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Abstract
In Thai culture there is a psychological barrier to experimentation, and that is called
the fear of failure. In this paper we will explore the other cultural factors that bear
upon the teacher, the strategies that the society has adopted, and then suggest
courses of action that the teacher can take to overcome some of the perceived
limitations that Thai culture tries to impose on its members. The purpose here is to
become aware of the cultural forces at play, so that the teacher can begin to work
around them in pursuit of a more effective educational environment.
Language Learning
Language is acquired by trial and error, by experimentation with sounds, structures,
words, and ideas.
The key idea is sounds. Unless you are singing, language is a sound. Consider how
babies learn language. They first of all have to hear it. Then they begin to mutter it.
They are imitating the sounds they hear. (Donart 2006).
A person must hear a language in order to learn to speak it. That is why deaf
children seldom learn to speak.
The learner must directly participate in the process. Speaking is a physical
process using the human body to make sounds. The sounds must simply be in an
acceptable order, of acceptable duration, and with acceptable variations in the voice.
There is no perfect answer, that is, there is no correct answer, only an acceptable
answer. But getting speech into the range of acceptability requires practice, and
practice means trial and error, in short experimentation.
Speaking is far less precise than writing. The speaker only needs to voice a word
within an acceptable range of tones, stress, and sounds. Great variation is permitted.
As long as the sounds are within the box then the person will be understood. If the
sounds are outside the box, then the result is nonsense. In many cases the listener is
required to perform error correction through an understanding of context.
Language is personal, immediate, and physical. The physical aspects are
mastered over time by trial and error. No one gets it perfect the first time. Many
native speakers never get it right. However, they can still communicate effectively.
So getting it perfect is perfect nonsense, because perfection is a myth.
I go shopping yesterday.
2.
Sentence 1 holds a complete idea. Grammar corrections will not improve the
completeness of the idea. (Grammar adds nothing.). Sentence 2 is ambiguous;
grammar rules will do nothing to cure the defects in this sentence. (Grammar fixes
nothing.)
Teaching English grammar is a waste of time (Donart 2006).
Udon Thani Rajabhat University, Thailand
In the Language Center at Udon Thani Rajabhat University (UDRU), Udon Thani,
Thailand, we deal with adult and near-adult learners of English as a foreign language
(EFL). When they come to us they have been inculcated with the principles of Thai
culture. Furthermore, they have developed a number of strategies for dealing with
the conflicts that Thai cultural creates.
Rajabhat Universities, overall, are part of the public school system in Thailand. At our
school we draw students almost exclusively from the public primary and secondary
schools. While there are several private schools in our area, seldom do we get
students from them. In the public school system students have been exposed to
roughly 1,000 to 2,000 hours of English instruction.
We also teach students in the Extension Program. These students are more mature,
many of whom are already parents. Most of them work for a living, and a number of
them operate their own businesses.
During the summer recess, English teachers from the village schools come to the
Language Center for workshops to help them improve their teaching skills. Only
about 10% studied English as their major. About 90% studied something else. Most
common is Physical Education and Home Economics. These teachers dont speak
English, and therefore their students cannot hear English.
When UDRU students come into the Language Center, we administer a uniform
Placement Test provided by the Ellis 3.2 computer based language learning
system. That means that we have a language lab running the Ellis 3.2 software.
The lab was donated to the university by the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET).
The placement results are revealing. Students (the products of the Thai educational
system) routinely score as Beginners. With 1,000+ hours of English instruction they
should score as High Intermediate or Advanced learners. Their score profiles are
given below. Here we report on 325 students who took the test June 2006. Although
as of this writing we have tested over 2,000 students. The results reported below are
completely consistent with the larger test population.
Placement Results for 325 Students Evaluated in June 2006.
Skill
Listening
Vocabulary
Grammar
Median Median
Test
Learner
Score
Lever
Max=605 Max=12
170
215
240
3
5
5
Lowest Lowest
Test
Learner
Score
Level
95
15
130
2
1
2
Highest Highest
Test
Learner
Score
Level
385
395
385
9
9
9
Reading and Writing: Deals well with simple reading materials, and
may be able to grasp main ideas from developed texts if the topics, vocabulary and
grammar are mostly familiar; may be able to write ideas on many familiar topics,
though errors may make writings somewhat difficult to understand.
deI
dIz
kQ:mel
kQ:mel
wajr
pQz
grins haU
Apparent
Word
day
deez
camel
camel
wah-yer
pazz
greens-how
Intended
IPA
DeI
DIz
:kQml
:kQmls
:wtr
pQTs
grinhaUs
Intended
English
they
Inside Listener
the Box? Correction
No
Context
these
No
Context
camel
Yes
None
camels
No
Context
water
No
Context
paths
No
Context
greenhouse No
Impossible
Notice how often the listener is required to correct the speakers (teachers) defective
speech. The effect is to shift responsibility onto the listener for the speakers errors.
