Philippine E-Journals

Factors Affecting Thai University Students in Learning English Speaking Course

SAWITRI SUWANAROA

 

Abstract:

English speaking is an essential communication skill that is widely used in many sectors in Thai society; however, many Thai university students and graduates are incapable of using English for effective communication. This research investigated the factors affecting Thai university students’ learning of English speaking course and explored the student needs, expectations and difficulties toward the course. Following the descriptive research design, 25 students majoring English for International Communication participated in the study. The Speaking Process for Thai EIC Students (SPTES) model was utilized to identify the internal and external factors which are supposed to operate, mediate and interact on each other throughout the three processing stages of speaking for successful learning. The findings revealed that EIC students’ needs, expectations, and difficulties in ES1 were to a large extent shaped by their beliefs in practice on language-based exercises, focusing especially on five factors shaping the development of English speaking, and then further for interpretation of those five factors such as mediation provided in ES1, textbooks used in ES1, insufficient provisions in ES1, English Grammar for ES1, and students’ self-efficacy in ES1. The implications of the study rest theoretically with the SPTES model, offering some theoretical concepts for the design of a program for teaching English speaking to tertiary EFL students.