gumpanaj

Also see the article in Newsweek: The Destruction of Thailand's Global Brand - Newsweek

"Thailand's scores on the TOEFL exam, the test of English skills for students heading to university, now consistently rank amongthe lowest in Asia"

I agree with your post but, I urge everyone to educate Thai government changing the curriculum as such in order to complete with the 21th century. TOEFL is not an easy subject for the Thais. Remember, Thailand had never been colonized by anyone so, it is no way Thai students will do well with English plus if you go to elementary schools you will see how little the Thais teach English. ( less than 3 hours per week ) English is not an easy language to learn and it takes a person so much time and energy to master. Learning another language is problem for the Thais..so, The Thais need qualify teachers who can read, write and communicate effectively in English. These will apply to TOEFL centers as well. Now it is about time for the Thais to demand the outcome before paying handsome for schools or the TOEFL training placees....

By the way, how many Thais can afford paying 50,000 dollars for studying in America??? ( foreign students ) Now, that why Thais never pay attention to English...... Some Thais say to me that they have fish in the water and rice in the field so they are happy and doing fine. Why do they need others unless they want to own Louis Vutiton or Chanel coutours. My point and I am standing tall.

There will always be some students that find an inner motivation to learn to speak a language through "Class study"... and they will even take the time and spend the energy to find ways to expand their English (or any language) exposure outside of class, and thereby become proficient in communicating.

BUT.. The average Thai student doesn't feel this motivation, nor even see any reason to expend this time and energy which requires so much more than they have to give for their other subjects... and distracts from watching Soap operas, Horror movies or game shows, reading cartoon, "playing" Computer and hanging out at the mall.

This is a societal problem.. until the government wakes up and forces a cultural change in the average Thai's exposure to English... an exposure that is lacking on almost every level... There will never be any real change in how motivated students are to learning. You can't learn to truly communicate in any language strictly from books, or a few hours a week in a classroom... It must be "lived" and made part of daily communicative tasks. Practice is mandatory, and exposure must be ubiquitous.

For a country the purports to be "Tourist Friendly", it is surprising how difficult it is for the average Tourist to find their way around, once they leave the conducted Tour experience.

Try and find a City Bus with the Route/Destination written in English.. or on a bus stop sign. I guess they feel the "Real" Tourists don't take city buses, as they are all too rich to want to mix with Real Thai people and would only take taxis. If they take a bus they must be part of the unwanted "poor" tourist category.. so why try and accommodate them.

The simple step of placing English on Buses would go a long way to show Thais that English is an important communication tool. Then they could have an actual English Broadcast (Free) TV Channel. And an English Newspaper that was available at all Newsstands in all parts of Thailand, not just in selected Tourist areas. And Subtitled Movies rather than dubbed on TV.. and more Western Sit-coms and Drama shows (legal/Medical, etc.) that demonstrated real life situations and exposure to various cultures.. Not a diet of strictly Hi-So Soap operas and slap-stick comedies with arcane laugh tracks.

This would be a small start.. but it would be necessary to sustain the effort over the long-term, no matter the cost or the market resistance. True change never comes easily or with little cost.

CS

Change is good. But it takes time!

This report is frankly misleading.

The test that the teachers took (OBEC) was not the same kind of test that is taken by the students (O-NET). It's perfectly possible that the test was particularly difficult, even for experienced teachers. The results are meaningless and the journalism shoddy.

The mirror has two sides.