However, there is one major problem with this strategy. In order for the listener or
reader to correct errors through context, he/she must understand about 98% of
what is being communicated.
Students cannot guess the meaning of an unknown word from context if the
surrounding text is too difficult. Hu and Nation (2000) suggest that students need to
know about 98% or more of the other words in the text (1 new word in 50) before
successful guessing can take place. At the rate of 1 new word in 10 the probability of
guessing the meaning of an unknown word is close to zero. (Waring 2002).
That our students cannot understand the spoken word and therefore score low on
the placement test, and that they cannot guess new words very easily, demonstrated
by relatively low vocabulary scores, sums up the state of English education by the
public systems in Thailand. The focus on grammar doesnt teach much English.
Johnnys Story
Johnny is a student at Big Village School. Johnnys mother is Jane, and his father is
John. Johnnys teacher is Mrs. Jones, and the principal at Big Village is Mr. James.
Mrs. Jones has been teaching English at Big Valley for several years. Mr. James is
proud of her because all her students get good grades. This pleases Mr. James, and
it also pleases Johnnys mother Jane and his father John.
Teacher Jones uses textbooks and workbooks provided by the Department of
Education. Some of the workbooks are new, and some have already been used. The
books come from well respected publishers. There are many examples of vocabulary
and grammar. The books are designed so that each student, alone and on his/her
own enters answers in the workbook.
When Teacher Jones conducts her English classes, she speaks Thai most of the time.
Thats because her English is very poor, and she is afraid of teaching her students
poor English. Sometimes one of her students has contact with English speaking
foreigners, and that student may actually speak better English than the teacher. So
she avoids asking questions in English because the students might laugh at her poor
English. But that is a false fear, because the students know better than to laugh at
their teacher. They know that they must pretend to understand what she is trying to
teach them. And the best way to do this is say nothing. They just fill in their
workbooks.
The school system is wonderful. Teacher Jones status in the community is high, and
she makes sure that all her students pass her course. She is the only one who
determines the grades of each student, so it is easy for her to make sure that
everyone passes. The tests she gives are mostly multiple choice so they are easy to
grade. It doesnt take much of her time. She also likes it because she can focus on
grammar most of the time. Grammar is easy to teach. There is always one correct
answer and this is easy for her to explain using the Thai language. Teaching
grammar means that she can avoid speaking English and still teach.
Principal James is pleased with this system too, because he doesnt have to get
involved. When all students pass, people in the community see him as a good
person. If all students pass, then he is a good principal, Big Valley is a good school
and he has many good teachers.
Student Johnny was put in a group of students who stay together for many years.
They are his close friends. They form a group bond. They are his extended family at
school, and the bond may last a lifetime. Johnny makes sure that he does not bring
shame on his group, it would be the same as bringing shame on his family. That
means that Johnny makes sure that his workbook is always filled in. If he cannot get
a workbook from one of last years students, a workbook that is already filled in,
then he goes to see members of his group for help. Someone in the group has the
answers for the workbook.
Teacher Jones and Principal James are Johnnys surrogate parents at school. When
Teacher Jones sees the workbooks turned in by her students, it is obvious which
workbooks are from last year, because all the exercises are completed. And it is
obvious to Teacher Jones when one student gets his/her answers from another
student because the wrong answer is identical down to every letter and every
punctuation mark. It is of little concern to her that the answers are nonsense
English. The main thing is that each student turns in something, right or wrong. After
all, she is their surrogate mother, and they are her adopted children. She lives in a
culture where discipline is avoided, so she is reluctant to scold her children.
Teacher Jones sometimes comes up with new ideas for her students. But if those
new ideas mean that students will no longer use the materials selected by the
Department of Education, then she will not do it. Her rejection of the choices made
by the Department of Education would be viewed, not on their merits, but as
insubordination to higher authority. After all, the executives in Bangkok are higher in
status than she is, and she wouldnt ever consider criticizing their actions.
