English as an ASEAN lingua franca and the role of nativeness in English education in Thailand

Abstract

English has been increasingly used in Thailand as a lingua franca; that is, a means of communication between people who do not share a mother tongue nor speak English as a native language. Given the integration of ASEAN nations to form an economic region, the use of English as lingua franca (ELF) in Thailand and other member states of ASEAN will likely continue to increase at a significant rate. Kagnarith, Klein and Middlecamp (2012) observe that the increasing use of English as an inter-regional language of communication probably results from two causes. First, the use of English as ASEAN's working lingua franca has already been in effect. Second, the promotion of English as an international business language is one objective of the plan for the regional integration of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). In fact, the campaign to promote English as an official lingua franca in ASEAN is based on Article 34 of The ASEAN Charter ratified in February 2009: ‘The working language of ASEAN shall be English’.

Existing EFL Pedagogies in Thai Higher Education: Views from Thai University Lecturers

“…As a result, governments worldwide have inevitably adopted a national educational development policy to include English as an essential learning language. This phenomenon creates a significant rise in the number of non-native English language learners and a change to the status of English and its linguistic landscapes (Fang & Ren, 2018;Galloway & Rose, 2018;Jindapitak, 2019. This development produced a clear contrast between the new status quo and the past conditions, especially on the emergence of English varieties and their contextual applications among users with diverse linguacultural demographics.…”

“…In contrast, teachers have minimal control over the educational designs despite the fact that they have the intelligence on what works best contextually and culturally, for the target learners. In addition to the limited control in policymaking and planning, all official mandates must be undeniably carried out, meaning that, in Thailand, English teachers have the obligations to foster native English proficiency using Britishized or Americanized ELT approaches and pedagogies (Prabjandee, 2020;Rajprasit & Marlina, 2019) developed by native English scholars according to what they perceived universally appropriate (D'Angelo, 2012;Jindapitak, 2019;Methitham, 2011).…”

“…Nevertheless, preparing English language learners for today's English diversity requires more responsive pedagogies than conventional English as a foreign language framework (EFL) and English nativeness idealization. In this globalized world, as Jindapitak (2019) and Tantiniranat (2020) suggested, English has become a medium for intercultural communication, and most English dialogues take place outside of the native English contexts, involving interlocutors with linguacultural diversity raised to be familiar with different English varieties. Therefore, narrowing English language education to a limited number of mainstream English varieties tends to drive impractical results.…”

Existing EFL Pedagogies in Thai Higher Education: Views from Thai University Lecturers

“…As a result, governments worldwide have inevitably adopted a national educational development policy to include English as an essential learning language. This phenomenon creates a significant rise in the number of non-native English language learners and a change to the status of English and its linguistic landscapes (Fang & Ren, 2018;Galloway & Rose, 2018;Jindapitak, 2019. This development produced a clear contrast between the new status quo and the past conditions, especially on the emergence of English varieties and their contextual applications among users with diverse linguacultural demographics. Therefore, this research aimed to explore English lecturers' voices in Thai universities on existing EFL pedagogies and evaluate if they indicate that their practices are responsive to the changing English landscapes.…”

Research on the Model of Autonomous Creation of College English Teaching Based on Innovation Perspective

“…Only when teachers take the initiative to accurately understand the curriculum can they become conscious practitioners and creative builders of the curriculum. [11] Teachers' accurate understanding of the curriculum and its transformation into curriculum behaviors are a very important part of the process of teachers transforming cognitive curriculums into realistic educational power.…”