Abstract
Encouraged by previous studies which recommended incorporating insights from Conversation Analysis (CA) into English conversation teaching to improve EFL students' oral proficiency, this paper reports on the findings from Phase I of a longitudinal study designed to investigate the impact of employing a CA-informed teaching (CA-T) model to improve Thai students' oral English proficiency. The aim of Phase I of this study was to engage local teachers in co-developing and piloting the CA-T model. In this phase, 16 purposively sampled primary and secondary English teachers from Thailand’s southern provinces participated in an intensive 6-day workshop designed to (1) familiarize them with the instructional value of CA insights and key features of the CA-T model and (2) assist these teachers in creating CA-T lesson plans. Following the workshop, teachers piloted the lesson plans, provided feedback on the implementation process, reported on the perceived effects of the lessons, and offered recommendations for improving the CA-T model. This paper describes the content of the workshop, shares teachers' feedback about the CA-T lessons and implementation process, and presents preliminary findings as to the potential challenges and benefits of employing the CA-T model in Thai primary and secondary classrooms.
Highlights
The level of English proficiency of a nation’s citizens has become a critical factor in determining its economic competitiveness and global success
Applying insights from Conversation Analysis (CA) and CA studies to enhance the efficacy of English conversation teaching in Thai schools, this paper reports on Phase 1 of a study aimed at developing and piloting a viable CA-informed teaching (CA-T) teaching model
Local primary and secondary teachers engaged in a CA-T model training workshop designed to help the teachers understand the natural mechanisms and purposes of conversation, recognize the role and importance of turn-taking in a conversation, identify the linguistic and nonlinguistic resources employed in constructing turns, and be cognizant of and more adept at organizing one's talk
Summary
The level of English proficiency of a nation’s citizens has become a critical factor in determining its economic competitiveness and global success This is especially true in developing countries such as Thailand, a member of the powerful economic alliance, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), in which English has been adopted as the de facto working and official language. With genuine communication being the central goal of lessons, the use of CLT is believed to help language learners communicate more effectively in real-life situations. Implementing this approach, teachers are encouraged to tolerate errors that do not obstruct meaning and to shift their role as instructors to that of facilitators. CLT has been widely promoted in Thai schools’ foreign language curricula for several decades and has become one of the elt.ccsenet.org
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