). Approaches to Translation. London: Phoenix ELT.Nida, E. A. (1964). Toward a Science of Translating with Special Reference to Principles

116 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsand Procedures Involved in Bible Translating. Leiden: E.J. Brill.Nida, E. A. and Taber, C. R. (1982). The Theory and Practice of Translation. Leiden: E.J.Brill.Nida, E.A. (2001). Contexts in Translating. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Nopakun, M. (2006). An Analysis of the Translation of “Balileo’s Daughter”.A research paper for LA 900 submitted in portal fulfillment of the requirements forthe degree of Master of Arts in Language and Communication, School of Languageand Communication the National Iinstitute of Development Administration.Oxford Advance Lemer’s Dictionary (2000). International Student’s Edition (6 th ed.).England: Oxford University Press.Parkinson, G. (1982). The Theory of Meaning. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Patcharee, P. (1999, December 7). “Translate it”. Bangkok Post, Classified.Patcharee, P. (2005). An Analysis of Linguistic, Functional, and Socio-culturalCharacteristics of Loan Translation: A Case Study of English-Thai Translation. PaperPresented at the International Conference on “Language, Communication, and Culture:Dialogues and Contexts in Focus”.Patcharee Pokasamrit (2006) English to Thai Translation: Theory and Practice. The NationalInstitute of Development AdministrationSamovar, L.A., Porter, R.E. & Stefani, L.A. 1998. Communication Between Cultures.Belmont: Wadworth.Savory, T. H. (1968). The Art of Translation. London: Cape.Singleton, D. (2000). Language and the Lexicon. New York: Oxford University Press.So Sethaputra (2546). New Model English-Thai Dictionary. Thai Wattanapanich Co. Ltd.Bangkok.Spolsky, B. (1998). Sociolinguistics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Trappe, T., and Tullis, G. (2005). Intelligent Business. Essex: Pearson education Limited.Thriveni, C. (2002). Cultural Elements in Translation. Translation Journal, V.6, No.1January 2002. Retrieved January 08, 2009 fromhttp://accurapid.com/journal/19culture.htmTwain, M. (1869). Retrieved January 19, 2009 from www.questia.com/literatureTytler, A. F. (1907). Essay on the Principles of Translation. London: Dent.Widdowson, H. (1979). Explorations in Applied Linguistics. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.Wills, W. (1982). The Science of Translation. Stuttgart: Gunter Narr Verlag Tubingen.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 117Students' Perceptions of Engaging a Virtual World in a Communication TaskThanaporn SrisunakruaE-mail: thanaporn.sri@kmutt.ac.thPunjaporn PojanapunyaE-mail: punjaporn.poj@kmutt.ac.thKing Mongkut’s University of Technology ThonburiABSTRACTSeveral EFL students have a huge problem in improving their speaking skills and do not reallysucceed in their oral communication skill practice because they may lack opportunities to beexposed to English-speaking contexts. It is quite difficult to gain more practice and learn howto use the spoken language with native speakers of English, when you live in non-Englishspeaking countries, without spending much effort on it such as enrolling in a summer courseoverseas. To compensate for this shortcoming, many EFL educators invite their students toparticipate in virtual worlds like Second Life. In this study, Second Life (SL), was introducedto 40 undergraduate students who were studying in an Oral Communication course as apractice environment in communication training before engaging in actual speaking with nativespeakers of English for an interview task. The questionnaires were used to survey student’sperceptions of engaging SL in the interview task in terms of how they perceived SL as alearning environment for the communication task and how communication tasks in SLfacilitated the communication tasks in real life as a practice stage. From the findings, it mightbe too far-fetched to claim that the students prefer or reject SL or that SL can be appropriateused as a practice space before performing the communication task in real situations. However,the findings provide teachers information on students’ feedback and perceptions about SL aslearning and practicing environments for many aspects in terms of overall attitudes, languagepractice, and self-confidence in using English. Guidelines and suggestions for teachers tointegrate SL as part of communication activities and to prepare students for tasks to make SLmost useful in classroom contexts based on the student’s views are discussed.Second Life and its role in language learningDue to the advance of technology in an information age, the largest virtual world‘Second Life’ (SL) developed by Linden Lab in 2003 was launched with more than 13million users and tens of millions of square meters of virtual land (EDUCAUSE Learninginitiative, 2008). Nowadays, increasing numbers of people from various fields pay greatattention to this virtual technology since its high accessibility on the Internet. Users ofSecond Life are called residents. They explore, socialize, participate in individual and groupactivities, do business with either virtual or real world property, or travel throughout thevirtual world through their avatars. Each individual avatar is operated by each individual inthe real world; therefore, having social activities virtually is also compatible with havinginteractions with real people, not the computer programme. Second Life has also been usedfor various purposes i.e. being rooms for business conducts to platforms for educationalpurposes.

118 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThe SL website (www.secondlife.com) also contributes to education. Nowadays,large numbers of educational institutions including individual faculty have established apresence and begun teaching distance courses in SL. As another mode of communication andlearning, SL is now a platform to support and facilitate distance learning, collaborativelearning, and computer assisted learning, etc. (Hargis, 2008; Burgess, Slate, Rojas-LeBouef& LaPrairie, 2010).Many educators perceived the virtual community of SL as a great source for languagelearning and practicing for advancing language skills, especially in an EFL context where thelack of language exposure seems to be a critical issue in language learning. Cheong (2010)presents the effects of using SL as the room for practicing teaching sessions beforeundertaking teaching practicums in the real world in order to see changes in pre-serviceteachers’ teaching efficacy. In the study, both students and teachers create their own avatarsand form their virtual classroom where all avatars can interact and practice their teaching. Itis found that practice sessions in SL do have some effects on each individual pre-serviceteacher. Additionally, it is suggested that SL provides the chance for this practice session tobe performed repeatedly and it is a lot easier than conducting pre-teaching in a realclassroom. Jarmon, Traphagan, Mayrath & Trivedi (2009) also viewed SL as a valuablesource for project-based experiential learning of interdisciplinary communication. Their studydemonstrates that students value SL as their independent source for learning and working,and they are more motivated especially when there is a perceived link between SL and thereal world.Second Life and communicative language learningIt is undeniable to say that people today want to search for tools that can improve theirEnglish proficiency and also make sure that their children have been given great access toachieve a good command of English, especially for communicative skills. Therefore,numerous channels for English language exposure together with the implementation ofcommunicative training have been critically chosen and tuned to integrate in languagelearning and suit current learners.Based on Richard (2004), the assumptions of communicative language teaching aremainly focused on the engagement of learners with interactive and meaningfulcommunication activities which provide chances for learners to negotiate meaning, expandtheir knowledge, and learn how to use language in meaningful communications. In order tohave meaningful communication, assignments should have relevant, purposeful, interesting,and engaging content as well as have opportunities to use several language skills andmodalities which are the parts of effective communication. Moreover, class activities orassignments should involve inductive or discovery learning as well as language analysis andreflection in order to facilitate language learning. This is a process that includes the creativeuse of language together with learning via trial and error with the aim of using languageaccurately and fluently. Collaborative learning should also be implemented in a languageclassroom as well as provide chances for learners to be independent and allow for theirpersonal needs, pace of learning and motivation. Therefore, teachers’ roles in communicativelanguage teaching should be to facilitate and provide opportunities for students to use,practice, and reflect on language use and language learning.According to the above assumptions, SL is likely to fulfill many aspects of effectivecommunicative learning in class since SL is the centre where millions of language users, bothnative and non-native speakers of English, are involved together in various activities. This is

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 119the place where they meet, interact, and even speak virtually to each other via their avatarsthat are originated and controlled by real people in the real world. The website of SL statesthat eighteen million people from over 150 countries have registered in SL and this virtualcommunity has already been chosen by various real organizations from both public andprivate sectors. There are over 700 learning organizations from around the world, includingHarvard University and the University of Texas, that have integrated virtual learning intotheir curricula (www.secondlife.com).Second Life as a channel for communicative practiceAccording to the nature of this virtual community that provides the chance to havesynchronous experiences among avatars, SL can be perceived as a valuable source forcommunicative practice. Richard (2004) proposed that to enhance communication, learnersshould be able to negotiate meaning, learn how language is used, and involve in meaningfulinteraction. These characteristics of communicative activities can easily be found in SLwhich allows learners to interact via their avatars in comfortable, facilitating educationalactivities in 3D spaces where they will have more exposure to other language users. Allinteractions in SL are conducted in English. The interaction in SL is also perceived to be realbecause it originates from real people in the real world, not from a computer program.Learners will have the chance to chat, meet, and involve themselves in various activitiesrelated to their interests. Since all interactions in SL originate from people in the real world,language used in SL and how it is used by students have a great potential to be similar towhat has been done in face to face communication. The use of language together with allaspects of proper interaction is taken into account. Resulting from being a valuable platformfor communicative practice, more exposure to English language might benefit learners interms of enhancing their confidence in using English. In SL, voice and text chatting providesa chance for students to use authentic language to interact with other non-native languageusers as well as with native speakers of the target language in all simulated areas in SL(Linden Research Inc., 2009). Chittaro & Ranon (2007) mentioned that the social interactionand learning community in SL is a place that offers the opportunity to simulate the real worldwhere people can actively interact with others, and it is very useful for understanding theconcept of assignments, e.g. communication tasks before exposure to real situations. Jarmon,et al. (2009) also state that SL, well-planned and integrated into core course content, can beused for experiential learning of interdisciplinary communication. With all these potentialaspects as an educational tool, SL must be taken into consideration when attempts to fulfillthe needs of language exposure, confidence enhancement, and communicative practice aremade.Purpose of the studyThe aim of this study is to learn about students’ perceptions of engaging in a virtualactivity and how they perceived the learning and practicing opportunities in this valuablechannel. The research questions addressed in this paper are: 1) how do students perceive SLas a learning environment for interview tasks? 2) how do they perceive SL as a practice spacefor interview tasks in real life situations?Research methodologyThis study was conducted with students who enrolled in Oral Communication coursein one university in Thailand. The objective of this course is to enhance basic communicationskills via the task-based learning method.

120 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsForeigner Interview TaskA foreigner interview is the final task of the Oral Communication course which isdesigned based on the assumption of providing opportunities for students to apply intopractice concepts of general conversational skills learned in class. Through this task, studentswill have more impression from being capable of communicating with users of English,gaining more confidence and experience in using English in real situations, and lastly havingmore practice sessions in a real context. Initially, the teachers explain how to complete thistask. Then, students are required to work with a partner to plan their foreigner interview withthe teachers’ support, and finally, the students conduct an interview with native speakers ofEnglish in real situations.Task design for this studyIn this study, an interview practicing stage in SL supplemented the regular foreignerinterview task. Before interviewing foreigners, the students had to practice their interviewwith avatars in SL. In this stage, they were required to save their interview scripts and submitthem to the teacher as a part of the assignment.ParticipantsForty students participated in this study. In this group, 85% of the students had knownabout SL and had experiences of using it. Some students (13%) claimed that they had knownSL, but had never accessed this source. Only 2% reported that they had known SL, but hadstopped accessing SL for a long time.InstrumentsTwo sets of questionnaires were used to collect data for this study. They were writtenin Thai. Each set of the questionnaires was divided into two parts. The first part aimed atgetting personal information of the participants. The second part asked participants abouttheir perceptions of experiences on the interview tasks either in SL or the real world. The firstset of questions aimed at getting information about the students’ perceptions of SL as alearning space focusing on the question: ‘How do students perceive SL as a learningenvironment for the interview task?’ All students were required to answer the questionnaireafter they finished the interview practice session in SL. The second questionnaire was used toaddress the second research question: ‘How do students perceive SL as a practice space forthe interview task in a real life situation?’ It was administered to all students after they hadconducted their actual interview in the real context. The students were allowed to completethe questionnaires in Thai. They were required to submit the completed questionnaires withtheir course assignment; consequently, the return rate of the questionnaires was 100%.ProceduresFirst, a teacher gave a handout, ‘Introduction to Second Life’, to establish backgroundknowledge of SL as well as how to operate SL step by step, e.g. to register, login, access, andexplore this virtual community. Outside the class, students explored the various communitiesto establish familiarity with SL. After that, the teacher introduced the working steps of theinterview task. Students, in pairs, planned their interview rehearsal step by step before theytried it in SL, and answered a questionnaire (set 1). In this stage, they were required to createthe interview session with other avatars in SL and save their interview scripts. Finally, theyperformed the foreigner interview task in a real situation and answered another set of thequestionnaire.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 121A summary of the task design including regular class activity and supplementaryactivity in SL is presented in Table 1.Table 1: Task designLearning spaceClassroomOutside classClassroomClassroomAvatar interviewtask (SL)ProceduresThe teacher gave the ‘Introduction to Second life’ handout.Students spent their free time registering, logging in, and exploringislands in SL.The teacher introduced a Foreigner Interview Task.Students planned their interview with the teacher’s guidance.Students rehearsed their interview in SL.Students answered a questionnaire (Set 1):Perceptions of SL as a learning environmentfor communication tasksForeignerinterview task(Real world)Students performed the Foreigner Interview Task in the real world.Students answered the questionnaire (Set 2):Perceptions of SL as a practicing space for communication tasks inreal lifeData analysisAll responses to the open-ended questionnaires were written in Thai. They wereanalyzed and categorized by the two researchers into three themes: overall attitudes towardSL, perceptions in terms of language practice, and self-confidence. The data gained was alsoanalysed quantitatively for frequency count and percentages. The excerpts about students’perceptions reported in the findings section were translated from Thai to English by theresearchers.FindingsPerceptions of SL as a learning environment for communication tasksOverall attitudesAccording to the students’ experience, over half of them had positive attitudestowards SL as a learning area for the communication task. Their expressions, such as ‘newexperience’, ‘fun’, ‘exciting’, ‘good environment for English practice’, ‘many people from allover the world so that they have different culture and ways of thinking’, and ‘relax’, presenttheir impressions on SL. They had good impressions of the cooperation and friendliness of

122 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsavatars. They were also excited about the variety of activities in SL, beautiful and interestingislands, and ways to behave and to dress more freely than in real life. More importantly,while they talked to avatars, they felt like they talked to real people. For language learning,particularly communicative skills, 35 out of 40 students agreed that SL can be appropriate incommunication tasks through having conversations and interactions with avatars. In doingthat, they were more fluent in thinking and communicating in English.“It’s fun. I feel like I talk to people in real situations. I can practice English in SL and it is theway of practice I have wanted to experience.” (S23)However, some negative feedback was also given. The major problem was to haveavatars for an interview. The students reflected that most avatars were available for aninformal talk rather than for the interview. Furthermore, some avatars did not pay attention tothe interview questions and sometimes gave impolite answers. The students suggested thatusers of SL should be aware of whom to talk to and what to talk about. Technical problemswere also common problems of using SL, for example, SL requires high hardwarespecifications and high-speed Internet. Especially, ways to operate SL also caused difficultiesfor new users. For language learning, the students suggested that they should realize thatmany SL members are not native speakers of English although they used English. Therefore,English use on SL may differ from what they have learned in class, and English used in SL isfor communication purposes rather than being an opportunity for using correct forms ofEnglish.Generally, students found it possible to do communication tasks on SL. However, thetask should be informal talk and chatting rather than an interview. In doing the interview taskin SL, more than half of the students pointed out that they had problems about vocabulary,grammar, complex sentences, slang, and abbreviations, which have an effect on the flow ofconversations. Moreover, sometimes they felt uncomfortable about communicating whenothers used many SL-specific terms. In short, communication tasks on SL should be simpleand have few or no conditions to limit students’ activities. Teachers should prepare somelanguage points as suggested by students’ responses. More importantly, inappropriateactivities or impolite language might be present in some SL islands. Teachers should surveyplaces on SL, and provide choices of place to visit or pathways for students in order to protectstudents from inappropriate activities on SL.Language practiceIn terms of language practice, the students were asked to report their interview plan,the perceived success as interviewers, comprehension, problems in communication, andcommunicative strategies they used while talking to the avatars.There were 28 out of 40 students who reported that they planned interview questionsbefore they interviewed avatars, however, the questions were rarely used because, in general,most conversations were about SL contexts. This implies that knowledge about SL, forexample, where to go, how to teleport, how to find avatars, how to dance, or other SL cultureand preferred behaviors, was useful for students in order to be accepted as members of the SL

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 123community. As interviewers, approximately half of the students were moderately satisfied bytheir performance. They gave reasons that they were able to communicate to others, theirlanguage was understandable, and they could make friends using English as the commoninternational language.While having conversations with avatars, more than 30 students pointed out that theywere able to understand the conversations. The findings also indicated that students usednumbers of communicative strategies to keep conversations going, e.g. asking forclarification, explanation or repetition from the speakers, using an online dictionary orGoogle translation, guessing meaning of words, asking for help from friends in the computerroom, and changing topics.ConfidenceThe students were asked to give their opinions on SL as a learning space whether itencouraged them to communicate confidently in English. The students reported havingdifferent levels of self-confidence before using SL. While almost half of the studentsreflected that they had a certain level of self-confidence, a few students had high, low and noconfidence at all at an equal number (20%). Many students reflected that they had moreconfidence after having a conversation with the first avatar. It can be interpreted that theimpressions of the first conversation, either positive or negative, had an effect on theirconfidence to communicate with subsequent avatars.Perceptions of SL as a practicing space for communication tasks in real lifeOverall attitudesAs a practice space, over half of the students argued that SL has limited benefits interms of facilitating an interview in real life. The main reason was that the contexts andsituations in SL and real life are so different. However, some students thought that SLfacilitated to some extent the interview in real life. They argued that the two media weresimilar in giving them an opportunity to communicate with foreigners. Additionally, somestudents believed that the conversations with avatars in SL helped them learn aboutcharacteristics and cultures of foreigners so that those experiences guided them on how toappropriately communicate in real life. For communicative skills practice, over half of thembelieved that SL helped them learn new vocabulary, set proper questions, form Englishsentences, and gain more experience in using the target language for communication.“I practice communicative skills a lot by talking to the avatars because I can talk tomany avatars and so this is good experience which I can apply to the interview in realsituations.” (S24)After the practice stage in SL, the students also realized their weaknesses. Theyrealized that they should have practiced and prepared more on vocabulary and ways to askquestions politely. These views motivated them to have more preparation.“My performance in SL was not really good because I had little practice andpreparation for the first interview in SL. So, I need to put more effort, I will try harderand to be well-prepared to achieve the next task with the foreigners.” (S7)There were 19 out of 28 students who found that the avatar interview was too far removed torelate to the foreigner interview task in the real-life situation. However, they indicated that, in

124 ICLC 2010 Proceedingssome ways, their experiences in SL facilitated them to think in English, form Englishsentences, increase confidence, and trial their interview questions.Language practiceStudents who found the avatar interview task helpful in preparing for the foreignerinterview task pointed out that they figured out words easily, formed sentences and questionsquicker, and sequenced the interview questions better. They could also adjust the language inthe questions and the numbers of questions for the foreigner interview by observing avatars’reactions to their questions in SL.Even though experience in SL seemed to be helpful, 22 out of 28 students stated thatthey still had difficult situations, especially when tourists asked them about transportation,directions, tourist attractions, restaurants, and Thai culture, for which they had never preparedanswers. Many times, students did not understand conversations because of the lack oflistening skills including the accent and speed of the speakers. These situations commonlyhappened in real situations, but differed from SL where avatars focused on the SL contextand used text chat more than voice chat. Therefore, teachers should have students realizewhat they need to additionally prepare for real life interviews.However, conversation practice in Second Life, where information and priorknowledge of vocabulary encountered in interview conversations were gained, aided studentsin English comprehension in many ways during subsequent real-life conversations withtourists.“Sometimes I found the tourists used the difficult words. Luckily, I have learned themin SL.” (S24)In real life, they also applied the communicative strategies which have been used inSL.“I do not understand what the avatar is talking about. I type the question like I don’tunderstand. Could you please give me more explanation? So, I can use the samesentence when I do not understand the tourists’ answers or even questions.” (S25)As a whole, most students perceived themselves successful in the foreigner interviewtask. More than half of the students pointed out that experience in SL helped them getfamiliar with the interview questions, practice using the questions, and learn new vocabularyused by avatars, and so they were able to bring this experience to real life. Moreover, their SLexperience supported their positive feeling towards the interview task in terms of havingconversations with unknown persons and enhancing self-confidence.ConfidenceStudents had a certain level of confidence for doing an interview task either in SL orreal life. However, almost half of the students claimed that SL enhanced their confidence forthe tourist interview about how to approach tourists and introduce themselves, which wereperceived most difficult by many students. Furthermore, practice sessions in SL raised theirconfidence in the foreigner interview as a second task. In the interview, the students’ mainconcern was their language performance. They were neither confident that they couldunderstand the tourists nor give understandable explanations. However, it is not certain thatexperience in SL decreased these concerns. Many students pointed out that the modes ofcommunication in avatar conversations and the foreigner interview task were different—

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 125typing texts and speaking. Nevertheless, experience in SL could decrease their anxieties interms of being prepared for difficult interview situations and problem-solving skills.Discussion and implicationsThe results show positive feelings about SL as a learning environment for acommunication task, however, it is unclear whether the experience in SL facilitated studentsin applying the skills they learned to the same task in the real world. Based on the findings,students were likely to have positive attitudes towards SL as a learning environment forcommunicative tasks. The findings tend to support Richard’s (2004) assumptions thatsuccessful communicative language learning provides students opportunities for usingEnglish for communication, using different communicative strategies, and increasing theirconfidence. In using English for communication, SL tended to help students learn newvocabulary, think in English, and form English sentences and questions for interviews. Basedon Richard (2004), an appropriate use of learning and communication strategies facilitatessuccess in communicative language learning. The findings suggest that students usednumbers of communicative strategies in SL. Surprisingly, asking for clarification wasreported as the most frequently used strategy. It is therefore likely that SL is useful as alearning environment for communication tasks. However, to implement SL in communicationclassrooms more successfully, teachers should enable students to link SL and real lifelearning experiences. In this case, teachers could possibly have students observe and comparewhat they have learned in SL and real life.As a practicing area, although previous studies (Cheong, 2010; Jarmon et al., 2009)found that SL had benefits in practice stage for communicative learning which were likely tobe transferable to real life, the findings of this study indicate that, based on students’opinions, experience in an avatar interview had very limited benefits for the foreignerinterview task in real life. This contradiction may be explained by the fact that the previousstudies were: 1) conducted in a specific and well-structured environment – SL classrooms, 2)all participants were students who enrolled in the same course, and 3) the classes wereorganized at specific times and set out for clear purposes. Comparing the interview task in thecurrent study, the students were required to interview avatars in SL with no conditions oftime and place. The wider contexts affected the topics of conversations which were verygeneral and different from what the students did in the real world.The above findings suggest two choices for teachers. Firstly, when the places to visitin SL are not specified by teachers, the instructions for the task to be assigned should be openand flexible. Secondly, when the instructions are detail-structured – like the interview task inthis study – the islands, especially ones that are specifically established for language learningpurposes, should be specified by teachers. Therefore, teachers should also survey and providechoices of islands for students.ConclusionTo engage Second Life (SL) in the communication task in this study, students gave differentopinions on SL from both positive and negative perspectives. For one view, SL as a learningenvironment, students were exposed to and had interviews with avatars of unknown peoplefrom around the world. Students had opportunities to meet and communicate with others byusing English as an international language. However, the interview task was not well applicableto SL. Since most avatars have special interests in SL contexts, few of them are available to beinterviewed. Rather, they were comfortable in having short conversations about SL life.

126 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsTherefore, tasks to be assigned for students should be simple and flexible. For another view, SLas a practicing space for communication tasks in real life, many students found that experiencesin SL had limited connection to or did not facilitate the real life interview task since thecontexts were so different. However, experience in SL facilitated the interview task in real lifeto some extent; for example, students practiced thinking in English, forming English sentences,and using different communicative strategies, and gained increased confidence. It also helpedstudents realize some weaknesses and to be more careful of question types to use. As a whole,it cannot be claimed that they prefer or reject SL as a learning environment or that SL can beappropriate used as a practice space before doing communication tasks in real situations.However, the findings provide that students’ experiences indicate SL can be both learning andpracticing environments for communication tasks. For teachers, this study might be useful inproviding students’ feedback and perceptions about SL, and what teachers should be aware ofwhen integrating SL to in classroom learning or courses. Also, it can be used as a guideline forteachers to design learning tasks and to prepare students for these tasks, and make SL mostbeneficial in classroom contexts.The authors:Thanaporn Srisunakrua is a lecturer in the School of Liberal Arts at King Mongkut’sUniversity of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT). Her interests are language learningtechnology, independent learning, and reading strategies. E-mail: thanaporn.sri@kmutt.ac.thPunjaporn Pojanapunya is a researcher in the School of Liberal Arts, KMUTT. Herresearch interests include language learning technology, psychology in language learning,discourse analysis. Email address: punjaporn.poj@kmutt.ac.thReferencesBurgess, L.M., Slate, R.L., Rojas-LeBouef, A. & LaPrairie, K. (2010). Teaching and learningin Second Life: Using the community of inquiry (CoI) model to support onlineinstruction with graduate students in instructional technology. Internet and HigherEducation, 13(1-2), 84-88. doi: 10.1016/j.iheduc.2009.12.003Cheong, D. (2010). The effects of practice teaching sessions in Second Life on the change inpre-service teacher’s teaching efficacy. Computers & Education, 55(2), 868-880. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2010.03.018Chittaro L., Ranon R. (2007). Web3D technologies in learning, education and training.Computers & Education, 49(1), 1-2. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2005.06.001EDUCAUSE Learning initiative, (2008). 7 Things You Should Know about Second Life.Retrieved from http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI7038.pdf [Accessed 2 April 2010].Hargis, J. (2008). A Second Life for distance learning. Turkish Online Journal of DistanceEducation, 9(2). Retrieved from http://tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde30/index.htm[Accessed 15 June 2010]Jarmon, L., Traphagan, T., Mayrath, M., & Trivedi, A. (2009). Virtual world teaching,experiential learning, and assessment: An interdisciplinary communication course inSecond Life. Computers & Education, 53(1), 169-182.doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.01.010Richard, J. C., (2004), Communicative language teaching today. Guidelines, 26(2), 3-10.Linden Research Inc. (2009). Why Teach in Second Life?. Retrieved fromhttp://education.secondlife.com/whysl/ [Accessed 11 June 2010]

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 127College Students’ Perceptions of English as a Medium of InstructionChadarat Hengsadeekul 1,a . Ravinder Koul 2 . Sittichai Kaewkuekool 31 Ph.D.Candidate, Learning Innovation in Technology1,3 Faculty of Industrial Education and Technology1,3 King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand2 Pennsylvania State University, USA.a hchadarat@gmail.comABSTRACTWith the emergence of English as the predominant medium of international business andacademic discourse, Thailand have placed importance on using English-medium instructionwith the aim to enable students to communicate and work effectively in English. English as amedium of instruction, therefore, is perceived to be the key to socio-economic advancement.Since 1997, the number of higher education institutions with English-medium instruction hascontinued to increase. However, the English-medium curriculum design mostly takes placeamong language planners, politicians and researchers: students who actually will makedecisions concerning instructional medium for their graduate studies are often excluded. Thecurriculum design has generally failed to use the perceptions and experiences of students.Students enrolled in different courses of study with different requirements are likely to havedifferent orientation toward their preference for first language or second language as amedium of instruction.This study addresses about the English as medium of instruction from students’ points ofview and explores reasons behind students’ perceptions concerning the language ofinstruction. Based on the quantitative survey research, it determines the prevalence ofcommon beliefs about the pros and cons of Thai and English as a medium of instructionamong college students, some of whom may pursue graduate studies in the near future. Ouraim is to sensitize educators, researchers and policy makers to the variety of beliefs studentshold on the pros and cons of Thai and English as a medium of instruction. Our investigationfocused on student rationales for the adoption of Thai or English language as a medium ofinstruction at a Thai university.Keywords: Medium of instruction, curricular innovation, language and communication1. IntroductionIn the world of globalization era, English has increasingly become the medium in everydomain of communication. Hence, higher education worldwide has contributed to the crucialrole of English in order to meet the growing local, national and international demands forEnglish skills (e.g., Khamkhien, 2010; Mackenzie, 2002; Vadhanasindhu, 2002; Foley, 2005;Prapphal, 2004; Chalapati, 2007; Evans, 2002). A number of efforts have been made to theThai educational system to improve Thai learners’ English performance; which was reportedin past survey the unsatisfactory English proficiency and lower in comparison with otherdeveloping countries e.g. Malaysia, Singapore and Philippines (Khamkhien, 2010;Wiriyachitra, 2001; Prapphal, 2004). Therefore, to maintain Thailand on the international

128 ICLC 2010 Proceedingscompetitiveness and the need to internationalize educational system for an increasinglyintercultural global era, a great change in the English syllabus was introduced since 1996with the emphasis on learner-center and focus on raising the level of students’ foreignlanguage skills for social and business situations as conforming with the ultimate aim of theMinistry of Education that all university classes in all subjects be conducted in English oradopt English-medium instruction (EMI).Given the greater options of English-medium instruction programs in Thailand, thisstudy was extended to encompass students’ perceptions concerning English-mediuminstruction which is the important aspect of ongoing changes in Thai higher education. Thepurpose of this study was (1) to indentify students’ self-perceived level of Englishproficiency and degree of social support for learning English which may influence the choiceof language as medium of instruction (MOI); (2) to describe students’ rationales for theadoption of Thai and English language as MOI in a Thai university; and (3) to identify theinfluence of gender on students’ preferences for Thai and English language as MOI.Respondents included 470 college students in Bangkok, Thailand. Survey informationincluded respondents’ opinions on (1) English proficiency; (2) level of social support; and (3)students’ choice of language as MOI and the rationales for adoption of Thai or English asMOI. Results indicated that English is perceived as highly important by students for theiracademic studies and future work. It also showed that females had greater preference forEnglish as a medium of instruction with the higher language proficiency.2. Student’s Perception of English as a Medium of InstructionPerception is the process of attaining awareness or understanding of sensory information.It is concerned with how events are observed and interpreted. What one perceives is a resultof interplays between past experiences and the interpretation of the perceived. Thedeveloping of person’s perception will effect to the performing of a person. Towards Englishlanguage, some Thai students positively perceive English as a language of superiority, power,wealth increase, social prestige and success. EMI places an advantage over peers educatedsolely in Thai; supports students’ employment prospects; and enhances Englishcommunication skills. Positive perceptions of English in Thailand are largely fostered byacademics and business leaders to maintain its position as a center for academic advancementand international trade (Chalapati, 2007). On the other hand, some who may not want to beembarrassed perceive English negatively in real life as incompatibility and difficulty inlearning. English makes too much burden when attempting to comprehend their Englishlessons; English makes them feel uncomfortable interacting with a foreign teacher; and EMIis not so important for them (Mackenzie, 2002).In Thailand, many studies on English language have been done and illustrated that, theuse and importance of English is overwhelmingly increasing. As long as the preeminent ofEnglish language remains significant, we must gain an improved understanding of how EMIcan be best implemented and applied most effectively (Klaassen & Graaff, 2001).‘Successful’ implementation of English-medium innovation relies heavily on the perceptionsof those involved in the innovation process. Students’ perceptions are considered essentialbecause their perceptions can influence and learning behaviors and achievement; and affectincreasing interest of English-medium learning. Discovering students’ perceptions will helpboth teachers and students in the teaching-learning process.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 129Various researchers have shown that English learning requires a significant amount ofmotivational strategies (Klaassen & Graaff, 2001; Gao, 2008; Tsuda, 2003). Studentmotivation is one of the key factors affecting student performance and learning. Among themost important factors that influence students’ motivation are students’ interest and perceivedrelevance and benefits of the language. If they perceive some benefits to their learning, theywill likely be more motivated to perform well, to work hard on chosen tasks that enhancetheir learning and attain their goals. In addition, motivation can be increased if student’scompentence and social support are found. The factor of teachers’ attitude, teacher-studentsinteractions, parents’ encouragement, and peer support are the potential sources of students’foreign language motivation.Goal orientation is seen as an aspect of an individual's motivation. Goal orientation ofstudents describes the goals that they choose and the methods used to pursue those goals.According to goal theory there are two dominant achievement related goals for learning:mastery and performance goals (Koul et al, 2009). Students who hold mastery goalsdemonstrate a focus on learning and understanding. On the other hand, students who holdperformance goals demonstrate a focus on ability or competence. Within these two goalorientations, students may seek different methods for goal attainment. Mastery-orientedstudents seek challenging tasks that they could learn and that their intelligence could beimproved through effort (Dweck & Leggett, 1988). Conversely, if students believed thatintelligence was fixed and not subject to change, they tended to be performance oriented,choosing tasks where they could demonstrate their abilities (Dweck & Leggett, 1988).3. MethodologySubjectsThe subjects were 470 undergraduate students from two Thai public universities includingthree different subject areas business administration (163 or 34.7%), computer & InformationTechnology (158 or 33.6%) and education (149 = 31.7%). The proportion of male and femalestudents were 199 males (42.3%) and 271 females (57.7%). The students in these threeprograms which are conducted in Thai solely reported only 17.4% out of total taking extraEnglish course outside the program; of which 7% were male and 10.4% were female.InstrumentQuestionnaire was developed for the survey consisting of demographic information andtwo major sections; the first section based on survey instruments by Koul (2009) and thesecond section based on prior interviews with postgraduate students about rationales for theadoption of Thai and English as MOI. The first section measured self-determined Englishproficiency (a1–a6), and level of social support for learning English (b1–b6). The secondsection expressed students’ opinion on the pros and cons of Thai and English as MOI.AnalysisThe data were computer-analyzed using an SPSS program. Student responses weredivided into two groups based on gender differences; and preferred choice of language asMOI. On the questionnaire, descriptive analysis, percentages and compared means werecomputed.

130 ICLC 2010 Proceedings4. ResultsEnglish language proficiencyQuestions a1–a6 looked at students’ self-rated English proficiency. It found that asignificant majority could ‘say the days of the week in English’ (98.1%), following with‘introduce myself in social situations in English’ (95.3%), ‘give the current date (month, day,year) in English’ (89.8%), ‘order a simple meal in a restaurant in English’ (71.7%), ‘talkabout myself at some length in English’ (66.8%), and ‘buy clothes in a department store inEnglish’ (54.9%). Concerning the gender, more females (80.5%) than males (77.9%)reported they were capable in English. Regarding student MOI choice group, students withEnglish-medium instruction (EMI) choice (82.8%) reported they were more capable inEnglish than those with Thai-medium instruction (TMI) choice (75.3%). However, nearlyhalf of samples could not ‘buy clothes in a department store in English’.Social supportQuestions b1–b6 on self-perceived level of social support for learning English indicatedthat the significant number of 85.7% perceived social support influences English learning.Majority of students (95.7%) reported teachers had the highest support; following with thesupport from mother, father, favorite brother/sister, other friends, and close friends at 92.1%,90.2%, 83.6%, 77.4% and 75.7%, respectively. Degree of social support was higherperceived in female (89.1%) than in male (81.4%); similarly higher in students with EMIchoice (89.1%) than those with TMI choice (84.4%). The least-perceived degree of socialsupport was from close friends.Student choice of language as a medium of instructionTo this section, which asked for the appropriate MOI in students’ opinion, it found that 58.33%of males preferred Thai-medium instruction (TMI) and 41.67% preferred English-mediuminstruction (EMI). In contrary, 55.16% of females preferred EMI and 44.84% preferred TMI.Rationales for the adoption of Thai and English as a medium of instructionQuestions in this section (T1-T18, E1-E18) elicited students’ opinions on the pros andcons of Thai and English language as MOI for master’s or doctoral program in a Thaiuniversity. T1-T18 were the rationales for the adoption TMI while E1-E18 for EMI. We useda 5-point scale from very important (5) to not important (1) indicating the importance degreeof each rationale; so that the higher the mean, the more important the rationale.Table 1: x̄ of importance degree on rationales for adoption Thai-medium instructionT1TotalGenderDifferenceStudentchoice ofMOIThai language should be the medium of instruction… N=470 Male Female TMI EMIbecause my Thai teachers can advise me better in mynative language4.11 4.22 4.03 4.41 3.84T9 because I will feel confident when I learn in Thai 4.08 4.07 4.08 4.27 3.90T2 because Thai teachers can understand me better 4.07 4.12 4.03 4.29 3.86T13T4because I want to pursue my studies in a language that isthe most meaningful to mebecause international degree programs with English asmedium of instruction are very expensive4.01 4.01 4.02 4.19 3.864.00 3.95 4.03 4.06 3.93

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 131As displayed in Table 1, the highest degree of importance on the rationales for adoptionTMI were T1, T9, and T2 at 4.11, 4.08, and 4.07, respectively. In regard to gender difference,male reported T1 the highest degree of importance outstandingly; whereas the importantrationales in females’ opinion fell into many equally. Concerning student choice of MOI,students with TMI choice reported T1 as significantly important rationales at 4.41;differently, students with EMI choice showed the degree of each rationale for adopting TMIbelow the level of important (4).Table 2: x̄ of importance degree on rationales for adoption English-medium instructionTotalGenderDifferenceStudentchoice forMOIEnglish language should be the medium of instruction… N=470 Male Female TMI EMIE9 because I want to improve my English language skills 4.03 3.92 4.11 3.89 4.17E17E6because proficiency in English will improve my career andemployment opportunitiesbecause I will be more qualified for my profession if Icomplete my studies in English4.02 3.86 4.14 3.83 4.183.87 3.78 3.94 3.75 4.03E8 because I can collaborate with people in other countries 3.84 3.80 3.86 3.72 3.98E18because knowledge of English will improve my status andimage3.84 3.78 3.88 3.73 3.95As displayed in Table 2, the highest degree of importance on the rationales foradoption of EMI were E9, E17 and E6 at 4.03, 4.02, and 3.87, respectively. Both males andstudents with TMI choice reported importance degree of each rationale for adopting EMIbelow the level of important (4). Female and students with EMI choice reported that therationales on E17 (employment opportunity) and E9 (English skill) were importantsignificantly.5. Discussion & ConclusionEnglish Proficiency and Social Support for Learning EnglishFemales and students with EMI choice indicated higher level of English proficiency andsocial support for learning English. The finding was consistent with previous studies thatfemales have a more positive orientation towards learning a second language, higher level ofEnglish proficiency, higher degree of teacher and parental support, and higher interest.Furthermore, researchers discovered that female students especially present higher motivationand more favorable attitudes toward learning foreign languages (Koul et al, 2009).Concerning social support for learning English, teachers were perceived to be mostinfluence, following with parental encouragement. Friends had not much attribute forlearning English.Medium of Instruction and Rationales for the adoptionThe language choice as MOI was categorized into two separated interest as Thai-mediuminstruction (TMI) and English-medium instruction (EMI). The major rationales for adoptingTMI were learning, understanding, confidence and meaningful of education while those ofEMI were improving English skill, career opportunities, social status and personal image.The finding in this section may be best explained by Dweck & Leggett (1988) whichdescribes the differences in students’ goal orientation in terms of mastery orientation andperformance orientation. Mastery orientation is motivated by a desire to learn, to improveunderstanding, and to reach the meaningful knowledge; performance oriented students are

132 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsmotivated by the desire to be perceived as the best in the group, to avoid judgments of lowability, and for public recognition. The results in T1-T18 reflected that students with TMIchoice are more likely to be mastery oriented with a focus on having knowledge andunderstanding while the results from E1-E18 reflected students with EMI choice are morelikely to be performance oriented with a focus on an outperformance.However, TMI may be the choice because EMI programs are very expensive in students’opinion. Students concern about economic situation & compatibility with their financialstatus. Besides, TMI could be the appropriate choice because students find it easier to usetechnical vocabulary in Thai. Complexity on how difficult/easy to understand/use by learnersis also taken into account.Finding indicated that a desire for EMI choice was also for collaborating with othercountries; and for improving status and image. The result can be explained by Gardner’sstudies (2007). Gardner describes individual differences in motivation to learn a secondlanguage in terms of instrumentalist and integrative motivation. Instrumentalist reflects adesire to learn a second language for academic purposes, passing an exam, etc. Integrativemotivated students reflect an interest in learning the second language in order to interact withothers, enhance socialization with the presence of xenopholic and openness attitudes.In conclusion, the results showed between the two medium choices of instruction, theyare perceived important with different rationales for adopting. Concerning gender difference,females were more preferable in EMI than males with higher ability of English and degree ofsocial support. In students’ perception, they agreed that teachers had the most influence forlearning English. Students with TMI choice were more likely to be mastery oriented for thepurpose of understanding and having meaningful knowledge. On the other hand, studentswith EMI choice were more likely to be performance oriented for the purpose of future careerand personal status. In order to create the awareness of the importance of EMI, it is necessaryto offer the students a supportive environment for using English, where teachers who is themost influence can share a place to use English interactively with students forcommunication. With the pressures of current job market, students are mainly interested incareer aspects. Hence, the most important rationale to adopt EMI is an expectation ofimproving the quality of their English communication which is increasingly demanded by allindustries and business in Thailand at the moment; and which will result their careersopportunity and advancement; also imply the better image and status. Therefore, it needs toprovide the appropriate experience in EMI, the right knowledge under supportiveenvironment, and opportunity to practice; all which could enable students the positiveperceptions of English language as a medium of instruction.References:Chalapati, S. (2007). The internationalisation of higher education in Thailand: case studiesof two English-medium program business graduate programs. A doctoral thesis:RMIT University, Australia.Coll, R. K., Pinyonatthagarn, D., & Pramoolsook, I. (2003). The Internationalization ofCooperative Education: A Thailand Perspective. Asia-Pacific Journal of CooperativeEducation, 4 (2), 1-6.Dweck, C.S., & Leggett, E.L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation andpersonality. Psychological Review, 95, 256–273.Evans, S. (2002). The medium of instruction in Hong Kong: policy and practice in the newEnglish and Chinese streams. Research Papers in Education , 17 (1), 97-120.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 133Foley, J. A. (2005). English In...Thailand. RELC Journal , 36 (2), 223-234.Gao, X. (2008). Shifting motivational discourses among mainland Chinese students in anEnglish medium tertiary institution in Hong Kong: a longitudinal inquiry. Studies inHigher Education , 33 (5), 599-614.Gardner, R. (2007). Motivation and Second Language Acquisition1. Porta Linguarum, 9-20.Gerald, F. W. (2002). The Evolution of Educational Reform in Thailand. The SecondInternational Forum, on Education Reform: Key Factors in Effective Implementation.Bangkok, Thailand: The Office of the National Education Commission.Khamkhien, A. (2010). Teaching English Speaking and English Speaking Tests in the ThaiContext: A Reflection from Thai Perspective. English Language Teaching , 31, 184-190.Klaassen, R., & Graaff, E. (2001). Facing innovation: preparing lecturers for English-mediuminstruction in a non-native context. European Journal of Engineering Education , 26(3), 281-289.Koul, R., Laura, R., Kaewkuekool, S., & Ploisawaschai, S. (2009). Multiple goal orientationsand foreign language anxiety. System, 37 (4), 676-688.Mackenzie, A. S. (2002). EFL curriculum reform in Thailand. The 1st Annual JALT Pan-SIGConference (pp. 59-67). Kyoto, Japan: Kyoto Institute of Technology.Prapphal, K. (2004). A Reflection of English Teaching. Journal of Humanities , 1-5.Tsuda, S. (2003). Attitudes toward English Language Learning in Higher Education in Japan(2): Raising Awareness of the Notion of Global English. Intercultural CommunicationStudies, 12 (3), 61-75.Vadhanasindhu, C. (2002). Education Reform in the Era of Globalization: A Thai Case.Journal of Public and Private Management, 75-94.Wiriyachitra, A. (2001). A Thai university English scenario in the coming decade. TESOL, 14(1), 4-7.Wongsothorn, A., Hiranburana, K., & Chinnawongs, S. (2002). English language teaching inThailand today. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 22 (2), 107-116.

