Manifestation of Agency by English Language Teachers in Relation to Thailand’s Language Assessment Policy

Abstract

The concept of human agency has received increasing attention in the field of education in the past decade. Yet, education researchers, those in the area of English language teaching included, still have much to grapple with in exploring and conceptualizing agency of teachers—or teacher agency. The current study thus aims to contribute to greater understanding of teacher agency in relation to the English language assessment policy of Thailand’s higher education. Insights are gleaned from questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews with 26 English language teachers of various nationalities, currently teaching undergraduatelevel English, from nine public and nine private higher education institutions across Thailand. Findings reveal five types of manifestation of teacher agency and the various degrees in which personal and ecological factors influence each manifestation type. It also appears that manifestation ofteacher agency depends not so much on the direct demands of policy mandates as on the teachers’ personal dispositions being mediated—or subjugated—by their institutional culture and structure.