EFL Writing Curriculum, Teaching and Learning at Upper-Secondary Schools in Thailand

Abstract

Although Thai students’ poor English writing has been reported to be a chronic problem, few studies have been conducted on how this skill has been taught, especially at elementary and secondary schools in Thailand. This study plans to partly fill in this gap by exploring what the English as a Foreign Language (EFL) writing curriculum at upper-secondary schools (U-SS) in the Northeastern part of Thailand is like and how this skill is taught and learnt in different U-SS. Two different sets of questionnaires and open-ended questions were given to 74 U-SS in ten different provinces in the region and they were completed by 170 students and 114 English teachers. These instruments were employed to explore their English-writing curriculum, English textbooks, and the teaching and learning of this skill at those schools. Classroom observations, reviews of the tests used by teachers, and semi-structured interviews with teachers, students, and Provincial Supervisors (PS) of Foreign Language Education Divisions for secondary-schools in the provinces were carried out to provide a more insightful understanding of the actual practices of teaching and learning the skill of writing in the region. The findings of this study provided an overview of how English-writing is taught at U-SS levels in this part of Thailand. Also, this study can give school administrators, curriculum designers, and policymakers in the region and other educational settings in Thailand and other countries where English is taught as a foreign language with insight into their plans to improve the teaching and learning of English-writing.