134 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsABSTRACTA Look at Changing Trends in Japanese Education: Teaching LicensesPeter Ferguson and Richard H. DerrahSchools in Japan have a tremendous amount of authority over students’ academic andpersonal development. For example, if a student is out late at night, or is caught smoking onthe weekend, someone in the community will telephone the school and the teachers arerequired deal with the problem. In other words, teachers are expected to have an active role inthe overall social development of their students. This is a very different idea of what it meansto be a teacher compared to western countries. Therefore, in Japan, teacher qualifications andtraining are extensive and the profession commands respect from society. Neverthelessteachers are criticized, sometimes fairly, but most often unfairly, for various problems andshortcomings in education. Declining scores on national aptitude tests, lack of classroomcontrol and the increase of the number of students “tuning out” are some examples of theproblems in Japan’s schools that are blamed on teachers. Compounding the problems, theeducation system in Japan is currently under reform, creating an atmosphere of uncertaintywith parents, students and teachers. However, despite all the challenges and hardships thatteachers face, teaching remains popular and still attracts many young people to theprofession.What does it mean to be a teacher in Japan’s schools? Not anyone can walk into aclassroom and be permitted to teach. That person needs a teaching license, however, whatgoverning body controls and regulates the licensing of teachers? A review of the literature onJapanese education reveals no recent research in teaching licenses and how they are obtained.There is some information on teacher development (Shimabara, 1991, 2002; Okano andTsuchida, 1999; Azuma, 2002) but little discussion of the process and selection of teachers.Does the licensing process ensure high quality education, or is it in fact, a method of statecontrol that values compliancy over creativity? This is a fundamental question that has notbeen adequately examined in recent years regarding Japan’s education.This paper will address these issues and demonstrate that further research needs to bedone in this area for a better understanding of education in Japan. Therefore, this paper willexamine three aspects of obtaining a teaching license and becoming a teacher in Japan. Firstit will look at the highly competitive hiring process, focusing on Kobe City as an example ofthe regulated system that is designed to hire only the best people. Next it will examine newteacher requirements of mandatory in-service training and question whether this programactually aids teachers or is a form of state control on teachers. Finally it will discuss thereforms to the National Course of Study along with the introduction of Special Licenses forpeople with specialized skills and what ramifications this may have for the future of teachereducation.Becoming a teacher: University education and pre-service teacher trainingIn the pre-war system, the education and training of teachers was heavily regulated andmonitored by the Ministry of Education and the military through the establishment of normalschools for teachers. These schools ensured the indoctrination of teachers and selected onlyindividuals that followed the government’s policy. After WWII, teacher education shifted tothe universities in order to be more democratic, transparent, and open to all individualsregardless of factors such as political affiliation. Consequently, all teachers in post-war Japanmust have a university degree and receive basic training in education theory, pedagogy,

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 135curriculum studies and a major field of study of their choice, such as mathematics or English.Universities have standards on the number of classroom hours and in practical training,however, universities must meet Ministry of Education requirements established by theMinistry of Education in order to award teacher certification (Okuno and Tsuchiya, 1999).Once a student successfully completes their university education and receives theirteaching credentials they can apply to the prefectural board of education to receive theirteaching license. The prefectural board of education is the only body that can award acandidate a teaching license. There is an assumption that universities provide the license,however, this is inaccurate. Though the prefecture boards of education are autonomous, theyare regulated by and follow the instructions of the Ministry of Education. If the prefecturalboards of education are considered regional branches of the Ministry of Education, then thestate is still directly controlling the licensing and hiring of teachers as in the pre-war era.Some researchers such as McVeigh argue the state’s control of education has diminished itseffectiveness and created a system that is hollow at its core but protected by what he calls ‘amyth’ (McVeigh 2002). That is an over-simplification of the issue. Nevertheless, moreresearch is needed on the local educational authorities, such as the prefectural and city boardsof education, to understand the regional situations facing policy makers, administration,teachers and students.Once the candidate has received their teaching license from the prefectural board ofeducation, they must go through a lengthy and rigorous hiring process. To become a teacherin a Japanese public school, a person must apply to the local education authority, which doesall the hiring of teachers. In small cities and towns, the process is performed by theprefectural board of education. In large urban centers with a population of 500,000 or more,the city board of education has the authority to do its own hiring. Kobe City in HyogoPrefecture is such a city and examining the hiring process in this city provides insight to thedemands and expectations placed on current teachers and people who want to be teachers.The following information is based on a special interview for this article with one of theauthors and a senior member in the Personnel Section of the Kobe City Board of Education(S. Kageyama, personal communication, July 15, 2010).The Hiring ProcessBy June of 2010, Kobe City Board of Education received just over 2800 applicationsfor only 390 job openings. Positions were for teachers at kindergarten, elementary, juniorhigh, senior high, schools for the blind and deaf, along with special staff such as schoolnurses and nutrition specialists who make the school lunches. The Personnel Section(kyoshokuinka) in the board of education performs the process of hiring teachers. This sectionhas about twenty members who set dates, make tests and assess all applications for hiring.The board of education does not differentiate between prefectures in which the license wasissued, or whether the applicant went to a private or public university or to one of the manynational universities of education as long as the person has a valid teaching license and isunder 49 years old. The hiring process is broken down into three phases and takesapproximately three months from start to finish, beginning in July and concluding at the endof September. All individuals who are hired begin work the following April.The first phase consists of two tests, which are taken on the same day, and aninterview. The first test is written in the morning and evaluates the candidates’ generalknowledge about education. The second test is written in the afternoon and focuses on thesubject area the candidate specialized in, such as history or science. On a separate day shortly

136 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsafter the written tests, a “group interview” is held with about 10-12 prospective teachers and3 or 4 members of the board of education. Candidates discuss or debate several topics, suchas their ideas regarding homework, class discipline, and bullying. This group discussioncontinues for about one hour and is designed so that candidates can express their opinions,demonstrate communication skills and their interests, rather than simply focusing on theoryand detailed information. This first phase will halve the number of applications byeliminating those not deemed to be truly interested in education, or unprepared to becometeachers.Prospective teachers that pass the first phase will continue to the second, a writtenessay on modern educational issues. The essay is read and assessed by the members of thepersonnel section in the board of education. The essays are graded on content anddemonstration of knowledge, along with organization and presentation of ideas. Then a oneon-oneinterview is conducted, going into further detail about topics of education, at the sametime finding out more about the individual, such as hobbies and interests outside theclassroom. The interview is where the board of education filters the candidates to try and findpeople who they think can bring the most to the classroom.The final phase, a short demonstration of skills by each candidate, is only used ifnecessary. For example, if the board has two openings for music teachers, but have foundthree possible candidates, then the board will use this third and final phase to select the twotop teachers. In this phase, prospective art teachers would be asked to draw a picture, ormusic teachers would be asked to perform a piece of music. After this the board of educationwill take everything into consideration and determine which candidates will be offeredteaching positions.This short example from Kobe City shows the popularity of teaching even though thehiring process is extremely difficult and competitive. Due to economic factors, teachers’salaries in recent years, like other civil servants, have been cut. Regardless, the number ofapplications was more than six times the number of available positions. The testing andinterviews demonstrate the value and importance of the teaching profession. This is an insightinto the extremely high expectations placed on teachers and reflects the high standards towhich teachers are assessed in contemporary Japanese society. However, the hiring ofteachers for the public schools is still regulated and completed by the government rather thanan independent organization, or simply completed by the principals of the schools. With allthe problems regarding education, this standardization of the hiring process does not appearto lead to better education. The Ministry of Education has been effective in recent years ofeliminating teachers with radical views, such as protesting the display of the national flag atgraduation ceremonies (“Kimigayo,” 2010). Though individuals are not directly screened forpolitical views, it is unknown if the local education authorities take an active role in assessinga candidates’ compliancy level towards the Ministry or the board themselves.Demands on teachers: In-service teacher trainingOnce a person has successfully completed the hiring process they still must havemandatory in-service training in the first few years. Again, this has been regulated by theMinistry of Education and can either be viewed as an attempt to assure quality of education,or further control of teachers. Kobe City policy is to follow the Ministry of Educationstandard for the first year of service. The Ministry’s policy states all first year teachers,regardless of age, must attend at least ten hours of teacher training per week, with a minimumof three-hundred hours of in-school teacher training in the first year alone. Weekly in-school

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 137training sessions by veteran teachers in the school take three basic forms. A veteranteacher(s) will observe the new teacher’s class and give advice. The new teacher will alsoobserve an experienced teacher’s class and discuss ideas and methods afterwards. Finally,general meetings are held to discuss issues beyond the classroom, such as counseling andhow to talk with parents, and other non-classroom teaching functions. In addition, at least 25days must be spent outside the school at workshops, which are provided by the local board ofeducation and are usually held throughout the academic year but also during the summerbreak.After the first year, Kobe City’s Board of Education continues with a support servicefor all teachers over the following two years. This support first comes from within the schooland takes many forms, such as experienced teachers mentoring novice teachers. Schoolprincipals and head-teachers provide opportunities for new teachers to observe more classes,attend various workshops, and arrange meetings and discussions so new teachers can discussthe curriculum and any classroom problems. Many new teachers find the first few years to bethe hardest and this support provided by schools under the direction of the board of educationappears to work, since according the Kobe City Board of Education, very few teachers inKobe City quit in the first few years.Though this policy of mandatory in-service teacher training is established to assistnovice teachers, all have completed teacher education in university and passed the difficulthiring process mentioned above. Having participated in some workshops as a presenter andspoken with many novice teachers through the years, many teachers say they find thistraining unnecessary and a waste of time. Some have even confided that they feel it is only ameasure done by the Ministry to ensure teachers understand that the local education authorityis in control and all that is required from the teachers is to do what they are told.Reforms to the National Course of StudyEvery ten years the Japanese Ministry of Education revises the National Course ofstudy for all levels, from kindergarten through to high school. The academic year beginningin April of 2002 saw a significant change in the curriculum, especially at the elementary andjunior high level. All educational reforms follow social change, so the current movementaway from traditional ideologies to more progressive and modern ideas in Japan’seducational system can be understood as a reflection of much larger social change. Theeducational reforms called for students to increase their communication skills, criticalthinking and problem-solving skills, along with more individualized learning and anemphasis on lifelong learner skills for a higher quality of participation in society. To meetthis demand the Ministry of Education developed a new Period of Integrated Studies(sogotekina gakushu). These new classes were to inject a new teaching and learning style intothe schools, with more student-centered activities, and to allow schools to introduce newclasses such as ICT - Information and Communication Technologies, and Foreign LanguageStudies in the elementary schools.With these new classes came new ideas and methodologies, which naturally meant thatnew concepts and ways of teaching, learning, and evaluating were introduced into theeducation system. This suddenly placed extremely high demands on teachers who foundthemselves caught between the demands and expectations of the Ministry, parents andstudents on one side, and with the reality of not being properly trained and prepared to meetthese demands. Suddenly it appeared everyone was a novice teacher regardless of the numberof years experience because every teacher was taking training courses to learn the new

138 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsCourse of Study. By making these dramatic changes, the Ministry of Education failed toallow the local educational authorities enough time to prepare for the changes needed. Eventen years later after the curriculum changes the system is still adjusting and policy makers,administrators and teachers are continuously adopting and trying to implement these newclasses and methodologies. With widespread changes, and increasing demands many veteranteachers are feeling overwhelmed (Fennelly and Luxton, 2011).Special LicensesWith the introduction of Information and Communication Technologies and foreignlanguages to the National Course of Study, local boards of education suddenly foundthemselves with a shortage of qualified teachers. In order to alleviate this problem theMinistry of Education amended the way teachers could be certified. Special Licenses(tokubetsu menkyo) were introduced allowing people working in the private sector who haveexperience in the field to apply for a license and become a teacher. In other words, peoplecould bypass any teacher training and the competitive hiring process to become a teacher.The two biggest beneficiaries are people with computer experience and foreign Englishteachers receiving Special Licenses to teach ICT and English respectfully. The process toreceive this type of license differs with each prefectural board of education, but this paperwill examine the process with Hyogo Prefecture in regards to foreign language teachers tobetter understand how this is affecting education in Japan.In actuality, an individual cannot directly apply for a Special License with a prefecturalboard of education. Only schools can apply on behalf of an individual that the school deemsnecessary for their operations. In other words, if a school needs a computer teacher and hasan individual who they would like to hire as a computer teacher, but cannot because thatperson does not have a teachers’ license, the school can submit an application on behalf ofthat individual. Along with the school’s application the individual must submit his or heruniversity transcripts or some proof of completion of degree, along with a resume of theirwork history. The applicant will then be required to perform a demonstration lesson for aboutfour or five members of the board of education at the school. After this demonstration lesson,the board members will interview the candidate asking a variety of questions involving basiceducation issues such as class discipline and bullying. This is similar to the first phase of thehiring process described above. If the application is successful then a small fee is levied andthe individual is awarded a Special License, which is no different from other licensesallowing the applicant to legally teach in the classroom. It is called a Special License becausethe process of obtaining it is different from the normal manner of attending teachers college.This alleviates the problems for the board of education in teacher shortage for skilled areas,such as ICT and English, but emerging criticism states this undermines the whole process andactually weakens education by allowing teachers with less training into the classroom.Addressing IssuesWith all the changes taking place in Japan’s education system, it is extremely difficult togauge where things are heading. Despite public school teachers being heavily trained in Japanthey are still often criticized in the media and there is even talk of a new evaluation andreward system being introduced to assess teachers. Around 2006 the previous LiberalDemocratic government began a program to have teachers renew their license, but thatprogram was dropped after they lost the federal election in 2009. Nevertheless, it appears theMinistry of Education is continuing to increase its authority, and how this will affectteachers’ licenses is still unknown. For example, in education circles there is discussion of

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 139changing the current system of 6 years of elementary, 3 years of junior high and 3 years ofhigh school, but that would require a complete change of the laws regarding teachers’licenses. By introducing special licenses, the Ministry of Education has temporarily fixed ashortage of skilled teachers, but will this undermine teacher training and actually have anadverse affect on the quality of education in the classroom? Ironically, the Ministry is alsoconsidering increasing teacher education at universities from 4 years to 6 years. In theserapidly changing times of progress and uncertainty in Japan’s education, the teacher remainsthe foundation of the entire system. How teachers are educated, licensed, trained andsupported is an important window into understanding this or any education system.ReferencesAzuma, H. (2002). The development of the course of study and the structure of educationalreform in Japan. National standards and school reform in Japan and the UnitedStates. G. DeCoker. New York, Teachers College Press: 5-18.Fennelly, M. and R. Luxton (2011). "Are you ready?" The Language Teacher 35(2): 19-24.Kimigayo fukiritsu, shobun gekigen [Dramatic reduction in the punishment of teachers forfailing to stand for the national anthem]. (2010). Asahi Shimbum, retrived fromhttp://www.asahi.com/edu/tokuho/TKY201004190140.html.McVeigh, B. J. (2002). Japanese higher education as myth. New York, M.E. Sharpe.Okano, K. and M. Tsuchiya (1999). Education in contemporary Japan. Cambridge,University of Cambridge Press.Shimabara, N. (1991). Teacher education in Japan. Windows on Japanese education. E. R.Beauchamp. Westport, Greenwood Press: 259-280.Shimabara, N. (2002). Teacher professional develoment in Japan. National standards andschool reform in Japan and the United States. G. DeCoker. New York, TeachersCollege Press: 107-120.

140 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsA Short History of Teacher Education in JapanRichard H. DerrahPeter FergusonIntroductionThis paper will provide a short history of the introduction and reform of teachertraining in Japan from the late 1800s. The Meiji Period saw the introduction of teachertraining in Japan. Before this time there was no formal system for teacher training. Becominga teacher was accomplished by simply advancing within the area of study. For example, someschools trained students and awarded certificates for advancement in subjects such as art.Once an individual reached a high level of certification they could then teach. There was nodirect teaching of educational methods to train teachers. After the Meiji restoration the centralobjective was to improve the nation through modernization. A key element of modernizationwas the adoption of western ideals and the tool to adopt these ideals was education. The firstreform of teacher education in Japan took place in the 1870s, and this decade focused onwestern ideas and the United States in particular.The School SystemThe first period of educational reform in the Meiji Period was the1870s. “When, in1868, the new government took over and began its program of forced-pace modernization, itsdecrees ordering the establishment of a universal system of elementary schooling already hadsubstantial foundations on which to build.” (Dore 1965, p. 32) A vast basic educationorganization of private academies and domain schools provided a foundation on which tobuild this new school system. The Educational Code of 1872 (Gakusei) called for a system ofelementary schools to be created to provide a basic education for all in line with the objectiveof modernization. It did not simply readjust the existing educational institutions from theTokugawa Period, it also called for a redefinition of the idea of school. During the TokugawaPeriod, schools were often were seen as the location of the relationship between the studentand teacher. In this sense, Tokugawa Period schools were centered in the individual. TheMeiji Period redefinition was a shift from the individual centered ideal of school to the schoolbuilding based ideal of education. It was a redefinition to eliminate local ideals abouteducation and solidly place education within the power of the central government. “TheMeiji leaders intended the new educational reforms to produce a sense of dissimilarity anddisjunction with pre-Meiji educational experience.” (Platt 1998, p. 10) To staff these newschools the Meiji government looked to the United States for both pedagogical methods andfor teachers to staff the new normal schools. The adoption of western styles of teaching,teacher training, textbooks, etc. did cause some problems. Textbooks were quickly translatedand used without an understanding of their intended audience. These types of quick adoptionscaused problems and contributed the backlash against the influence of the west in Japaneseeducation in the following decade.The 1880s saw a reaction to the western centered reforms to create a system forteacher education. While a central objective to help achieve modernization was theestablishment of a modern school system there were different opinions on higher goals. Inreaction to the 1870s some saw the centrality of the emperor as vital and believed that theultimate purpose of modernization was to form a modern state centered on the emperor. Not

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 141everyone followed this emperor-centered ideal of education, however, including MoriArinori, one of the primary architects of this new school system and education minister from1885. He saw education as a tool to strengthen the country especially in the face of foreigncompetition. The introduction of western technology along with the centering of loyalty ontothe state were the main elements of the new education system. “In the late 1880’s MoriArinori had declared that ‘the emperor is peerless capital, the greatest possible treasure’ in theenterprise of fostering loyalty and patriotism (chukan aikoku) in the people toward somethingas ‘intangible’ as the state.” (Gluck 1985, p. 85) The emperor provided a figure, but theultimate purpose of modernization for Mori was the modern nation-state. “The administratorsof our various schools should at all times be mindful of the fact that the undertaking is onbehalf of the state, not on behalf of the individual student.” (Hall 1973, p. 397) Despite hisattempts to place the nation and the emperor in the center of education, Mori was assassinatedby a former samurai in the name of the emperor. The assassin stated “Mori deserved to die asjust punishment for his disrespectful contempt for the Emperor on the occasion of a recentvisit to the Grand Shrine at Ise.” (Duke 1989, p. 40) Mori did introduce many elements of thestate centered Meiji education system including many of the reforms in teacher educationsuch as the introduction of taiso or physical education in the new schools of the Meiji Period.Taiso was first used to train the new teachers of the period, but it continues today and can stillbe seen in schools in Japan.Within these new Meiji Period schools students were integrated into a new modernsociety. They were required to wear school uniforms and had to submit to discipline. Theywere taught the elements which were considered to be required of a modern society such asthe basics of hygiene. The focus of learning within schools was on practical matters directlybenefiting the state in its efforts to modernize. All aspects of the lives of people would bemodernized and in turn modernize the state.More than a means to modernize, the new education system implemented by the Meijigovernment was a tool to consolidate power. The new school system was meant to be a breakfrom the past. Local governments had to apply to have pre-Meiji or even new schoolsdesignated as a school. This also required a detailed report including a listing of subjectstaught in the school. The central government used inspections as a method to controleducation. Statistics were kept to detail progress and to also emphasize the ideal of thecentrality of education under the Meiji government and not under local governments. “Therewere important aspects of Meiji educational policy that were self-consciously andstrategically discontinuous with the pre-Meiji experience.” (Platt 1998, p.160) These attemptsat control were met with some resistance, and attacks on schools created by the centralgovernment did occur. Controls on students included teacher training students, in fact, thesestudents were held to higher standards and tighter control.Schools were divided into elementary, middle, and higher schools. Beyond theseschools a higher level of education was also established such as Tokyo Imperial University.A number of normal schools for the education of teachers were also developed with a highernormal school in Tokyo developed for the training of teachers for the other normal schools.Teacher training inside the normal schools was strict and took the form of military discipline.Students were required to stay in dorms and submit to roll calls and inspections as would berequired in a military unit. If teachers were trained in a strict manner it was hoped that thislevel of discipline would filter down to other students and help alleviate some of theproblems developing in society due to modernization. “Education was not a key to unlock thepotentialities of the individual, but instead served as a tool to prevent corruption and disorderamong the people.” (Platt 1998, p. 122)

142 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsIn the 1890s the struggle between the centrality of the nation-state versus thecentrality of the emperor was resolved with the proclamation of the Imperial Rescript onEducation in 1890. It “insisted that loyalty and filial piety, plus respect for the constitutionand the law, be put at the heart of the educational system.” (Beasley 1999, p. 228) TheRescript was placed in a position of respect in schools and at some assemblies it was read forthe student body. There were stories of school principals running back into burning buildingsto save the copy of the Rescript. (Gordon 2003, p. 106) It was read to the student body duringspecial ceremonies, displayed prominently in schools, and was a physical reminder toteachers about the purpose of education.After the Meiji PeriodThe Meiji educational reforms did expand education and for the first time provided astandardized structure to the schools. The structure of the new school system was meant toprovide a basic education for all. Education was compulsory for four years with four moreoptional. Parents paid fees until 1900 when free public education was implemented. In 1887,47% of school-age children were attending school, but after the initiation of free education in1900, school attendance increased. By 1905, 95.6% of school age children were attendingschool. (Botsman 2004) As schools expanded so did the education for teachers.In 1929 colleges in Tokyo and Hiroshima were established for graduates of highernormal schools so they could continue their education. These schools were still under thecontrol of the state, but did increase the level of training for teachers. With the radicalizationof politics in the 1930s and into the 1940s the education system followed suit. From 1941 thefocus in schools changed to almost solely emphasize the training of imperial subjects ratherthan members of a modern nation, as it had in the Meiji Period. One of the core componentsof producing imperial subjects included the introduction of moral education into thecurriculum. Moral education, even today, is a required part of middle school education and arequired class for teachers seeking a middle school teaching license, however, it was notfound in early Meiji educational reforms.After 1945 another reform of teacher education occurred and, much like the initialchange in the Meiji Period, this one was influenced by the United States as well. During theoccupation of Japan after the Second World War, the United States Education Mission cameto Japan in 1946. Its recommendations had an influence on teacher education and includedtraining for specialized fields as well as professional education after certification. Aneducation reform committee was established in 1946 in order to look into implementing therecommendations of the United States Education Mission, resulting in the move of teachertraining from state controlled schools to universities. Normal schools continued for trainingof teachers for elementary and middle schools, while universities trained teachers for highschool.ConclusionFrom an initial emphasis on western methods to modernize the state to a competitionbetween the centrality of the nation-state or the emperor centric state, teacher education hasbeen influenced by prominent political philosophies during the Meiji Period and beyond.From the first steps of teacher education the curriculum has been a top-down approach withthe ministry of education holding the top position within the system. Even today, as theministry of education attempts to adjust the teacher licensing system, change has been slow.Guidance is provided and slowly elements of change begin to appear. Some changes haveopened the system such as the change of teacher licensing from state controlled schools to

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 143non-state controlled schools, while more recent changes have placed new pressure onteachers. Licensing used to be lifetime, but just recently all licenses have changed to a tenyearlimit. This is in response to the large number of people obtaining a teaching license inuniversity, working in an un-related job and then turning to teaching after retiring. This wasespecially profitable, since teacher salary scales are based on age. The teacher licenserenewal requirements are extremely simple, however, changes such as additional renewalrequirements are slowly being introduced. It will probably take a significant event tointroduce radical change in the system, such as when sputnik changed the education systemin the United States. One possibility could be if China overtakes Japan in terms of economicpower. Then perhaps Japan will see a third change in its teacher education system much likethe changes that occurred due to the Meiji Restoration and the Occupation. There is very littleresearch on the recent changes of the education system in relation to teachers and this anopportunity for further research into teacher training as well as the influence these changesmay have on other elements of the education system such as students.ReferencesBeasley, W. G. (1999). The Japanese Experience. Berkeley, University of California Press.Botsman, D. (2004). Lecture notes on Meiji education. Cambridge, Harvard University.Dore, R. P. (1965). Education in Tokugawa, Japan, by R. P. Dore, Berkeley, University ofCalifornia Press, 1965.Duke, B. C. (1989). Ten Great Educators of Modern Japan. Tokyo, University of Tokyo.Gluck, C. (1985). Japan's Modern Myths. Princeton, Princeton University Press.Gordon, A. (2003). A Modern History of Japan. New York, Oxford University Press.Hall, I. P. (1973). Mori Arinori. Cambridge, Harvard University Press.Platt, B. W. (1998). School, community, and state integration in nineteenth century Japan,University of Illinois. (Doctoral Dissertation).

144 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsEnhancing Reading Comprehension and Attitudesthrough 4MAT System and Background MusicNakonthep Tipayasuparat and Alisara Chuchart, PhDFaculty of Education, Chulalongkorn University, ThailandABSTRACTThis paper discusses the special reading problems among EFL learners, emphasizing theirdiverse learning styles and use of the two brains. It introduces the 4MAT System, aninstructional model developed by Bernice McCarthy, which provides a systematic approachto delivering instruction that especially addresses the learning styles of EFL students. As alearner-focused model for reading instruction, 4 MAT gives teachers a framework to designlearning activities in a systematic cycle. The system, when integrated with background music,encourages teachers to use multiple methods of instruction so as to reach students moreeffectively, regardless of the individual’s learning style. The paper concludes with a readinginstruction unit designed by using the 4MAT System along with integrated backgroundmusic.Remark: This paper is part of an on-process PhD dissertation, a quasi-experimental studyinvestigating the effects of the newly developed instructional reading model using 4 MATSystem combined with background music.INTRODUCTIONTeachings reading in tertiary level, several teachers realize that most problems arederived not only from vocabulary knowledge, but also from reading comprehension andattitudes (Anderson, 1999). Additionally, research indicates that the students’ differences oflearning styles pose difficulties when students are exposed to conventional activities in class.The reason is that some activities hardly facilitate comprehension as they do not help activatea reader’s background knowledge and promote the full potential of the reading brain, two ofwhich are essential elements of reading comprehension process (Eskey, 1986). In addition,the fact that not many students have become successful in their L2 reading is due to theirattitude towards reading. Anxiety and negative attitudes have become psychological barrierspreventing students from conceptualizing meaning of reading texts as stated by Eskey (1986,p. 6) that comprehension is always directed and controlled crucially by the needs and purposeof an individual. Reading teachers, therefore, face many challenges in the classroom of howto help students cope with these interrelated problems.For the past two decades, much attention has been drawn to 4MAT, a teachingmethodology posited by Bernice McCarty, which is built upon the principles of learningstyles and their relationship to the natural learning cycles. In studies conducted in varioussettings, the use of 4MAT increased learner motivation and improved academic performance(McCarty et al, 2002). When integrated with background music, it has been reported thatrelaxation will facilitate changes in physiological states in the body and allow the brain towork more effectively (Hepler & Kapke, 1996). According to a recent study (Smith, 2001),participation in a relaxed setting is critical for acquiring skills in writing, scientificunderstanding, as well as learning to read.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 145The roles of learning stylesOne of the major differences between traditional methods of teaching and moremodern ones is that teaching methods at present always struggle to better accommodatelearning styles or individual differences among learners (Wu & Alrabah, 2009). The term‘learning style’ has been used to describe an individual’s natural, habitual, and preferred wayof absorbing, processing, and retaining new information and skills (Oxford, 1998). Learningstyles might consequently influence the learner’s response to different methods of deliveringlanguage in EFL classroom. A broad range of learning styles has been mentioned in theliterature. For instance, people who favorably perceive things through seeing would fall into agroup called ‘visual’ learners. Other people, who seem to learn best upon hearing somethingonce or twice before they know it, may be called ‘aural’ learners. For others, who are referredto as ‘kinesthetic’ learners, they learn best when a physical action is added to the learningprocess. In contrast to these perceptually-based learning style differences, considerableresearch has focused on a cognitive learning style distinction between analytic and globallearners. An analytic learner likes to analyze language elements in detail, while a globallearner is believed to prefer learning through global exposure to a second/foreign language.For example, in dealing with a new text, an analytic learner might search for small details andtry to follow accurately the precise relationships between different parts of a text, while aglobal learner might prefer to predict and infer to get an overall understanding of the sametext. There is also a similar difference between the cognitive learning styles of fieldindependentand field-dependent learners. The distinction between these cognitive learningstyles refers to whether an individual tends to separate details from the general background orto see things more holistically.According to several recent research findings, two things most language teachersrealize are 1) their main role in the teaching proportion is to provide better conditions forlearning and 2) individual differences among learners can impact learning processes andteaching procedures. In research area, understanding the ways in which learners differ fromone another has become of fundamental concern to those involved in EFL teaching/learning,either as teachers or researchers. A number of research address individual differences, puttingfocus on factors such as aptitude, motivation, attitudes, personality, and then to establishcorrelations between these factors and second language proficiency (Lightbown & Spada,2006). Research findings on studies of learning styles have shown that an understanding oflearning styles create optimal learning conditions in the language classroom (Lincoln &Rademacher, 2006). Reid (1998) also indicated that if language teachers know more abouthow various students learn new materials, they will make better decisions on both contentand in-class activities.Reading and learning stylesExtensive research shows critical relationship between reading achievement andlearning styles. Kaley (1977, cited in Carbo, 1983) postulated the importance of learningstyles by saying that it is a better predictor of reading achievement than IQ and learners arebelieved to be able to improve their reading achievement significantly when taught throughtheir preferred individual learning style. Another theoretical construct that can attribute to theassumption is the immediate environment. Several researchers agree that the immediateenvironment seems to produce a biological reaction in some students that can encourage ordiscourage learning, depending upon how much the student’s learning style is

146 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsaccommodated. For instance, students have read significantly better when the amount ofsound and light match their learning style preference (Pizzo, 1981, cited in Carbo, 1983).Many research findings, especially Krimsky (1982, cited in Carbo, 1983), reported thatstudents achieved higher reading comprehension scores once they were exposed to theirpreferred setting, i.e. noisy or quiet, dim or bright light. The reason lies on the fact that whenstudents are comfortable within their learning environment, they are likely to absorb andretain information and concepts more easily and efficiently. Carbo (1983) and Carlson,Hoffman, Gray & Thompson, (2004) suggested that one possibility to improve readingenvironment for reluctant readers, based on the variety of learning styles in most classrooms,is to take advantage of slow background music.In addition, perception seems to be one of the learning style elements of greatestimportance, research on perception and reading indicates that reading performance is stronglyrelated to perceptual ability (Carbo, 1983). It has been reported that good readers prefer tolearn through their visual and auditory senses, while poor readers have higher preferences forlearning tactfully and kinesthetically in an informal design (soft chairs, rugs, pillows). Alsopoor readers have difficulty shifting between and integrating auditory and visual stimuli(Dunn, 1981, cited in Carbo, 1983).Research comparing learning styles across achievement level, corresponding toDewey’s construct (1916, cited in MaCarthy & MaCarthy, 2006) that all learning require thetransactional interaction between the individual and the environment, indicates that manypoor readers seem to need a structured reading program (time limits, specific choices, cleardirections, work checked immediately). Such programs should rely on some interaction withpeers and consistent feedback from teachers, apart from well-organized relaxed readingenvironment (Carbo, 1983). As another advocacy of the idea, Farrell (2009) pinpoints thecases of learning styles as determined by culturally affected differences where Anglo studentsare less willing to speak alone in front of their peers, when asked by the reading teacher, andto work in small groups than Asian and native American students.Reading and HemisphericityThe correlation between reading proficiency and the two hemispheres of the brain hasbeen reported and mentioned in several researches. Kimura and her colleagues (1993, cited inMcCarthy et al, 2002) have indicated that hemispheric specialization, especially leftdominance for language, “emerged more due to the evolution of certain motor skills” thatlend themselves to communication. This is contrary to the right hemisphere which isresponsible to the ability to manipulate spatial relationship. A number of evidences reviewedby Springer and Deutsch (1993) suggest that hemispheric asymmetrics are innate and shapedfurther by the demand and input to the brain. According to the two researchers, eachhemisphere processes and possesses different characteristics as follows.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 147LeftVerbalDigitalSequentialRationalLogicalConvergentDeductiveRealisticDirectedExplicitObjectiveSuccessiveAbstractAnalyticalRightNonverbalVisual-SpatialSimultaneousAnalogicalIntuitiveDivergentMetaphoricalImaginativeFreeTacitSubjectiveRandomConcreteHolisticA correlational study comparing the learning styles of good and poor readersconducted by Price, Dunn, & Sanders (1980) demonstrates that the two groups differsignificantly in terms of hemispheric preference. After administering the hand-scorablehemispheric test to a group of students, they discovered that 85% of the poor readers wereclassified as right-brain-dominant learners. The cause of the problem seems to stem here asthe activities in most language classes, especially reading, are organized in the way that theleft dominants are accommodated, while the right dominants are isolated. Carbo (1983)suggests that, so as to resolve the problem of one-brain dominance, reading instruction shouldinitially include holistic reading approaches (such as language-experience). And whenteachers integrate the abilities of the two hemispheres so as for the most adaptive processingto be brought to bear on the learning situation, learner motivation and performance willimprove.Reading and Background MusicA number of studies over the past years have demonstrated that relaxation positivelyaffects academic success as it can facilitate change in physiological states in the body thatlead to more effective performance of the brain (Hepler & Kapke, 1996). Studies show thatbackground music has intriguing effect on memory. One example is Mozart’s music andbaroque music, with a 50-to-60-beat-per-minute pattern can activate the left and righthemispheres of the brain, which can maximizes learning and information retention. Theinformation being studied activates the left mode, whereas the music stimulates the rightmode, causing the brain to be more capable of processing information. According to a recent

148 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsresearch (Smith, 2001), participation in a relaxed setting is of overriding importance tolearning to read, as well as acquiring other language skills. Besides, listening to classicalmusic before taking a test can help students improve their test scores significantly since thistype of music releases neurons in the brain which help the body to relax.In terms of memory, and information retention, background music can prove effectiveas seen in Lozanov’s studies where students could learn up to 1,000 new words/phrases inone day through baroque music with 92% average retention rate. This corresponds to anotherstudy done in 1982 at the University of North Texas, of which the result shows thatvocabulary memorization and recall are better through Handel’s Water Music. Oneexplanation is that music itself is not a part of learning process; however, it enters memoryalong with the acquired information. The findings imply that recall is better when the samemusic targeted for learning is used during recall. Also, tempo seems to play a key role ofmusic’s effect on memory (Anderson, Henke, McLaughlin, Ripp & Tuffs, 2000, cited inCarlson, Hoffman, Gray & Thompson, 2004)In addition to brain maximization and vocabulary memorization, many components ofmusic can have a calming effect. Blanchard (1979) found that playing background musicduring a classroom examination dramatically helped lower blood pressure, resulting insignificantly higher scores and better attitudes for participating students.To sum up, these studies pave the foundation for a connection between music,relaxation, improved brain function, increased academic performance, and more positivelearning attitudes.As for reading, the benefit of using background music in reading class is alsoadvisable. One study featuring a vibroacoustic music chair combined with the 50-60 beatsper minute of music indicates student’s improved reading performance beyond theexpectation of a reading program alone. Besides, better attitudes towards reading caused byrelaxation were also reported (Carlson, Hoffman, Gray & Thompson, 2004).Based on Lozanov’s research findings, Mozart Effect, and Blanchard (1979), in lightof whole brain capitalization through music, this present study features classical pieces ofmusic of Bach, Mozart, and Handel, all of which are 50-60 beats per minute. The groundsunderlying the hypothesis of the study is that listening to background music during readingand pondering will increase focus and attention, which leads to full mental potential.Additionally, relaxation from music can facilitate changes in physiological states in the bodythat allow the brain to work more efficiently. And that assumption has been used as onemajor element underpinning the principles of the developed instructional processes.4MAT SystemCombining the fundamental principles of John Dewey (Experiential Learning), CarlJung (Theory of Individualization), David Kolb (Experiential Learning Theory), and AnthonyGregorc (Gregorc’s Style Delineator), 4MAT System is a teaching model featuring learningstyles to create a balanced model for planning instruction that “cycles the learner through formajor learning styles” (Nicoll-Senft & Seider, 2010). 4MAT was constructed on the fourfactorlearning style models of Gregorc and Kolb by integrating learning styles with brainbasedprocessing strategies. The model provides an assumption that individuals learn indifferent ways and “that engagement with a variety of diverse learning activities results inhigher levels of motivation and performance. 4MAT is grounded on the belief that

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 149“individuals learn primarily in one of four different but complementary ways based on howthey perceive and process information” (McCarthy & McCarthy, 2006).An important construct upon which 4MAT is based is hemisphericity, the practice ofsystematically balancing teaching activities that equally address linear and holistic thinking.According to Springer and Deutsch (1993), the most widely researched and citedcharacteristics used to describe linear and holistic thinking are, for linear thinking: verbal,digital, sequential, rational, and logical; and for holistic thinking: nonverbal, visual-spatial,simultaneous, analogical, and intuitive.The principles of hemisphericity are that (1) individuals have at their disposal twocomplementary methods for approaching and processing information and experiences; (2)adequate engagement of both methods, described in the literature as linear and holisticthinking, results in deepened levels of personal understanding; and (3) engagement of bothhemispheres of the brain, usually described as “whole brain” learning, has significantimplications for designing instruction and understanding human learning (McCarty et al,2002).The 4MAT System views learning as a natural sequence which progressessequentially from Quadrant one through Quadrant four experiences. If an instructor includesall types of learning in the classroom, then each student has a better chance of comprehendingthe material. Movement around the circle is a natural learning progression. Humans sense andfeel; they experience, they watch; they reflect, then they think; they develop theories, thenthey try out theories; they experiment. Finally, they evaluate and synthesize what they havelearned in order to apply it to their next similar experience. Based on the McCarthy model, areading teacher seeking to develop strategies and skills needed among their students shouldseek to accommodate the needs of diverse learning styles.4MAT identifies four interrelated learning styles based on a continuum of how weperceive and process new information. Our individual learning style results from where wenaturally fall on these continuums. McCarthy has identified these learning styles asImaginative Learners (Type One Learners); Analytic Learners (Type Two Learners);Common Sense Learners (Type Three Learners); and Dynamic Learners (Type FourLearners). The following is a brief description of these learning styles from both learning andteaching perspectives (Nicoll-Senft & Seider 2010; Harrison, 2000; McCarthy & McCarthy,2006).Imaginative Learners (Type One) learn best through personal experience, acombination of sensing, or feeling, or watching. They benefit from opportunities to findmeaning in what they are learning and they enjoy discussing their beliefs, feelings, andopinions with others. They are reflective in nature and learn primarily through dialogue. Theyare keen on perspective taking and, in an attempt to find personal meaning, they often ask thequestion ‘‘Why?’’ These learners must understand how learning is associated to their values;thus, they seek meaning and clarity.Analytic Learners (Type Two) prefer to learn through a combination of watching anddeveloping theories and concepts. They often learn best in a traditional classroom setting.They prefer sequential thinking and thorough details. They enjoy reflecting on new ideas andconnecting new learning to other information they know to be true. They tend to be cautiousand hard-working, and find ideas intriguing. For them, the most important question is‘‘What?’’ Their right hemisphere seeks to integrate new experiences with what they alreadyknow, while their left hemisphere seeks that new knowledge.