Furthermore, her experiment might fail, and that would bring shame on her school,
her principal and upon herself. So she correctly reasons, that there is everything to
lose and nothing to gain by departing from the prescribed path of teaching.
Johnnys mother Jane is happy because her son gets good grades. Father John is
happy too. However, Johnnys mother and father also know that he seldom studies.
Instead he spends his time playing computer games when he is not visiting with his
friends. Mother and father know that Johnny copies his homework from other
students just like they did when they went to school. Its called information
sharing. Johnny knows, deep down inside, that he is a poor student. But never
mind, if father has the right connections and Johnny can graduate from university,
he will get a good job.
When Johnny takes objective performance tests, his scores are low. But that means
somethings wrong with the tests, because Johnny is a good person, Teacher Jones
is a good person, Principal James is a good person, and Johnnys parents are good
people.
When Johnny comes to Udon Thani Rajabhat University, he has already developed a
set of strategies for dealing with the educational system. Here he will join a new
group. This group will stay together for his four years at Rajabhat. Just like in
primary and secondary school, the group is his extended family and that means he
will work hard to help his family members get through their studies, just as they will
help him get through with information sharing.
Johnnys Thai teachers at the university understand the system and many go along
with it. But that is not true of all his Thai teachers, and it isnt true of his farang
teachers, who dont know the system, and if they do, certainly dont agree with it.
Thats when the Johnnys fantasy world begins to unravel.
Johnny must now learn to learn.
Family harmony is a critical force. The family extends to the groups at school and at
work. Before taking any action, a person must consider the harmony impact of that
action. If harmony will be disrupted, then the action must be changed or abandoned.
Thais base their relationships on trust and emotion. Conflict between individuals is
kept to a minimum or is avoided if possible. Thais prefer to have stable social
relationships and maintain surface harmony (Rohitratana 1998).
The quest for harmony breeds nepotism. By mixing the blood family with the work
family harmony is optimized because criticism is suppressed and promotion based on
merit is also suppressed. Suppressing competition among family members
promotes the illusion of harmony.
The Status Gap (Bhun Khun) Principle
Thai culture has a dominant superior-inferior concept. Hofstede (2001) calls this
power distance. Thais accept a hierarchical authority system and unequal power
distribution. They view superiors as father (parental) figures in their family (Mckenna
1995).
Students in Thailand perceive themselves as not being equal to their professors
(Mller 2006).
There is a point where status turns from negative to positive. Negative status means
that a person is in the lower status ranks, such as children, students, young persons
generally.
Positive status comes automatically with age. One gets it for free. If two persons
are otherwise equal, age alone will break the tie. Position, especially a position that
carries an official title, also carries positive status. In Thailand, the King has the
highest level of positive status.
One might equate negative status with an inferiority complex and positive status with
a superiority complex.
If students have negative status, and teachers positive status, when does the
transition come about? First year university students are not all status negative, but
a large number are. Adult Extension students are more often status positive. They
have experienced the real world, have jobs, are often parents, and in many cases
have positions of responsibility in the community. They are simply older.
As a person climbs the social hierarchy, status becomes more positive and the status
gap increases between those entering at the bottom (children) and the maturing
person. The status gap concept does not come about by accident. It is drilled into
everyone from the moment of birth. The system of names for siblings incorporates
status concepts. No person is allowed to be unaware of where he/she fits in the
status system. This status consciousness prevails in all social relationships. It is
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physically reinforced by the wai procedure that is practiced many times throughout
the day, every day. Where the hands are placed during a wai is a barometer of the
status position that the wai-ing person considers the wai-to person to hold. So
every day, Thais are constantly evaluating the status gap in their social relations.
The Paternalism Principle
Thais see themselves as members of a family. In many ways, this is a variation of
utopian societies where everyone is brother or sister. Thais commonly introduce
their friend as the sister or brother even when there is no blood relationship. It is
difficult, in fact, to find out if two persons are actually related by blood, as this does
not seem to be an important distinction.
The sense of family accrues to a persons inner group. Calling a person brother or
sister indicates that the person is a part of the inner group. The system of school
classes is particularly important for police and military academies. The class members
seem to stick together throughout their professional careers.
