To successfully assess how language learners enhance their performance and achieve language learning goals, the four macro skills of listening, speaking reading and writing are usually the most frequently assessed and focused areas. However, speaking, as a productive skill, seems intuitively the most important of all the four language skills because it can distinctly show the correctness and language errors that a language learner makes. Since English speaking tests, in general, aim to evaluate how the learners express their improvement and success in pronunciation and communication, several aspects, especially speaking test formats and pronunciation need to be considered. To enhance Thai learners' English performance and the quality of the speaking tests, this paper has three principal objectives. First, this paper presents English language teaching, as well as teaching English speaking in the Thai context. Then, it highlights the significance of the test format as it is the main tool and indicator for scoring performance and analytic rating methods. Lastly, the paper addresses major problems found in the speaking tests to elucidate certain facts about learners' speaking ability and English instruction in the Thai context. Some pedagogical implications of the study are discussed for learning and teaching speaking to second or foreign language learners.

Abstract-English has been a lingua franca in various domains of communication such as international business, academic conferences, diplomacy, science and technology. As a result, the demands for English skills in all aspects are crucial in response to the importance of English and the impact of globalization. Despite the constant efforts in developing English education in Thailand, a number of studies have shown that the achievement of Thai learners was unsatisfactory. Given the role of English as an international language which is used in almost domain of communication, amongst several factors hindering the success of English language learning, English pronunciation of the Thai learners should be focused. This study has two principle objectives: 1) to examine Thai learners' knowledge with regard to word stress assignment; and 2) to determine possible factors affecting the Thai learners' pronunciation competence. To achieve these objectives, 90 Thai learners of English participated in this study. The test consisting of two parts: personal information profile, and 40 selected words systematically taken from two textbooks, was employed to identify these participants' pronunciation competence. The results showed that most of the participants' English pronunciation was somewhat limited. Gender was identified to be the most significant factor contributing to the participants' test scores, while faculty and years of studying English were not. In light of the results suggested by the three variables, pedagogical suggestions were offered to help improve teaching and learning English pronunciation in general, and in focusing on the importance of teaching word stress in particular. Index Terms-word stress assignment, Thai learners, English pronunciation I. INTRODUCTIONAlong with economic globalization, English has increasingly become the medium of communication around the world both in local and global contexts. The realization of importance of English highlights the necessity of every country to have its people become better equipped with English performance. Inevitably, this necessity is also applicable to Thailand. In response to the demands for English skills, the Thai government has made constant efforts to improve Thai learners' English performance throughout the history of English language teaching in Thailand (Kanoksilapatham, 2007) in order to improve Thai learners' competence in English, enabling them to obtain job opportunities, promotions or career advancement.With the rise in the number of English users, English language teaching professionals has increased worldwide. The importance of English has also sparked a growing interest in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). In Thailand, to meet the demands of global economics and to cope with the growing local and national demands for English skills, new initiatives have been launched in all aspects of the Thai educational system, including curriculum, materials, facilities, and professional development for teachers. However, a number of studies (e...

Based on several standardized tests, previous studies show that Vietnamese youths have higher proficiency in English than Thai youths in spite of the latter’s social advantages. An explanation for the discrepancy is probably that the two groups use different strategies in learning English. This study reports the results of an investigation into language learning strategies commonly used by Thai and Vietnamese university students, using the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL) developed by Oxford (1990) and semi-structured interviews. A comparison of the patterns of language learning strategies used by the two student groups revealed some resemblances and differences, illustrating what teachers and students should know to successfully teach and learn English, respectively. It is hoped that the findings of this study will be of particular benefit to educational planners, methodologists, and classroom teachers; they will not only help them better understand the strategies used by Thai students in learning English, but also facilitate the process of improving English education in Thailand.

The objectives of this investigation were twofold: 1) to identify language learning strategies commonly used by Thai EFL learners, and 2) to determine the roles of three variables contributing to their strategy use: language proficiency and motivation. A set of questionnaires consisting of the Strategy Inventory for Language Learning (SILL), and the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) was given to 1,405 Thai university students studying English. The analysis revealed that, in general, memory strategies were found to be the most common learning strategies, whereas social strategies were the least common. Motivation was reported to be the most significant variables affecting their choices of language learning strategies. The analysis revealed certain elucidating facts that can be utilized in future planning of English language teaching to improve the English performance of Thai learners.

Recent research (e.g., Hunston 2007;Hyland 1999;2008; has marked and evidenced the importance of effectively using linguistic features as a major component in expressing stances and as an essential part of the shared knowledge of a professional discourse community by giving space for negotiation and evaluation of viewpoints. The present study is concerned with the use of the expression of evaluation in academic discourse, focusing on some communicative strategies for indicating stance. With the corpus-based approach, research articles on applied linguistics and language teaching selected from top-ten journals were systematically complied and analyzed. The results revealed that professional and experienced writers variably exploit stance markers including epistemic modality, extraposed ‗it', communication verbs, and personal pronouns in terms of different functional types of evaluative stance. The findings highlight the importance of understanding the use of stance devices in academics, facilitating a better understanding of novice readers and writers when writing academic productions. Pedagogically, the description of this study contributes to ways to improvement of practical language and academic writing courses to suit the discourse community.Keywords: Corpus, evaluative stance, discourse, academic research FITUR-FITUR KEBAHASAAN DARI SUDUT PANDANG EVALUATIF: TEMUAN DARI DISKUSI ARTIKEL PENELITIANAbstrak: Penelitian terbaru (seperti, Hunston, 2007;Hyland, 1999;2008;) telah menunjukkan dan membuktikan pentingnya penggunaan fitur-fitur kebahasaan secara efektif sebagai komponen utama dalam mengekspresikan sudut pandang dan sebagai bagian penting dalam berbagi pengetahuan dari sebuah komunitas wacana profesional dengan memberikan ruang negosiasi dan evaluasi terhadap cara pandang. Penelitian ini berkaitan dengan penggunaan pernyataan-pernyataan evaluasi dalam wacana akademik, yang fokus pada beberapa strategi komunikatif untuk menunjukkan sudut pandang. Dengan menggunakan pendekatan berbasis korpus, artikel-artikel jurnal dalam bidang linguistik terapan dan pengajaran bahasa yang disaring dari sepuluh jurnal terbaik dikumpulkan dan dianalisis secara sistematis. Hasil penelitian ini mengungkap bahwa penulis yang profesional dan berpengalaman banyak menggunakan penanda sudut pandang, seperti modalitas epistemik, ekstraposisi "it", kata kerja komunikasi, dan kata ganti benda personal secara bervariasi dalam hal jenis-jenis sudut pandang evaluatif fungsional yang berbeda-beda. Temuan dalam penelitian ini menyoroti pentingnya pemahaman terhadap penggunaan perangkat penanda sudut pandang di bidang akademis, untuk memfasilitasi pemahaman yang lebih baik bagi para pembaca dan penulis pemula ketika menulis karya bersifat akademis. Secara pedagogis, paparan dalam penelitian ini memberikan kontribusi terhadap perkembangan bahasa praktis dan mata kuliah menulis akademis yang sesuai dalam komunitas wacana tertentu.