150 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsCommon Sense Learners (Type Three) learn by doing and trying things out forthemselves. When presented with new information they immediately focus on practicalapplications. They are active learners, preferring to get right to work in the classroom. Theirright hemisphere seeks applications for what they learn, while their left hemisphere asks themore general ‘‘What have other people done?’’ question. This group dislikes assignmentsthat do not have an obvious purpose or application. They learn best when provided withhands-on, experiential learning opportunities. For these learners, the most important questionis ‘‘How does it work?’’Figure 1: McCarthy’s Four Types of LearnersDIRECTEXPERIENCEACT INGType FourDynamic Learners- Modifying- Shifting- Adapting- Intuiting- Acting- Collaborating- Innovating- CreatingP R O CType ThreeCommon Sense Learners- Experimenting- Manipulatingmaterials and ideas- Following directions- Building on givens- Making things work- Testing reality- Tinkering- ImprovingPERCE IV INGS S I NGType OneImaginative Learners- Brainstorming- Listening- Speaking- Interacting- Knowing oneself- Understanding andappreciating othersType TwoAnalytic Learners- Observing- Analyzing- Classifying- Selecting- Drawing conclusions- Theorizing- Seeing pattern andconnections- Conceptualizing thesense of the wholeREFLECT INGABSTRACTCONCEPTS

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 151Finally, Dynamic Learners (Type Four) are active learners who learn best by doingand sensing and feeling. They enjoy taking risks and learn primarily through self-discovery.They like to connect their learning to things that matter in their lives. Their right hemispheredevelops extensions of their learning while their left hemisphere seeks to analyze learning forrelevance and significance. These learners ask the question ‘‘If?’’ as they enjoy synthesizinginformation and applying their learning in new ways.4MAT sequences these four approaches in a framework that reflects the naturallearning cycle. First, the teacher connects personal experiences of the learners to the targetedteaching concept. This is followed by systematic teaching of the content matter. Next,students are provided with guided practice and application. Finally, students are givenopportunities to integrate and synthesize their new learning.The teacher changes his role while proceeding ‘‘around the circle’’ along the fourquadrants. In Quadrant Two, for example, the teacher’s role is quite conventional- asInformation Provider. On the contrary, in Quadrant Four, the teacher becomes theEvaluator/Facilitator, providing an atmosphere of freedom to get students to discover bydoing and challenging them to observe, analyze, and share, apart from helping some whoneed more direction. Thus through the progression of the model, the teacher uses a broadknowledge of learning styles and specific methods to teach his students. In other words, themodel provides a tool for employing the varying instructional modes.In studies conducted in elementary and secondary schools, the use of 4MAT increasedlearner motivation and improved academic performance (Blair & Judah, 1990; McCarthy etal., 2002; Wilkerson & White, 1988). According to Nicoll-Senft & Seider (2010), moreachievements in content area learning have been found in the premises of mathematics,science, and music. In higher education context, 4MAT has been successfully applied in avariety of disciplines, including engineering, law, and tourism. However up to now, nostudies have applied the model across L2 reading. And that is the significant ground why thispresent study has been conducted.This knowledge about the specialization of 4MAT and background music has led toseveral hypotheses about how reading instruction might be improved. In this regard, theguiding principles of the Model relating to the two elements are as follows:Principles of Instruction derived from 4MAT and background music1. Learning requires the transactional interaction between the individuals andthe environment. (In order to acquire vocabulary, students should dosomething with the words. To maximize the internalization of learning,students must be provided an opportunity to apply what they have learned.)2. Students need multiple exposures to new input in order to understand them.(A variety of instructional modes, media, and activities must be used both instrategies to define theories into concepts.)3. Reflections the students have on their expression and learning must beshared and turned around. (Group work and lots of student talk should beincorporated.)4. Students should actively make connections between the new and the known.(Students’ background knowledge must be activated especially in terms of

152 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsvocabulary and content of the text.)5. Background music activates the left and right brain action which maximizeslearning and enhances reading attitudes. (Listening to background musicduring reading and pondering will increase focus and attention, whichimproves mental sharpness. Relaxation from music can facilitate changes inphysiological states in the body that allow the brain to work more efficiently.)The following instructional processes illustrate how the 4MAT System, with a blendof background music, encompassing three phases and six teaching steps, can be applied in anEFL reading class.Phase 1: Pre-readingStep 1 Recalling ExperienceStep 2 ImaginingStep 3 Explicit ModelingPhase 2: During-readingStep 4 Reading with MusicPhase 3: Post-readingStep 5 Parallel PracticingStep 6 Sharing OutcomeStep One: Recalling ExperienceDuring the first step of the instructional process which serves as a warm-up, theteacher’s tasks are to engage students in a concrete experience which leads to a search ofprior knowledge and prior experience, especially in terms of vocabulary. This search isdesigned to create an interactive group dialogue through introducing questions which connectwhat students already knows and believes to the topic the teacher intends to teach. Theteacher tries to use strategies which encourage diversification of ideas, dialogue, andparticipation and enable students to associate prior lexical knowledge with new vocabulary tocome. Through idea sharing and pooling, student’s beliefs and opinions begin to evolve intoorganizers and structures for future thinking and concept building. This phase of the processemphasizes right and left hemispheric thinking and, with symbolic thinking and theimposition of structure, the goal is engagement.Step Two: ImaginingStep two of the process is designed to create a context for students to represent thesubjective nature of his/her existing knowledge as a preparation for the analysis of ideas. Inthis step, students are encouraged to symbolize their present state of understanding of thesubject matter in as many nonverbal forms as possible. Image making, which is central to thisstep, is a right mode activity. The emphasis here is the expansion of representations ofmeaning. However, this step requires students to begin to shift from reflective experience toreflective thinking.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 153Step Three: Explicit ModelingStep three of the instructional process engages students in objective thinking. Theemphasis here is analysis of concepts, facts, generalizations and theories. At this stage, theteacher presents targeted reading strategies and experience in complete and systematic ways.Well-delivered lecture, which belongs to left hemisphere, builds upon the personalconnections established in step one to foster conceptual thinking.Step Four: Reading with MusicAt this stage, the teacher asks students to read along with music. Students are allowedto apply the strategies they have learned in step three to real practice as the emphasis shiftsfrom acquisition and assimilation to testing and adaptation. Upon reading, students aresupposed to employ comprehension monitoring techniques which focus on assessing what thetext has stated as compared to the reader’s expectation. In this left hemisphere stage, the goalis reinforcement and diagnostic evidence of the student’s ability to apply the concepts taught.Step Five: Parallel PracticingStep five of the reading process treats the student as a scientist. In this learning set, studentstest the limits and contradictions of their understanding. Students are encouraged to develop theirown applications which demonstrate that they understand and can apply what has been learned.Parallel reading texts and paraphrasing are the essence of this phase where the focus of reading, areceptive skill, has shifted to writing, a productive one, to optimize full comprehension. The rightmode emphasis in this learning set is designed to encourage students to create personal applicationstheir experiences with the ideas and vocabulary learned from the previous steps.Step Six: Sharing OutcomeThe final step of the process requires students to critically examine the place of thenewly acquired knowledge and experience in their existing world view. The central issue ofthis post-reading stage here is what must be done to integrate this learning into a meaningfulconceptual division. Working in pairs or groups, students in this learning set edit and refinetheir work. They also face and resolve contradictions implicit in the tension between new andearlier schema. This is the culminating stage where both left and right hemispheres are used,bringing students back to where they start, a completion of the cycle.

154 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsFigure 2: 4MAT & Background Music Wheel(Example of teaching unit to promote student reading performance)4Step Six: Sharing OutcomeThe summariesare shared among the class. Teacher andstudents discuss and edit the writing. Studentsuse key vocabulary in step1 to paraphrase thesentence. Each group rotates what they havewritten.Teacher givescomments and alsobriefly reviews thestrategies learned.LEFTStep One: Recalling Experience: Studentsbrainstorm key vocabulary relating to thetext. Students compare, discuss, note thosewords that are pooled by the teacher. Studentsguess meaning and part of speechLEFTof each wordusing their priormorphologicalknowledge.1Step Five: Parallel PracticingStudents write a summary out ofeach paragraph of “ParallelReading” as a practiceRIGHRIGHStep Two: ImaginingStudents do the JIGSAWGAME as an analogy of thestrategies that are going to betaught.3Step Four: Reading with MusicStep Three: Explicit ModelingStudents silently read the text paragraphby paragraph, monitoring theircomprehension while reading. Teacheruses a few questions to assess theirunderstanding after they finish each.T discusses the reading strategies ofhow to use Targeted readingstrategies, modeling a few examplestogether with the class.2Remark: Step 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 feature background music.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 155ConclusionAccording to the results of the pilot study done with ten undergraduate students for fourweeks, it was found that their attitudes towards reading and vocabulary knowledge have beenincreased to quite a satisfactory level. That has shown the tendency that the newly developedinstructional model offers a way to accommodate, as well as challenge, all types of learners, byappealing to their familiar learning styles, which results in their enhanced reading comprehension,vocabulary learning, and attitudes towards reading.For reading teachers, one assumed value in using 4MAT for reading teachers is that they do nothave to determine each student’s individual learning style. Rather, the system can automaticallyhelp them- as both instructor and course designer- to become more skilled in the use of multiplemethods of instruction which increase students’ skills and reach them more effectively. In otherwords, the emphasis of the wheel is to accommodate all learning styles. And when combined with50-60 beat-per-minute classical background music, the effect of the model on cognitiveenhancement can even be heightened. As a learner-focused model for reading instruction thatresponds to the diverse needs of students,4MAT and background music benefits teachers by giving them a framework to design learningactivities in a systematic, natural cycle.ReferencesAnderson, N. J. (1999). Exploring second language reading: Issues and strategies.Canada: Heine & Heinle Publishers.Blair, D., & Judah, S. (1990). Need a strong foundation for an interdisciplinary program?Try 4MAT. Educational Leadership 48( 2), 37–38.Blanchard, B. E. (1979). The effect of music on pulse-rate, blood pressure and final exam scoresof university students. The Journal of Sports Medicine, 19, 305–307.Brown, B. B. (1980). Supermind. New York: Harper & Row.Carbo, M. (1983). Research in Reading and Learning Style: Implications forExceptional Children. Exceptional Children, 49(6), 486-494.Carlson, J. K., Hoffman, J., Gray, D., & Thompson, A. (2004). A Musical Interlude:Using Music and Relaxation to Improve Reading Performance. Intervention inSchool & Clinic, 39(4), 246-250.Eskey, D. E. (1986). Theoretical foundations. In F. Dublin, D. E. Eskey, and W.Grabe (eds.), Teaching second language reading for academic purposes, Reading,MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 3-13Farrell, T. S. C. (2009). Teaching reading to English language learners: A reflective guide.Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.Harrison, N. (2000). Breaking the Mold: Using Educational Pedagogy in DesigningLibrary Instruction of Adult Learners. Reference Librarian, 33(69/70), 287.Hepler, C., & Kapke, R. (1996). Effect of music on cardiovascular performance duringtreadmill walking. IAHPERD, 29(2), 240-252Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). New York:Oxford University Press.Lincoln, F., & Rademacher, B. (2006). Learning styles of ESL students in communitycollege. Community College Journal of Research and Practice, 30(5), 485–500.McCarthy, B., Germain, C., & Lippitt, L. (2002). The 4 MAT research guide. Wauconda,IL: About Learning Inc.

156 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsMcCarthy, B. (1997). A tale of four learners: 4MAT's learning styles. EducationalLeadership, 54(6), 46.McCarthy, B., & McCarthy, D. (2006). Teaching around the 4MAT cycle: Designinginstruction for diverse learners with diverse learning styles. Thousand Oaks, CA:Corwin Press.Nicoll-Senft, J. M., & Seider, S. N. (2010). Assessing the Impact of the 4MAT TeachingModel across Multiple Disciplines in Higher Education. College Teaching, 58(1),19-27.Oxford, R. (1998). Style Analysis Survey (SAS): Assessing your own learning andworking styles. In J.M. Reid (Ed.), Understanding learning styles in the secondlanguage classroom (pp. 179–186). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.Price, G. E., Dunn, R., & Sanders, W. (1980). Reading achievement and learning stylecharacteristics. The Clearing House, 5, 223-226.Smith, F. (2001). Just a matter of time . Phi Delta Kappan, 82(8), 572-576Reid, J.M. (1998). Understanding learning styles in the second language classroom.Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.Springer, S.P., & Deutsch, G. (1993). Left Brain, Right Brain (4 th ed.). New York:W.H. Freeman and Co. Ltd.Wilkerson, R., & White, K. (1988). Effects of the 4MAT system of instruction on students’achievement, retention, and attitudes. The Elementary School Journal, 357–368.Wu, S., & Alrabah, S. (2009). A cross-cultural study of Taiwanese and Kuwaiti EFL students'learning styles and multiple intelligences. Innovations in Education & Teaching International,46(4), 393-403.AppendixExample of Teaching Unit Based on 4MAT System and Background MusicCourse: Reading IStudent Type: 2 nd year English MajorsTotal Time: 160 minutesReading Topic: A City That’s Doing Something Right(from “Interaction 2”, Hartman and Kirn, 2007)Concept to Teach: Reading Strategies:1. Identifying main idea and supporting details2. Guessing meaning of unknown words through context cluesObjectives: by the end of the lesson students will be able to:1. distinguish the main idea from supporting details2. identify the meanings of the core vocabulary through the use of context clues3. draw meaning from contextAudio-visual Media1. Accompaniment Music (for Step 1. 2, 4, 5, 6)1.1. Mozart's Flute & Harp Concerto in C1.2. Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A1.3. Mozart's Eine Kleine Nacht Musik2. PowerPoint slides3. A video clip4. A jigsaw game

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 157Step 1: Recalling Experience (Warm-up)Quadrant One: Experiencing to Reflecting-ConnectionsRight Mode: ConnectObjectives:1. To connect with students’ background knowledge in terms ofvocabulary2. To arouse students’ interest towards the reading text3. To examine the vocabulary listed as the words can help studentsconstruct meanings out of the textActivity: Teacher (T) introduces the reading topic “The City That’s Doing SomethingRight” by showing a set of pictures of the well-preserved city of Curitiba in Braziland asking students (Ss) to take a look and answer the question:- Do you agree that people in Curitiba are happier than people in Bangkok?After eliciting answers from 4-5 Ss randomly, T puts Ss in groups of 5 and distributesa list of core vocabulary from the text, then ask each group to think of 5 more wordsrelating to the topic upon watching a video clip. T then displays a 2-minute video clipof the city of Curitiba.Music used (while Ss are working together): Mozart's Flute & Harp Concerto in CAssessment: Students’ participation in activity.Left Mode: AttendObjective: To have students reflect on the experienceActivity: T pools all important words by writing them down on the board, classifyinginto 4 columns: noun, verb, adjective, adverb, and asking the whole class to identifythe meaning of each unfamiliar-looking word on the list by applying theirmorphological knowledge.Assessment: Students’ participation and contribution to whole-class work.Step 2: Imagining (Pre-reading)Quadrant Two: Reflecting to Conceptualizing—ConceptsRight Mode: ImagineObjective: To extend the experience of reading strategies into their own personalperceptionActivity: ‘‘City Jigsaw’’--T provides each group with pieces of jigsaw and asks themto put all the pieces together to create a picture of Curitiba. After 5 minutes, T thenasks Ss to stop where they are and asks questions:- How is this unfinished jigsaw picture is like reading an unseen passage?

158 ICLC 2010 Proceedings- Though the work is incomplete, can you guess the picture with the jigsawpieces put in the right places? Is this similar to using the clues to guess themeaning of unknown words in the text?- What can we learn from this activity that can be applied to locating the mainideas of the paragraph and of the whole passage?Music used (while Ss are working together): Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in AAssessment: Students’ success in finding the correct answer. Quality ofstudentengagement in the a activity.Step 3: Explicit Modeling (Pre-reading)Left Mode: InformObjective: To become more knowledgeable about how to use targeted readingstrategiesActivity: T discusses the reading strategies of how to use context clues in guessingmeaning of unknown words and how to draw the main idea from a paragraph,modeling a few examples together with the class. T asks Ss to apply the strategies inthe following step.Assessment: Understanding of the concepts involved. Oral review ofinformation provided. Quality of students’ understanding. Students’participation.Step 4: Reading with Music (During-reading)Quadrant Three: Conceptualizing to Doing—ApplicationsLeft Mode: PracticeObjective: To provide guided practice upon applying the strategies learnedActivity: T asks Ss to read the text entitled topic “The City That’s Doing SomethingRight” paragraph by paragraph. T gives Ss 2-3 minutes each paragraph to read alongwith background music playing and asks them to monitor text comprehension byapplying the strategies learned. T asks them 2-3 questions that either test theircomprehension or identify specific details in the text after they finish each paragraph.Music used (while Ss are reading): Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, Eine KleineNacht Musik, and Mozart's Flute & Harp Concerto in CAssessment: Understanding of the concepts involved: students’ answers to thequestions. Discover if any concepts must be retaught.Step 5: Parallel Practicing (Post-reading)Right Mode: ExtendObjective: To give students the opportunity to personalize the learned strategies bydoing a collaborative reading-writing task.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 159Activity: T distributes a “Parallel Reading” task, which is a text of 6 short paragraphs,sharing the same theme as in the step above. T then asks each group to read the textand write a summary out of each paragraph. T models the first paragraph as anexample and asks Ss to compare that summary with the topic sentence stated in theparagraph. T then gives another transparency and asks each group to write out onthat, reminding them that what they will write must be a sentence of no longer than 2lines. T circulates while Ss are working.Music used (while Ss are working together): Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, EineKleine Nacht Musik, and Mozart's Flute & Harp Concerto in CAssessment: Completion of the project congruent with format created by teacher andstudents prior to the assignment.Step 6: Sharing Outcome (Post-reading)Quadrant Four: Doing Experiencing—CreationLeft Mode: RefineObjective: To provide guidance and feedback on students’ projects; to encouragestudents to polish the project.Activity: T gets a sentence from each group. By using transparencies and OHT, T andSs discuss the possibilities of the sentences, and also edit the sentences to make themgrammatically correct.Assessment: Evaluation of project usefulness. Ability of students to explore andexpand their reading strategies to other skill-based tasks.Right Mode: PerformObjective: To allow students to share what they learned and to evaluate the learning.Activity: T passes each group a transparency with paragraph summaries from the stepabove, making sure each will not get their own. T asks each group member to chooseonly 1 sentence on the transparency and paraphrase it in his/her own word by using asmany as core vocabulary from step 1. (5 min)T tells each group to rotate what they have written to other members in theirown group until each one has read all the paraphrased sentences in the group.T asks group members to discuss which paraphrase in their group they likebest and why. When Ss finish, T calls on each group to report to the class on thepositive aspects of the paraphrased sentence that they like. T gives comments and alsobriefly reviews the strategies to draw a wrap-up of the lesson.Music used (while Ss are working together): Mozart's Clarinet Concerto in A, EineKleine Nacht Musik, and Mozart's Flute & Harp Concerto in CAssessment: Quality of finished project. Quality of student engagement in theactivity.

160 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsNull Subjects in a Chinese Learner of English’s Oral ProductionVarasiri SagaravasiNational Institute of Development AdministrationABSTRACTSecond language learners of English occasionally use null subjects not normally permissiblein Standard English. This article examines environments that null subjects are likely tooccur. The data were collected from a Chinese learner of English by means of five oralproduction tasks (picture-based narrative, free conversation, and on-line or play-by-playdescriptions of the unfolding action in an animated cartoon broadcast on a televisionchannel). The results reveal that null subjects in oral productions occur in a context in whichthere is the possibility of referent recoverability or topic predictability. Shared knowledgebetween a speaker and a listener, and foregrounded information in the context generally giverise to such a possibility. Additionally, the acts of planning and not planning discourse affectthe frequency of the occurrence of null subjects. There is a likelihood of the production ofnull subjects in unplanned discourse rather than planned discourse except for events in whichsignificant information is crucial for developing the discourse.IntroductionNumerous scholars (Givon, 1983; Hilles, 1986; Williams, 1989; Gass & Lakshmanan,1991; Yuan, 1997) have observed that second language learners of English occasionally usenull subjects not normally permissible in Standard English. This holds true for an informantof this study, considering her oral production. She is a Chinese learner of English whosometimes employs null subjects in her speech in English context.However, this tendency is not limited to nonnative speakers of English (NNSs); it canalso be found in spontaneous oral production of native speakers of English (NSs.). Theinfluence of L1, therefore, is unlikely to be solely responsible for NNSs’ omission of subjectsin English. Obviously there must be another explanation, some common factor that leadsboth NSs and NNSs to adopt null subjects in their speech. Many studies have beenconducted in an attempt to identify the cause or causes of the omission of subject nouns andpronoun. In this respect, a central question in the study of second language acquisition is: inwhat environment(s) are null subjects likely to occur?To answer this question, the researcher proposes that(1) Null subjects would be found in the discourse context where a referent isrecoverable or a topic is predictable from shared knowledge orforegrounded information.(2) Null subjects would be found in unplanned discourse rather than planneddiscourse.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 161Literature ReviewWilliams (1989) rejects the notion that the influence of L1 is the only reason for theoccurrence of a null subject in a sentence since there is evidence that NSs also produce nullsubjects in casual spontaneous speech. She advocates the notion of recoverability, whichsuggests that in a context where the referent is recoverable either from previous discourse, thecontext of the discourse, or general knowledge, null subjects or zero anaphora will occur.Williams goes on to explain that with their limited linguistic resources, NNSs might chooseto express only what is most important, and use zero anaphora for reference to a lessimportant topic. The listener is then burdened by the task of decoding or guessing thereference through contextual information. Consequently, this strategy could hindercomprehension and cause a breakdown in communication, if the referents are not easilyrecoverable.Ochs (1979) claims that for the NSs the use of “nextness” of the referent orimmediate context and the deletion of referents are features of unplanned speech. The task inOchs’ study as cited by Williams (1989) is interactive and instantaneous. The subjects havelittle time to consider their responses, and thus give their replies immediately on the basis of agreat deal of shared knowledge between the pairs, who are on close terms. Ochs points outthat ‘unplanned and planned discourse’ differ in that the former lacks forethought andorganizational preparation whereas the latter has been thought out and organized (designed)prior to its expression (Ochs, 1979:55). The instances of the two are spontaneousconversation, and typical narrative either written or spoken, respectively.At this stage the researcher would like to point out that the notion that null subjectsmay be attributed to “shared knowledge and recoverability” is not confined only to Englishcontext. There seems to be universal agreement on this issue. Dittmar (1984) cited byWilliams (1989:159) confirms this phenomenon. Based on his subjects’ (pidginised learnervarieties of German)’ production, Dittmar(ibid) concludes that if new statements are madeabout people, objects, or affairs which have already been mentioned once, their referentialidentity is not verbally secured. Yuan (1997) explains that Chinese allows null subjectsbecause it is a discourse-oriented language with a rule of Topic NP Deletion. This rule,according to Huang (1984) as cited by Yuan, can operate across discourse to delete the topicof a sentence under identity with a topic in a preceding sentence (Yuan, 1997: 472).Givon (1983) proposes the theory of topic continuity, or predictability as theexplanation for the appearance of zero anaphora. In her research, Givon describes thecorrelation between the degree of continuity/predictability of topic NP’s and the size ofmarking devices used to express them in the implicational hierarchy as follows:Zero>unstressed/>stressed/>full DEF-NP>modified DEF-NPcliticindependentpronounpronounThe left-most side of the hierarchy is that of the most continuous/predictable topic, while thedegree of predictability/continuity decreases to the right (Givon, 1983:359). To put itsimply, the higher the predictability of the topic, the higher the probability of zero anaphora.In regard to null subjects in unplanned discourse, Givon (1979) states that informalunplanneddiscourse is likely to exhibit more topicalized (left-dislocated) constructions, and

162 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsan increased use of zero anaphora (null subjects) over anaphoric pronouns. In addition,informal-unplanned speech is commonly found initially among “familiars” who share a largebackground of their pragmatic presuppositions about the universe and themselves (Givon,1979:105).Tomlin’s (1984) study suggests that the production constraints found in NSs’ unplanneddiscourse may affect the performance of NNSs as well. Based on characteristics of Ochs’definition of unplanned discourse (Ochs 1979), and of Givon’s characterization of apragmatic mode of communication (Givon 1979), Tomlin (1984) conducted an investigationin which his subjects produced on-line (play-by-play) descriptions of the unfolding action inan animated videotape. The results are twofold: (1) Under the communicative pressure of onlinedescription (the time pressure, and a responsive task), both NSs and NNSs retreat to amore pragmatic mode of communication as revealed by the loss of coding relationshipsbetween foregrounded -backgrounded information and the syntactic correlates of clause typeof tense-aspect marking. (2) NNSs produce substantially less description than NSs, wherethis reduction is directed by a foregrounding strategy of describing significant events, butavoiding non-significant ones. In other words, foregrounded information i that is crucial tothe development of the discourse will be provided in the narrative whereas backgroundedinformation that serves to explicate foregrounded information will be ignored.Yuan (1997) points out that besides being regarded as a discourse-oriented language, Chineseis also a topic-prominent language, where structural subjects are not an obligatory element ofthe sentence. By contrast, English is a subject-prominent language, where all sentences musthave a subject. This explains the use of “it is” and “there is” in English. Non-referential“It/There” are the empty-subject placeholders required to preserve canonical S.V.O. wordorder in English. However, Chinese does not have such structural subjects. In addition,Yuan (1997) suggests that since I(inflections of verbs) and AGR (subject-verb agreement) areunderspecified in Chinese, the specified AGR and T(tense) in English can serve as a triggerfor Chinese learners of English to become aware of the fact that a null subject is prohibited inEnglish. This approach is based on the same concept as Hilles’ (1986) hypothesis that L1setting of parameters has to be deactivated or reset in L2 acquisition.Hilles (1986) has based her study on the view of Universal Grammar (UG), which is aparameterized system with various settings depending on the language. In this theory, an L2learner brings with him or her a set of parameter settings from his or her L1, in this case-thepro-drop or [+PD], to the L2 language, which causes the omission of subject pronouns.Therefore the parameter settings must be reset from [+PD] L1 to [-PD] L2. Hilles observesthat her subject, a Spanish speaker learning English, dropped both subject pronouns, modalsand expletives (non-referential It/There). Nevertheless, with the emergence of expletives andlexical material in AUX, absent subjects disappear. The same sequence has also beenobserved in NSE child language acquisition by Hyams (1983), cited by Hilles (1986:33-35).Since this phenomenon in child L1 acquisition has been attributed to the constraints ofUniversal Grammar, Hilles concludes that the constraints must also account for secondlanguage learners of English as well. In this view, non-referential “It/There” act as triggersby demonstrating to the learner that his or her [+PD] grammar does not conform to the

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 163grammar of the target language. A realization of this ‘triggering effect’ would then force thelearner to restructure INFL (inflection), where AUX is located, and thus to reevaluate Englishas a non-pro-drop language.Gass & Lakshmanan (1991) point out that comprehensible input and conversationalinteraction motivates language development. Nevertheless, if learners are providedungrammatical input, the input can mislead them into producing null subjects, believing thattheir incorrect learner-language forms are correct. The examples gathered from theirsubject’s performance demonstrate several instances of subjectless utterances in the inputdata. Many of them contain the omission of subjects from sentences with ‘is’ as the copula orauxiliary and also NO V type sentences. Gass & Lakshmanan (1991) then suggest that inorder for input to become useful to a learner, he or she must first notice the mismatch in formbetween the native and the second language. They conclude that the native language(English) plays an important role in guiding the learner as he or she looks for a certain kind ofinput, which matches what is already known (Gass & Lakshamanan, 1991:199).To recap, the studies done by Williams (1989), Ochs (1979), Givon (1979, 1983),Tomlin (1984), and Yuan (1997) elaborate on the notions of shared knowledge,recoverability, topic predictability, and the features of planned and unplanned discourse. Thedefinitions of the notions, examples and a case study included in their studies have giveninsights into the informant’s production of null subjects in her speech in English. Williams(1989), Givon (1979, 1983), and Ochs (1979) shed light on the characteristics of speechcontexts in which both NS and NNS would produce null subjects. Based on Tomlin’s (1984)findings, the researcher has modified his experiment on the on-line descriptions to test herhypothesis. She proposes that in an unplanned discourse, should the need for foregroundedinformation in expanding the discourse be critical, the occurrence of null subjects is rare.With this respect, null subjects are treated as a device marking backgrounded information ornon-significant events. The experiment was also conducted under the production constraintsidentified by Ochs (1979), and Givon (1979). Yuan (1997), and Hilles’ (1986) studies revealtwo different types of null-subject language. Moreover, they suggest a possible device toelicit NNSs’ awareness of the presence of subjects in Standard English. Gass &Lakshmanan’s (1991) research has broadened the researcher’s study to include input since itis essential for the study of language acquisition to understand the nature of the languageinformation available to a learner.MethodologySubject:At the time this study was conducted, the informant was a twenty-three year oldTaiwanese student, who had just obtained a Bachelor Degree in Physical Education from auniversity in Taiwan. She had spent 12 years in school from grade 1-12, and another fouryears in university. Her native language is Chinese. At school, she studied English grammarand reading. At university, even though she was not required to study English since hermajor was Physical Education, she attended English grammar and reading courses in her lastyear. She thought that English would be useful for her teaching career in Physical Educationand believed it could help clarify the concepts of physical education to her students, given thefact that Chinese has a limited vocabulary in this subject area.After graduation, the informant planned to pursue her studies for an MA degree inPhysical Education at a university in the United States of America. She then took a paper-

164 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsbased TOEFL exam; however she only scored 439. Hence, she decided to enroll in anIntensive English Program (IEP) at a university in the Midwest of America in order toimprove her English proficiency. It was her hope that she wouldl score high enough to beadmitted to study in the M.A program in Physical Education at the university where she wasattending the IEP program.The informant attended IEP classes for three sessions. During her first session, shehad class everyday from Monday to Friday, from 8 am. to 12 pm. Her courses includedgrammar, writing, reading, and communication. Every week, she was assigned to write anessay, read an article or a story, and prepare for a discussion in the class. The informant likedgrammar and thought she was good at it, but not at writing, reading or speaking.The informant was an intermediate learner of English. When the researcher first mether, she was in Level 4 out of 7 levels. After two months at IEP, she managed to pass an IEPproficiency test and was then in Level 5. At the beginning of the session, she felt that it wasdifficult to express her ideas in English or understand an English passage because she had alimited vocabulary. Too shy to initiate a conversation in English, she usually went out withher Chinese friends, and conversed in Chinese. However, living in an English speakingenvironment exposed her to the language, people and their cultures. She seemed to growconfidence in expressing herself in English, and has more outside contact with nativespeakers in Bloomington. She sometimes talked to the canteen staff at her dormitory, or thestaff of the university main library and the county public library. She read the campusnewspapers on weekends in addition to her daily reading assignments. When she stayed inher room, she usually listened to music and news channels in English on a radio. She did nothave her own television set, but she watched TV in the common room in the dormitory threetimes a week. She and her other Taiwanese classmates occasionally joined a party organizedby some conversation club on campus. She was also assigned by her IEP instructor to anAmerican partner to interact with in English. They meet once a week. In all, she seems to behighly motivated to learn English.Instruments:The data for the study were collected in three ways:1. Picture-based narrative (two data sets)2. Free conversation (four data sets)3. On-line (play-by-play) descriptions of the unfolding action in an animatedcartoon broadcast on a TV channel (one data set)It was anticipated that the three tasks would elicit performance representative of thefeatures of planned and unplanned speech regarding null subjects. However, the on-line taskwas intended to tap performance different from Ochs’ (1979), and Givon’s (1979) predictionson the frequent use of null subjects in unplanned discourse.Picture-based narrativeTasks: In order to elicit oral narrative, the researcher asked the informant to tell in Englishtwo stories based on two sets of pictures. The first set consisted of eight pictures about a boywho was going to a summer camp, but left his luggage at a railway station. His parentscaught up with him and gave him the luggage. The second set consisted of eight picturesabout a family on holiday. They did a lot of activities: for example, going to an island,exploring caves, shopping for presents and souvenirs.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 165Procedure: The informant was given a set of pictures and was allowed to look at them forfive to ten minutes. She was then asked to give an oral narrative of the story. The tasks weredone and recorded in two separate weeks. Given that the informant had ample time to bothdetermine the content of the story and to organize her idea, it was expected that the picturebasednarrative tasks would provide opportunity for planning discourse.Analysis: Approximately ten minutes of oral narrative for each story were collected. Theseoral data were transcribed and analyzed in terms of the types and tokens of nouns-pronounsin a subject position in a sentence, and non-referential It/There ii . Any word that could not beclearly transcribed was excluded form the analysis. Obligatory contexts for subject nounsand pronouns were then counted. Each subject noun/pronoun occurring in the whole passagewas scored. So was each null subject. The ratio of existing subjects to null subjects, existingsubjects to obligatory subjects, and null subjects to obligatory subjects were calculated. Theappearance of subject nouns/pronouns, and their absence in each narrative were bothpresented in percentage. All types, tokens, ratio, and percent were tabulated.Free conversationTasks: In the interviews, the informant conversed informally with the researcher on a freetopic.Procedure: Speech data were collected on a weekly basis during visits lasting approximately30 to 40 minutes. Recordings were made in interview situations in which the researcher wasan active interlocutor. The topics of the conversations ranged from the informant’s family,her studies in Taiwan and the United States, her likes and dislikes and so on. To encourageher to speak, the researcher asked her a lot of questions, including Yes-No and Whyquestions. The free conversation tasks were expected to provide less opportunity forplanning, as the requirements of turn-taking in spontaneous conversation restrict the timeavailable for considering responses.Analysis: Four sets of oral data were analyzed in detail, using the same measurement ofperformance as employed in the picture-based narrative.On-line (play-by-play) descriptions of the unfolding action in a cartoon broadcast on aTV channelTask: To investigate the frequency of null subjects in the oral production whereforegrounded information is crucial in developing the discourse, the informant was asked toproduce, simultaneously while viewing the cartoon, oral descriptions of the unfolding action.This type of task puts the informant under greater time pressure than an ordinary unplannedconversation. The informant must evaluate and deal with numerous brief events as they arise,taking little time to evaluate or interpret them (Tomlin, 1984:126).Material: The material used to elicit discourse data from the informantconsisted of a three-minute Japanese animated cartoon broadcast on acabled cartoon channel. The film had spoken language dubbed in English,music and sound effects. The cartoon told the story of a group ofteenagers’ actions in three different scenes: at home, at school, and on apicnic.A cartoon was selected because of its lack of language. However at the time of theexperiment, no ‘silent’ cartoon was aired. Thus the Japanese animated cartoon was randomlychosen. Unfortunately, the cartoon was already half shown when the informant began to

166 ICLC 2010 Proceedingswatch it. Considering that the informant had never seen this cartoon before, she had to relyon guessing the content and storyline.Procedure: The researcher turned down the volume so that no spoken words could be heard.She then had the informant describe the cartoon and recorded her on-line narrative. Beforeshe started, the informant had been instructed in English to describe the action appearing on aTV screen in as much detail as she could manage at the moment she saw it occur.Analysis: The on-line descriptions were transcribed. The measurement of subjectnoun/pronouns and null subjects followed the steps taken in the picture-based narrativeanalysis.ResultsPlanned discourse (story-telling)Table 1. The first set of dataNoun/PronounNonreferential It/thereObligatory 23 -Correct 21 (91%) -Incorrect 2 (9%) -Correct: Incorrect 21:2 -Correct: Obligatory 21:23 -Incorrect: Obligatory 2:23 -*Unclear on tape: 4Table 2. The Second Set of DataNoun/Pronoun Nonreferential It/thereObligatory 25 2Correct 25 (100%) 2 (100%)Incorrect - -Correct: Incorrect - -Correct:Obligatory - -Incorrect: Obligatory - -*Unclear on tape: 3Unplanned discourse (free conversation)Table 3. The first set of dataNoun/PronounNonreferential It/thereObligatory 60 11Correct 49 (82%) 2Incorrect 11 (18%) 9Correct: Incorrect 49:11 2:9Correct: Obligatory 49:60 2:11Incorrect: Obligatory 11:60 9:11*Unclear on tape: 5

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 167Table 4. The second set of dataNoun/PronounNonreferential It/thereObligatory 49 4Correct 45 (92%) -Incorrect 4 (8%) 4Correct: Incorrect 45:4 0:4Correct: Obligatory 45:49 0:4Incorrect: Obligatory 4:49 4:4*Unclear on tape: 4Table 5. The third set of dataNoun/Pronoun Nonreferential It/thereObligatory 99 9Correct 90 (91%) 5Incorrect 9 (9%) 4Correct: Incorrect 90:9 5:4Correct: Obligatory 90:99 5:9Incorrect: Obligatory 9:99 4:9*Unclear on tape: 4Table 6. The fourth set of dataNoun/Pronoun Nonreferential It/thereObligatory 196 24Correct 178 (91 %) 14 (58%)Incorrect 18 (9%) 10 (42%)Correct: Incorrect 178:18 14:10Correct: Obligatory 178:196 14:24Incorrect: Obligatory 18:196 10:24*Unclear on tape: 8Unplanned discourse (on-line descriptions)Table 7.Noun/Pronoun Nonreferential It/ThereObligatory 39 5Correct 37 (95%)5 (100%)(full noun 31%, pronoun 64%)Incorrect 2 (5%) -Correct: Incorrect 37: 2 -Correct: Obligatory 37: 39 -Incorrect: Obligatory 2: 39 -*Unclear on tape: 9 * The informant’s comments were not counted.