Thai subordinates usually accord respect and feel obligations to their superiors as a
father figure in the family (Mckenna 1995). Teachers are surrogate parents of the
students. As such, the teacher is responsible for the students success, just as a
parent is responsible for a childs behavior.
Rohitratana (1998) said Due to paternalism and dependence, the concept of a flat
structure in an organization, which entails speedy decisions cannot effectively take
place. The reason is that only those at the top can possibly make decisions; that is
their obligation, to operate as fathers.
Thais perceive the role of leader as a controller rather than a colleague. This may
be called superior-inferior concept, which is dominant in Thailand. (Thanasankit
2000).
Paternalism creates obligations for everyone. High status persons such as teachers
are responsible for the success of low status persons such as students. Low status
persons are obligated to show respect to higher status persons.
Paternalism breeds nepotism (and cronyism) by making it easier to achieve harmony
by placing ones relatives (or classmates) in positions of responsibility, without regard
to ability. An otherwise objective enterprise can be converted into a paternal one
though nepotism. Objective decision making can be converted into emotional
decision making by nepotism alone, that is, goals of the inner circle supplant goals of
the greater organization, such as a school, government, or business.
The message for students is clear: Merit and personal achievement are not very
important, and therefore, not worth the effort.
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Decision making comes from the top. It is the duty of those at the top to make
decisions and the duty of those below to carry them out. It is not acceptable to
criticize decisions coming from the top, regardless of merit. When decisions are held
to public scrutiny the typical strategy is to form a committee to evaluate the decision.
Ideally, the committee will remain anonymous so that the responsible person can
claim that the decision was made not by him/her but rather by the committee. The
anonymous committee perfects the cycle of criticism avoidance.
Question Avoidance
Questions have bad side-effects. They open the door for failure because the person
to whom the question is directed may not know the answer. To not know the
correct answer causes Loss of Face, it is an implied criticism. With Loss of Face
comes a reduction in status. Questions can often be disharmonious.
The strategy therefore, is to not ask any questions, or else ask only safe questions.
Uncertainty Avoidance (Kreng Jai)
Thai people have high uncertainty avoidance (Hofstede 2001).
Thais want certainty in their lives and in their social relationships, not just for the
individual but also within the community (Thanasankit 2000). This is understandable
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In the tropical zone, things are different. Countries fall into one of two categories.
Those that had European educational, legal, and governmental systems imposed on
them, such as Vietnam, India, and Singapore, and those that didnt, such as
Thailand. Burma, Laos, and Cambodia got pushed behind by internal factors, not by
the effects of a European institutions.
The price that Thailand will pay for its continued observance of truth avoidance is to
forever be in second, or third or fourth, etc. place in the global race for success. The
reason is quite simple. A truth avoider will not deal as effectively with the real
world as will the truth pursuer.
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Teachers failing to voice the sounds of the target language means that students
cannot learn those sounds, and hence the target language.
Teachers who are held accountable by the society for student success will
automatically pass students without regard to student accomplishment.
Individual achievement is not a cultural goal therefore there is no duty placed upon
the student to accomplish anything.
Overcoming Barriers
(Mahbubani 2004):
There is a monumental struggle going on within the souls of many Asians to decide
what kind of identity they want for their future. They are trying to find the best from
their own cultural roots and the best from the West.
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References
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Hofstede, G. (2001): Cultures Consequences. Comparing Values, Behaviours,
Institutions and Organizations Across Nations. Second Edition. Sage
Publications, Thousand Oaks, CA.
Hu, M. and P. Nation. (2000): Unknown vocabulary density and reading
comprehension, Reading in a Foreign Language 13, (1): 403-43.
Komin, S. (1990): Psychology of The Thai People: Values and Behavioral Patters,
NIDA (Natinal Institute of Development Administration), Bangkok, Thailand
Komin, S. (1990): Culture and Work-related Values in Thai Organizations,
International Journal of Psychology 25, pp. 681-704
Mahbubani, K. (2004): Can Asians Think?, Third Edition, Marshall Cavendish Editions,
Singapore
Mckenna, S. (1990): The cultural transferability of business and organizational reengineering: Examples from Southeast Asia, The TMQ Magazine, 7(3), pp.
12-16
Mulder, N. (1978): Life in Thailand: An Interpretation, Duang Kamol, Bangkok,
Thailand
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Berlin, Germany.
Rohitratana, K. (1998): The role of Thai values in managing information systems; a
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