Problems and Needs in English Language Teaching from the Viewpoints of Pre-service English Teachers in Thailand

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the problems and needs in English language teaching (ELT) of preservice English teachers in Thailand related to three aspects 1) curriculum and content, 2) instructional materials, and 3) teaching methods. The participants were thirty fourth-year preservice English teachers from five universities located in Northern, Central, Northeastern, and Eastern Thailand. The findings from questionnaire and semi-structure interview revealed that the problems and needs in ELT related to curriculum and content were insufficient number of study hours of each English course, inadequate courses for specific English skills, outdated curriculum, and inapplicable content to the real life. Therefore, the participants needed the curriculum focusing on real-world context and communication skills (e.g. speaking and listening skills). The main problems related to instructional materials were non-diverse, insufficient, and ineffective teaching aids, so the participants required teachers to use diverse instructional materials and integrated web-based technology in English classes. Finally, the major problems and needs related to teaching methods included lack of specialists in teaching specific courses and uninteresting teaching technique focusing on lecturing grammar rules and reading rather than practicing communication skills; hence, the pre-service English teachers mainly expressed the needs to learn using games, role play, and oral presentation as these methods were interesting and could increase opportunities to produce target language.

Integrating Self-Generated Online Projects in an ELT Class at a Thai University during the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…This kind of need is also in line with Poonpon's study (2021), focusing on the professional development needs of 4,220 in-service ELT teachers in Thailand and revealing that the teachers' technological needs are very significant during the Covid-19 outbreak. Especially in this case, these pre-service English language teachers should be trained to use different kinds of multimedia in designing and producing instructional materials for their students (Oeamoum & Sriwichai, 2020). Even though the pre-service teachers in the current study seemed to be the younger generation, they may learn how to use technological applications and social media platforms (e.g., Facebook, Line, Instagram) in their daily lives or in 'learning' language.…”

A Multilevel Input-Oriented English Teaching Model considering Diversified Training Objectives

“…In the formula, HðxÞ represents the semantic feature segmentation function, and the output result of the function is the segmentation result. x represents the amount of the multilevel input English teaching model [13,14], K represents the number of semantic segmentation in the multilevel input English teaching model [15], and p k represents the posterior probability distribution value after semantic feature segmentation in the multilevel input English teaching model, which is a finite value. According to the calculation results of equation (3), the semantic feature segmentation of the multilevel input English teaching model pays more attention to small goals or divides the large goals into multiple parts.…”

Design of Multimedia English Online Teaching Platform under Wireless Network Communication Technology

“…The main controller is the core hardware of the Multimedia English online teaching platform, which is mainly used for the overall operation control of the platform and the execution of various business logic operations [ 20 ]. The main controller of this platform is dtb-1022 J1900-embedded industrial computer, and its basic parameters are shown in Table 2 .…”