168 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsTable 8. Overview of resultsOccurrence of subject Occurrence of null subjectsnouns/pronounsPlanned discourse 96% 4%Unplanned discourse 90%(90% -free conversation)(95%- on-line descriptions)10%(10%-free conversation)(5%-on-line descriptions)Table 1 and Table 2 show an almost 100 percent use of subject nouns/pronouns (91%and 100%) in two planned speech tasks. The informant scored higher in the second task. Itcan be seen that when the discourse is planned, null subjects are rarely found or absent at all.Tables 3, 4, 5, and 6 show the increased use of subject nouns/pronouns, and thedecrease in frequency of the null subjects in unplanned discourse across the four sets of data.The informant has made good progress in employing subject nouns/pronouns.Table 7 shows the high frequency of subject nouns/pronouns (95%) in the on-lineunplanned discourse. The full nouns have a 31% share and the pronouns, 64%. Theoccurrence of null subjects in this on-line task is very low (5%). Evidently, null subjects aretreated as non-significant information.Table 8 shows the comparison between the use of subject nouns/pronouns and nullsubjects in both planned and unplanned discourse. The informant produced more nullsubjects in unplanned speech (10%) than in planned speech (4%). Within the category ofunplanned discourse, null subjects in the free spontaneous conversations are found in higherfrequency (10%) than the on-line descriptions (5%).General picture of the interlanguage regarding null subjects in speechThe informant’s interlanguage in regard to the occurrence of null subjects in her oralproduction in English is probably influenced by three factors:(1) The apparently universal concept of recoverability, which allowsnull subjects in a context where a referent is recoverable(2) The notion that null subjects are unmarked in Chinese (Yuan,1997)(3) Degree of speech planning (planned and unplanned discourse)Affected by the first two factors, the informant in the first phase adopted the use ofnull subjects in a sentence. However L2 (Standard English) input is not consistent with thesetwo factors. This led her to the IL stage of testing the new knowledge while maintaining theold. This is evident in the fact that the informant alternated between supplying and omittingsubject nouns/pronouns in her speech in English. As she passed along an interlanguagecontinuum, the degree of speech planning played a part in determining the frequency ofsubject nouns/pronouns, and null subjects in the speech. As the informant received moregrammatical input, both in the classroom and in natural situations in an English-speakingenvironment, she noticed a mismatch between her own speech production and that of nativespeakers. What she did is part of a process noted by Gass & Lakshmanan (1991). Gradually,the informant restructured her IL grammar to make it conform to TL rules, as evidenced bythe decrease of null subjects, and the increase of subject nouns/pronouns in her planned andunplanned discourses.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 169DiscussionA general finding in this study is that null subjects occur in an oral context, in whichthere is the possibility of referent recoverability or topic predictability. Shared knowledgebetween a speaker and a listener, and foregrounded information in the context generally giverise to such a possibility. Additionally, the acts of planning and not planning discourse affectthe frequency of the occurrence of null subjects. There is a likelihood of the production ofnull subjects in unplanned discourse rather than planned discourse, except for situations inwhich significant information is crucial for developing the discourse. These findings supportthe researcher’s original hypotheses as explained below.The evidence confirms that null subjects often occurred in response to a Yes-Noquestion where the information has already been foregrounded (Example 1)Example 1Researcher:Informant:Informant:Researcher:Informant:Researcher:Informant:Researcher:Informant:Do you feel comfortable using English in your conversations withthe others?Before Ø not comfortable using English, but now Ø maybe better.Speaking so so. I think Ø speaking before must be very poor, butØ come here maybe I improve better than before.In Taiwan, do people have to use a lot of English in their daily life?No, Ø not many. Ø not often use. Sometimes maybe I think theythink I speak not well, maybe I speak is wrong, so Ø afraid to speakEnglish, so Ø not use English.Are there any Taiwanese students in your class?Yes, yes, Ø have three.Do you know all the people living in this wing?Ø not know, but Ø saw.Null subjects are also found in an answer to a Wh-question where the ‘sharedknowledge’ between the researcher and the informant is established (Example 2).Example 2a. Researcher: When you said you studied hard, what did you do?Informant:Ø concentrate in my textbook, and my homework. Ø review todayclass, and Ø do my best to understand, and maybe…b. Researcher: Why did you go to bed so late?Informant:Ø homework, homework.

170 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsc. Researcher: How do you prepare yourself for the writing class?Informant:Researcher:Informant:I don’t know how to prepare.Did your instructor tell you?Ø just teach and OK today homework, and blah blah and go. That’sit….Null subjects are probably related to their recoverability from discourse (Williams,1989), in addition to first language influence (Yuan, 1997). Obviously, the informantproduced null subjects on the basis that there is no loss or little loss of meaning. It is clearthat in the majority of occurrences, the referent of the null subject is recovered within the text(Examples 1 and 2). The preceding referent appears within one or two clauses before the nullsubjects. In this manner, continuity of reference is maintained by proximity (Williams,1989:181). Therefore, the topic may be predictable or identified. The predictability of topicthen results in the use of zero anaphora or null subjects (Givon, 1983:359). In example 2c, anull subject was used in place of a subject pronoun. However, the subject pronoun “he” or“she” is implied in the question (“instructor”) and is therefore recoverable.Ochs (1979) and Givon (1979) suggest an increase in the use of null subjects inunplanned discourse. Their claim holds true regarding the informant’s performance.Compared to her two picture-based narrative tasks, her four time-free conversations with theresearcher exhibit characteristics of Ochs’ and Givon’s definition of unplanned discourse(Ochs 1979, Givon 1979). The contrast could be attributed to the time allotted forforethought and organizational preparation in the story-telling task, and the instantaneousturns at talk in the conversations.Surprisingly, the experiment on the on-line descriptions of animated cartoon yielded arather different result. We can see that null subjects are hardly found in the informant’sunplanned on-line descriptions. On the contrary, there is a repetition of a full noun andpronoun (Example 3). A ‘pronoun copy’ occurs once (Example 4). This confirms bothTomlin’s findings, and the researcher’s hypothesis based on his study. While watching thecartoon, the informant was using a foregrounding strategy of producing foregroundedinformation iii at the expense of backgrounded information.Example 3A picnic scene. Maybe one of them (a new group) xxx Oh! one is eating food like asushi, Japanese food. There are two people. They may be picnic now. One is girl. One isboy, and something fly on a sky. They may be a couple. The girl xxx really like a boy, anda boy say “Will you marry me?” A girl shake her head. Someone coming, and a boy go outand leave a girl. A girl feel sad.Example 4A home scene. Now a girl (the second girl) is a cooking. A girl (the third girl), ablue hair now she say (Oh, I don’t know—my informant’s comment).The underlying cause could be that contrary to what happens in spontaneousconversation, shared knowledge between a speaker and a listener does not take place orseldom does in an extended narrative where there are no short turns at talk. Furthermore, the

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 171situation at that moment called for foregrounded information to describe the significantactions or events of the cartoon as the film progressed.Three other factors should also be taken into consideration: (1) The informant did notwatch the whole cartoon. In fact, because she missed almost half of the story, she had to startin the middle when the storyline had already been established. She then had to try her best todescribe the cartoon as clearly as she could. (2) There are many characters in the cartoon, atleast more than five. Clarity would have been at risk if null subjects had been used to identifyeach character. (3) Time pressure and the increasing pace of the film were an additionalfactor which forced the informant to describe only the important events.Under these production constraints, the full noun, pronoun copy, and even pronoun,rather than the null subject, were employed for two purposes; to introduce the significantevents, and to maximize clarity.To recap, there is a tendency for null subjects to show up in unplanned discourserather than planned discourse. Nonetheless, null subjects might be occasionally found inunplanned discourse if significant information is needed to develop the discourse.On the whole, the informant’s preference to fill in the subject position in her oralproduction seems to be determined by its function:Example 51. Null subjects are used when they refer to recoverable referents in the environmentwhere there is no ambiguity (Givon 1979, Williams 1989). They represent aninsignificant topic or information. They are never used to introduce a new topicor event.2. Full nouns and pronoun copies are used when there is a potential ambiguity or lowcontinuity/predictability in a speech context (Givon, 1983). These two devicesmark important themes. A pronoun copy in particular is employed to highlight orfocus the referent when it can be confused with other semantically compatiblereferent in the closest environment (the second girl and the third girl in Example4) or when the referent is presented for the first time (Example 5), which is inaccord with Williams’ findings (1989:182).“Your parents, your family, they can sometime water, electric. You can get 50%discount.”ConclusionOverall, the findings of this study validate the researcher’s hypothesis; that theoccurrence of null subjects is rare in unplanned discourse when the need for foregroundedinformation in expanding the discourse is critical. Null subjects are therefore treated as adevice marking backgrounded information or non-significant events.Limitation and RecommendationThis is just a preliminary study. More evidence is required to identify the occurrenceof a null subject when a referent is recoverable in a context. The investigation should includethe performance of more non-native speakers of English in planned and unplanned discourse.Subjects should come from different countries with varieties of languages such as a Pro-drop

172 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsand other discourse language. The examination should cover the appearance of null subjectsin their L1 based on the notion of recoverability. If the same results were reported, theywould not only verify the researcher’s hypotheses, but would also present more evidence insupport of the notion that recoverability could be universal concept.The first goal of future investigation should probably be to make a clear distinctionbetween the two types of written discourse. It could begin with Ochs’ (1979) definitions ofplanned and unplanned discourse. As for a planned written narrative, writing a story basedon a picture would be a good choice. For an unplanned discourse, a task to elicit writtendiscourse would pose a problem due to the nature of a written task, which in itself is aplanned discourse. To solve the problem, informants might be asked to engage in an on-linechat, which is informal in nature like a free conversation. However it s important to have timeset for short turns during the ‘chat’. A carefully planned procedure is required.ReferencesGass, S., & Lakshmanan U., (1991). “Accounting for interlanguage subject pronouns”.Second Language Research 7 (3), 181-203.Givon, T., (1979). “From discourse to syntax; grammar as a processing strategy”. in T.GIVON (ed.) Discourse and Syntax: Syntax and Semantics, Vol. 12, New York:Academic Press, pp. 81-112.Givon, T., (1983). “Topic continuity in spoken English”. in T.GIVON (ed.) TypologicalStudies in Language, vol. 3, Topic continuity in discourse: A Quantitative CrosslanguageStudy. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 343-63.Hilles, S., (1986). “Interlanguage and the pro-drop parameter”. Second LanguageResearch, 2 (1), 33-52.Ochs, E., (1979). “Planned and unplanned discourse”. in T. GIVON (ed.) DiscourseSyntax and Semantics, Vol. 12, New York: Academic Press, pp. 51-80.Tomlin, R., (1984). “The treatment of foreground and background information in the on-linedescriptive discourse of second language learners”. Studies in Second LanguageAcquisition, vol.16, No.2, pp. 115-43.Wiliams, J., (1989). “Pronoun copies, pronominal anaphora and zero anaphora in secondlanguage production”. in S. Gass (ed.) Variation in Second Language Acquisition,vol. 1: Discourse and Pragmatics. Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters, pp. 151-89.Yuan, B., (1997). “Asymmetry of null subjects and nul objects in Chinese Speakers’English”. SSLA, 19, 467-497.i For the purpose of his study, Tomlin (1984) has divided the foreground-background continuum into threediscrete levels:Pivotal information: Propositions which describe the most important events in the narrative.Foregrounded information: Propositions which describe successive events in the narrative.Backgrounded information: Propositions which elaborate PI or FI or which perform any other functionin the narrative.ii Since the hypotheses for this study center around “recoverability”, non-referential It/There data were notinterpreted in the results nor were they discussed. The data on those utterances containing non-referentialIt/there are shown in Tables though.iii Note that the foregrounded information in this context is subject to Tomlin’s (1984) study.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 173The Relationship between the Usage and the Understanding ofPrepositions in Reading Comprehension among Thai StudentsAssociate Professor Dr. Natchaya ChalaysapSchool of Language and Communication,National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)Bangkok 10240, Thailand.natchaya@nida.ac.thABSTRACTThis research aimed to examine the relationship between the preposition usage abilityand comprehension of the parts of English sentences where prepositions were deleted. Thesubjects were sixty graduate students in different fields of study who were divided into threeproficiency-level groups. The students were asked to fill in each blank in the cloze test with apreposition and to translate the passages into Thai to measure their comprehension. Asignificant difference was found only between the high- and the low-proficiency groups inthe mean scores of preposition usage and of comprehension. It was found that the ability touse English prepositions had little impact on comprehension, for the readers could use theirbackground knowledge, including their mother tongue to detect the text meaning. It wastherefore recommended that students be trained to speed up their reading by quickly scanthrough, or even overlook, most prepositions.Background of the ProblemPrepositions are a part of speech that has several interesting aspects. First,some words are followed by only a specific preposition.e.g.,They believe in God.We are interested in tourism.The adviser commented on his thesis.Secondly, some words can be followed by different prepositions, depending on theinformation expressed in the noun phrase after it.e.g.,I’m disappointed in you. I really thought I could trust you!They were bitterly disappointed at the result of the game.He was disappointed by the quality of the dissertation.He was very disappointed with himself.

174 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThirdly, some nouns are preceded by only a specific preposition.e.g., on the road in the street on the radio on TV in a panicFourthly, some nouns can take different prepositions in front of them. The usage dependssometimes on the degree of formality.e.g., He is a researcher from/at/of a university in Thailand.Fifthly, in some instances, the word meaning depends partly on the preposition after it.e.g., The environmentalists are concerned about global warming. (are worried about)The article is concerned with global warming. (discusses about)Sixthly, the meaning of some prepositions is not consistent. Many have more than onemeaning.e.g., The baht appreciated against the dollar.They voted against the tax reform proposal.He studied palmistry out of curiosity. (because of)He went out of the building.Lastly, traditional grammar classifies prepositions as structure words or function words,whereas modern linguistics considers them as a kind of content word. (Wardhaugh, 2003)Prepositions are considered a linking device. They show the relationship betweenwords in sentences. However, the number of research on prepositions as a linking device issmall. So far, researchers have been interested in studying discourse markers as a linkingdevice. In his dissertation on “The Relationship between Understanding Prepositions andReading Comprehension”, Foust (1982) used as his sample 127 Grade 4 pupils in manypublic schools in Colombo, Ohio, USA. These pupils were divided into three groups basedon the economic status of their families. They were administered an IQ test, a reading skilltest, and a cloze test with prepositions as variable. He found statistically significantrelationship between understanding the relationship shown by prepositions and readingcomprehension. He also found that prepositions are varied in difficulty and thatcomprehension of the relationship shown by prepositions was related to the family’seconomic status and the IQ, but no significant difference was found between genders. Arlin(1983) found that understanding of prepositions increased as children became more mature.Grabowski and Weiss (1996) studied the factors affecting the understanding of prepositionsand the relationships expressed by prepositions in five languages: German, Dutch, French,Italian and English. They found that the discourse situation in which a preposition was usedwas significantly related to the usage and the understanding of prepositions of time and placein all the five languages. Mikk (1997) conducted an experiment to find out how much eachpart of speech could predict an individual’s reading ability. He used a cloze test as aninstrument and found that texts with a large number of nouns and adjectives were moredifficult to read than those with a large number of verbs and adverbs. The difficulty alsodepended on the function of a word in the sentence and the subclass of that word. However,he stated that it was not clear whether prepositions had a significant impact on the readingability.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 175Although the role of prepositions in reading comprehension is still not clear, there hashardly been research conducted on this topic using EFL learners as a sample. In the Thaicontext, Thai students experience the problem of incorrect usage of prepositions, but thedegree of seriousness of the problem is not known. On the other hand, except for idiomscontaining prepositions (the meaning of which must be interpreted as a whole), Thai studentsseem to have little problems with understanding the relationship between words linked by apreposition. However, there is no empirical evidence to prove this point. Thus, the problemsstudied in this research were “Is the ability to use English prepositions significantly differentfrom the ability to comprehend part of the sentence where a preposition is deleted?” and“Does the ability to use English prepositions significantly influence the ability to comprehendpart of the sentence where a preposition is deleted?”Objectives of the StudyThe study was conducted for the following objectives:1. to measure the students’ ability to use English prepositions;2. to measure their ability to comprehend part of the sentence where a preposition isdeleted;3. to identify the relationship between the students’ ability to use English prepositionsand their ability to comprehend part of the sentence where a preposition is deleted.Scope of the StudyThe study included prepositions naturally appearing in a long text. It excludedpreposition-like adverbs, such as stand up, sit down and particles in phrasal verbs, such aslook into, put off. In addition, the only background variable studied was the reading abilityUsefulness of the StudyThe finding about errors in preposition usage could be used as a guideline to teachprepositions. The finding about the ability to supply prepositions deleted from the text couldcontribute to the teaching of speed reading. That is, since prepositions do not influencereading comprehension at a high level, students can be trained to quickly pass overprepositions in the reading text, using their background or world knowledge to link the wordstogether to derive the meaning..MethodologySubjects The subjects of the study consisted of 100 graduate students in fourschools at National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA), a graduate institute inThailand. These four schools were Public Administration, Business Administration,Development Economics, and Applied Statistics. These students were in their first semesterat NIDA and were required to take an English reading skill development course for graduatestudents. They were administered for half an hour a standardized reading test for EFLlearners prepared by Harold V. King and Russell N.Campbell in 1987 and only 60 students whose scores were in the range of high,middle, and low proficiency were selected to include in the study. There were 20 students ineach reading proficiency group. The reading ability of each group as described in thestandardized test was as follows:

176 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsGroup Range of Scores (%) Description“High” 80-90 Prepared to pursue college work in any field withouthandicap as far as reading is concerned. Can readliterature for enjoyment“Middle” 60-70 Equivalent to those who have completed the usualfour-year basic course in English. Ready to startreading unsimplified prose.“Low” 30-40 Average elementary student (first or second year).Can read lesson material that has been studied underthe teacher’s guidance.Materials A cloze test with 50 prepositions deleted was used as a researchinstrument . The test was composed of two passages—one taken from a daily Englishnewspaper Bangkok Post and the other from a magazine Choices. See the appendix. The testwas pretested with students of similar characteristics. It had content validity as measuredagainst the objective of the study and its reliability as measured by the split-half techniquewas .737.Data collection At the beginning of the semester, about one week after they took thestandardized reading test, the subjects were administered the cloze test. They were told to fillin each blank with a preposition (a single word or a multi-word preposition as appropriate).After that they were asked to translate the two passages into Thai. The total time for the testwas two hours and a half.Data analysis In grading the test, the researcher consulted an English-speakinginstructor at the Institute about the possible choices of preposition in each blank. In assigningscores for comprehension, each part of the sentence where a preposition was deleted wasgiven one point if the student could translate the part correctly, even though the prepositionusage was incorrect. The scores were then compared among the groups.FindingsDifference in the ability to use prepositions When the three groups of differentreading ability were compared by using One-Way ANOVA to find out if there was asignificant difference in their preposition usage, no significant difference was found amongthe three groups. However, when the groups were paired for comparison, it was found thatonly the “High” and the “Low” groups were significantly different in their ability to useprepositions at the .05 level. See Table 1.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 177Table 1: Comparison of the ability to use prepositions of the three groupsGroup Mean SD Std. error df t Sig.(2-tailed)Low 33.05 7.21 1.61 38 -.756 .454Middle 34.70 6.58 1.47LowHigh33.0536.157.213.421.61.7738-1.738.090MiddleHigh34.7036.156.583.421.47.7738-.874.389Averagely, the students could use prepositions about 69.26 % correct (66.10 % in the“Low” group, 69.40 % in the “Middle” group, and 72.30 % in the “High” group). In otherwords, they used prepositions about 30.74% incorrect. The lower reading proficiency groupmade more errors than the group with higher reading proficiency.Difference in the ability to understand part of the sentence where a prepositionwas deleted When One-Way ANOVA was used to compare the ability of the three groupsin understanding part of the sentence where a preposition was deleted, a significant differencewas found mong the three groups at the .05 level. However, when they were paired forcomparison by using independent t-test, again only the “High” and the “Low” groups weresignificantly different in their ability to comprehend part of the sentence where a prepositionwas deleted at the .05 level. See Table 2.Table 2: Ability to understand part of the sentence where a preposition was DeletedGroup Mean SD Std.error df t Sig. (2-tailed)Low 48.10 1.17 .26 38 -1.409 .167Middle 48.55 .83 .18LowHighMiddleHigh48.1048.8548.551.17.49.83.26.11.18-2.654-1.398.014.17248.85.49.11In fact, the mean score for each group was very high; the difference was only in thedecimal number. But the standard deviation in the Low group was rather high, higher thanthe Middle group and the High group, which meant that the scores in the Low group weremore deviated from the mean. This suggested that prepositions could cause the problem ofreading comprehension in the low reading proficiency group rather the higher readingproficiency group.

178 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsRelationship between the ability to use prepositions and the ability tounderstand part of the sentence where a preposition was deleted Pearson’s Correlation wasused to find out the overall relationship between the ability to use prepositions and the ability tounderstand part of the sentence where a preposition was deleted. It was found that there was amoderately positive relationship between the two variables at the .05 level (r = .486).Table 4: Relationship between the ability to use prepositions and the ability to readGroup Correlation Sig. (2-tailed)Low .375 .103Middle .662** .001High .171 .470Total .486* .000*Significant at the .05 level **Significant at the .01 levelTherefore, the research hypothesis that “there is a significant relationship between theability the ability to use prepositions and the ability to understand part of the sentence where apreposition is deleted” was accepted. When individual groups were considered separately, amoderately positive relationship was found only in the Middle group at the .001 level (r = .662).Errors in Preposition UsageThe analysis of errors made by the students in filling out the cloze test revealed thaterrors in each group were rather similar. Many students seemed to focus on the meaning ofthe sentence, rather than on finding the right preposition to fill in the blank as evidenced bythe use of other parts of speech that they thought could help them understand the sentence.Examples of other parts of speech the students used to fill in the first blank of the firstpassage in the test were said, that, therefore, and, every year. This phenomenon occurred inmany blanks and across the three groups.The errors could be said to be attributed to the following factors:1. Mother tongue interferenceIn certain places in sentences where English needs a preposition, Thai does not needany preposition. Or if a preposition is needed, it is not necessary to be the same as in English.For example, in item # 2 of the first passage, “…a new study released ____ the World HealthOrganization…” Thai can say “a new study of the World Health Organization”, omitting theword released, to mean the same thing as in English. So many Thai students in the study didnot to fill in this blank with by.In addition, Thai and English may use the same preposition, but Thai may have morethan one preposition as alternatives to fill in the blank. For example,in item # 22 in the first passage “…killed ____ the roads…”, both Thai and English use thesame preposition, i.e., “on”. However, English has only one preposition to use in front of theroads, while Thai can have “at” in front of this noun phrase. In this case, although Thaistudents could not supply a correct preposition, they could understand the text. In the sameway, English sometimes has some preposition alternatives to link words in a certain place in asentence, while Thai has only one preposition. The words between, among, during are a

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 179good example. All the three words have only one Thai word equivalent. Thai students thushad a problem of wrong usage, but not the problem of comprehension.Sometimes preference in the mother tongue plays an important role in choosingprepositions. For example, in item # 31 in the second passage, “…the product will solve amajor headache ___local authorities” the right answer is “for”. Although Thai can use“for”in this case, most Thais prefer using “of”. So many of the Thai students in the study used“of”, which was of course an error. However, they had no problem in comprehension.2. GuessingBecause the students in this study did not master preposition usage, they made aguess. In guessing they did not depend on their mother tongue (which they should haveturned to), but on what they thought should be the correct answer, as they knew thatsometimes English and Thai used a different word. Unfortunately, they made errors becausethey did not remember which preposition to use. One piece of evidence was that they couldcorrectly translate the part of the sentence where a preposition was deleted into Thai, linkingthe words with the preposition that can be used in both Thai and English. However, they didnot think of filling in the blank with such a preposition. For example, in item # 25 “anestimated 1.5-2.0 percent ___ GDP”, Thai and English use the same preposition in thisblank; still some students use other prepositions, such as in, on, to.Some students could not remember the rules of preposition usage, especiallyprepositions of place. For example, in English “in” is used for a large place like a city or acountry, while “at” is used with a small place. In Thai, both prepositions can be used for botha large place and a small place. It is not surprising to see Thai students use “at” in front of thename of the country in items # 23 and 24. Nevertheless, there was no problem for them tocomprehend part of the sentence linked by a preposition.Some students preferred to use prepositions of time that they found more often insteadof thinking carefully about the exact meaning. For example, in items # 20 and 40 Englishuses “by” in front of the year and Thai also has an equivalent word. However, thepreposition “by” and the Thai equivalent are not a common preposition to be used in front ofsuch an expression. The students turned to use “in”, which was often found in front of theyear. Of course, they made an error in both usage and in reading comprehension.Also, some students thought that some prepositions could be used interchangeably.This caused an error in items # 17, 30 and 32. In item # 17, “…decreasing ____ all OECDcountries…” the preposition “in” must be used here because the word countries is precededby “all”, but many students used “among”, which was unacceptable in the context. In item#30, the students used “in” instead of “within”. Although both prepositions were possible,only “within” could fit the context. The meaning changed if “in” was used. In item # 32, thestudents used “in” in front of the world because they thought it could be used interchangeablywith “around”. However, they had no problem in comprehension, although they could notsupply the correct preposition.3. CarelessnessOften the students in the study did not pay enough attention to the head word of thenoun phrase after the preposition. Or perhaps it was likely that they did not know whichword is the head word. The errors could be found in items # 11, 15, and 18. As soon as some

180 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsstudents saw the word road, they placed “on” in front of it. In item # 50, many students used“for” and “on” instead of “of” because they did not carefully read the context around theblank. They just tried to find a preposition that could go with the word research.4. Not knowing which words are prepositions, or giving too much importance tothe meaning, neglecting the function of words in the sentence.It is not known for sure what has caused the error of using other parts of speech in theplace where a preposition must be used. They seemed to neglect the function of differentparts of speech in the sentence. Perhaps the students gave importance to the meaning. Theyused any word that they thought could be link the parts that they were reading. Thisphenomenon could be found in about half of all items in the test.DiscussionFrom the statistical analysis it was found that, in preposition usage, the high readingability group got a higher mean score than the middle reading ability group and the lowreading ability group. However, only the mean score of the High group was significantlyhigher than the Low group when they were paired for comparison. This indicated that theability to use prepositions was not much different among the students of different readingproficiency. Overall, the students could supply back the deleted prepositions with 69.27%correct. This suggested that preposition usage is an important problem in writing, for theycould make about 30.73 percent of preposition errors when they wrote their owncompositions. The errors were found to be caused by mother tongue interference and thedifference in usage between Thai and English.Guessing was the strategy they used to choose the prepositions to use in the context.The finding also showed that the ability to comprehend part of the sentence where apreposition was deleted was much superior to the ability to use them. This is not a surprisingfact; it is the case that L2 learners generally possess a lower ability in production skills thanthat in recipient skills.Regarding the mean score of comprehending part of the sentence where a prepositionwas deleted, it was found the students in all the three groups could get almost a full score intheir translation. The fact suggested that most students could handle prepositions well inreading. They could use their linguistic knowledge in the mother tongue as well as the worldknowledge in comprehending the text, as they could supply their own prepositions to linksthe words in each sentence. Prepositions caused little problem in reading to the Low, Middle,and High groups alike.Can understanding prepositions be a predictor of reading ability? Based on thefindings, understanding prepositions might not be a good predictor for reading ability, as thestudents from the different reading proficiency level could get a very high score in translationor in comprehension. Also, the significant difference among the groups as shown when theF-test and the t-test were used to compare them might be because students in the same rangeof reading scores varied a great deal in their ability to handle prepositions. That is why Mikk(1997) could not state whether or not prepositions could predict the reading ability level.Furthermore, this study also reflects the influence of culture in language usage. Theway people from different cultures look at the world need not always be the same. This canbe seen from preposition usage. Thais do not care whether a place is big or small, the same

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 181preposition(s) can be used in front of both small and big places: in or at a city or country , inor at a university, while English people are particular in this aspect, and only “in” is used infront of a big place and “at” in front of a small place. In addition, Thai and English do notuse the same preposition to show the same relationship. And even at the same position in thesentence, the number of prepositions possible to be used in that position varies. In otherwords, preference in preposition usage exists, although this may not affect comprehension.Language formality also plays a role in preposition usage. For example, in item # 48in the test “researchers _____ the university,” three prepositions at, of, and from can possiblybe used to fill in the blank, but “at” is the best choice here. “Of” in this context sounds tooformal (although acceptable to some native speakers), as “of” is usually used for a person in ahigh social or work position (e.g., I’m an instructor at a university. He is the president of theuniversity.).Next, the findings of this study support Foust’s statement that prepositions havedifferent degrees of difficulty. In this research, for example, “according to” was moredifficult than other prepositions; very few students could think of this preposition and supplyit in the given passage. However, it did not cause a problem in comprehension. On the otherhand, “in” and “within” in item # 30 were misunderstood to mean the same thing.Lastly, the findings of this study tend to support traditional grammar which classifiesprepositions as a type of function words or structure words because the subjects (readers) ofthe study could correctly translate part of the sentence where a preposition was deleted,indicating their understanding of the relationship between words or phrases.ConclusionsThe results of the study reveal that the ability to comprehend prepositions is muchhigher than the ability to use them, and that the better one’s ability to use prepositions, thehigher one’s ability to comprehend part of the sentence where preposition is deleted. Themother tongue can be said to be both a source of errors as well as a source of assistance inpreposition usage. But in reading comprehension the mother tongue and the worldknowledge could make a good contribution in facilitating reading. Prepositions do not seemto be a good predictor of reading ability because it has been found that there is variance ofscores even within the students in the same range of reading ability. Different prepositionsalso have a different degree of difficulty in usage as well as in comprehension.RecommendationsRecommendations for instructionThe findings revealed that students could use their background or world knowledge inidentifying the relationship between words (the function of prepositions as a linking device).Therefore, it was recommended that in teaching speed reading, students be trained to passover prepositions in the text quickly and to use their background knowledge to understandeach part of the sentence where a preposition exists. Besides, it is necessary to teachstudents to recognize both simple and complex prepositions, as the students in this study didnot seem to know that “according to” which is an often used preposition is a preposition.

182 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsRecommendations for further researchIn this research the same prepositions occurred again and again in the passages, andthus the test might be rather easy. Further research should use more difficult texts. Inaddition, the passages contained only one multi-word preposition, and such kind ofprepositions was found to be very difficult for the students. They hardly thought of usingmulti-word prepositions when they were asked to fill in the blank with a preposition.Therefore, further research should deal with measuring the degree of difficulty of single-wordprepositions and multi-word prepositions in usage as well as in reading comprehension.ReferencesArlin, Marshall. 1983. Children’s comprehension of semantic constraints on temporalprepositions. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 12 (1), January, pp. 1-15.Foust, Charles David. 1982. The relationship between understanding prepositionsand reading comprehension. Dissertation Abstract, University of Michigan,Ann Arbor.Grabowski, J. and Weiss, P. 1996. The prepositional inventory of languages: Afactor that affects comprehension of spatial prepositions. Language Sciences,18(1-2), January-April, pp. 19-35.Mikk, Jaan. 1997. Parts of speech in predicting reading comprehension. Journal ofQuantitative Linguistics, 4(1-3), pp. 156-163.Wardhaugh, Ronald. 2003. Understanding English Grammar: A LinguisticApproach. 2 nd ed. Singapore: Blackwell PublishingAppendixThe Cloze TestDirections: In the following passages, prepositions are missing. Fill in each blank with anappropriate preposition. Be careful; some prepositions consist of more than one word. Thentranslate the whole passages into Thai.Passage 11.2 Million Die Each Year in Traffic AccidentsRoad traffic injuries kill 1.2 million people each year and injure or disable 50 millionmore, (1) according to a new study released (2) by the World Health Organizationand the World Bank. Road accidents are the second leading cause(3) of death (4) among / of five (5) to 29 year-olds, and the third leadingcause (6) of death (7) among / of people (8) between / of 30-44 years (9) of ageglobally.More (10) than 80 percent (11) of road deaths occur(12) in developing countries, although the residents (13) of / in these countriesown less (14) than 20 percent (15) of the world’s road vehicles. While both the

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 183number and rate (16) of vehicle accidents are decreasing (17) in all OECDcountries, the numbers or rates (18) of road injuries are rapidly increasing(19) in all developing countries and it is estimated that (20) by 2020 more(21) than 300,000 people will be killed (22) on the roads each year both (23)in China and (24) in India. Automobile accidents cost developingcountries an estimated 1.5-2.0 percent (25) of GDP.(Slightly adapted from Choices, June 2004, p. 5.)Passage 2Science: British Research SuccessFinally, gum that won’t stickLondon—British researchers said yesterday they had cracked a sticky problem that scientistshave been chewing over (26) for years (27) by inventing gum which is easilyremovable (28) from shoes, pavements and hair.(29) According to its developer, Revolymer, chewing gum, which should belaunched next year, disappears naturally (30) within [“in” possible with difference inmeaning. Here “in” is considered incorrect.] 24 hours.If it catches on, the product will solve a major headache (31) for localauthorities (32) around / all over the world.(33) In Britain alone, councils spend more (34) than 150 millionpounds ( (35) about / around 10.5 billion baht) (36) per year blitzing gum (37)from the streets using chemicals or spray jets.(38) In Singapore, the authorities tackled the problem (39) by banningchewing gum (40) in 1992, but the measure was relaxed (41) in / by 2004 to makegum available (42) to / for people (43) with a medical prescription.Professor Terence Cosgrove, Revlymer’s chief scientific officer who is also anacademic (44) at / of / from Bristol University (45) in southwest England, saidthe gum was less sticky when a polymer had been added(46) to / into the recipe.“The advantages (47) of our Clean Gum is that it has a great taste, it is easy toremove and has the potential to be environmentally degradable, ” Professor Cosgrove said.Last week, researchers (48) at / of / from University College Cork(49) in southwest Ireland said they were developing a biodegradable gum and addedthey needed to do another two and a half years (50) of research to develop the finalproduct. AFP(Slightly adapted from Bangkok Post, Saturday 15, 2007, p.1.)

184 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsResearch title: ELT Innovation: Students’ Participation in GeneratingAcademic Reading MaterialsAssociate Professor Dr. Natchaya ChalaysapDr. Compol SwangboonsaticAssistant Professor Dr. Kanyarat GetkhamAssistant Professor Dr. Kasma SuwanarakAssistant Professor Dr. Ketkanda JaturongkachokeDr. Khwanchira SenaNatthinee Klamphonpook, M.A.Assistant Professor Dr. Rujira RojjanaprapayonAssistant Professor Dr. Saksit SaengboonAssistant Professor Dr. Savitri GadananijAssociate Professor Varasiri SagaravasiSchool of Language and Communication,National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)Bangkok 10240, Thailand. e-mail address: lc@nida.ac.thAbstractThis research paper was aimed at (1) examining NIDA graduate students’ ability toread English academic texts at the paragraph level, (2) comparing the ability to read suchEnglish texts between the group that was taught by having the students participate ingenerating reading materials at the paragraph level(the experimental group) and the groupthat was taught by the traditional method, using common core reading materials provided bythe language teaching unit, the School of Language and Communication (the control group),and (3) finding out the attitude of the students in the experimental group toward theparticipation in generating reading materials. The sample consisted of 60 non-major Master’sdegree students from 6 schools at National Institute of Development Administration (NIDA)who failed LC. 4001: Reading Skills Development in English for Graduate Studies and wasrequired to take a remedial reading course LC. 4011: Remedial Reading Skills Developmentin English for Graduate Studies in the summer session (3/2009). The experimental group andthe control group had 30 students each. They were placed in each group on the basis of theirscore in LC. 4001. It was found that the average score of the reading ability in theexperimental group was 63.62% and that in the control group was 57.11%. Such scores werelower than the passing score of 70% set by the School of Language and Communication.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 185Next, the mean score of the reading achievement test of the experimental group was found tobe significantly higher than that of the control group at the 0.05 level. In addition, theexperimental group was found to have a very positive attitude toward the innovative teachingmethod. The research results showed the effectiveness of the innovative teaching method,which would be useful for teachers who looked for innovation in English language teaching.IntroductionCurrently, the teacher-centered approach to language teaching can be said to beoutdated and the learner-centered approach has taken its place, at least in theory. In theformer approach, all the actual content of the class comes from the teacher or the instructionalmaterials (Hall, 2001). Still, the three key components in language classroom—the teacher,the learner, and the materials—remain unchanged. Even though the learner-centeredapproach is in fashion, instructional materials are still prepared by the teacher or the languageteaching unit that offers the course. Especially in Thailand teaching materials are commercialtexts or, in many educational institutions, they are common core materials provided by thelanguage teaching unit for teachers to use. Change has emerged elsewhere in languageeducation to follow the new trend of language teaching, but practitioners seem to neglect thepotential for language learners to participate in generating their own learning materials,especially in academic reading courses. Hall (2001: 232) suggests that “language learnersthemselves are in a unique position to look for relevant resource materials, as they know theirown needs and interests.So far few research studies have been conducted, if at all, which focus on learners’role in generating teaching materials. Arguing for learners’ participation in generating theirown learning materials, Kenny (1993) states that the process of learners’ searching formaterials and then bringing them to class to present to other learners do not involve justsimple selection., but they must change their role from being receivers of information toactive accountability, because they have to present their selections and defend them. Up tonow, only teachers and textbooks have been criticized as repetitive, tedious, uninteresting,irrelevant, and so on. But if learners are involved in all the teaching process, includingmaterial development, every component in language classroom becomes accountable.Many teachers may not want their students to get involved in material development.There has been a tendency to rely too much on classroom teaching materials as a tool foreffective teaching and learning. But Rea-Dickens and Germaine (2001) contend thatunrealistic expectations are made of teaching materials. In fact, the effectiveness of teachingand learning does not depend only upon how good or bad the instructional materials are.Allwright (1981) says that teaching materials are just part of the cooperative management oflanguage learning. This implies that it is not the teacher or the language teaching unit onlythat should solely responsible for preparing teaching materials, students should be given anopportunity to do so, as well.With regard to teaching reading English for Academic Purposes (EAP), Dudley-Evans and St John (1998: 11) state that there are two types of actual content: real content andcarrier content. ‘Real content’ is language skills to be taught, whereas carrier content is usedas a vehicle for the real content of the teaching unit or lesson. They gave an example that thelife cycle of a plant can be used as a context or carrier content to present and practice theexpressions of time sequences as found in the description of the process and cycles, which arethe real content.

186 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAs EAP teachers know, carrier content taken from authentic texts are often difficultfor EFL students. In most educational programs in Thailand, most textbooks in themainstream subjects that students are required to read are written in Thai. It is thereforedifficult for Thai students to read English textbooks and journal articles in specialized fields.Using authentic texts as carrier contents often hinders teaching real content. However,authentic texts are still considered necessary, especially for graduate students. The questionis how the teacher can help reduce the students’ difficulty in having to read authentic texts.Nuttall (1982) suggests that for L2 or EFL students’ language skills to develop, materialsmust be consistent with their needs and wants. McDonough (1984) also suggests the samething. According to Alvarez et al. (1983: 864), because EFL learners are different andbecause reading is a personal activity, learners should be given choices as much as possible.This implies that rather than teaching reading skills by the traditional method of teacher’sproviding reading materials and lectures in class, EFL student readers should be given anopportunity to take part in generating materials for learning reading strategies. This can be aninnovation in language teaching that deserves an experiment to prove its effectiveness. Theresults of this study will be useful for teachers who want to have a new alternative method ofteaching academic reading, as the innovative method will increase students’ motivation andbring about a good attitude toward reading English texts. Therefore, the objectives of thestudy are as follows:1. to find out the mean score of the reading ability of the students taught by thetraditional method (the control group) and the mean score of the reading ability of thosetaught by the innovative method, i.e., having students participate in generating materials fortheir reading course (the experimental group).2. to compare the mean scores of the reading ability of both groups3. to examine the attitude of the students in the experimental group toward theinnovative method.Framework of the StudyThis study is quasi-experimental research. It is a post-test only design and includesone control group and one experimental group. The independent variable is the teachingmethod—traditional VS innovative—and the dependent variable is the students’ ability toread as measured by a reading achievement test.Hypotheses Two hypotheses of the study are1. There is difference in the mean score of the reading achievement test between thecontrol group and the experimental group.2. The students who have been taught by participating in generating readingmaterials have a positive attitude toward this teaching method.Operational definitionTraditional teaching method: prevalent classroom teaching of paragraph readingskills with common core instructional materials supplied by the School of Language andCommunication

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 187Innovative/new teaching method: learner-centered method of teaching paragraphreading skills that allows students to participate in generating reading materialsAttitude toward the innovative method: learners’ perception or feeling about theinnovative teaching method in term of level of knowledge gained, usefulness of learningthrough the innovative teaching method, level of satisfaction of selected passages,applicability of the acquired knowledge and skills, and worthiness of time, energy, andmoney.MethodologyPopulation and sampling The subjects of the study were Master’s degree studentsfrom six schools at National Institute of Development Administration: PublicAdministration, Business administration, Development economics, Applied Statistics, Socialand Environmental Development, and Human Resource Development. Sixty students out of122 who enrolled in LC 4011: Remedial Reading Skills Development in English forGraduates were included in this study—30 in the control group and 30 in the experimentalgroup. The students in both groups were assumed to have a more or less similar readingability, as all of them failed LC 4001 Reading Skills Development in English for Graduates,and they were also grouped by their scores in the LC 4001 course.Instrumentation Two research tools were employed in this study: one is a teachermadereading achievement test and the other was a questionnaire.The test consisted of four passages with questions concerning the topic sentence orthe main Idea, the author’s purpose, the movement of thought, the details, the relationshipbetween ideas as shown by transitional markers., pronoun references, and guessing themeaning of word by using word analysis and contextual clues. Most questions were in themultiple choice format; a few are in the True/False format, and also a few asked the studentsto write the short answers. (See Appendix A) The total score was 45. The reliability of thetest was .711.The second instrument, the questionnaire, measured the students in the experimentalgroup’s opinion on or attitude toward five dimensions of the innovative teaching method asmentioned in the operational definition of the term. (See Appendix B for all the dimensions).Data collection The first half of the semester before the experiment, the students inboth the control group and the experimental group were taught sentence reading skills anddetecting the meaning of unfamiliar words by using word analysis and contextual clues for 24hours, using the same traditional teaching method, and the same materials provided by theSchool of Language and Communication. The experiment began in the second half thesummer session of the academic year 2009. It lasted 4 weeks; the class met 6 hours a day, orthe total of 24 hours.In the second half of the semester, the control group was still taught by the traditionalmethod with common core reading materials. On the contrary, the experimental group beganwith teaching of paragraph reading strategies for six hours, during which all the topicsconcerned, along with a few exercises were covered. For the next session or in the followingweek the students were asked to form a team of three students, and each team was assigned tobring three single paragraphs and three multi-paragraph passages to consult the teacher in theclass. They were asked to give the teacher all the passages before they came to class. Also,

188 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsthey were required to identify the topic sentence or the main idea of each passage and otherafore-mentioned teaching points. They had to write two questions for each passage, too.They were required to work together to discuss whether their answers were correct. In thesecond week each team would take turn to consult the teacher, i.e., to have the teacher checktheir assignments. The consultation lasted one to one and a half hour for each group, as somegroups did not turn in their passages beforehand. Some passages were rejected as not suitableand the students had to find new passages. They were to see the teacher outside the class.After the consultation and the check for correctness of the answers they had got (thiscovered three 3-hour sessions), the students were required to present their passages,discussing what the topic sentence or main idea of each passage was and how they could findit, for example. All students would each get a copy of the passages from others. They couldraise questions if they had some doubt about the answers. The student presenter took therole of a teacher trying to explain to other students about the points that were normally taughtby the teacher. The teacher acted as a helper. They had confidence in what they were doingbecause the teacher checked the answers and explained to them anything that was unclear tothem. They got a grade for doing all these activities, and because the teacher helped them inevery stage, they were assured that they would not failed the exam. This was a goodincentive.At the end of the semester both groups were administered the reading achievementtest for one and a half hours. After the test, copies of the questionnaire were distributed tostudents in the experimental group to fill out before they left the room, so all copies of thequestionnaire were returned.Data analysis To test the hypothesis, the mean scores of the reading test between thecontrol group and the experimental group were compared by using independent sample t-test.The data from the questionnaire was analyzed by using descriptive statistics, i.e., percentage,mean and standard deviation.ResultsWhen the first hypothesis was tested, it was found that there was a statisticallysignificant difference in the reading test score between the control group and theexperimental group at the 0.05 level. The latter group performed significantly better than theformer group ( X = 28.63 and 25.70, respectively). See Table 1 below.Table 1 Difference in the reading ability between the experimental group and thecontrol group after the experimentGroup Mean S.D. t df Sig. (2-tailed)Experimental 28.63 3.773 2.488 58 .016Control 25.70 5.240Regarding the attitude of the students in the experimental group toward the innovativeteaching method, their perception of five dimensions of this teaching method was measured.These were level of knowledge gained by learning reading strategies through this method,advantages or usefulness of learning by this method, satisfaction with reading passages selectedby students themselves, applicability of the acquired knowledge, and worthiness of learning by

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 189this new method. It was found that all the dimensions were rated “high” by the students. SeeTable 2 below. The mean scores of all the indicators are shown in Appendix B.Table 2 Attitude of the students in the experimental group toward the innovativeteaching methodDimension Mean S.D. Opinion1. Knowledge gained from thenew teaching method 3.65 .741 high2. Advantages of the newTeaching method 3.68 .764 high3. Satisfaction with selectedPassages 3.53 .632 high4. Applicability of the acquiredKnowledge 3.61 .722 high5. Worthiness of time, energyand money 3.55 .719 highOverall 3.60 .715 highDiscussionThe mean score of the experimental group was significantly higher than the controlgroup and even the lowest score was 9 points higher than that of the control group. Thisconfirms the effectiveness of the innovative teaching method, which is a learner-centeredone. That is, students’ participation in generating academic reading materials was aneffective way to develop their paragraph reading skills. However, the mean score of theexperimental group was still unsatisfactory, for the passing score for all English coursesoffered by the School of Language and Communication was 70 % . The mean score of thegroup was only 28.63 out of 45, or 63.62%. This was perhaps because most studentsadmitted by different schools at NIDA were poor in English. Their reading skills could notbe improved quickly by attending one or two English courses. To be fluent readers, studentsneed to read a lot. The School of Language and Communication can only providing studentswith various reading strategies, but at the same time lecturers in their mainstream subjectsmust assign them to read at lot in order to improve their reading fluency.As for their attitude toward the new teaching method introduced here, all theindicators showed that the students had a highly positive attitude toward it. They could playan active role in learning how to read. They enjoyed working in team and did not have tolisten to the teacher explaining what was correct and what wasn’t, and why, all the long hour.It was their responsibility to look for some clues to see why their answers were satisfactoryand why not. However, only one indicator in the questionnaire was found to be justmoderately satisfying--that is, the degree of interest of student-selected passages. This wasperhaps because apart from personal interest of individual students, students in the same classcame from different fields of study and the majority took the passages from the textbooks orjournals in their fields, thus likely to be difficult for students from other fields to comprehend.The finding was consistent to Alvarez et al.’s (1993) finding that every student was differentand reading was a personal activity, so each should be given a choice to read what he or shewas interested in.

190 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsProblems found during the experiment should be mentioned here. First, the studentsdid not turn in the passages for the teacher to read before they came for consultation. Thiscaused difficulty for the teacher because she had to read the passages continuously at theconsultation time and give impromptu advice, so she experienced fatigue and could notconcentrate well. Besides, some passages were very specialized, and were difficult tounderstand quickly. Sometimes she needed to ask the meaning of certain terms from thestudents. Therefore, the teacher who does not like this kind of challenging task may find ittoo hard to use this alternative teaching method, while the teacher who wants to learn moreabout topics from different fields will enjoy this kind of teaching.One reason for the students’ inability to give the teacher their passages in advancewas perhaps because it was the summer session and the students had to take another courseoffered by their school, so they did not have much time to search for good passages and to dowhat was assigned about the passages. The situation might be better for regular semesters.Another problem was that the teacher encountered in this experiment was that somesingle-paragraph passages selected by the students were very short; others could not standalone, but had to depend on other paragraphs to have a complete idea. For passages with twoor three long sentences, the student owners of the passages identified one sentence as a topicsentence. Some passages taken from the Internet were poorly written. These passages were,of course, rejected by the teacher, as they were not suitable as reading texts. However, asmany students took 2-3 sentence passages from textbooks in their own fields, the teacherasked to see their textbooks and found out that textbooks in various areas of study todaycontain mostly short paragraphs. This suggests that focusing on identifying the topicsentence of a single paragraph passage is not enough for paragraph reading. Emphasis shouldbe transferred to training students to group paragraphs together under one main idea, and tosee how ideas in different paragraph are related as major and minor supports. This was whatthe teacher did in the experiment when dealing with reading multi-paragraph passages. Fromthe passages selected by the students themselves, they learned that in real life, one paragraphwas related to other paragraphs around it. Teachers’ selecting only long single paragraphs toteach students paragraph reading is like trying to mislead them; such paragraphs are difficultto find, too. As a matter of fact, it is difficult to find paragraphs which can stand alone andobviously contain a topic sentence that has a complete main idea. In addition, having thestudents generate reading materials made them realize that external transitional markers arenot used as often as they have expected; they are used just once in a while as a cohesivedevice. To sum up, using mainly single-paragraph passages to illustrate how to grasp themain idea of a single paragraph is not realistic, as this makes students think that mostparagraphs must be long. But when they read they own textbooks, they found out that thestrategies taught in the reading class could not be applied to their reading texts; thus they didnot see the worth of the strategies taught to them.In spite of some problems as mentioned earlier, the students in the experimental grouplike the innovative method of having them participate in generating academic readingmaterials. Because they had to finish their assignments on time to discuss with their teammembers, they learned to manage their time. Next, they learned how to analyze and to thinkcritically, as they had to give comment on the passages picked up by their team members,using the strategies they had been taught. Besides, they did not experience much stressbecause the teacher acted as a helper. Because they had to search several books and analyzeparagraphs there before they could come up with desirable passages that contained all thepoints the teacher wanted, they had to read a lot. So this innovative teaching method makes

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 191students read extensively--which is necessary to become fluent readers. All these are goodpoints of the new teaching method, as evaluated by the students in the experimental group.ConclusionIn developing EFL reading skills, students must play an active role. They must bemotivated in some way. They should also read what they are interested in. One way toachieve this is having them participate in generating reading materials, as evidenced by theexperience of students in this research who found that they enjoyed the lessons and felt thatthey gained applicable knowledge from learning by this way.RecommendationsRecommendations for instruction The innovative teaching method as experimentedin this research is just an alternative one for teachers who are looking for something new.However, the following are recommended for effective teaching:1. The academic reading class that will be taught by this innovative teaching methodshould have students from similar fields of study. As students from the same field of studyseem to have similar interests, passages selected by the students would be of interest to mostof the class.2. Many textbooks writers nowadays have a tendency to write short paragraphs.Therefore, emphasis should be placed on reading multi-paragraph passages. Especially, thestrategy of grouping paragraphs together to identify the topic sentence and to summarize themain idea should be stressed, including outlining the major and minor support ideas. Also,passages from different text types or genres apart from textbooks should be used as readingmaterials.Recommendations for further research The following are recommended for futureresearch:1. As this study was a pilot project on this kind of teaching method, further researchshould conduct a similar study in a regular semester and should use students in differenteducational levels as the samples to confirm the effectiveness of the teaching method. Also,the length of the experimental period should be longer.2. Further research should compare textbooks in different areas of study to find out ifthere is any remarkable difference between the paragraph writing of old textbooks and that ofmodern ones.

192 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsReferencesAllwright, D. (1981). ‘What do we need materials for?’ English Language TeachingJournal. 36(1), 6-9.Alvarez, G., Broca, A. and Bruton, A. (1993). Reading wants and needs in EFL:Learners’ and teachers’ perceptions. Reading in a Foreign Language, 9(2), 859-865.Dudley-Evans, T. and St John, M.J. (1998). Developments in ESP: A MultidisciplinaryApproach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Hall, D.R. (2001). Material production: theory and practice. In David R. Hall andAnn Hewings (Eds.) Innovation in English Language Teaching: A Reader,(pp.229-239) London: Routledge.Kenny, B. (1993). Investigative research: How it changes learner status. TESOLQuarterly, 27, 217-232.McDonough, J. (1984). ESP in Perspectives. London: Collins.Nuttall, C. (1982). Teaching Reading Skills in a Foreign Language. London:Heinemann.Rea-Dickens, P. and Germaine, K. (2001). Purposes for evaluation. In David R. Halland Ann Hewings (Eds.) Innovation in English Language Teaching: AReader,(pp.253-262) London: Routledge.PASSAGE IIAppendix AExample of Passages in the Reading Achievement TestOur knowledge about the uneven character of social change suggests that not allchanges will contribute equally to a general advance toward a more modern system. On thecontrary, some innovations can create situations which make it more, rather than less,difficult for subsequent changes to occur in a smooth fashion. Improvements in public healthstandards, for example, can readily alter the death rate and produce a rapid growth inpopulation, which will subsequently become a drain on all efforts to raise per capita incomes.Similarly, the expansion of educational facilities at a grossly faster rate than openings of newcareer opportunities can produce well-recognized tensions and frustrations.1. In this passage, the author points out that .a. changes do not help in the process toward a more modern systemb. sometimes improvements and expansions of some public services createsevere economic crisesc. results of changes should be taken into consideration before there isimplementation of any educational policyd. changes sometimes bring about undesirable results2. The transitional marker “Similarly” in the passage indicate a similarity between thecase of improvements in public health standards and that of the expansion ofeducational facilities .

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 1933. The pronoun “it” (line 3) refers to .a. creating situationsb. a more modern systemc. smooth occurrence of subsequent changesd. improvements in public health standards4. The purpose of the paragraph is .a. to explain the process in creating social changesb. to analyze the causes and effects of social changesc. to discuss some undesirable situations which social changes can created. to describe some innovations in social changes5. TRUE or FALSEIt can be inferred that a country is sometimes not well-prepared to meet the effectsof some innovations. True6. What is the movement of thought of this passage? (More than one correct answer)a. particular to general b. general to particularc. result to caused. cause to resulte. time order7. In the context, the phrase “become a drain on all efforts” means all efforts.a. use upc. supportb. slow down d. prevent

194 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAppendix BMean Scores of the Indicators of the Five Dimensions in the QuestionnairePlease put a cross (X) in the slot thatindicates your opinion Mean SD OPINION1. Knowledge gained(1) Paragraph organization 3.80 .664 High(2) Paragraph components 3.64 .661 High(3) Identifying the topic sentence and themain idea3.77 .679 High(4) Writer’s purpose 3.50 .820 High(5) Identifying major/minor support Ideas 3.47 .860 High(6) Relationship between ideas as shown 3.87 .766 Highby transitional markers(7) How to get the answers by learning 3.50 .731 HighHow to pose questions2. Advantages or usefulness(1) Enjoying learning 3.63 .850 High(2) Not feeling too burdened 3.77 .858 High(3) Learning to analyze and give comments 3.53 .776 High(4) Having more self-confidence in Reading 3.67 .711 High(5) Becoming well-disciplined 3.90 .759 High(6) Getting a habit of loving reading 3.47 .629 High(7) Having more courage to ask the Teacher 3.67 .802 High(8) Better adjust oneself to social life 3.87 .730 High3. Satisfaction with selected passages(1) Degree of interest 3.23 .504 Moderate(2) Appropriate language level 3.57 .679 High(3) Variety of topics 3.80 .714 High4. Applicability of the acquired knowledge(1) Reading better 3.53 .681 High(2) Being able to read text alone 3.73 .740 High(3) Being able to use the knowledge as a 3.47 .776 Highfoundation for writing(4) Being able to develop one’s English 3.73 .691 Highreading skills later5. Worthiness(1) Time 3.57 .679 High(2) Energy or effort 3.67 .661 High(3) money for copying reading materials 3.43 .817 High

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 195Information Status Dynamics and English Cleft ConstructionsJennifer A. PiotrowskiAssumption University iiiINTRODUCTIONThis paper explores the functions of cleft constructions in terms of Information Structureand information status dynamics. Key concepts related to Information Structure andinformation status are discussed first, followed by an explanation of how the term cleftconstruction is understood in this study. Then, aspects of the relationship between cleftsubtypes and information status are presented through discussion and authentic examples incontext. Evidence from native speaker-hearer judgments is given to provide empiricalsupport for the notion that syntax codes information status. Specifically, the findings showthat THERE clefts code newness and IT clefts code contrastiveness. Finally, a discussion offuture implications closes the paper.INFORMATION STRUCTURE AND INFORMATION STATUSThe way speakers mention referents can change rapidly within a discourse. Take thefollowing excerpt from an aquarium training session, for example iii , paying careful attentionto all references (in italics) to ‘the original group of penguins at the aquarium’:(1) We got the penguins, our original batch of penguins, from, from this zooin Scotland, uh, and, um, you know, as you know, you ship them over andthey go into a quarantine period. And, I do believe it was thirty days.Don't, don't, it's in my literature right there, I'll check for certain. Uh, thatis required by the USDA.If we track the references, we notice four different surface forms for the same specificreferent, in the space of two sentences. The first reference in this excerpt, “the penguins,” isa definite lexical noun phrase with a simple definite article and plural noun. The secondreference, “our original batch of penguins,” includes more details, offering clarification of thepreceding reference. The next reference is an object pronoun “them,” followed by a subjectpronoun “they.” Why would a speaker find it necessary to use four different forms in rapidsuccession to refer to the same entity? Part of the explanation lies in the notion ofInformation Structure (Lambrecht 1994, 2001) and in the information status dynamics ofreferents in discourse.INFORMATION STRUCTURE (Lambrecht 1994) is a component of a linguistic system thatsystematically affects surface forms of utterances in interactive communication. It is basedon the premise that interlocutors form mental representations of a discourse as it progresses,and that speakers’ linguistic choices are influenced both by communicative goals and byspeakers’ sensitivity to listeners’ mental models of the discourse at hand. Informationstructure influences various aspects of language, such as article and pronoun use, placementof prosodic prominence, and even syntax.

196 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsInformation status is one of the factors that influence Information Structure. Informationstatus involves the presence and prominence of referents in interlocutors’ mental models of adiscourse at a time of utterance. On one hand, it relates to the hypotheses speakers makeabout whether or not their hearers have created a mental representation for a referent. InLambrecht’s terminology, this aspect of information status is IDENTIFIABILITY. If a referent isidentifiable, then the speaker believes the hearer already knows about the referent and canaccess a mental representation for it. Information status also involves whether or not aspeaker believes a hearer is currently thinking about a referent, or whether the referent isACTIVE in the hearer’s mind at the time of utterance. In the current study, the term NEW isused as a cover term for non-identifiable and/or non-active references; thus, new referencesare expressions of referents for which the speaker assumes the hearer must either create anew mental representation or activate a stored representation.Pronoun use, as seen in the first example, is among the least controversial phenomena thatcan be used to illustrate the influence of information status on surface forms. The speaker’sassumptions about the hearer’s knowledge and awareness clearly influence the choicebetween a lexical noun phrase and a pronoun. A definite pronoun can be used felicitouslyonly if the speaker assumes 1) the hearer has a mental representation for the unique referentof the pronoun, and 2) the hearer is currently thinking about that referent. Thus, undernormal circumstances, the referent of a definite pronoun must be IDENTIFIABLE (not NEW) andACTIVE for the hearer. In example 1, above, in the third and fourth references to the specificgroup of penguins, the speaker likely assumes that the hearers are not only aware of thespecific group of penguins she refers to, but also that they are thinking about those penguinswhen she utters the pronouns them and they.In contrast to pronoun use, if a cooperative speaker assumes that a referent is NON-ACTIVEat the time of utterance, he or she will likely use a full lexical noun phrase to expressreference, as in the first reference to the penguins in the above example. Additionally, if thespeaker believes that the hearer may have multiple similar (potentially confusable) mentalrepresentations in his/her mental model, the speaker may choose a more detailed noun phraseto help the hearer pick out the correct representation for the time of utterance, as in thesecond reference in the above example. The use of a definite article indicates that the speakerassumes that the hearers already have a stored mental representation for the intendedreferent—that the referent is identifiable. Thus, in the case of nominal reference in English,information status clearly affects word choice.Breaking away from Lambrecht’s framework, the current study includesCONTRASTIVENESS as an aspect of information status. If a reference is contrastive, thespeaker is framing the referent in opposition to another entity or idea, or as a member of a setof alternatives. To give an example, in a statement like, “Excuse me; I am Assistant Manager,not the manager’s assistant.” The italicized noun phrase here would likely carry anemphatically raised pitch to indicate contrast. Contrastiveness is contextual, relates to aspeaker’s communicative goals, and may fleetingly be associated with a particular reference.It affects the prominence and/or presence of referents in a hearer’s mental model of thediscourse, so it is considered here to be another aspect of information status.CLEFT CONSTRUCTIONSBeyond word choice and intonation, the current paper is concerned with the way thatinformation status affects syntax, particularly the use of cleft constructions. To approach this,

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 197it is first necessary to define the term CLEFT CONSTRUCTION. Following Lambrecht (2001),the current study views clefts as constructions characterized by the use of biclausal syntax toexpress a proposition that could be expressed more simply, without a change in truthconditions. Thus, the ideas in examples 2 and 3 can be expressed more simply as in example4 below.(2) There’s a pie that Mom made this morning.(3) It’s a pie that Mom made this morning.(4) Mom made a pie this morning.THERE clefts and IT clefts are only two subtypes of a broader class of cleft constructions inEnglish. These two types are formally characterized by a non-referring initial pronoun (i.e.THERE does not actually refer to a place and IT does not actually refer back to a third personsingular noun phrase), a clefted element, and a relative clause expressing an open proposition.In examples 2 and 3, the clefted element is ‘a pie’ and the open proposition is ‘Mom madesomething’.Although examples 2-4 contain the same ideas, one can imagine a differentcommunicative context for each of these sentences. This is presumably because of thedifferent information status characteristics associated with each construction, which nativeEnglish speakers seem to notice, even when the sentences are heard or read in isolation.Perhaps example 2 would be a snack suggestion directed at someone who has just arrivedhome, looking hungry. Then, perhaps example 3 would be a correction directed at a youngsibling who has just said, “Yay – I ate all my dinner; so now I can have the cake that Mommade this morning!” The simpler declarative sentence in example 4 is more neutral andmight be uttered (depending on the intonation) in either context, while examples 1 and 2could not felicitously be exchanged in their respective contexts. In other words, example 2would not likely be uttered as a correction, and example 3 would not likely be uttered as asnack suggestion, while example 4 could reasonably be either a snack suggestion or acorrection. In example 2, the use of a THERE cleft indicates that the referent expressed by theclefted element is new to the discourse; whereas in example 3 the use of an IT cleft indicatesthat the referent expressed by the clefted element is contrastive in the discourse. Thus, theuse of more complex syntax and the choice of cleft type are motivated, at least in part, byinformation status dynamics.NEW THERE CLEFTS AND CONTRASTIVE IT CLEFTSIn addition to the fabricated, isolated examples in 2-4, some authentic, in-contextexamples from the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English may further aid inillustrating the newness of clefted elements in THERE clefts, and the contrastiveness of cleftedelements in IT clefts. Example 5 is a segment of speech from the aquarium training sessionthat immediately follows the utterances in example 1. The THERE cleft is italicized, and theclefted element is in bold:(5) Basically there's, there's a disease called N- Newcastle's Disease that is, is veryuh- contagious apparently and so there's always the potential of, when you bring abird over, contaminate, contaminating the poultry business. Okay, and so that isth- background information for the reason for quarantining.

198 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsLooking at the prior context (in example 1), this appears to be the first reference in theconversation to the referent ‘Newcastle’s Disease’, confirming the notion that its status in thisutterance is new. Example (6) is from a conversation in which a customer is shopping for anew tape deck. The IT cleft is italicized, and the clefted element is in bold:(6) CUSTOMER: Suppose that I wanna use this tape deck to record, um,conversation. Like we do in linguistics. Between Matt and me, or something likethat…SALES ASSOCIATE: Let's take a look here. The K110 has provisions formicrophones on the front… (later) Uh, so the K 110 would be set up for that.CUSTOMER: Hunh.SALES ASSOCIATE: Any of the other, um, cassette decks here.CUSTOMER: Mhm.SALES ASSOCIATE:The K111 has it too. I take-CUSTOMER: Hunh.SALES ASSOCIATE: I- I take it back.CUSTOMER: Huh.SALES ASSOCIATE: I didn't think the K 11- 111 did.CUSTOMER: Unhunh. Unhunh.SALES ASSOCIATE: Okay it's the, it's the dual one that doesn't.CUSTOMER: Okay.From the context, it is apparent that the sales associate is talking about a dual cassette deck inopposition to the K 111 model, voicing a self-correction. He uses an IT cleft to express theparticular point where correction is needed, implying that the open proposition ‘somethingdoesn’t have microphone provisions’ was correct, but it was only a different model than hehad previously thought.EVIDENCE FROM SPEAKER-HEARER JUDGMENTSWhile the above discussion of authentic, contextualized cleft examples (5 and 6) is a bitmore objective than the earlier discussion of fabricated examples (2-4), the argumentpresented here is also supported by multiple native speaker-hearer judgments about authenticdata from the Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English. The set of results reportedhere is a subset of those in Piotrowski (2009).To aid the reader in interpreting the results, a brief overview of the methodologyemployed in Piotrowski (2009) is presented first. The first phase of the study was a corpussearch, which yielded 31 tokens of target THERE clefts and only 14 tokens of target IT clefts.A set of audio files containing these cleft constructions in isolation was then used as stimuliin native speaker-hearer judgment tasks. Upon listening to each cleft construction, ten adultnative English speakers completed a forced-choice judgment task determining whether they

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 199thought a clefted element was likely new or given in its larger context. New was defined forparticipants as, “being brought up for the first time, or adding information to the discussion,”and given was defined as, “already under discussion, or part of what the speakers and hearersalready know or already consider relevant to the discussion.” A different group of ten adultnative English speakers determined whether they thought a clefted element was contrastive ornon-contrastive in its larger context. Contrastive was defined somewhat broadly for theparticipants, as follows: “being mentioned in opposition to something else, or as a member orpart of a set of alternatives.” Participants were able to replay the audio clips, if desired,before making judgments. In the results, NEW tokens of clefted elements are those judged‘new’ by a majority of participants, GIVEN tokens of clefted elements are those judged ‘given’by a majority of participants, and INDETERMINATE tokens are those for which the participantswere evenly split in the binary judgment task. Similarly, for the contrastiveness test,CONTRASTIVE tokens are those for which a majority of participants judged the clefted elementas ‘contrastive’.The results strongly indicate that clefted elements of THERE clefts are interpreted as new,while clefted elements of IT clefts are not. As shown in Table 1 and Figure 1, twenty six ofthe thirty one THERE clefts (84%) had NEW clefted elements. In contrast, none of the IT cleftshad clefted elements judged new by a majority of participants.TOKENS IN TASK NEW GIVEN INDET.THERE clefts 31 26 1 4IT clefts 13 0 12 1Total 44 26 13 5TABLE 1. Token counts for new/given/intederminate clefted elements1.0Proportions of Tokens in Type0.90.80.70.60.50.40.30.20.1IndeterminateGiven CENew CE0.0THEREITFIGURE 1. Proportions of new/given/indeterminate clefted elementsThe results for contrastiveness were less striking, but still provide evidence for anassociation between IT clefts and contrastiveness. As seen in Table 2 and Figure 2, a majorityof clefted elements were perceived as contrastive for both cleft types (about 61% for THEREclefts and 69% for IT clefts).

200 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsTOKENS INTASKCONTRASTIVETOKENSTHERE clefts 31 19IT clefts 13 9Total 43 28TABLE 2. Token counts for contrastive clefted elements1.0Proportions of Tokens in Type0.80.60.40.20.0THERE cleftsIT cleftsFIGURE 2. Proportions of contrastive clefted elementsThe similarity in the contrastiveness results for the two cleft types may be due, in part, to thebroad definition given for contrastive. On the other hand, perhaps the perceivedcontrastiveness of clefted elements in THERE clefts is related to the newness associated withthem. Newness may be perceived as a weak form of contrastiveness, such that a new elementis perceived prominently, in opposition to all the elements already present in the discoursemodel at the time of utterance.To summarize, the judgments gathered in Piotrowski (2009) show that the subjectsperceived information status patterns in the cleft constructions that they heard. Hearersperceived the noun phrases inside the existential portion of THERE clefts (the cleftedelements) as new. Further, these results indicate that hearers perceived most clefted elementsin THERE clefts and, to a larger extent, IT clefts, as contrastive, under a broad definition ofcontrastive. These results provide empirical support, beyond a single linguist’s intuition, forthe claim that the cleft subtypes conventionally convey particular information statuscharacteristics.FUTURE IMPLICATIONSThe hearer judgment study, in particular, suggests some implications for future research.First, this exploration of information status dynamics should be viewed as an early dip into acomplicated area of research. The methods developed for Piotrowski (2009), using authenticdata as stimuli in native speaker-hearer judgment tasks should be refined and expanded tofurther our empirical understanding of language in use. The use of multiple native speakerhearerjudgments can be added to the wide range of tools and techniques used in corpuslinguistics as one way of reducing ambiguity and increasing objectivity.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 201In terms of Information Structure research, it should be noted that although InformationStructure relates to the speaker’s assumptions about the hearer’s knowledge and consciousnessat the time of utterance, this study does not directly tap into the speaker’s assumptions.Instead, the above analysis relies on hearers’ interpretations. This is a start, but thedevelopment of methods for more directly accessing speaker’s assumptions and linguisticchoices would enable researchers to test hypotheses about information status and informationstructure more directly. Additionally, some ambiguities arise in interpreting these findings.For example, the result relating newness and THERE clefts is potentially misleading because itmay be more appropriate to associate the characteristic newness specifically with theexistential portion of the construction (the there is / there are phrase) than to attribute it to theclefted nature of the construction. Finally, when looking at contrastiveness, prosodicprominence may interact with the syntax of a cleft construction. Thus, it is not entirely clearwhere the coding of information status lies (i.e. is it in the syntax, tied to lexical items orintonation contours, or to combinations of factors?). Because this kind of ambiguity iscommon among studies based on authentic data, future research in this area should continuelooking for effective ways of reducing ambiguities.ReferencesDu Bois, J. W., Chafe, W. L., Meyer, C., & Thompson, S. A. (2000). Santa Barbara Corpusof Spoken American English, Part 1. Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium.Du Bois, J. W., Chafe, W. L. Meyer, C., Thompson, S. A., & Martey, N. (2003). SantaBarbara Corpus of Spoken American English, Part 2. Philadelphia: Linguistic DataConsortium.Du Bois, J. W., & Englebretson, R. (2004). Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken AmericanEnglish, Part 3. Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium.Du Bois, J. W., & Englebretson, R. (2005). Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken AmericanEnglish, Part 4. Philadelphia: Linguistic Data Consortium.Lambrecht, K. (1994). Information Structure and Sentence Form. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.Lambrecht, K. (2001). A framework for the analysis of cleft constructions. Linguistics, 39,463-516. Antwerp: De Gruyter Mouton.MacWhinney, B. (2007). The Talkbank Project. In J. C. Beal, K. P. Corrigan & H. L. Moisl(Eds.), Creating and Digitizing Language Corpora: Synchronic Databases, Vol.1.Houndmills: Palgrave-Macmillan.Piotrowski, J. A. (2009). Information Structure of Clefts in Spoken English. M.A. Thesis,University of Oregon.

202 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsCan Only Native English Speaking TeachersTeach Aural and Oral Skills?Asst. Prof. Dr. Kasma SuwanarakNational Institute of Development AdministationABSTRACTThis research sits within the critical paradigm, taking into account people in their contextsand social equality. The study investigates the views of Thai English teachers (TETs) of oneof the critical issues in Thai TESOL, perceived unfairness of allowing only native Englishspeaking teachers (NESTs) to teach Listening and Speaking courses. From a critical stance,the study finds that TETs are aware of the discrimination that marginalises them. However,the acceptance of the non-native speaker label does not mean that TETs have completely losttheir professional identity. They can see the differences between NESTs and TETs as well astheir strengths in teaching Listening and Speaking courses. To some extent, TETs havechallenged this current issue. Various interesting aspects regarding the reactions to theperceived unfair policy are revealed. Were TETs treated as equal partners in Englishlanguage teaching (ELT), they would become more self-confident in their teaching career.Implications from the study contribute various new perspectives including collaborative teamteaching by TETs and NESTs, the development of ELT professionals, and creating chancesto discuss the issue of inequality in this particular context to better serve professional identityof TETs.INTRODUCTIONAccording to Chomsky (1965), a native speaker (NS) is defined as an ideal speaker-listenerwho perfectly knows the language. This has been further supported by Kramsch (1997) whoremarks that the ideal of the native speaker is attributed to the importance of spoken,communicative competence in foreign language teaching. Hence, in such literature the idea ofbeing a good model teacher, equipped with linguistic competence, is usually associated withbeing ‘native’.An increasing number of voices have questioned this ideology. Phillipson (1992) callsthis ideology a ‘native speaker fallacy’ to refer to unfair treatment of qualified non-nativespeakers (NNSs). He perceives that NNSs can acquire such attributes through teachertraining. Having gone through the language learning process can make them more qualifiedto teach a language than NSs. In addition to Phillipson, a number of researchers (e.g., Davies,1991; Medgyes, 1994; Quirk, 1995) claim that native English teachers (NETs) are notnecessarily better than non-native English speaking teachers (NNESTs). Nevertheless, therealms of inequality or injustice between NETs and non-native English teachers (NNETs)have not been sufficiently investigated nor has the massive contribution that NNETs makebeen accredited proportionally.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 203Contextual background and current practiceWith the aim of developing the English skills of Thai students and the increase ininternational competitiveness, the Ministry of Education (2009) of Thailand has beengradually implementing the English language as the medium of instruction. In accordancewith the policy of the Ministry of Education in Thailand, academic administrators of thecontext of this study have been concerned about the importance of English proficiency of theundergraduate students. Therefore, it has been decided that only NESTs are allowed to teachListening and Speaking courses as it is reasoned that the students will be given the bestopportunity to learn communicative skills from NSs. Moreover, simply because NESTs havebeen labeled as ‘native’ speakers of English, the academic administrators seem to accept thatNESTs are indeed in need and more qualified to teach these courses than Thai Englishteachers (TETs). For these reasons, some native speakers could easily take up positions ofEnglish teachers without a degree in English Language Teaching (ELT) or in other relatedareas. Such a belief has given rise to the idea that the language belongs to its native speakersand has empowered them over non-native speakers in English as a foreign language (EFL)and English as a second language (ESL) contexts (Canagarajah, 1999).From the informal discussion among teacher colleagues about English languageteaching in this particular context, the researcher realised that most TETs apparently lackcritical views towards the teaching role of English and rarely problematise the issue ofunfairness occurring in their teaching context. Nevertheless, some of the TETs might silentlystruggle against this discrimination. Therefore, the researcher was interested in finding outwhether there is a challenge to the notion of “Being a native speaker of English is a necessarycondition to teach English.” Also, the result of this study would make the TETs become moreaware of the undue prejudices and discriminations that have marginalised them.Consequently, the findings of this study should help increase Thai English teachers’ selfesteemin their teaching career, give them a voice, and recognise their position as equalpartners in ELT.Theoretical frameworkThe theoretical framework in which this study is undertaken derives from critical approachesto applied linguistics which are fostered by those who believe that applied linguistics itself isabsent of such a critical view in ELT (Phillipson, 1992; Pennycook, 1994, 2001). Afundamental principle within critical applied linguistics approach is that anything taken forgranted has to be questioned and problematised.In a more specific framework, the research emphasis is on a critical issue in TESOLregarding inequality between native speakers and non-native speakers of English for severalreasons. Firstly, based on her past experience in teaching English, the researcher was able todetect sources of injustice within this context. Secondly, during a pilot interview, theresearcher asked three of Thai English teachers about their perceptions of differencesbetween TETs and NESTs in terms of qualification of teaching Listening and Speakingcourses. Their responses indicated that NESTs are in demand in these courses since they are‘native English speakers’. However, TETs would like to take part in teaching these courses aswell. In this regard, their answers were considered crucial and contributive to the professionalidentity of TETs and EFL teaching in the context. These factors, therefore, are incentive toinitiate this study.

204 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsThe specific research questions are:1) What do TETs think of the non-native speaker label?; and2) How do TETs react to the policy which states that Listening and Speakingcourses must be taught by NESTs only?Literature reviewCritical approaches to TESOLAccording to Pennycook (1999), a crucial challenge for critical approaches to TESOL alwaysfocuses on inequality, oppression, and compassion in a particular situation. Thus, theapproaches need to be grounded in some forms of critical theory, subject to a constantskepticism, and see theory and practice as mutually supportive.Since people are trapped in unequal relations of power, they need to act and thinkdifferently in order to consider possibilities of change (Pennycook, ibid.). Transformativepedagogy is an important aspect of critical approaches in TESOL. Being transformative hasvarious levels, one of which is a level of awareness. By this, Fairclough (1992) considers thatcritical language awareness is a fundamental factor of social change. Another main aspect isproblematising practice which always questions the role of language or discourse in socialand cultural categories (e.g., race, gender, and ethnicity) and language learning.Emancipatory modernism, underlying Marxist thought, is in accordance with this aspect; i.e.,critical approaches should emancipate people through ways of thinking and questioning thegivens of TESOL.In trying to define critical applied linguistics work in language education, it isimportant to focus on the contextual concern and to relate aspects of language education to abroader critical analysis of social relations. In this regard, English teachers are at the core ofthe most crucial educational, cultural, and political issues (Gee, 1994). To take up achallenge, teachers need to develop critical approaches to TESOL because these approachescan help them understand problems that exist in their context and offer the prospect ofchange.The controversy of native speaker and non-native speaker (NS-NNS)From a sociolinguistic perspective, the debate over the native and non-native dichotomy hasgenerated a number of controversial issues in the ELT profession (Medgyes, 1994).According to Davies (1991), the native speaker’s identity is considered as a sociolinguisticconstruct which can be overcome within certain circumstances. Therefore, the idea that anative speaker is uniquely and permanently different from a non-native speaker is rejected.L2 learners can acquire native linguistic competence of the language even if they are outsideof the L1 environment. However, a non-native speaker is negatively defined as someone whois not regarded either by him/herself as a native speaker (ibid). In this regard, Braine (1999)comments that acceptance of the title ‘non-native speaker’ or NNS implies the verydistinction and the lack of identity which could lead to low self-esteem as a professional.The question of ‘native’ versus ‘non-native’ speaker is recognised as more or lessmaintained regarding its application to the ELT profession. Medgyes (1992) adopted the NS-NNS contrast as a clear distinction. Any NS, with or without EFL qualifications, has a betterknowledge of English than NNSs. However, the effectiveness of language teaching is notbased on the nativeness or non-nativeness. NNSs have an equal chance of success in theirown practices despite being claimed as deficient users of English (ibid.).

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 205According to the policy of Ministry of Education (2009) in Thailand, the academicadministrators in the context of this study have been concerned about the importance of theproficiency in English of Thai students. As a result, it has been determined that Listening andSpeaking courses must be taught by NESTs only. According to Canagarajah (1999), thebelief that NSs are the best for language teaching would reinforce the label of ‘nativespeaker’ and would lead to the assumption that a language belongs to its native speakers.Also, it has empowered them dramatically over NNSs in ESL and EFL contexts.It is very likely that NESTs only have to establish their professional identities as ESLteachers, while NNESTs often have the added pressure of asserting themselves in theprofession as competent English speakers (Maum, 2001). Many researchers (e.g.,Canagarajah, 1999, Lippi-Green; 1997, Thomas, 1999) reveal that teachers with non-nativeaccents have been perceived as less qualified and less effective and have been comparedunfavourably with their native-English-speaking colleagues. However, in accordance with theideology of ‘native speaker fallacy’, Phillipson (1992) argues that qualified and trainedNNESTs can contribute in meaningful ways to the field of English language education byvirtue of their own experiences as English language learners and their training and experienceas teachers.According to Canagarajah (1999), not all NSs may make good teachers of their firstlanguage. ESL professionals should go beyond ‘respecting differences’. The presence ofNNESTs must be valued and acknowledged as equals of NESTs (Edge, 1996). Consideringthe positive aspects of these two counterparts in the areas of language teaching would bemuch more worthwhile. An ideal EFL environment should maintain a good balance betweenNESTs and NNESTs (Medgyes, 1994). In so doing, both can complement each other in theirstrengths and weaknesses in various aspects such as linguistic, cultural, and educationalbackgrounds.Research on NS-NNS issuesThere is evidence of research on critical issues related to nativeness and non-nativeness invarious settings. Samimy and Brutt-Griffler (1999) investigated the effects of the NS-NNSdichotomy on NNS students in a graduate TESOL course in the United States. It was foundthat the students do not consider NSs superior, but only more proficient in the use ofauthentic English. The NNSs positively saw themselves different from their NS counterpartsin the area of linguistic competence in English, teaching methods, and general characteristics.Similarly, Liu (1999) studied how ESL teachers are qualified regardless of NS-NNS status.The study shows that ESL learners tend to appreciate their NNESTs’ competence andachievement as learners of English. Therefore, from these two studies, it is not clear thatsuccessful teaching does not necessarily depend on nativeness. Rather, it is affected bylearner factors, teacher factors, and contextual factors.However, the study of Golombek and Jordan (2005) indicates that the native speakerlabel can affect the credibility of NNESTs. Even though at first the two Taiwanese Englishteachers did not agree with the fallacy of native speaker superiority, they finally realise thataccent and race can negatively affect their teaching professionals. Likewise, the studies ofLee (2000) and Lippi-Green (1997) indicate that teachers with non-native accents have beenperceived by students as less qualified and less effective. This bias becomes stronger in anEnglish conversation class where there is an expectation that the teacher should be fluent inthe target language, and such fluency is always associated with NESTs (Kramsch, 1997).

206 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAccording to the studies of Braine (1999) and Thomas (1999), students initially perceivedNESTs as perfect models in language learning, but they become better familiar to qualified,competent NNESTs. This is because NNESTs can better understand their language problemsand needs.MethodResearch rationaleThis research study was conducted within a critical framework which aims for social equalityand emancipation. In order to liberate people, it is necessary to think first that people sufferfrom inequality and are not free even though challenging unfairness is not always possible. Itis apparent that the participants are aware of their rights and situations to some extent.Raising awareness of such inequalities is an important step to overcoming them. Hence, theresearcher intends to question unfairness critically, which is considered the first step toemancipation (Pennycook, 2001). This study is based on a critical paradigm which aims atmaking the teacher participants who are considered as unqualified to teach Listening andSpeaking courses realise that this alleged discrimination and injustice is a real challenge forthem to make their voice heard and to be free from being treated unfairly.Research methodologyA methodology employed within the critical framework is ideology critique. It is a reflectivepractice which enables participants to reveal their conscious or unconscious interests to seewhether a system suppresses a generalisable interest (Habermas, 1976). According to thepurpose of critical theory, it aims to understand and change situations based on equality anddemocracy. This is also in relation to a critical practice which is concerned with questioningwhat is meant by in our reality and the official accounts of how they came to be the way theyare (Dean, 1994). Thus, critical theory has an important role in the process of taking socialinequality and the possibility of change. In particular, it seeks to emancipate thedisempowered and to enhance individual freedoms (Cohen et al., 2003; Habermas; 1972).Regarding the research purpose, there are three stages in this study. Firstly, theresearcher described and interpreted what was going on in the context of this study inaddition to accounting for how the inequity came into existence. Secondly, the participantswere asked about unfairness happening to TETs in their contexts. Also, the researcher offeredthem a critical alternative for changing the situation. Finally, the first and second phases werecombined and analysed to see what changes to the situation in practice could be made,including how the participants were made aware of the issues of injustice.ParticipantsThe participants are 16 Thai English teachers who have been teaching English in a publicuniversity in Thailand for 2-17 years. Their ages range from twenty-nine to forty-six. All ofthem hold at least a Master’s degree in English Language Teaching (ELT) or in related areas.Why did you exclude NESTs from your study, which would have led to an interestingcomparative work? This study mainly focuses on the views of TETs about the unfairnesshappening in the context. I have suggested in the part of recommendation for further researchthat a comparative study which includes NESTs’ perceptions would be another interestingstudy.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 207Data Collection methodIt is evident in various studies on critical issues regarding nativeness and nonnativenessthat different methods have been employed such as closed questionnaires, openendedquestionnaires, observation, and interviews. According to Holstein and Gubrium(1995), interviews have been used as the main source of data collection or as a sourcecomplimentary to other procedures in many studies.Only semi-structured, in-depth interview was employed in order to allow theparticipants to express their feelings and thoughts and be guided and focused at the sametime. In order to meet the needs of the present study, the researcher constructed her owninstrument by formulating specific in-depth interview questions, given the nature of smallscale research and contextual and cultural uniqueness of the participants.Findings and DiscussionFindings of Research Question 1 “What do TETs think of the non-native speakerlabel?”Being a non-native speaker?All of the participants (16) perceived themselves as non-native English speaking teachers.They reasoned that they were native Thai speakers who acquired Thai as the first language.English was not their mother-tongue. They considered Thai their native language as itrepresented their cultural identity. The following quotations illustrate these:and:“I don’t think I am a native English speaker because I was born in Thailand and havebeen using Thai as the first language.”“English is not my mother-tongue. I can’t use English as natural as native Englishspeakers. My English speaking still has Thai accent, I think.”Even though some of the TETs could speak English fluently, they perceived thatnative English speakers were better language users. In addition, they merely learned Englishas an additional language.The notion of “The ideal teacher of English is a native speaker of English.”Ten participants had positive views towards this notion. As English was a native speaker’smother-tongue, TETs considered that NESTs were the most expert at their own language andcultures. Interacting and practicing communicative skills with native speakers helps learnersto obtain useful expressions and correct pronunciation. One said that:“I think NESTs are more competent in language uses because they are nativespeakers. They would be more accurate in accents and pronunciation as well as moreinsightful in their own culture.”However, the English speaking world is very diverse. Many English speakingcountries (e.g. the UK, the USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand) to someextent have different idiomatic expressions and accents. Hence, English language learnerssurely have a diversity of preference for NESTs.

208 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsInterestingly, another six participants argued that there was no empirical evidenceindicating that NESTs were better than NNESTs. Both NESTs and NNESTs have differentstrengths and weaknesses. Being a native speaker does not mean that he/she was an idealteacher. Many factors are integrated in an ideal teacher of English; e.g., educationalbackground and teaching experience. In this regard, some TETs who can achieve native-likeEnglish proficiency can be ideal English teachers. As quoted from the interview, oneexplained:“An ideal teacher would be a fantastic teacher, regardless of nationality. In my view,many successful and qualified teachers are not necessary to be native speakers ofEnglish.”Effects of professional identities on teaching Listening and SpeakingAll of the participants (16) believed that professional identities of NESTs and TETs couldaffect students’ attitudes and TETs’ self-confidence. Regarding students’ attitudes, tenrespondents felt that students might not perceive as credible the English proficiency of TETs.Consequently, this could lead TETs to the loss of self-confidence in their teaching profession.One of them stated:“I thought that Thai students prefer to study Listening and Speaking with NESTs whobetter know how to speak properly and naturally. With regard to this reason, it couldmake me inferior to NESTs that my confidence declines.”However, one TET commented that professional identity of TETs might not affectthe basic level of Listening and Speaking courses. Additionally, teaching experience andqualifications could form credibility of professional identity.Advantages of NESTsTen participants considered that learning Listening and Speaking courses with NESTs wouldbe a definite advantage to Thai students in terms of language competence. The studentswould have an opportunity to become more familiar with native speakers. The greaterpossibility is improving proficiency in English. One interesting comment was that learningListening and Speaking with NESTs required much effort and attention in trying tocommunicate with the teachers in English. He reflected:“I feel that learning listening and speaking skills with NESTs is more challenging. Itis unavoidable to speak Thai with TETs when there are some difficulties in expressingtheir ideas. ”In terms of cultural knowledge, six respondents believed that students could learn the cultureof the target language in greater depth from the actual source, and that some discussionsabout cultural differences could be an interesting topic in class. Additionally, with regard tothe English speaking world, differences among NESTs based on their cultural backgroundcould provide language learners a diversity of cultural knowledge.Advantages of TETsEven though some of them agreed with the notion of “The ideal teacher of English is a nativespeaker of English.”, all of the participants (16) considered themselves favourable to TETsteaching Listening and Speaking courses to some extent. The TETs know well how Thai

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 209students feel when learning Listening and Speaking because they have experienced this stagebefore. They can provide appropriate lessons and activities which correspond to students’abilities and needs.Six respondents suggested that learning the basic level of Listening and Speakingcourses with TETs would be more effective. TETs can use Thai to describe basic knowledgeof communicative English. Regarding linguistic knowledge, TETs would better understandthe differences of phonetic systems between two languages. By this, they can explain clearlythe differences of Thai and English articulation. When learners progress to advanced orintermediate level, they should study with NESTs so as to become more familiar to English.Discussion of findings of Research Question 1From the study, all of the participants comfortably accepted the ‘non-native’ speaker label,claiming that English is not their native language and they learn English as an additionalforeign language. The TETs see themselves as Thai, no matter how much English they havestudied and that their deep understanding of Thai and teaching qualification are superior tothose of English.According to Braine (1999), the acceptance of the title ‘non-native’ speakers impliesthe very distinction and lack of identity. To this point, even though the TETs accept thedifference, it does not mean that they completely lose their identity. From the researchfindings, all of the participants can see the differences between NESTs and TETs as well astheir strengths in teaching Listening and Speaking courses. In addition, most of them appearconfident that they can be in a better position when teaching the basic level of Listening andSpeaking courses. Hence, this would not lead TETs to low self-esteem as a teachingprofessional as Braine (ibid.) claims.Nevertheless, all of the TETs believe that professional identities of NESTs and TETscan affect students’ attitudes and TETs’ self-confidence since students might not be credibleto the English proficiency of TETs. This can be implied that the TETs are beingdiscriminated by a ‘non-native’ label. They accept the added pressure of asserting themselvesin the profession as competent English speakers (Maum, 2001). Hence, it is a fact that‘native’ and ‘non-native’ labels have been completely involved in this particular context.From a critical stance, it is apparent that ‘native and non-native speaker labels’ are so strongthat a clear line between native speakers and non-native speakers is drawn regardless ofteachers’ experience and teaching ability. As for TETs, lacking English proficiency comparedwith NESTs might lead to a loss of credibility of their teaching professionals.Taking Davies (1991) into account, the native speaker identity is considered as asociolinguistic construct which can be overcome within certain circumstances. A ‘nativespeaker label’ implies a false assumption that challenges the credibility of NNSs. With thisregard, the TETs may need to be against to what they are labelled. Knowing more than onelanguage and being able to teach in a foreign language can empower them in their EFLcontext. Their ability to use two languages can benefit from sharing the learners’ mothertongue and can facilitate the teaching and learning process (Medgyes, 1992). In addition, theTETs can prove to their students that they, Thai English teachers, have in fact acquired aforeign language, and that therefore the students can as well. This is concurrent withPhillipson (1992), who has a view that qualified and trained NNEST can contribute inmeaningful ways to ELT by virtue of their own experiences as English language learners andtheir training and experience as teachers.

210 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsIn addition, the results of this study appear parallel to the notions of many scholarswho debate over the NS-NNS dichotomy in ELT profession (e.g., Davies, 1991; Medgyes,1994; Nayar, 1994). The ideology that native speakers are the ideal teachers of languageleads to the practice of treating TETs differently from NESTs in the unfair ways; i.e., in thiscontext only NESTs are allowed to teach Listening and Speaking course. Therefore, thisideology needs to be rejected; otherwise, the TETs will be eventually negatively defined asincapable language teachers either by themselves or by the academic administrators.Findings of Research Question 2 “How do TETs react to the policy which states thatListening and Speaking courses must be taught by NESTs only?”Qualifications for Listening and Speaking teachersFrom the interview responses, four aspects of teachers’ qualifications for Listening andSpeaking courses emerged. Most participants (14) considered having a degree in ELT or inother related areas as a necessity. Otherwise, having taken a pre-service training course inELT was necessary. One of them explained:“It would be very beneficial if the teachers’ degree corresponds to the subjectthey teach. Knowing only how to speak and use English is not enough. As well aswithout training in ELT, teachers might not know how to manage the classroomand find it hard to make students understand.”Second, a number of respondents also considered teaching experience as another importantqualification. One explained that the more teaching experience the teacher had, the betterteaching performance was. Third, in terms of language awareness, linguistic skills andknowledge would help teachers understand the differences of English and Thai phoneticsystems and could guide students to articulate words clearly. Additionally, teachers needed tohave cultural awareness of the target language and of students’ language in order to betterunderstand the students’ attitudes towards EFL learning.NESTs with a degree in ELT: Is it necessary?Ten participants indicated that NESTs needed to have a degree in ELT or in otherrelated areas whereas four other respondents perceived that at least NESTs needed to havetaken a pre-service training course in ELT. In addition, having some teaching experiencewould be an advantage. From the interview responses, a degree or a training course in ELTcould help guarantee that NESTs know how to teach English and were familiar with otheraspects of language teaching (e.g., lesson planning, testing, and teaching evaluation). Onecommented:“Proficiency in listening and speaking English is not enough. I notice that a NESTwithout a degree in ELT couldn’t explain clearly why he uses grammatical structuresthat way.”In this particular context, it is not a requirement for NESTs to have a degree in ELT,whereas TETs must hold at least a Master’s degree in ELT. Another interesting comment wasraised by some respondents. They claimed that it was the values of Thai society whichregarded a degree as an official proof of knowledge. Other aspects, such as teaching skillsand practices, were more important than having the degree. Many teachers without a degreein this area could teach better than ones who hold a particular degree. The quotation belowgives a typical idea of this response:

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 211“Degree qualification merely enhances credibility to English teachers. It sometimesexcludes many talented teachers who don’t have a degree.”What if TETs teach Listening and Speaking courses?With a degree qualification and teaching experience in ELT, the participants were asked ifthey would like to teach Listening and Speaking courses as well as if they could teach moreeffectively. Three different opinions emerged from the interview.Certainly, I would love to have the opportunity.Nine respondents were interested in having the opportunity. One of them was confident thatshe could teach as well as NESTs could do, or even better.The following quotation illustrates this:“I can better understand and deal with Thai students than NESTs. I not onlyhave a good command of communicative skills but know what the differences betweenThai and English phonetic systems are.”Another three insisted that at the basic level they could teach more effectively thanNESTs. One interestingly noted that students at the basic level still need a lot of assi0stancefrom TETs to give some explanations in Thai and to discuss what their needs and learningproblems were.Certainly not.Two other participants asserted that they were not keen on teaching these courses. Withouthaving experience in foreign countries and much exposure to interacting with foreigners, oneparticipant perceived herself incompetent in teaching listening and speaking skills. AsEnglish was the NESTs’ mother-tongue, NESTs could do this job better and more effectively.Similarly, another made a comparison with Thai language teaching and learning; no onecould teach Thai better than Thai native speakers. One respondent remarked:“I couldn’t be as perfect as NESTs in terms of pronunciation and accent. I don’t thinkI am aware of cultural knowledge of the target language as well as the languageowners.”From this viewpoint, it is impossible that Thai people, as foreign language teachers andlearners, can speak like native speakers. Additionally, it is the fact that most of the speakersof English in the world are not native speakers of English. The English speaking world isvery diverse when we compare countries as different as Ireland, the UK, the USA, Canada,Australia, and New Zealand. All have different cultures, idiomatic expressions, accents, andso on. Hence, the nativeness cannot guarantee the best quality of teaching.Not sure.Another two respondents could not say exactly whether they could do better ormore effectively until they had a chance to try these courses and saw what the teaching andlearning outcomes were. One of them added that effectiveness of teaching depended onvarious factors; e.g., learners’ ability, teaching performance, course levels, learners’

212 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsmotivation, teaching evaluation, and learning outcomes. With this, the teachers could notknow how effective their teaching practice was by using only their personal judgement.Reactions to the policy: Taking up a challenge?Two different reactions emerged from the participants: positive reactions andnegative reactions. According to the positive reactions, four participants concurred with theacademic policy. NESTs were considered more qualified to teach these courses as they werecompetent in English proficiency and could bring the most beneficial learning outcomes tostudents. One reasoned:“It doesn’t matter as long as students are satisfied with their learning outcomes andNESTs’ teaching practice.”Regarding negative reactions, twelve participants felt resistant inside and have neverexpressed their feeling aloud. They considered it unfair. At least, TETs should be given anopportunity to try these courses. One of them reflected:“It’s not fair! I wish the policy makers took this issue into consideration. Some of usare better qualified to teach in terms of understanding of different aspects betweenThai and English, and learning problems of Thai students.”In respect of professional identity, eight respondents remarked that both NESTs andTETs were English language teachers, but they were treated differently. Conflicts andpotential problems could happen to TETs: the loss of credibility and self-esteem in teachingprofession, for instance. In this regard, eight of the participants would like to see somechanges. Yet, no one has opposed the policy explicitly and has revealed what the actualreactions were. One interestingly noted:“We should stand up for our rights. We shouldn’t just comment on the unfair policy.Instead, this issue must be raised up and discussed formally at the faculty meeting inorder to have some change.”Discussion of findings of Research Question 2The results of the study showed that a degree qualification was considered the most importantaspect for teaching Listening and Speaking courses, and training courses in ELT and teachingexperience were also required. Considering the educational background and teachingexperience of TETs in this context, their qualifications meet all the requirements. Hence,TETs wondered why it was not necessary for NESTs to have a degree in ELT or even inother related areas: one of them had only six months teaching experience of English at aprivate school in Thailand. Interestingly, one TET made a pointed remark about the degreequalification of NESTs:“At least NESTs’ qualification matches with the academic policy as they were nativeEnglish speakers.”It is in the light of this that in the EFL context in Thailand, teachers who are nativespeakers of English usually seem to be equipped with privileges in relation to teachingprofessionals merely because they are ‘native speakers’. In accordance with one participant’sclaim, the reaearcher’s assumption is that the academic administrators are not concernedabout the value of Thai society which regards a degree as a knowledge evaluation and a fair

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 213credential when recruiting NESTs. To add to this, according to Maum (2001), a growingnumber of native English speakers without teaching qualifications have been hired thanqualified and experienced NNESTs. This can be attributed to a ‘native speaker’ label whichundermines the required qualifications for English language teaching.In terms of language and cultural awareness, the participants believe that these twoaspects are also important for teaching Listening and Speaking, whilst these might beconsidered more important than a degree qualification in other contexts. It can be drawn upthat most of the TETs perceived themselves to be inferior to NESTs in communicativecompetence although they have superior degree qualifications. They accepted that NESTswere more qualified in language proficiency and cultural knowledge. Similarly, Samimy andBrutt-Griffler’s (1999) study reveals that the NNS graduate students in TESOL do notconsider NSs superior in every aspect, but only more proficient in the use of authenticEnglish. The participants have a view which is consistent with Medgyes (1992) thateffectiveness of language teaching is not based on nativeness or non-nativeness. Instead,effective teaching could possibly depend on other factors (Liu, 1999; Samimy and Brutt-Griffler, 1999); e.g., learner factors, teacher factors, and contextual factors.Even though 12 out of 16 participants have negative reactions to the policy, they havenever expressed their actual feelings aloud. Coming from the same culture, the researcher isin accord that their acceptance of this unpleasant situation is because of the attitude that theycannot change. Therefore, it is culturally appropriate to accept it calmly. However, theparticipants gave opinions that an objection to the perceived unfair policy should be raised ina formal discussion among the academic administrators or policy makers. Their feeling ofresistance inside should be expressed. From their responses, to some extent they areconcerned about the current issue which could lead them to the potential problem of low selfesteemin their teaching profession.According to Pennycook (1994), a crucial challenge for critical approaches to TESOLalways focuses on inequality and oppression in a particular situation. By and large, theinequality of teaching profession exists in this context and others. In this study, through theirresponses to the last question regarding the reactions to the policy in particular, it is apparentthat most TETs are aware of the unfairness and discrimination that marginalise them inteaching Listening and Speaking courses. Evidently, the TETs perceive themselves as beinglabelled as non-native speakers of English and how they react to the perceived unfair policy.ImplicationsThe findings of this study suggest several implications. First, both TETs and academicadministrators need to understand what the realistic aim of English language teaching in aThai context is. The main purpose is not to teach Thai students to speak like native speakersof English, but to use English as a foreign language and to achieve a number of English skillswhich will be beneficial for their future careers. Therefore, it is not necessarily to studyEnglish with NESTs. The majority of English teachers in the world, including in Thailand,are not native speakers of English. They are people who speak other languages; nevertheless,they can contribute their best knowledge and abilities in teaching profession as well as oreven better than native speakers of English.The acceptance of being called ‘non-native’ speakers reflects that TETs arecontributing their own discriminatory. Then, the assumption that NESTs represent the idealteachers of English needs to be rejected because both TETs and NESTs can be equally good

214 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsteachers in their own terms. The differences in the areas of culture, language, and teachingshould not be seen as negative and contradictory but should be recognised and valued aspositive and complementary. The unique contribution of TETs should be acknowledged as animportant and very credible force in the TESOL profession. TETs should have more selfrespectin their own abilities and worth. When TETs are not considered as inferior to NESTsin teaching abilities either by themselves or by others, at least in teaching Listening andSpeaking courses, the discrimination against TETs and a sense of inferiority will not happen.The issue of inequality of native and non-native teachers has been recognised inliterature of critical issues in TESOL (e.g., Braine, 1999; Davies, 1991; Liu, 1999; Medgyes,1992; Phillipson, 1992). Nevertheless, oppression regarding unfair policies has not beenconsidered a critical issue of teaching career in my particular context. Hence, as the finalimplication, there should be more formal discussions on specific issues and concerns relatedto the equality of NESTs and TETs. Also, the continuation of using ‘native’ and ‘non-native’labels which is the source of discrimination and injustice may be argued. On a regular basis,seminars and workshops should be organised in my work context to increase theopportunities for giving voice and to help define where the TETs are now in terms of ELTprofessionals. Consequently, these important issues should be raised in the university annualconference which is recognised as a forum for academic discussions. In this way, various newperspectives, such as collaborative team teaching by TETs and NESTs, and the fairer policywould be given greater consideration.ConclusionFrom the study, the participants have offered various viewpoints regarding native and nonnativespeaker issues and reactions to this perceived unfair policy. With the methodologyemployed, ideology critique, the participants provided their subjective critical perspectiveallowing them to see the inequality and discrimination existing in their workplace. It wasapparent that The participants accepted the ‘non-native’ label and could see the differencesbetween NESTs and TETs as well as their strengths in teaching Listening and Speakingcourses. To some extent they were concerned about the issue of inequality which could leadthem to the potential problem of self-esteem in their teaching profession. Various interestingaspects regarding the reactions to the unfair policy were revealed. Even though theparticipants have realized what their strengths and weaknesses are compared with their nativecounterparts, it is not possible to clearly indicate who are better English teachers. Rather, thetwo counterparts would complement each other in their strengths and weaknesses by havingcollaborative team teaching in order to provide the most advantages to students. Taking thisinto account, the academic administrators must reconsider the policy in order to bring somechanges for the better.ReferencesAmatashew, L. (2000). A Study of English teaching by native speaker project in elementaryschools under the jurisdiction of the Bangkok metropolitan administration.Unpublished Master of Education thesis, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand.Braine, G. (Ed.) (1999). Non-native educators in English language teaching. Mahwah, NJ:Erlbaum.Canagarajah, S. (1999). Interrogating the “native speaker fallacy”: Non-linguistic roots, nonpedagogicalresults. In G. Braine (Ed.), Non-native educators in English languageteaching (pp. 77-92). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 215Chomsky, N. (1965). Aspects of the Theory of Syntax.Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K. (2003). Research Methods in Education, (5th Ed.).London: Routledge Falmer.Davies, A. (1991). An introduction to applied linguistics: From theory to practice.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University press.Dean, M. (1994). Critical and Effective Histories: Foucault’s methods and historicalsociology. London: Routledge.Edge, J. (1998). Natives, Speakers, and Models. JALT Journal, 9(2), 123-157.Fairclough, N. (Ed.). (1992). Critical language awareness. London: Longman.Gee, J. (1994). Orality and litracy: From the savage mind to ways with words. In J.Maybin (Ed.), Language and literacy in social practice (pp. 168-192). Clevedon,England: Multilingual Matters.Gill, S. and Rebrova, A. (2001). Native and Non-Native: Together We’re Worth More. TheWeekly Column, 52(3). Retrieved on September 20, 2009 fromhttp://www.eltnewsletter.com/back/March2001/art522001.htmGolombek, P. and Jordan, S. R. (2005). Becoming “Black Lambs” Not “Parrots”:A Poststructuralist orientation to Intelligibility and Identity. TESOL Quarterly, 39(3),513-533.Habermas, J. (1972). Knowledge and Human Interests. London: Heinemann.Habermas, J. (1976). Legitimation Crisis (trans. T. McCarthy). London: Heinemann.Harmer, J. (1991). The Practice of English Teaching. Harlow: Longman.Holliday, A. (2002). Doing and Writing Qualitative Research. London: Sage.Kramsch, C. (1997). The privilege of the nonnative speaker. PMLA, 112, 359-369.Lee, I. (2000). Can a nonnative English speaker be a good English teacher? TESOL Matters,10(1), 1-3.Lippi-Green, R. (1997). English with an accent: Language, ideology, and discrimination inthe United States. New York: Routledge.Liu, J. (1999). From Their Own Perspectives: The Impact of Non-Native ESL Professionalson Their Students. In G. Braine (Ed.), Non-Native Educators in English languageTeaching (pp. 159-176). Mahwah, New Jersey: LEA.Maum, R. (2001). Non-native English Speaking Teachers in the English Teaching Profession.ERIC Digest. Retrieved September 18, 2009 from http://www.ericdigests.org/2003-4/teaching-profession.htmMedgyes, P. (1992). Native or Non-Native: Who's worth more?. ELT Journal 46(4), 340-349.Medgyes, P. (1994). The Non-Native Teacher. London: Macmillan.Nayar, P. B. (1994). Whose English is it? TESL-EJ, 1(1), F-1. Retrieved September 12, 2009,from http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/TESL-EJ/ej01/f.1.html.Pennycook, A. (1994). The cultural politics of English as an international language. London:Longman.Pennycook, A. (1999). Introduction: Critical approaches to TESOL. TESOL Quarterly, 33(3),329-348.Pennycook, A. (2001). Critical Applied Linguistics: A Critical Introduction. London: LEA.Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Quirk, R. (1995). Grammatical and lexical variance in English. London: Longman.Rampton, B. (1990). Displacing the ‘native speaker’: Expertise, affiliation, and inheritance.ELT Journal, 44(2), 97-101.Samimy, K. and Brutt-Griffler, J. (1999). To be a native or non-native speaker: perceptions ofnon-native students in a Graduate TESOL Program. In G. Braine (Ed.), Non-NativeEducators in English Language Teaching (pp.127-144). London: Lawrence Erlbaum.

216 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsSwales, J. (1993). The English Language and its Teachers: thoughts past, present and future.ELT Journal 47(4): 283-291.The Ministry of Education (2009). Untitled document. Retrieved October 15, 2009 fromhttp://www.moe.go.th/main2/project/project.htmThomas, J. (1999). Voices from the periphery: Non-native teachers and issues of credibility.In G. Braine (Ed.), Non-native Educators in English Language Teaching (pp. 5-13).Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Widdowson, H. G. (1994). The ownership of English. TESOL Quarterly, 28, 377-392.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 217Communication Strategies by Thai University Students in English Language LearningAsst. Prof. Dr. Sureepong Phothongsunan,Faculty of Arts, Assumption University, ThailandAbstractThis paper presents a small-scale investigation into communication strategies employed by aclass of Thai university students in a context in which English is required and undertakenprimarily as a medium of instruction. This action research arose out of the researcher’sattempt to understand and problem-solve English communication difficulties as experiencedand reported by participants in an English classroom. Two research methods are used:unobtrusive observations and semi-structured interviews. It is revealed that most participantshave no serious intention of communicating in English on campus or even in classroomsunless required by the teacher or class work. Justifying that they generally have no troublewith receptive skill, almost all accept that they do not see the need to use English as they feelmuch more comfortable and confident using Thai, their native language. Avoidance strategieswere observed and reported as the favored means among most participants. Particularly, topicavoidance, in which the student, when asked a specific question, does not know the answerand therefore will just keep silent, appears to be the most frequently adopted strategy, leadingto the occurrence of the topic being avoided or changed. On the other hand, compensatorystrategies, involving compensation for missing knowledge, were reported being used byseveral students, especially, with fluent spoken English. Among these, prefabricated patterns,stalling, and appealing for help were the three most commonly employed respectively. Asevidenced from the data, a number of the students have limited language acquisition and lacknecessary skill on how to cope themselves when confronted with some unfamiliar Englishwords or expressions. Implications from the study suggest that compensatory strategies, inparticular, could be used and trained to a greater extent to promote learners’ communicativecompetence. Teachers thus play an important role in conveying communication strategies tostudents and thereby assisting them in practicing English. Learners should then also bemotivated to apply communication strategies as greater motivation relates to higherfrequencies of strategy use. Furthermore, a genuine English-speaking environment needs tobe generated to the largest extent, because by continual exposure to natural conversationstudents could learn through opportunities both to hear more of the target language and toproduce new utterances to test their knowledge.Key words: Communication strategies, Avoidance strategies, Compensatory strategies,Unobtrusive observationIntroduction and Contextual BackgroundToday, because of international communication needs, more attention is focused on EFLlearners’ communicative competence in English. Wherever English is used as a communicationtool, EFL students’ communicative competence needs to be raised to fulfill the urgent need ofinternational communication (Chang, 2001). Thai university students, with no exception,need to be able to expand their linguistic knowledge while communicating and makethemselves interact better in the current global village The use of communication strategies,

218 ICLC 2010 Proceedingstherefore, has played an important role in assisting EFL university students in compensatingfor their finite English knowledge and integrating their reading and writing competence intomore practical communication.It is found that the learners’ belief systems in L2 learning show connections with thecommunication strategies L2 learners use to compensate for communication problems andenhance the effectiveness of communication in L2 (Canale, 1983). Thai students studyingEnglish in a context in which English is used strictly as a medium of teaching and learning,just like being in an English speaking environment albeit mainly during class time, are boundto encounter various communication difficulties in their daily communication with theteachers and the classmates. According to Dornyei (1995:51), “a significant proportion ofreal-life L2 communication is problematic”, especially when being exposed to a completelynew language and culture environment. In particular, participation in academic or classroomdiscussion has been noted as an area of major difficulty (Jordan, 1997).There is a body of research addressing EFL students’ difficulty in listening andspeaking tasks when studying in an L2 speaking environment (Clennell, 1999; Morita, 2000).According to Jordan and Mackay’s survey (Jordan, 1997), it was found that the EFL studentsin their study had the greatest trouble with understanding spoken English, particularly inexpressing themselves in speech involving fluency and self-expression. Another investigationby Graham (1997) suggested that in order of difficulty, EFL students under study rankedspeaking as first and listening as second when being exposed to authentic L2 learningambience. In spite of some of the studies in this area as far as a Thai perspective is concerned,there are very few studies that examine Thai EFL learners’ communication strategiesemployed and communication difficulties encountered in such a unique learning context.RationaleThis research arose from the researcher’s attempt to understand and problem-solve Thaistudents’ English communication difficulties. The study is significant in that it provideslanguage educators insights into English communication strategies used by students in acertain context in relation to their spontaneous communication response. This mainly dealswith guessing the meaning of an unknown word or expression in English whilecommunicating and using paraphrase if the English word is not known.Two research questions are raised as the focus of the study:1. What are the communication strategies used by Thai university students studyingin an English class?2. In what ways can teachers help the students minimize their communicationproblems?While the purpose of the study is not to generalise the findings to a larger populationbut rather to offer better understanding of the issues under investigation, several objectives ofthe study can be accounted for. Firstly, the study is set out to reveal the communicationstrategies used by a group of Thai university students in an English-as-a-medium context.Secondly, attempts would be made in turn to find ways to minimize communication problemsas reported by the participants. Finally, it is hoped that the study will pave the way for andencourage undertaking small-scale classroom action research which can be realisticallycarried out by a class teacher.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 219Methodologically action research and qualitative in nature, this study utilizes aninterpretative approach focusing on the researcher’s responsibility to engage in transactionswith the participants, aiming to understand and make sense of their views and positions.Theresearcher moreover ensures that the participants are treated without prejudice or favoritismfor an empirical study. Also, the establishment of a trustworthy basis is significant as it wouldencourage the participants to articulate what they actually feel and the researcher would alsobe able to revisit the participants to improve the research by feeding back findings fordiscussion and elucidation.Literature ReviewVarious difficulties face EFL learners especially in the area of communication. Linguisticcompetence alone does not guarantee successful communication. Rather, these students needother competence such as sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence to effectivelycommunicate. Scholars in the communication strategy domain advise that language learnerscan use communication strategies to resolve their linguistic problems and talk morecomprehensibly (Rabab’ah, 2005; Bialystok, 1990).Canale and Swain’s Framework of Communicative CompetenceCanale & Swain (1980) developed a widely cited framework of communicativecompetence, which takes into consideration communication strategies, as well as grammaticalcompetence and sociolinguistic competence. Later, it was determined that this limitedspectrum of competencies was inadequate for a communicative approach to languageteaching and learning. Canale (1983) revised this framework by allowing for the inclusion offour main areas of competence: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence,discourse competence and strategic competence. Strategic competence is determined by one’smastery of verbal and non-verbal communication strategies that may be utilized for two mainreasons: (a) to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to limiting conditions inactual communication (e.g. inability to recall something) or to insufficient competence in oneor more of the other areas of communicative competence; and (b) to enhance theeffectiveness of communication (e.g. deliberately slow down for a rhetorical effect). Canale& Swain (ibid.) suggested that this type of competence is demonstrated when individuals usecommunication strategies. Typical examples include the use of paraphrase, avoidance ofdifficulties, and requests for repetition, simplification, clarification or slower speech. Canale& Swain’s main contribution to communicative competence theory is that they haveintegrated into their model communication strategies that people often employ to cope withdifficulties that arise during the course of communication.Definitions and Classifications of Communication StrategiesThere have been many definitions proposed regarding the communication strategiesof second language learners. Bialystok (1990) points out that, although research scholarsoffer various definitions for communication strategies, these definitions seem to share threemain features:1. Problematicity: Problematicity includes strategies that are not normally usedduring routine language operations. Strategies are adopted when problems ineither learning or production are perceived—problems that may interruptcommunication.

220 ICLC 2010 Proceedings2. Consciousness: This refers to either the learner’s awareness that a strategy is beingemployed for a particular purpose, or the awareness of how that strategy may leadto an intended effect.3. Intentionality: This refers to the learner’s control over those strategies so thatparticular ones may be selected from a range of options and deliberately applied toachieve certain effects.Kasper & Kellerman (1997) described the term communication strategies as‘identification of communication strategies depends to a great extent on what one considerscommunication strategies to be, and in this respect, it matters very much whether oneconceives of communication strategies as intra-individual or inter-individual events.’ (p. 3).There are two different approaches to communication strategy research in the currentbody of research literature, intra-individual and inter-individual. According to Faerch &Kasper (1983:7), communication strategies are “potentially conscious plans for solving whatto an individual presents itself as a problem in reaching a particular communicative goal”.This intra-individual view locates communication strategies in models of speech production(Dechert, 1983; Faerch & Kasper, 1983) or cognitive organization and processing models(Bialystok, 1990). In early work, most notions of communication strategies restricted theconcept to such a problem-solving activity. Faerch & Kasper’s definition of communicationstrategies focuses on the learner or, more precisely, to the problems experienced by thelearner in speech reception, and in the planning and execution of speech production. Thisdefinition conceives communication strategies as mental plans implemented by the L2 learnerin response to an internal signal of an imminent problem, a form of self-help that does notrequire support from the interlocutor for resolution (Faerch & Kasper, ibid.). This implies thatthe learner may make use of a communication strategy without signaling his interlocutor toindicate that he or she is experiencing a communication problem or, requesting assistancefrom the interlocutor.The inter-individual view of communication strategies (Tarone, 1983: 62) suggeststhat “the term communication strategies relates to a mutual attempt of two interlocutors toagree on a meaning in situations where requisite meaning structures do not seem to be shared.Meaning structures here would include both linguistic structures and sociolinguistic rulestructures. This definition introduces an inter-individual perspective. In Tarone’s words,“communication strategies are seen as tools used in a joint negotiation of meaning where bothinterlocutors are attempting to agree as to a communicative goal” (ibid.:72). The negotiationof meaning as a joint effort between the interlocutors is central to the concept ofcommunication strategies. This inter-individual perspective allows for an inclusion of variousrepair mechanisms. If those repair mechanisms were applied to “clarify intended meaningrather than simply correct linguistic form” (1983: 71), Tarone considers them communicationstrategies.The aim of the present study is to investigate more on the intra-individualcommunication strategies that do not require the interlocutor’s interference rather than thoseinter-individual communication strategies that emphasize how interlocutors can achievemutual comprehension.A review of the literature shows that there are many kinds of communication strategytaxonomies, most of which are rather similar. According to Dornyei and Thurrell (1994),learners need some specific communication strategies such as message adjustment or

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 221avoidance, paraphrasing, approximation, appeal for help, asking for repetition, asking forclarification, interpretive summary, checking, use of fillers hesitation devices to function wellin the informal everyday conversation. Also adopted for the present study after a list ofcategories was derived from the existing literature, the taxonomy of Celce-Murcia et. al.(1995) consists of five main categories:1. Avoidance strategies consisting of message replacement, topic avoidance, andmessage abandonment;2. Achievement or compensatory strategies taking into account circumlocution,paraphrases, and gestures;3. Stalling strategies comprising fillers and repetition;4. Self-monitoring strategies mainly involving repairing; and5. Interactional strategies largely including appeal for help, and request forconfirmation.Communication Strategies and InterlanguageIt is generally thought that communication strategies were first invoked to account for errorsmade by learners of a second language. While there is general agreement that conversationalinteraction can facilitate interlanguage development, communication strategies are thought tobe one of the factors affecting interlanguage development. The term ‘interlanguage’ refers toa separate linguistic system based on the observable output which results from a learner’sattempted production of a target language norm (Selinker, 1972). When, in the attempt tocommunicate meaning, the learner feels that the linguistic item needed is not available to himor her, he or she can resort to a variety of communication strategies in order to get his or hermeaning across. The linguistic forms and patterns used in such attempts may become more orless permanent parts of the learner’s interlanguage. As a central component of interlanguage,the notion of communication strategies refers to the approach that “learners use to overcomethe inadequacies of their interlanguage resources” (Ellis, 1994: 396). Interlanguage thusrepresents an attempt to analyze the learner’s developing linguistic system in a moresystematic way.Within the framework of communication strategy, there are concerns over drawbacksfor EFL learners to employ communication strategies in real communication. Even thoughusing these strategies could make communication easier and help learners start interacting inEnglish more rapidly, strategies might lead to markedly non-native sounding speech (Tarone,1980) or result in a loss of face (Faerch and Kasper, 1983). Moreover, Johnson (1992) in hisstudy finds that the success in real communication is achieved too early with studentsemploying the communication strategies; thus, learners make no progress in terms of thelinguistic competence and their interlanguage fossilized in a too early stage, which means thatthey become the victim of their own highly developed strategic competence.Teachability of Communication StrategiesDifferent views of the pros and cons of communication strategies pose another question: arecommunication strategies teachable? Dornyei (1995) points out L2 learners might benefitfrom instruction on how to cope with performance problems since a large proportion of reallifeL2 communication is complicated. Supporting this view, Hatch (1978) posits that learners

222 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsshould be told to use whatever fillers they can to show that they make every effort tocommunicate. Dornyei (ibid.) also asserts strategy training provides the learners with a senseof security in L2 by allowing them room to maneuver in times of difficulty, Rather thangiving up their message, learners may decide to try and remain in the conversation andachieve their communicative goal. In this sense, communication strategies are teachable.However, some researchers believe that communication strategies are acquired, notlearned. According to Bialstok and Kellerman (1987), it is argued that most adult languagelearners already have a fairly developed level of this competence, involving a repertoire ofapplicable communication strategies regardless of their level of L2 proficiency. Canale andSwain (1980) also assert that communication strategies are most likely to be acquired in reallifecommunication and not developed through classroom practice. The discrepanciesbetween the pros and cons of using communication strategies and whether it is teachableprovide more room for further research, especially from a particular group of learners as Thaiuniversity students studying in such a certain context.MethodsTaking into account the specific research context, the exploration of communicationstrategies of a particular group of Thai EFL university students, the researcher adopts thequalitative tradition. This focuses on data collection with extensive explanations and detailsbeing provided on the context and participants in the research (Burns, 1999).Within the qualitative convention by means of action research, a case study is adoptedto address the research questions. Being ‘particularistic’, ‘descriptive’ and ‘heuristic’(Merriam, 1988:16), the study draws attention to the question of what specially can belearned from the single case rather than generalization beyond (Stake, 2000). Unobtrusiveobservations and semi-structured interviews are tools used to gather data.The findings were derived from observations from which numerous observations wereconducted using field notes to yield reliable data. Also, semi-structured interviews wereemployed in which the participants would be offered an opportunity to express their ideas,feelings and perspectives about the issues studied. The interviews would also offer theresearcher the opportunity to make on-the-spot evaluation and follow up on certain responsesin the narrative or sequence provided by the participants.ParticipantsA class of 31 Thai university students serves as the participants of the study. They had mixedlearning performance and in the third and fourth year of their 4-year undergraduate program.The vast majority of the participants (N=27) are Business English majors while the restrepresent students from the School of Management and the School of Communication Arts.In terms of gender, this group of participants comprises 25 females and 6 males. The courseundertaken by the sample was an English for Specific Purpose course, English for Hotels,which lasted 45 hours over a 1-semester period.Data Collection Methods and ProceduresInitially, unobtrusive observations were used. The researcher took into account ethical issuesinvolving informed consent and invasion of privacy. Thus, the participants were informed ofbeing observed for one semester at a start of the term by the teacher researcher. Since theresearcher was also the teacher of the course, this has validated the investigation into

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 223problems according to the action research principle (Nunan, 1990) particularly with the use ofobservation. The observations were conducted 4 times at equal intervals throughout thesemester using field notes. To code the observation, repeated instances of communicationstrategies used were noticed using hash marks. Then, the most and least detected cases inpoint on strategies were analyzed and then categorized.Afterwards, semi-structured interviews were employed. 15 participants withinteresting instances from the observations were purposively selected. Interviews are alsoused for crosschecking the observational notes (Radnor, 2002). With the semi-structuredformat, the participants were able to expound on the topics asked. The interview also enabledthe researcher to prompt the interviewees to expand their ideas when necessary. During theinterview conducted both in Thai and English, the interview questions were allowed to flownaturally, based on information provided by the respondents. The researcher, while listening,tried to interpret and seek clarity and a deeper insight into the respondents throughout theinterview. The researcher also ensured that there were smooth transitions from one topic tothe next. All responses were audiotaped and then transcribed. Non-verbal behaviors were alsoobserved and recorded as they occurred. The researcher also documented his own reflectionsshowing his views and feelings as soon as each interview was completed.Questions askedmainly included the participants’ personal data, their perceived communication strategiesused, justification for the most and least preferred strategies and ways to improve theircommunicative competence. The interview scripts were sent back to the participants forverification. Unclear points were also discussed and missing ideas added.To analyze the datafrom the interviews, the data were first content examined, the main constructs developed andthe transcripts marked in agreement with the constructs. A Thai TESL researcher helped toprovide validity with the responses by confirming the groupings.Findings and DiscussionTo answer the research questions, this section describes and discusses the results from theobservations and the interviews.Research Question 1: “What are the communication strategies used by Thai universitystudents studying in an English class?”From the observations, the researcher found that a great number of the participants made useof avoidance strategies, leading to the occurrence of the topic being avoided or changed. Inmany cases, silence was a reaction to indicate message ignorance. A smile and othershunning non-verbal communication such as stroking the head and keeping the face downcould also be observed at times in conjunction with the hush. Other strategies adopted inorder of frequency were prefabricated patterns, stalling and appealing for help accordingly.When the participants were asked why they employed such communication strategies,almost all justified that they had no serious intention of communicating in English in class orat the University unless it was required by the class teacher or class work. They felt morecomfortable and confident using Thai especially with group discussions. Only when it wasnecessary to use English for communication, they would feel compelled to do so. Many alsopointed out they more or less had more trouble with aural skills compared with oral skills.However, it was found that a few students with fluent spoken English employedcompensatory strategies, involving compensation for missing knowledge quite considerably.These participants attempted to communicate comprehensibly at their best. They argued that

224 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsthey would try by all means to express themselves to get the message across using gestures toconvey meanings, paraphrases, and even circumlocution.Most participants in the study acknowledged that they preferred to use strategies thatwould be rather easy to implement such as stalling and avoidance strategies as little effortswould be required while trying to use them. On the other hand, strategies that would requireany challenge or courage from the users, which could then lead to embarrassment orawkwardness in the classroom were thus less favoured.In line with the results from the interviews, most of the participants appeared to havelimited language acquisition. Also, they were found and indeed as many admitted lackingskill on how to cope themselves when confronted with some unfamiliar English words orexpressions. Some added that they always feel nervous or fidgety by the time they see newvocabulary or phrases in English and that keeping communication to a minimum would putthem on safe side.It can be said that all participants to some extent used communication strategies in theclassroom when encountered the difficulties. Some used the strategies consciously and someunconsciously. This finding seems to support the views held by some researchers asBialystok and Kellerman (1987) and Canale and Swain (1980) that communication strategiesare acquired in real life communication and not developed through classroom learning.Ignoring the topic as well as keeping silent as found to be the most used strategiessuggested that the participants lack training in using proper communication strategies whenthere were difficulties. This indicates that in language learning classrooms, teachers shouldprovide good models for using communication strategies and particularly the use ofcompensatory strategies should be strongly encouraged and even explicitly taught (Liu,1999).Most participants held positive attitudes towards using communication strategies as atleast they could be used to facilitate negotiation in meaning. However, a few participantsmentioned that the use of communication strategies hindered their development in usingEnglish accurately. This is supported by Johnson’s findings that the success in realcommunication by using communication strategies may cause fossilization in learners’interlanguage. (Johnson, 1992).In spite of the differences, the communication strategies used by the participants werewithin the framework suggested in previous studies. Various communication strategies suchas avoidance, paraphrasing, approximation, appeal for help, use of filler hesitation devicesand others were all reported to be emp0loyed by the participants to cope with communicationneeds while studying in an English class.Research Question 2: “In what ways can teachers help the students minimize theircommunication problems?”The results showed that the participants used different communication strategies with varyingdegrees according to their language levels.Most of the participants recognised that to promotecommunicative competence, they needed to employ certain communication strategies. Aspart of action research, there is a need to implement the change in the classroom; thereforethe researcher started to openly introduce and instruct compensatory strategies to and upon

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 225the participants. The purpose was to train and encourage the application of such strategies topromote the participants communicative competence.The class was later observed again to determine the results of the change incomparison with the previous observation. This time improvements were notices especiallyon the participants’ greater efforts to communicate and also the more used of strategies suchas appeal, circumlocution and confirmation checks.As reflected from the observations and the interviews, the strategies ofcircumlocution, approximation, and self-repairs were found in the participants with high andmiddle levels of oral proficiency. Those with a low level of oral proficiency might not haveenough language skill to use L2-based strategies. Experiencing language problems, they werelikely to use other types of strategies. Students with high and middle levels of oralproficiency used circumlocution, approximation, and self-repairs in similar ways.Message or topic avoidance was observed among the participants with middle andlow English proficiency. In fact, they should learn how to tell the conversation partnerdirectly that they could not continue with that topic. As compared to other types of strategy,avoidance was used much more and topic avoidance was found to be the most prominent.This is probably because the participants did not want to lose faces in class or become thecenter of attention. The findings are in contrast to what Wannaruk (2003) found in her studyon the use of communication strategies of Thai EFL students. She reported that mostparticipants in her study wanted to keep the conversation going and tried to communicate asmuch as they could. Only when they realized that they could not continue did they stoptalking about that topic. Modification devices, communication devices employed in order tokeep the conversation going smoothly were found to be most frequently used. As Dornyei(1995) points out, the culture and contextual differences of any specific learning settingscould yield different research results although the population is considered similar.ImplicationsThe findings of this study have implications in the field of foreign language teachingincluding the areas of strategy training and teaching methodology. As suggested by Oxford(1990), strategy training should not be abstract and theoretical but should be practical anduseful for students. Therefore, the practice of compensatory strategies or modificationdevices is to be supported instead of avoidance strategies. This would allow learners toattempt to compensate for missing knowledge in various ways as possible. They might notdirectly help the learners solve the problem of limited knowledge in L2, but they would helpthe conversation to continue smoothly and effectively.Evidently, EFL learners are able to utilize communication strategies. Nevertheless,they might not always be able to use them effectively and spontaneously. If teachers canmake learners more aware of the communication problems they might encounter and theadvantages of applying different communication strategies, they might be able to choosemore appropriate communication strategies and use them more creatively and effectively.To benefit EFL learners, all types of communication strategies and their uses shouldbe conveyed to the learners because each might be useful in different situations. Particularly,L2-based strategies should be encouraged most because they are most likely to lead tosuccessful communication and they would assist learners in practicing English. Story-tellingor describing a picture can be an effective start in the practice of communication strategies

226 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsbecause they provide the learners with the opportunity to become dominant in a conversationand to make use of communication strategies to overcome a lack of L2 knowledge. Inaddition, to become a proficient EFL user, learners should be encouraged to applycommunication strategies as much as possible as greater motivation relates to higherfrequencies of strategy use.ConclusionThis study focuses on the use of communication strategies when learners interacted with ateacher and their classmates in an English class where English is used as a medium ofinstruction. In addition to the findings revealed, the researcher wishes to propose that agenuine English-speaking environment be generated, because by continual exposure tonatural conversation students could learn through opportunities both to hear more of thetarget language and to produce new utterances to examine their knowledge. The alternative ofcommunication strategies and the success in using them are indeed influenced by variousfactors, be it teachers’ attitude, learners’ characteristics, learning styles, etc., which will affectthe ways learners use communication strategies. It is found that the participants under studytry to convey the messages and reach their communicative goals using differentcommunication strategies, although sometimes their use might not be practical and effectivebecause of a lack of training. As a minimum, this investigation contributes to the ways ofteaching students how to communicate when they have insufficient oral proficiency inEnglish.ReferencesBialystok, E. (1990). Communication Strategies: A Psychological Analysis of SecondLanguage Use. London: Blackwell.Bialystok, E. & Kellerman, E. (1987). Language strategies in the classroom. In B. K. Das(Ed.), Communication and learning in the classroom community, pp.160-175.Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.Burns, A. (1999). Collaborative Action Research for English Language Teachers. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Canale, M. (1983). From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy.In J.C. Richards & R.W. Schmidt (Eds.), Language and communication (pp. 2-27).London: Longman.Canale, M. and Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to secondlanguage teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, (1), pp.1-47.Celce-Murcia, M., Dornyei, Z., & Thurrell, S. (1995). Communicative competence: Apedagogically motivated model with content specification. Issues in AppliedLinguistics, 6(2), pp. 5-35.Chang, J. (2001). Chinese Speakers. In Swan, M. and Smith, B.(Eds.), Learner English: ATeacher’s Guide to Interference and Other Problems. Cambridge, UK: CambridgeUniversity Press.Clennell, C. (1999). Promoting pragmatic awareness and spoken discourse skills with EAPclasses. ELT Journal, 53(2), pp.83-91.Dechert, H. W. (1983). How a story is done in a second language. In C. Færch & G. Kasper(eds.), Strategies in Interlanguage Communication, pp. 175-195. London: Longman.Dornyei, Z. (1995). On the Teachabiliy of Communication Strategies. TESOL Quarterly,29(1), pp.57-84.Dornyei, Z. & Thurrell, S. (1994). Teaching conversational skills intensively: course content

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 227and rationale. ELT Journal, 48(4), pp.40-49.Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Faerch, C. and Kasper, G. (1983). Strategies in interlanguage communication. London:Longman.Graham, S. (1997). Effective Language Learning: Positive Strategies for Advanced LanguageLearners. Clevedon: Multilingual.Hatch, E. (1978). Discourse analysis and second language acquisition. In E. Hatch (Ed.),Second Language Acquisition, pp. 401-435. Rowley, Ma.: Newbury House.Johnson, H. (1992). Defossilizing. ELT Journal, 46(2), pp.180-190.Jordan, R. R. (1997). English for Academic Purpose: a guide and resource book for teachers.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Kasper, G. & Kellerman, E. (Eds.). (1997). Communication Strategies. Harlow: Longman.Liu, J. (1999). Non-Native English Speaking Professionals in TESOL. TESOL Quarterly,33(1), pp. 85-102.Merriam, S. B. (1988). Case Study Research in Education. San Francisco: Jossey Bass.Morita, N. (2000). Discourse Socialization Through Oral Classroom Activities in a TESLGraduate Program. TESOL Quarterly, 34(2), pp.279-310.Nunan, D. (1990). Action research in the language classroom. In J. Richards & D. Nunan(Eds.), Second language teacher education, pp. 62-81. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.Oxford, R. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should Know.Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House.Rabab’ah, G. (2005). Communication Problems Facing Arab Learners of English. Journal ofLanguage and Learning, 3(1), pp.180-197.Radnor, H. (2002). Researching Your Professional Practice: Doing Interpretive Research.Buckingham: Open University Press.Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics and LanguageTeaching, 10(3), pp.209-30.Stake, R. E. (2000). Case studies. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook ofqualitative research (2 Ed.), pp. 435-454. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.Tarone, E. (1980). Communication strategies, foreigner talks, and repair in interlanguage.Language Learning, 30, pp.417-431.Tarone, E. (1983). Some thoughts on the notion of “communication strategy”. In C. Fๆrch &G. Kasper (eds.), Strategies in Interlanguage Communication, pp. 61-74. London:Longman.Wannaruk, A. (2003). Communication Strategies Employed by EST Students. SLLT,12,pp. 1-18.

228 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsPIDGIN-ENGLISH IN THE NIGERIAN MUSIC AND FILMS: The BenefitsOpoola B.T. (Ph.D) and Opoola A.F. (Mrs.)Federal College of Education (Special),Oyo, Oyo State, Nigeria. dropoola@yahoo.comABSTRACTTitle: Pidgin-English In The Nigerian Music And Films: The BenefitsThis paper investigates the sociolinguistic interference in the use of Pidgin-English byNigerians. It focuses its analysis on selected Nigerian music and films. It is a presentation thatexamined English and English variation in Nigeria, a nation of 250 tribes and 400 indigenouslanguages. The paper highlighted the benefits of the Pidgin-English as medium ofentertainments in Nigeria. The study discovered the use of nativisation, ideophone amongothers as strategies of many Nigerian Artists in achieving better performance and widerAudience.BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY AND REVIEW OF LITERATURENigeria is a linguistic heterogeneous and most populous nation in Africa with morethan 150 million inhabitants. It is a nation of 250 tribes and about 400 indigenous languages.Though all Nigerian languages are officially recognized as media for school instruction, up tojunior primary basic 3, English is the approved language for teaching up to tertiary level ofeducation, from basic 4 of the primary school system (NPE 1977, 1991, 1995 and2004).(National Policy on Education).English in Nigeria is a unified language. It functions as the language of communicationand understanding among Nigerians of diverse tongues. It plays vital roles in Nigerianseducation, administration, economics, social and religious activities.English crept into Nigerians soil as the language of trade and religion propagation bythe Christian missionaries, traders and administrators. It was, however, introduced as a mediumof governance and formal schooling as soon as schools were established at Lagos andAbeokuta in 1843 and 1848, respectively.Opoola, (1999) cited Emenanjo”s (1994) presentation of the Colonialists intent asdirected by the Superintendent of Education for West Africa colonies as thus:‘We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpretersbetween us and the millions whom we govern. A class of persons, Africans inblood and colour, but English in taste, in opinion, in moral and intellect.’English has been a savior language for Nigerians to the extent that nineteen (19 years)after independence (1979), the Nigerian constitution still stipulated that:‘the business of the National Assembly shall be conducted in English, and inHausa, Ibo (Igbo) and Yoruba when adequate arrangements have been madetherefore’ (p23)In appreciating English values to Nigerians, Fadeiye (1996) cited Obasanjo with thefollowing assertion:English is the language that provides Nigerians with a means of communicationamong the diverse groups. The search for Lingua-franca in Nigeria is thereforea fruitless and time wasting venture’ (p102).As English came in contact with the Nigerian languages, there emerged other varietiesof English which are a cultural-bond.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 229Nigerians speak and write English in various ways with each tribe mixing Englishlexical, phonological, syntactic, semantic socio linguistic words and structures with that of theirindigenous languages. In other words, there are many variations of English in Nigeria as thereare many Nigerian languages. A popular variety of English in Nigeria is known as the PidginEnglishEka (1995) appraising L1 and L2 teaching and learning with English as main focusconfirmed that:“In learning L2 the learner often exhibits tendency to transfer the featurespresent in the second system of the L1”The colorization of the Standard English gave birth to, among, others tribal basedEnglish variation in Nigeria. We therefore for instance have Hausa-English, Yoruba-English,Fulfulde-English, Igbo-English and other English variation as communicative media in thenation.In this paper, Pidgin English receives prominent attention. It has been examinedthrough the linguistic analysis of one hundred (100) sentences extracted from four (4) Nigerianmusic waxed in video CD and two (2) Nigerian films.In the end, the benefits and beauty of employing Pidgin-English were highlightedthough not without being mindful of its educational implications - i.e its impact on Nigerianschool children and teaching and learning of the English language.The Pidgin-English in Nigerian Music and Films.Music and films are two fundamental concepts in mass media. Mass media as anelusive concept has been defined by Ezenwilo(1980) in Atolagbe, and Atolagbe, (2007) as:-“the complex operation of transmitting information, ideas and attitudes to asizeable and diversified audience” (p2)There are numerous entertaining, spiritual, educative and informative indigenous typeof music and films in Nigeria. A lot of these entertainment materials were rendered in Nigerianand English languages.In the old days, Nigerian traditional songs were composed and played using thetraditional musical instruments. Among the Yoruba people of western Nigeria for instance,instruments like ilu bata- “Bata drum” ilu-dundu” dundun drum” ‘sekere’ – “a beaded gourd”,agogo- gong and others were skillfully used for entertainment (see the photographs onAppendix A.)In place of films, community theatre involving masquerades and other traditionaldancers were engaged.The advent of the western civilization has however influenced the Nigerian people’sculture. A lot of traditional songs and dances are recently with dilution in quality, quantity andpresentation with western civilization. The languages implored nowadays are either English,Pidgin-English or uncoordinated Nigerian indigenous languages.Nigerian films produced in Nigerian languages are subtitled in English while areasonable number of Nigerian music are rendered in Pidgin English. This study investigatesthe creative nativization manifested in the use of expressions by musicians, actors, actresses inthe analyzed Yoruba music and films. Among the reference frames for this study is Bamgbose(1995) work cited in Igboanusi (2002) as thus:“the nativization of English in Nigeria is not limited to the usual features oftransfer of phonological, lexical, syntactic and semantic patterns of Nigerianlanguages into English, it also includes the creative development of Englishincluding the evolution of distinctively Nigerian usages, attitudes and pragmaticuse of the language.

230 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsAs identified in the selected Nigerian music and films Pidgin-English has beenskillfully and effectively utilized in communicating to an unlimited number of audiences.Most Nigerians with no western education opportunity daily procure Nigerian films andmusic VCD, particularly produced in Pidgin English.The analysed music are those of:1. 9ice written and produced by Gongo Aso (life performance Blacknights,U.K. VCD compilation Volume 1.2. Wande Coal and Don Jazzy International blue magic entertainment.3. no time for P. Square video with Bracket ft, P-Square, D-Banj, OgbonaFelifeli, Bumper2Bumper.PURPOSE OF THE STUDYTo establish the sociolinguistics influence of Nigerian languages in the discourses of NigerianEnglish –Bilinguals in Nigerian Films and Music. We also intend to highlight the benefitsinherent in the use of many varieties of English in Nigeria particularly the Pidgin English andits beauty in Nigerian music and films.METHODOLOGYFour types of Nigerian Music rendered in Pidgin-English and two Nigerian films wereappraised critically .In the end One hundred sentences were elicited and analyzed.DATA ANALYSISThe Taxonomy table as used in the analysis displays the presumed sociolinguistic reasons forconstruction of Pidgin-English sentences in the analyzed materials. Details of the results are aspresented in the attachment tagged Appendix-A,Taxonomy of Cultural Influence in the Pidgin English Expressions of the AnalyzedNigerian Music and Films.This study observed that expressions of Musicians, Film Actors and Actresses in PidginEnglish are traceable to some identified cultural and sociolinguistic presumed reasons, as in thetable below:Table 1 Taxonomy of reasonsReason in figureIdiom 1Majestic plural/wrong pluralization 2Semantic shift 3Ideophone 4Serialized verbs 5Analogical derivation-myth 6Acronym 7Nativization/ Indigenization 8Reduplication 9Ellipsis 101. Idiom: African languages are known with idiomatic and proverbial expressions. Thisinfluence was notable in some Pidgin English utterances of the bilinguals of the analyzedfilms and music see appendix B2. Majestic plurals were used in the speech of the film actors and musicians. The feature iscommon in Yoruba people”s culture of politeness. An individual is addressed as if he ismore than one person, just as in the following example of Yoruba sentences:

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 231‘Baba re nko?’‘How is your father?’Won wa dada.‘They are fine’ instead of ‘He is fine’.‘Se egbon binrin re wa nile?’Is your elder sister in the house?’Beeni won w anile.Yes they are in the house instead of “Yes she is in the house.More examples of these utterances are in appendix B3. Semantic Shift: a lot of utterances rendered in Pidgin-English reflected the nativelanguage of the Musicians, Actors And Actresses. Several sentences produced in pidgin-English have Yoruba meanings.4. Ideophones: This is a notable feature in African languages. It involves the use ofreduplication of morphemes to press home a vivid description of incidents, persons,animals, places or things. E.g /lanti-/ ‘big’ “Ori re lantilanti n lo fi gbami nigbo.” ‘Heknocked my head with his extra large and strong head. See more examples, as shown in thepidgin-English sentences on the attached Appendix B.5. Verb Serialization: Is part of African languages syntactic structure. In Yoruba, there areinstances of strings of verbs without intervening items. This is a descriptive strategy as inthe following example.“Oluko wa je iresi lana”“Our teacher came, ate rice yesterday.”“Our teacher came and ate rice yesterday.”As in appendix B, some Pidgin-English sentences showed the influence of Yoruba verbserialization feature.6. Analogical Derivation- Myth: African belief in the spiritual world also influenced someutterances uttered in pidgin-English in the analyzed works. Yoruba people, for instance,have faith in the transition of the dead Spirit referred to as Ara-Orun ‘Heaven Inhabitants’who yearly appear as ‘Masquerade’.7. Acronyms were also employed in the construction of pidgin-English sentences in Nigerianmusic and films. The Nigerian educational agents like, The Joint Admission andMatriculation Examination Board’ was accronymized into JAMB. See more examples onAppendix B.8. Nativization and Indigenization of English words and sentences were also adopted in theproduction of some pidgin-English sentences of the analyzed Nigerian films and music.There was transfer of Nigerian languages features into Pidgin-English at phonologicallexical, syntactic and semantic levels. See appendix B.9. Reduplication of words, phrases, clauses and sentences is a viable stylistic instrumentamong African languages Poets. This feature has greatly influenced pidgin-Englishexpressions in Nigerian music and films. See Appendix B.10. Ellipsis was also used with more dots than necessary .Apart from the above listed reasons, presumed to be responsible for some expressions inthe analyzed works, this study also discovered that the following linguistic strategies wereadopted by Nigerian musicians, actors and actresses. They are:1. Code-mixing: Many expressions were loaded with both Yoruba and English words andsentences. Some sentences that started in Yoruba ended with English phrases andclauses and vice-versa.2. Code-Switching: In the course of presentations, many Yoruba English bilingualsstarted some discourses in English and ended them in Yoruba.

232 ICLC 2010 Proceedings3. Transliteration: In order to construct Pidgin English sentences, Nigerian musicians andactors in the analyzed works transliterated some English words like ‘wetin’ for ‘what’see appendix B.4. Loan words: A lot of English and Yoruba words were borrowed producing utterancesin Pidgin-English in the analyzed music and films. see appendix B5. Coinage: Many English sentences were coined to suit their circumstances of usage.This also goes for some Yoruba words, e.g.‘change’ and ‘moneth’ for ‘money’ seeappendix B.6. New Words: The stylistic use of words that are not in English or Yoruba also beautifiesthe communicative utterances of the Musicians Actors and Actresses. E.g words like‘Palava’, ‘Jah Jehovah’For clarity of purpose, a total of one hundred sentences, elicited for this analysis were aspresented in the attachment/appendix B.Each sentence has the figure that indicates ‘presumed reason’ for its existence and thealphabetic letter that reveals the strategies adopted by the person that made such a utterance.The sources of the educated utterances were the oral discourses of both the musicians,the actors and actresses as well as the subtitled sentences which were done in both Pidgin andStandard English.THE BENEFITS OF PIDGIN-ENGLISH IN THE ANALIZED SONGS AND MUSIC.Pidgin English as employed in the analyzed Nigerian music and films has the followingbenefits:1. Achievement of Effective: Communication with wide numbers of audiences(i.e achievement of mass media intents)2. Provision of pleasant entertainment for people: A great number of audiencehave their nerves relaxed. This is a better therapy for stress management.3. Moral Instruction were touched. The plays and songs exposed the social vicesin the society, with their negative consequences. – Listen to the clips inAppendix “C”4. Use of Pidgin English in the analyzed materials provided good healtheducation. For instance, the Artists’ dance drama on the consequences ofpromiscuousness and unsafe sexual intercourse among adolescents, as inAlooma’s “Eekan Doyun,” i.e sex done once resulted in pregnancy. See videoclip in appendix C.5. Political orientation also came into play. The need for good governance inNigeria was emphasized, with a focus on loving one’s country patriotically,T.K. Bosun”s track on Nigeria presented in pidgin English preached unity,contentment, and patriotism among Nigerians as it echoed on peace thus:“A love Naija, A No go lie Na inside am a go live and die…” “ I am a bigiboy” –refer to appendix C for extracted video clip.6. The use of Pidgin English as exemplified in the analyzed works promotesNigerian culture. Some Yoruba proverbs and words used alongside Englishlexical and phrasal items exposed the language beyond the original locationof native speakers.7. Pidgin-English informs the world of the potentials in the Nigerianentertainment industry and shows how creative Nigerians are and howproductive if given necessary incentives to create job opportunities for theyouths, by the youths.8. The educative nature of the analyzed films and songs cannot beoveremphasized for instance, 9ice must have taught many people what we

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 233may consider simple, but of which we are ignorant, through his mathematicsreference to number of days and weeks in a year thus;“Check your calendar; you see some pieces of number, 365 days make 52 weeks… -refer to the video clip in appendix C.CONCLUSIONThe use of Pidgin-English has provided ample opportunities for both the musicians,actors and actresses as well as the Nigerian viewing audience. It is also essential not to notethat this variation of English has assisted many Nigerians with no opportunity of Westerneducation to understand a lot of English words and sentences with which they transact businessand communicate with each other in a nation of about 250 tribes and 400 languages. Theinfluence of the music and film medium style on the teaching and learning of English inNigerian schools where the large number of music and film audience members are adolescentsof school age cannot be overemphasized, as it assists the teaching and learning of StandardEnglish.RECOMMENDATIONS1. Both children and adults need more education in standard and other varieties of English,particularly the Pidgin English in Nigeria.2. ``Film Producers should encourage more Nigerian Artists with flare for Pidgin Englishof singing and acting plays.3. The Nigerian government needs to encourage Nigerian Artists through loans andinternational exposure. A lot should be done in promoting Nigerian culture andtraditions through the Nigerian music and film Industry.4. The people of Nigeria are in need of Mass Education on politic, economicemancipation, war against corruption and corrupt leaders, unity, peace, love andsincerity of purpose. In order to achieve these, production of more music and films inPidgin –English are imperative.REFERENCESAtolagbe S.A. and Atolagbe, A.A. (2008) ‘The Mass Media and The Millennium DevelopmentGoals: Tasks Ahead.’ Paper presented at the 2 nd National Counference, School ofLanguages, F .C. E. Obudu.Balogun Olatunji (2008) TaiwoTaiwo 129, Nnamdi Azikwe Str. Idumota Lagos: Olasco Film.Bamgbose (1995) English in the Nigerian Environment, In A. Bamgbose and A Thomas (eds)New Englishes. A West African Perspectives. pp 9 -26: Mosoro Publishers.Eka D. (1995) Comprehensive Analysis and the Teaching of English Pronunciation incurrent Trends in educational practice. Mlonged, Uyo Emason Ltd.

234 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsEzenwilo (1980) The Role of the Mass media in a Literacy campaign in Federal Ministry ofEducation: Towards the National Literacy campaign. Lagos, Federal Ministry ofEducation.Fadeiye J.O. (1996) “Language and National Integration: The Nigerian Experience”. In St.Andrews Journal of Languages, Oyo, Vol.1 No. 1 April, pp 16 – 107.Federal Republic of Nigeria (1977) National Policy on Education, Lagos, Government Press.Federal Republic of Nigeria (1981) National Policy on Education, Lagos, Government Press.Federal Republic of Nigeria (1995) National Policy on Education, Lagos, Government Press.Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) National Policy on Education, Lagos, Government Press.Igboanusi H. (2002) A Dictionary of Nigerian Usage, Ibadan: Enicrownfit Publushers.Julia, Eka R. (2009) “Translating for the Media: On faithfulness’ In T.J. Riyanto, L.S. Limantaand S. Divi (eds) Media in A Fast Changing World Indonesia Petra ChristianUniversity. Pp 218 – 223.Kanayo O.N. (1984) “A Prolegomenon to Government and missionary enterprise and rivalryin Nigeria: The Igbo experience (1841- 1844) Part II In Obudu Journal of EducationStudies, Vol 3 No. 1 Makurdi Onavi Publishers pp 12 -20Mobolaji Tajudeen (2008) Kosowominibi-Abosi Lagos. NAJ Investment Nigeria EnterprisesLimited.Noah Paulinus (1986) ‘Case Against Wazobia’. An Unpublished Departmental Seminar Series-University of Calabar.Opoola B.T. (1999) Languages in context. A case study of the Influence of English on theDiscourses of Selected Yoruba-English Bilinguals. An Unpublished Ph. D.Dissertation. University of Calabar, Nigeria.Opoola B.T. and Adebiyi, M. (2009). “Mass Media and Politics in Globalised System: TheNigerians Experience’ In T.J. Riyanto, L.S. Limanta and S. Divi (eds) Media in A FastChanging World, Indonesia Petra Christian University. Pp 63 – 68.Oyelaran (1983) “Linguistic and National Integration” Lecture delivered on the occasion of theteaching of linguistic students association. University of Ibadan.

236 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsHealth Discourse and Health Knowledge: a preliminary study ofthe Thai Rath Daily NewspaperCompol Swangboonsatic, PhD.Graduate School of Language and CommunicationNational Institute of Development AdministrationAbstractNewspapers are one of the media that has been used for variouscommunication purposes. Several studies have documented its influence onchanging audience’s attitudes and behaviors and its reflection of audience’sbeliefs and cultural values. When used for health communication,newspapers can shape its readers’ knowledge of health. This studyinvestigates such effect by adopting critical discourse analysis. A sample of150 pieces of health news articles published in the Thai-language ThaiRath, Thailand’s best-selling daily newspaper, between October 2009 andJanuary 2010 were used as data. Analysis shows that this health newsdiscourse is composed of an unequal coverage of health topics. The healthdiscourse is subordinate to science and technology discourse. Thediscourse structure is in the conventional inverted pyramid format of briefnews reports. This health discourse is argued to have had a negative impactdue to the incomplete and insufficient knowledge about health of the ThaiRath newspaper’s readers.IntroductionThe importance of health communication has recently been realized by the Royal ThaiGovernment, the Public Health Ministry, medical and healthcare professionals, communityleaders, the Thai media and the public. According to the 9 th and the 10 th National HealthDevelopment Plans (2001-2006 and 2007-2011), the government emphasizes promotinghealthy behaviors and life styles with the aim of protecting their citizens from sickness andreducing unnecessary spending on health through the national budget.Newspapers are one of the Thai media that has realized the significance of healthpromotion and has increasingly participated in the health communication activities.Newspapers usually inform the public of the spread of a deadly disease. Very often suchnews is reported with warnings and advice from the Ministry of Public Health on how toprotect oneself against infection with the main purpose of controlling the disease.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 237Newspapers have also contributed to the development of national health by including morearticles which provide information about health.One of the local newspapers in Thailand that has engaged in these activities is ThaiRath. Thai Rath claims to have the country’s highest circulation, selling in excess of1,000,000 copies per day reaching some 12,000,000 readers across the country. Thai Rathhas therefore fulfilled the criteria as the main printed media in Thailand, corresponding to thefunctions of the media as mentioned by Biagi (2007) and Neillis (2004).A particular page (page 7) of Thai Rath is dedicated to news updates of developmentin science, technology and agriculture. It is on this page where articles related to health arenormally presented in the top half of the page.As health communication is at its early stages in Thailand and a significant amount ofeffort has been devoted to the creation of media products to promote health, a limited amountof research is documented. Moreover, there is a lack of investigation into the practices of theprint media with an emphasis on its impact regarding the establishment of health knowledge.It is therefore necessary to study these health articles published by Thai Rath utilizing thediscourse approach and critical discourse analysis, which should enable the study to identifythe health discourse and the possible influence of these articles on the knowledge of thereaders. To achieve such objectives, the following research questions are asked:1. What is the discursive practice in the health news articles under the Cheoncheewit,Loaksopin and Thunloak columns in Thai Rath?2. How is the discourse in these articles associated with health knowledge?Literature ReviewHealth CommunicationGeist-Martin, Ray and Sharf (2003) define health communication as a process bywhich individuals semiotically exchange information for mutual understanding regardinghealth issues. According to Ratzan et al (1994 quoted in Intaratad, 2005), healthcommunication involves the use of artistic and strategic communication to inform, influence

238 ICLC 2010 Proceedingsand motivate a targeted audience of individuals, organizations, and the public. Moreover, thePopular Health Communication System Research and Development states that healthcommunication employs communication strategies via various media and communicationtechnologies to distribute health-related information to the public with the aim of maintainingthe public’s interest in particular issues within the health field. The organization insists thathealth communication should holistically enlighten the public to realize the contribution ofgood health to development.Apfel (1998 quoted in Intaratad, 2005) suggests that successful health communicationshould include the provision of health information in a timely manner that meets the need ofthe group targeted. It should reach a large group of people and the receiver should haveaccess to health information regularly. Health information should be accurate, reliable andconsistent. Health information should also have a good balance that is culturally, socially andenvironmentally appropriate for the receiver. Moreover, health information should beevidence-based, having a creditable reference of the origin of information and should bemultidimensional. Finally, health communication activities should provide comprehensiblehealth information.Health Communication StudiesThree perspectives have so far been suggested in the research of healthcommunication: process-based, message-based and ecological perspectives. Researchadopting process-based perspective focuses on the meaning making and communicatingprocess in health communication (Du pre, 2005 quoted in Dutta, 2009). Research strategiesfor effective health communication is the goal of studies with message-based perspective(Murray-Johnson & Witte, 2005 quoted in Dutta, 2009). The ecological perspectivehighlights the influence of context on health communication.These perspectives have been adopted in the research of health communication withdescriptive, explanatory, predictive and controlling purposes. Some of the research includesmedia effect such as Brannstrom and Lindblad’s (1994) project which studied the influenceof media on health behavior in Sweden. They argued that the presentation of health issues,content and concept in news reports had an impact on its audience. Brannstrom and Lindbladanalyzed news coverage of heart disease and diabetes in the media for five years and its effecton Swedes aged 16 to 80 years old. They found that laypeople who were personally

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 239impacted by the ailments in question were used as presenters and their opinions and healthybehaviors were used as role models in the news reports. The presentation of health issueswas intended for middle-aged men more so than women, children or the elderly. Theiranalysis showed that the targeted audience was interested in health issues and content. Inparticular, Brannstrom and Lindblad reported on the significant influence of health issues,content and concept on audience’s health behavior and the correlation with their gender andsocial status.In Thailand, research into the audience’s comprehension of the H1N1 preventioncampaign on TV was conducted during the outbreak of the disease in 2009. Punsakul (2010)evaluated the understanding of viewers of a short movie used during the campaign targeting25-year-olds. The results showed that most of the viewers were aware of the spread of thedisease, and were influenced by the use of background music and language to portray thesituation, as well as the use of comedian presenters as a communication strategy forpersuasion purposes. In another study, Toniti (2010) measured the effect of sound, images,and language used in a short movie during a cervical cancer campaign on a group of Thaiviewers’ understanding. The study revealed that the use of only sound to present causes andsymptoms of the illness in the movie possibly led to a weak and incomplete knowledge of theviewers.Making references to sources of medical information in advertisement has also beeninvestigated and the findings are alrming. Hopscroft (2002) analyzed referencing inadvertisements of medicine and medical equipments in medical journals including - the NewZealand Family Physician, NZ Doctor, New Zealand GP and New Ethicals Journal. It wasfound that 18% of the references were literally taken from research papers and wereincomprehensible to the general public. Thirteen percent of references were meaningless orincomplete and lacked important details. The largest proportion of 69% referred to medicaland laboratory research almost half of which was inaccessible. Some of these referenceswere incorrect interpretation of the research findings and several referred to abstracts ofresearch papers.These studies conducted utilizing the adopted perspectives have demonstrated thatvarious elements of health communication can exert an influence on people’s knowledgeconcerning health.

240 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsHealth Communication and DiscourseThere are two approaches to discourse. The Formalist approach focuses on thelinguistic features and views discourse as a linguistic unit of sentence or larger than clause(Stubbs, 1983:1 quoted in Schiffrin, 1994). Van Dijk extends the Formalist approach tocover various levels, dimensions, types, forms of linguistic units or realization (1985:4quoted in Schiffrin, 1994). However, the Functionalist’s approach emphasizes linguisticfunction and views discourse as language use to achieve certain goals in communication.Discourse is viewed as discursive practices with meanings arising from interpersonal andsocial interaction and identity. In media studies, Burton (2009: 53) broadens the concept ofdiscourse to include the use of various signs to communicate certain meanings. Humancommunication is therefore composed of discourses which have influence on ourunderstanding, experience and interaction with our environment. Burton also contends thatdiscourse is related to ideology and reflects our society. Based on Burton’s view and thelinguistic approaches to discourse, health communication can be conceived as a use of signsto communicate meanings of health concerns, which reflects values, beliefs, interests andmany other elements of the society.Public Discourse of the NewsAccording to Manning (2001), public discourse is language use in the mass media.The term is derived from the concept of the public sphere, which Habermas proposed,referred to the space where people gather to voice opinions, exchange ideas, and criticizeleaders. News reports are usually written in the ‘inverted pyramid’ structure. Theconventional structure composes of headline, lead, and story (Conboy, 2007; Lanson andStephens, 1994). The headline is written with a particular discourse to attract readers. Thelead summarizes the content of the news while the story provides readers with details of thenews. These three parts are organized based on their weight in engaging readers, typically asevaluated by the journalist. This type of public discourse in the newspaper can have aninfluence on the attitude, feeling and knowledge of the readers.Discourse Analysis in Health CommunicationBoth the linguistic approach (Schiffrin, Tannen and Hamilton, 2003; Bhatia,Flowerdew and Jones, 2008) and the communication approach to discourse (Burton, 2009)

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 241have been employed to study different types of texts in various health communicationcontexts. Examples are ‘Anaesthetic Talk in Surgical Encounters’ (Pope, Mort, Goodwin andSmith, 2007), ‘Corridor Conversation: Clinical Communication in Casual Spaces’ (Long,Iedema and Lee, 2007), ‘Dialogues for Negotiating Priorities in Unplanned EmergencySurgical Queues’ (Lum and Fitzgerald, 2007), and ‘The Role of Signs and Representations inthe Organization of Medical Work: X-rays in Medical Problem Solving’ (Maseide, 2007).Critical Discourse AnalysisCritical discourse analysis (CDA) draws on identifying ideology, attitude, belief, andvalue associated with power, gender, identity, etc., which are reflected in the discourse (VanDijk, 2003; Wodak, 2005). Fairclough proposed CDA to be used to study both the form andfunction of text in relation to textual production and consumption, and to society(Richardson, 2007:37). Adopted in media studies, CDA enables researchers to identifyseveral related elements. For example, the Thais’ sociocognitive model from the newsheadlines and leads (Gadavanij, 2003), political ideology of the U.S. and British governmentsduring the ‘War on Terror’ (Chantarawandi, 2008), and the Royal Thai Government’s policytowards news broadcasting as reflected in the news discourse (Chanput, 2007).MethodologyA sample of 150 health news articles written in Thai published in Thai Rath betweenOctober 2009 and January 2010 was used as data. The set of data was then analyzed utilizingthe discourse analytical approach and CDA.ResultsAnalysis in the topic of health information, aspect of health information, position, andcompositional structure of the health discourse of the articles suggests some possible impacton the readers’ health knowledge as demonstrated by the following findings.

242 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsTopic of Health InformationAnalysis shows that there is an unequal coverage of health topics. The topic ofDiseases/Illnesses was highest among the identified fourteen topics as shown in the Table ofTopics of Health Information below:Table of Topics of Health InformationTopicsFrequency(N= 150)Diseases/ Illnesses 23Medicine 19Medical Technology 19Physical & Mental Care 18Food 14Physical Exercise 10Mental Health 9Danger from Communication Technology 9Alcohol 8Danger from Household Tools,Ornaments, Clothes, etc.7Coffee & Tea 5Cigarette & Addicted Drugs 3Food Supplements 3Relaxation 3

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 243Cancer was mostly mentioned followed by H1N1 as shown in the Table of Topic ofDiseases/Illnesses below:Table of Topic of Diseases/IllnessesDiseases/IllnessesFrequency(N= 23)Cancer 5H1N1 4Obesity 3Heart Disease 2Alzheimer 2Oral Diseases 2Parkinson 1Blood Pressure 1Joint Pain 1Tuberculosis (TB) 1Epilepsy 1This suggests that health information may be given different levels of significance bythe newspaper and its readers, which is possibly related to the weight of the health concernsto the readers and can affect the readers’ holistic knowledge about health.Aspect of Health InformationIt was also found that opposing aspects in terms of positive and negative effects tohealth of alcoholic drinks, food supplements, medicine, electronic gadgets, and tools areportrayed, which possibly creates contradictory knowledge about these items in associationwith health as shown in the Example 1: Alcoholic Drinks (Positive Aspect) and Example 2:Alcoholic Drinks (Negative Aspect).

244 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsExample1: Alcoholic Drinks (Positive Aspect) - Beer Against CancerExample2: Alcoholic Drinks (Negative Aspect) - Alcoholic Drinks Cause CancersPosition of the ArticlesMoreover, these health news articles were positioned in the section of scientificdiscoveries and technological innovations as shown in the Example 3: Article Position. Thisfurther demonstrates that health information is less emphasized by the newspaper, possiblyresulting in an unclear boundary between knowledge about health and science andtechnology.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 245Example3: Article PositionCompositional StructureAnalysis of their structure shows that most health news articles were composed in theconventional inverted pyramid structure of brief news reports and in the format of researchabstract containing four or five paragraphs of short and important health information withreferences to reports of research studies conducted overseas as shown in the Example 4:Inverted Pyramid Structure.Example 4: Inverted Pyramid StructureHeadlineParagraph2, 3 &4:DetailsParagraph1:Lead

246 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsIn addition, some of the articles are composed in the snapshot structure with a verybrief piece of health information set aside a picture related to the topic as shown in Example5: Snapshot Structure.Example 5: Snapshot StructureAlthough these inverted pyramid and snapshot structures of the articles are quick toread and easy to digest, it may provide an insufficient amount and low quality of healthinformation for the readers. This, therefore, indicates the hasty writing process of thecomposer and the newspaper’s view of health news as a commodity under the contextualinfluence of the media industry.ConclusionUtilizing the discourse analytical approach and CDA, the findings related to thediscursive practice of these health news articles demonstrate that there is an unequal coverageof health topics and a presentation of opposing aspects of some topics in terms of positive andnegative effects to health. This health discourse is subordinate to scientific and technologicalnews discourse. The discourse structure is of brief news following the conventional format.The discursive practice of these health news articles could possibly have a negative impact onthe health knowledge of readers due to incomplete and insufficient information beingprovided.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 247ReferencesBhatia, V.K., Flowerdew , J. and Jones, R.H. 2008, “Approaches to discourse analysis” (p.p.1-21) in V.K. Bhatia, J.Flowerdew, and R.H.Jones (Eds.), Advances in Discourse Studies, Routlege: London.Biagi, S. 2007, Media/Impact: An Introduction to Mass Media, Wadsworth: Boston.Brannstrom, I. and Lindblad, I. 1994, “Mass Communication and Health Promotion: The Power of the Media andPublic Opinion”, (p. 21), Vol. 6, Issue 1, Health Communication.Burton, G. 2005, Media and Society: Critical Perspectives, Open University Press: Berkshire.Chanput, P. 2007, Reflection of Government’s Policy on News broadcasting: An Analysis of Channel 11 NewsDiscourse, M.A. Minor Thesis, National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok.Chantarawandi, C. 2008, “Democracy or Imperial Sovereignty?: A Critical Discourse Analysis of George W. Bush’sand Tony Blair’s Speeches on ‘War on Terror”, (p.p.52-88), NIDA Language and Communication Journal.Conboy, M. 2007, The Language of The News, Routledge: London.Dutta, M. 2009, “Health Communication: Trends and Future Directions” (p.p. 59-92) in J. Parker and E. Thorson(Eds.), Health Communication in the New Media Landscape, Springer Publishing: New York.Gadavanij, S. 2003, “Sociocognitive Aspects of News Discourse: A Preliminary Analysis of the Macrostructure ofThai News Articles”, (p.p43-64), NIDA Language and Communication Journal.Geist-Martin, P., Ray, E.B., and Sharf, B.F. 2003, Community Health: Personal, Cultural, and PoliticalComplexities, Thomson Wadsworth: Toronto.Hopscroft, D. 2002, “References in Medical Advertising – Too often a Blend of Fact and Fiction?”, (p.p.1-2), Vol.115, No 1156, The New Zealand Medical Journal.Intaratad, K. 2005, “Health Communication: Revolution and Challenges in the 21 century” (p.p.1-18) in P.Yenjaborg (Ed.), Health Communication, The Academic Health Communication Project, Bangkok.Lanson, G. and Stephens, M. 1994, Writing and Reporting the News, Harcourt Brace College Publishers.Long, D., Iedema, R., and Lee, B.B. 2007, “Corridor Conversation: Clinical Communication in Casual Spaces”(p.p.182-200) in R. Iedema (Ed.), The Discourse of Hospital Communication: Tracing Complexities inContemporary Health Care Organizations, Palgrave Macmillan: London.Lum, M. and Fitzgerald, A. 2007, “Dialogues for Negotiating Priorities in Unplanned Emergency Surgical Queues”(p.p.90-108) in R. Iedema (Ed.), The Discourse of Hospital Communication: Tracing Complexities inContemporary Health Care Organizations, Palgrave Macmillan: London.Maeseide, P. 2007, “The Role of Signs and Representations in the Organization of Medical Work: X-rays in MedicalProblem Solving” (p.p.201-221) in R. Iedema (Ed.), The Discourse of Hospital Communication: Tracing

248 ICLC 2010 ProceedingsComplexities in Contemporary Health Care Organizations, Palgrave Macmillan: London.Manning, P. 2001, News and News Sources: A Critical Introduction, Sage: London.Nellis, K. B. 2004, “Technology and Social Change: The Interactive Media Environment” (p.p.244-258) in J.R.Baldwin, S.D. Perry and M.A. Moffitt (Eds.), Communication Theories for Everyday Life, Pearson: NewYork.Pope, C., Mort, M., Goodwin, D., and Smith, A. 2007, “Anaesthetic Talk in Surgical Encounters” (p.p.161-181) inR. Iedema (Ed.), The Discourse of Hospital Communication: Tracing Complexities in ContemporaryHealth Care Organizations, Palgrave Macmillan: London.Punsakul, T. 2010, An Evaluation of the Use of Television Commercials for the Swine Flue (H1N1) 2009Campaign, M.A. Independent Study, National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok.Richardson, J.E. 2007, Analysing Newspapers: an approach from critical discourse analysis, PelgraveMacmillan: New York.Schiffrin, B. 1994, Approaches to Discourses, Blackwell: Oxford.Schiffrin, D., Tannen, D., and Hamilton, H.E. 2003, The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Blackwell Publishing:Oxford.Toniti, N. 2010, An Evaluation of Signs and Viewer’s Comprehension in a Short Movie of Cervical Cancer,M.A. Independent Study, National Institute of Development Administration, Bangkok.Van Dijk, T.A. 2003, “Critical Discourse Analysis” (p.p.352-371) in D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen and H.E. Hamilton(Eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, Blackwell Publishing: Oxford.Wodak, R. 2005, A New Agenda in (Critical) Discourse Analysis: Theory, Methodology, andInterdisciplinarity, J. Benjamins Pub. Co.: Amsterdam.

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 249逆 接 展 開 場 面 における 接 続 表 現 の 使 用- 日 本 語 能 力 が 異 なるタイ 人 学 習 者 を 対 象 に-(The acquisition of connective expressions in Japanese: The case of Thai-speaking learners)サウェットアイヤラム・テーウィット(Tewich Sawetaiyaram, Ph.D., National Institute of Development Administration)キーワード : 逆 接 展 開 場 面 , 接 続 表 現 ,タイ 人 学 習 者 , 決 定 木 分 析1. はじめに外 国 人 学 習 者 はある 程 度 長 い 発 話 を 発 することができても,どうも 不 自 然 で 分 かりにくい部 分 が 多 いと 指 摘 されている( 深 川 2002; 渡 邊 1996)。その 分 かりにくさの 原 因 として,接 続 表 現 などが 取 り 上 げられている( 深 川 2006; 渡 邊 1996)。しかし,これまでの 研 究 では, 主 に 日 本 国 内 の 学 習 者 の 検 証 が 行 なわれてきているが,インプットの 少 ない 海 外 の 学 習者 にも 果 たして 同 様 の 結 果 が 見 られるのか, 未 だ 検 証 を 待 つ 状 況 にある。そこで, 本 研 究 では,タイで 日 本 語 を 学 習 しているタイ 人 学 習 者 を 対 象 にその 発 話 を 調 査 し, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 における 接 続 表 現 に 注 目 し, 学 習 者 の 談 話 がどのような 言 語 形 式 を 用 いて 組 み 立 てられているのか,そこに 特 徴 的 な 現 象 が 見 られるのかを 考 察 する。2. 先 行 研 究接 続 表 現 に 関 する 習 得 研 究 は, 齋 藤 (1993), 渡 邉 (1996), 深 川 (2002,2006)などがある。 齋 藤 (1993)はOPI 1 の 中 級 の「 上 」と 上 級 の「 下 」の 日 本 語 学 習 者 各 3 名 の 発 話 を 調査 したところ, 中 級 の「 上 」ではやさしい 接 続 語 句 (でも,そして)を 多 用 するが, 上 級 の「 下 」になると 変 化 が 見 られ,「その」や「そういう」などの「ソ」 系 の 使 用 が 見 られることを 挙 げている。 渡 邉 (1996)は 出 来 事 の 展 開 を 順 接 展 開 2 と 逆 接 展 開 3 に 分 け, 韓 国 人 学 習者 ,ドイツ 人 学 習 者 , 中 国 人 学 習 者 と 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 ( 以 下 ,JNS 4 ) 各 5 名 の 接 続 表 現 の 使用 を 調 査 している。その 結 果 , 順 接 展 開 場 面 では,JNSも 学 習 者 も「て 形 」を 多 く 使 用 している 一 方 で, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 では,JNS が 継 起 の 接 続 助 詞 「たら」を 最 も 多 く 使 用 したのに 対し, 韓 国 人 学 習 者 は 逆 接 の 接 続 助 詞 ,ドイツ 人 学 習 者 と 中 国 人 学 習 者 は「て 形 」や 接 続 詞(でも,しかし)を 多 く 使 用 したことを 指 摘 している。 深 川 (2002)は 学 習 者 10 名 の 発 話 の変 化 を 縦 断 的 に 考 察 し, 中 間 言 語 の 発 達 過 程 の 分 析 を 試 みた。その 結 果 , 第 Ⅰ 期 では 使 用 する 接 続 表 現 は 限 られ, 単 に 発 話 を 羅 列 する 例 も 見 られたが, 第 Ⅱ 期 に 入 ると「て 形 」と 順 接の 接 続 詞 「だから」の 使 用 が 目 立 ち, 第 Ⅲ 期 は 条 件 節 ,「 言 いさし」の 使 用 が 増 えてきたと

250 ICLC 2010 Proceedings述 べている。 深 川 (2006)は 日 本 語 能 力 試 験 1 級 に 合 格 した 中 国 人 学 習 者 10 名 とJNS5 名 に 自分 の 体 験 と 意 見 を 述 べさせた。その 結 果 , 学 習 者 は 文 末 の「けど」よりも「て 形 」を 多 く 用いているが,JNS は「て 形 」と 並 んで,「けど」の 使 用 が 多 いこと,また, 時 を 表 す 副 詞 節「とき( 以 下 , 時 )」は,JNS では 使 った 人 と 使 わなかった 人 がいるのに 対 し, 学 習 者 は 全員 使 っていること, 文 と 文 をつなぐ 時 ,JNS の 発 話 で「で」,「それで」が 見 られるのに 対し, 学 習 者 の 発 話 では 見 られなかったことを 報 告 している。以 上 , 主 な 先 行 研 究 を 概 観 した。しかし,これまでの 先 行 研 究 には 以 下 のような 課 題 が 未だ 残 っている。まず, 既 存 の 研 究 における 調 査 対 象 者 のほとんどは 日 本 国 内 の 学 習 者 である。インプットの 少 ない 海 外 の 学 習 者 にも 果 たして 同 様 の 結 果 が 見 られるのだろうか。 次 に, 調査 対 象 者 についてであるが,どの 研 究 においても 学 習 者 の 数 が 少 なく, 統 計 的 な 処 理 も 行 われていない。そのため, 結 果 を 一 般 化 することが 難 しく, 先 行 研 究 が 報 告 した 結 果 はまだ 検討 する 必 要 があると 言 えよう。それから, 渡 邉 (1996)を 除 く 他 の 研 究 では 発 話 データを 出来 事 の 展 開 によって 分 けないで 調 査 したものであるが, 渡 邉 (1996)の 結 果 から 分 かるように, 展 開 場 面 によってJNS 及 び 学 習 者 の 接 続 表 現 の 使 用 が 異 なっている。 展 開 場 面 を 特 定 し,JNSと 学 習 者 の 接 続 表 現 の 使 用 状 況 を 考 察 しなければならない。本 研 究 では, 上 述 した 課 題 を 踏 まえ, 調 査 方 法 を 次 のように 改 良 し 調 査 を 行 うことにした。まず,タイで 日 本 語 を 学 んでいる 学 習 者 を 対 象 に 調 査 を 行 った。 日 本 語 能 力 によって 使 用 する 接 続 表 現 の 種 類 が 異 なると 考 えられるため, 学 習 者 を 上 位 群 と 下 位 群 に 分 け 調 査 を 行 った。次 に, 統 計 的 な 処 理 を 行 うことができるよう, 調 査 対 象 者 の 数 を 増 やして 発 話 データを 収 集した。また, 学 習 者 の 習 得 が 困 難 だと 見 られる, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 における 接 続 表 現 に 注 目 することにした。 本 研 究 では, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 において 学 習 者 がどのような 言 語 形 式 を 用 いて 談 話を 組 み 立 てているのかを 明 らかにすることを 目 的 としている。3. 研 究 方 法3.1. 調 査 対 象 者調 査 は,63 名 のタイ 人 学 習 者 ( 以 下 ,JFL 5 )を 対 象 とした。63 名 は 全 員 タイの 同 じ 大 学 で日 本 語 を 専 門 として 勉 強 している 学 部 3 年 生 と4 年 生 である。 本 研 究 は「SPOT 6 」を 使 用 し,JFLのレベルを 中 央 値 で 上 位 群 ( 以 下 ,JFL 上 )と 下 位 群 ( 以 下 ,JFL 下 )に 分 けることにした。JFL 上 は30 名 で,SPOT 点 数 の 平 均 値 は52.00,JFL 下 は33 名 で,SPOT 点 数 の 平 均 値 は35.97であった。しかし, 接 続 表 現 の 部 分 がはっきりと 聞 き 取 れない 学 習 者 8 名 (JFL 上 3 名 ,JFL 下5 名 )のデータを 調 査 対 象 から 外 した。そして,JFLの 発 話 と 比 較 するデータとしてJNS30 名のデータを 収 集 した。3.2. 調 査 方 法

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 251本 研 究 では,オーラルナレーションタスクを 用 いて 調 査 を 行 った。オーラルナレーションタスクは4コマ 漫 画 から 構 成 されたタスクで, 全 ての4コマに1 人 の 主 人 公 が 現 れ,さまざまな 出 来 事 を 体 験 していくものである。6つの4コマ 漫 画 を 用 意 し, 調 査 協 力 者 に 絵 の 中 の 出 来事 は 先 週 自 分 が 主 人 公 として 体 験 した 出 来 事 であり,その 出 来 事 を 何 も 知 らない 友 達 に 詳 しく 話 すよう 指 示 した。 本 研 究 は 逆 接 展 開 場 面 に 焦 点 を 当 て 分 析 を 行 うが,これに 該 当 する4コマ 漫 画 は,2つある。 実 際 の 内 容 は, 以 下 の 通 りである。(1) 学 校 からうちに 帰 ってきたら 部 屋 の 中 が めちゃくちゃになってて すごくびっくりして たぶん 絶 対 泥 棒 に 入 られた(JNS13)(2) 昨 日 公 園 を 散 歩 してたら 犬 に かま 手 を 噛 まれて すごく 痛 かった(JNS28)(1)では, 前 件 はある 動 作 ( 家 に 帰 ってきたこと)を 表 し, 後 件 は 思 わぬ 状 態 ( 家 が 荒らされていたこと)を 発 見 したことを 表 す。 一 方 ,(2)では, 前 件 はある 動 作 ( 公 園 を 散歩 したこと)を 表 し, 後 件 は 思 わぬ 出 来 事 ( 犬 に 手 を 噛 まれたこと)が 起 きたことを 表 す。3.3. 分 析 方 法本 研 究 では「 決 定 木 分 析 (Decision Tree)」を 使 用 し,データを 分 析 した。 決 定 木 は,SPSS 社 の 統 計 解 析 用 のソフトである。これまでマーケティングの 分 野 で 使 用 されることが 多かった。これは, 例 えば, 銀 行 ローンを 期 限 までに「 返 済 する」と「 返 済 しない」という 2種 類 の 名 義 尺 度 の 値 からなる 従 属 変 数 を, 顧 客 の 様 々な 特 徴 である 独 立 変 数 から 予 測 する「 決 定 木 」を 描 き,ローンを 返 済 する 可 能 性 の 高 い,または 低 い 顧 客 を 特 定 することができる( 玉 岡 2006)。 習 得 研 究 は 通 常 カイ 二 乗 検 定 が 使 用 されることが 多 い。しかし,カイ 二 乗検 定 では, 変 数 が 2 つ 以 上 になると, 有 意 な 結 果 が 得 られたとしても,その 原 因 が 何 に 起 因するかを 特 定 するのが 難 しい。 本 研 究 では「 日 本 語 能 力 が 異 なる 学 習 者 」と「 様 々な 接 続 表現 」という 2 つの 変 数 が 考 えられる。 有 意 な 結 果 が 得 られた 場 合 でも,それは「 学 習 者 の 日本 語 能 力 」によるものであるか,または「 接 続 表 現 の 種 類 」によるものであるかを 判 定 することが 難 しいが,「 決 定 木 分 析 」を 使 用 することにより,この 問 題 を 解 決 することができる。また, 決 定 木 分 析 は,カイ 二 乗 検 定 を 繰 り 返 すことにより 犯 しやすい 第 1 種 の 誤 りを 考 慮 した 多 変 量 の 分 析 であるため,これらの 変 数 を 階 層 的 ・ 総 括 的 に 考 慮 することができる。4. 結 果 と 考 察表 1 は, 今 回 の 発 話 資 料 に 現 れた 接 続 表 現 を 使 用 数 の 多 い 順 に 並 べたものである。JNS はもちろん, 学 習 者 も 様 々な 接 続 表 現 を 使 って 談 話 を 形 成 していることが 分 かる。

252 ICLC 2010 Proceedings表 1 接 続 表 現 の 使 用 数JNS(n=30) JFL 上 (n=27) JFL 下 (n=28)接 続 表 現 数 接 続 表 現 数 接 続 表 現 数たら 51 時 11 時 15と 3 と 10 と 11時 3 たら 6 て 形 9けど 2 途 中 6 途 中 4ところ 1 ところ 6 後 3計 60 無 形 式 6 ところ 3て 形 2 無 形 式 3でも 2 たら 3が 2 が 1うちに 1 そして 1ながら 1 ちゅう 1間 に 1 ながら 1計 54 間 に 1計 56表 1 を 見 ると,JNS も,JFL も, 共 通 して 使 用 している 接 続 表 現 があることが 分 かる。しかし,JNS は 逆 接 展 開 場 面 で 継 起 の 接 続 助 詞 「たら」を 使 う 傾 向 があるが,JFL の 両 グループはもっぱら「 時 」と「と」を 使 用 している。 次 の(3),(4),(5)は JFL 両 グループの 発 話 例 である。なお,JFL の 発 話 には 様 々な 誤 用 が 見 られるが, 本 研 究 では 学 習 者 の 接 続表 現 の 特 徴 に 焦 点 を 当 てて 調 査 するため, 他 の 誤 用 には 言 及 しないことにする。(3) 学 校 から 帰 ったと びっくりしました 泥 棒 に 入 ったそうです(JFL 下 3)(4) 昨 日 あの- 自 分 の 部 屋 行 った 時 部 屋 がめちゃくちゃになった びっくりしました(JFL 下 21)(5) 昨 日 散 歩 した 時 犬 に 指 を 噛 まれました とても 痛 くて 泣 きました(JFL 上 10)(3)は, 家 に 帰 ってきたら, 泥 棒 に 入 られているのを 発 見 したことを 描 写 している 箇 所である。「と」を 使 用 していても, 逆 接 展 開 の 内 容 は 正 確 に 描 写 されている。また, 逆 接 展開 場 面 における「と」の 使 用 は JNS の 発 話 にも 見 られる。しかし,(3)のように, JFL( 特に,JFL 下 )は「 帰 ったと(→ 帰 ると)」のような 誤 用 をたくさん 起 こした。このことから,

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 253学 習 者 は 逆 接 展 開 場 面 において「と」が 使 用 できると 分 かってはいるが,「 動 詞 の 辞 書 形 +と」という 制 限 を 考 慮 せずに 使 用 してしまう 傾 向 があると 言 えよう。「 時 」についてであるが,JNS の 発 話 にも「 時 」の 使 用 が 見 られる。しかし,JNS の「 時 」の 使 用 は JFL の(4),(5)と 異 なっている。 後 続 文 に 逆 接 展 開 を 示 す「いきなり」,「 突 然 」などの 副 詞 が 見 られるのである。 次 の(6),(7)はその 発 話 例 である。(6) 昨 日 道 端 は 歩 いてる 時 に いきなり(JNS15)ちょっと 犬 に 指 を 噛 まれてしまって(7)え- この 前 え- 公 園 歩 いてた 時 に 野 良 犬 が え- 突 然 近 づいてきて 私指 噛 まれた 噛 まれたん だよね(JNS22)これは,「 時 」を 用 いただけでは, 逆 接 展 開 を 示 すことができないからである。そのため,後 続 文 に 逆 接 展 開 を 示 す 言 葉 を 入 れて 話 さなければならないと 考 えられる。しかし,JFL の使 い 方 を 見 ると,「 部 屋 が 荒 らされているのを 発 見 したのはいつなのか」,「 犬 に 噛 まれたのはいつなのか」を 述 べる 学 習 者 が 多 かった。さらに,JFL 下 の 発 話 には「て 形 」の 使 用 が多 く 見 られる。 次 の(8),(9)はその 発 話 例 である。(8) 昨 日 公 園 で 散 歩 して あの- ある 野 良 犬 を 見 て あ かわいいね と思 って あの- その 野 良 犬 に 行 って 野 良 犬 は 指 を 噛 んで(JFL 下 7)(9) 昨 日 公 園 で 歩 いて 野 良 犬 に 噛 まれ- てしまっ た(JFL 下 18)本 研 究 のJNSのデータでは, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 における「て 形 」の 使 用 は 見 られないが, 渡 邉(1996)では, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 においてJNSも「て 形 」を 使 用 すると 報 告 され, 逆 接 展 開 であることを 聞 き 手 に 知 らせるために, 後 続 文 に 逆 接 展 開 を 示 す「どころか」「じつは」などの副 詞 や 接 続 詞 を 入 れて 会 話 すると 指 摘 されている(p.43)。ここで 学 習 者 が 発 した(8)と(9)をもう 一 度 見 てみよう。 学 習 者 は「て 形 」を 使 用 しているが, 後 続 文 には 逆 接 展 開 を示 すような 言 葉 がないため, 後 続 文 の 出 来 事 ( 犬 に 噛 まれたこと)は 普 通 の 出 来 事 のように聞 こえてしまう。 聞 き 手 に 不 自 然 さを 感 じさせる 一 つの 原 因 だと 考 えられる。そして, 以 上 で 検 討 したような 数 字 上 の 差 が 実 際 の 傾 向 における 差 を 示 し 得 るのかについて 検 証 するため,「 決 定 木 」を 使 用 し,データを 分 析 した。 決 定 木 分 析 で 行 ったのは, 使 用数 の 多 かった「たら」,「 時 」,「と」,「て 形 」のみとする。その 結 果 を 図 で 示 したのが図 1 である。

254 ICLC 2010 Proceedings

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 255決 定 木 により,3つのグループ(JNS ,JFL 上 ,JFL 下 )と4つの 接 続 表 現 (「たら」,「 時 」,「と」,「て 形 」)という2つの 名 義 尺 度 を 独 立 変 数 として,「 使 用 ( 当 該 の 接 続表 現 を 使 用 していること)」と「 不 使 用 ( 当 該 の 接 続 表 現 を 使 用 してはいないが 別 の 接 続 表現 を 使 用 していること)」の2 種 類 のデータからなる 名 義 尺 度 の 頻 度 を 従 属 変 数 として 予 測する 分 析 を 行 った。 決 定 木 の 分 析 の 結 果 は, 図 1に 示 した 樹 形 図 の 通 りである。 図 1の 決 定 木の 出 発 点 であるノード0では, 対 象 となる3つのグループと4つの 接 続 表 現 において,「 不 使用 」の 頻 度 が551 回 で 全 体 の81.6%,「 使 用 」の 頻 度 は124 回 で 全 体 の18.4%である。このノード0から 伸 びているのが,ノード1,ノード2,ノード3である。これは,4つの 接 続 表 現 が「たら」,「 時 ・と」,「て 形 」の3つのパターンに 分 類 され,それぞれ 有 意 に 異 なっていることを 示 している[ χ 2 (2) = 49.429, p

256 ICLC 2010 Proceedings下 の「て 形 」の 使 用 頻 度 は9 回 で 全 体 の16.1%,「て 形 」の 不 使 用 の 頻 度 は47 回 で, 全 体 の83.9%であることを 示 している。これらのノードの 結 果 から,どのグループにおいても,「て 形 」の 使 用 が 少 ないことは 明 らかである。しかし, JFL 下 はJNS・JFL 上 と 比 べて,「て形 」を 多 く 使 用 している 傾 向 が 見 られる。以 上 , 決 定 木 分 析 による 検 定 を 行 った。その 結 果 , 逆 接 展 開 場 面 においては,JNSは「たら」を 多 く 使 用 し,JFLの 両 グループは「 時 ・と」を 多 く 使 用 していることが 明 らかとなった。つまり, 日 本 語 学 習 者 は 逆 接 展 開 場 面 において「たら」より「 時 」・「と」を 選 択 しやすいと 言 える。では, 何 故 「たら」は 日 本 語 学 習 者 にとって 使 用 しにくいのだろうか。 最 近の 研 究 では, 学 習 者 がある 形 式 をある 機 能 に 結 びつけてしまうと, 同 じ 文 法 形 式 (あるいは機 能 )を 他 の 機 能 (あるいは 形 式 )に 新 たに 結 びつけることが 難 しくなることが 明 らかになっている( 大 関 2008;Ellis2006)。これらの 研 究 の 指 摘 から, 何 故 JFLの 両 グループが「たら」を 使 用 せずに「 時 ・と」を 使 用 する 傾 向 があるかが 明 らかになるだろう。つまり, 学 習者 は 節 と 節 , 文 と 文 をつなぐ 時 に「 時 」 及 び「と」を「たら」より 先 に 学 習 したため, 形 式と 機 能 を 先 に 結 び 付 けて 記 憶 してしまい,その 後 で「たら」を 学 習 しても 同 じ 機 能 を 持 つ 接続 表 現 として 記 憶 することが 阻 害 されるのではないかと 考 えられる。また, 学 習 者 が 習 った「たら」の 用 法 は「 仮 定 的 な 世 界 」という 用 法 が 中 心 であるが,「たら」にはこれだけでなく「ある 動 作 がきっかけとなって,ある 状 態 を 発 見 した・ある 出来 事 が 起 こった」という 用 法 もある。そのため,「 仮 定 的 な 世 界 」を 意 味 していない 逆 接 展開 場 面 では 学 習 者 は「たら」をすぐ 思 い 浮 かばず,ほとんど 使 用 しないのだと 考 えられる。最 後 に「て 形 」についてであるが, 日 本 語 能 力 が 低 い 学 習 者 は「て 形 」を 多 く 使 用 する 傾向 が 見 られる。これは, 限 られた 日 本 語 能 力 だけで 何 とか 話 をまとめようとする, 彼 らの 会話 ストラテジーとも 考 えられる。そして, 日 本 語 能 力 が 高 い 学 習 者 は「て 形 」の 使 用 が 少 ないことから, 日 本 語 能 力 が 上 がるにつれて 学 習 者 は「て 形 」だけでは 逆 接 展 開 場 面 が 説 明 できないことを 理 解 していくということを 示 唆 している。5.まとめ以 上 , 日 本 語 能 力 が 異 なるタイ 人 学 習 者 の 接 続 表 現 の 使 用 について, 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 の 使い 方 と 比 較 して,タイ 人 学 習 者 の 使 用 の 特 徴 について 述 べた。 逆 接 展 開 場 面 における 継 起 の接 続 助 詞 「たら」の 使 用 が 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 では 多 かったが,タイ 人 学 習 者 の 発 話 にはほとんど 見 られなかった。また, 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 の 発 話 では,「 昨 日 道 端 は 歩 いてる 時 に いきなり ちょっと 犬 に 指 を 噛 まれてしまって」のように,「 時 」を 使 用 した 後 に「いきなり」などのような 逆 接 展 開 を 示 す 副 詞 を 使 って, 話 をまとめることが 見 られたが, 学 習 者 の発 話 では,そのような 例 は 見 られなかった。さらに, 日 本 語 能 力 が 低 い 学 習 者 は「て 形 」を

ICLC 2010 Proceedings 257使 用 する 傾 向 が 見 られる。しかし,「 時 」と 同 じく,「て 形 」だけでは 逆 接 展 開 場 面 を 表 すことができないので, 逆 接 展 開 を 示 す 副 詞 を 述 べ, 話 をまとめる 必 要 がある。 本 研 究 では,タイで 日 本 語 を 学 んでいる 学 習 者 を 対 象 に 調 査 を 行 ったが, 日 本 で 日 本 語 を 学 んだ 学 習 者 を対 象 に 調 査 した 先 行 研 究 の 結 果 と 一 致 した。 調 査 方 法 の 違 い 等 によって, 本 研 究 の 結 果 と 先行 研 究 の 結 果 を 直 接 比 較 することはできないが, 学 習 者 は 学 習 環 境 の 違 いに 関 わらず,「て形 」と「 時 」を 多 く 使 用 し, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 では「たら」をほとんど 使 用 していないと 言 える。今 回 の 分 析 で, 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 は, 逆 接 展 開 場 面 では「たら」を 多 用 し,「 時 」や「て 形 」を 使 う 場 合 には, 逆 接 展 開 を 意 味 する 副 詞 を 使 うことが 明 らかになったが,これらの 表 現 のしかたについて 指 導 する 必 要 があると 言 えよう。注1 OPI(Oral Proficiency Interview)とは,ACTFL(American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages)によって 開 発 された,テスターと 被 験 者 が 一 対 一 で 行 う, 最 長 30 分 の 会 話 能 力 テストである。2 順 接 展 開 場 面 は,なりゆきに 従 って 出 来 事 が 変 化 していく 場 面 である。3 逆 接 展 開 場 面 は, 意 外 な 局 面 に 変 化 したり, 思 わぬことが 起 こった 場 面 である。4 Japanese native speaker( 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 )のことをいう。5 Japanese as a foreign languageのことをいう。6 SPOTはSimple Performance-Oriented Test( 日 本 語 能 力 簡 易 試 験 )の 略 語 である。 学 習 者 の 日 本 語 能力 を 分 けるためによく 使 用 されるテストである。参 考 文 献大 関 浩 美 (2008).「 学 習 者 は 形 式 と 意 味 機 能 をいかに 結 びつけていくか- 初 級 学 習 者 の 条 件 表 現 の 習 得プロセスに 関 する 事 例 研 究 」『 第 二 言 語 としての 日 本 語 の 習 得 研 究 』11:122-140.齋 藤 眞 理 子 (1993).「The Oral Proficiency Interview に 表 れた 談 話 の 分 析 − 中 級 と 上 級 の 談 話 の 型 の 違 いについて−」『 文 化 女 子 大 学 紀 要 人 文 ・ 社 会 科 学 研 究 』 創 刊 号 :31-41.玉 岡 賀 津 雄 (2006).「『 決 定 木 』 分 析 によるコーパス 研 究 の 可 能 性 : 副 詞 と 共 起 する 接 続 助 詞 『から』『ので』『のに』の 文 中 ・ 文 末 表 現 を 例 に」『 自 然 言 語 処 理 』13-2:169-179.深 川 美 帆 (2002).「 日 本 語 学 習 者 の 談 話 における 接 続 表 現 についての 縦 断 的 研 究 」 名 古 屋 大 学 大 学 院 国際 言 語 文 化 研 究 科 日 本 言 語 文 化 専 攻 修 士 学 位 論 文 .深 川 美 帆 (2006).「 接 続 表 現 から 見 た 上 級 日 本 語 学 習 者 の 談 話 の 特 徴 − 日 本 語 母 語 話 者 と 比 較 して−」『 言 葉 と 文 化 』8 号 :253-268.渡 邊 亜 子 (1996).『 中 ・ 上 級 日 本 語 学 習 者 の 談 話 展 開 』くろしお 出 版 .Ellis, N. (2006). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition,salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics,27, 164-194.

คณะภาษาและการสื่อสาร สถาบันบัณฑิตพัฒนบริหารศาสตร์ (นิด้า) ขอขอบพระคุณผู้ให้การสนับสนุนการจัดประชุมนานาชาติ ครั้งที่ 2 “Dynamism of Language and Communication inSociety” ICLC 2010 ระหว่างวันที่ 5-6 สิงหาคม 2553โดย คุณกฤษณา อัมพุช

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