The New English Teacher

Book Review: ESL Writing Activities, Games & Teaching Tips: Practical Ideas for the Classroom by Jackie Bolen

Rutjanee Ratanapinyopong — 2025-01-10

Thai Undergraduate Students’ Motivation Towards Learning English in the EMI Context

Poowadol Srimalee — 2025-01-10

This study investigates the motivation of Thai undergraduate students to learn English within the English Medium Instruction (EMI) context. The participants were 493 Thai students from eight full EMI programs at a Thai university. Employing a survey research design, a motivation questionnaire comprising 29 items was used to measure seven motivational constructs. The results highlighted a strong motivation driven by the instrumental value of learning English in shaping future career prospects and academic pursuits. In contrast, the study highlighted that expectations from other people were rated the lowest among the motivational factors. The findings offered valuable insights and implications for English educators within the EMI context in enhancing their students’ motivation towards English learning.

Contesting Racial Discourses in Thai Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Othello: A Case Study of King Vajiravudh’s Phraya Ratchawangsan (1925)

Weeraya Donsomsakulkij — 2025-01-10

By paying attention to racism as one of Phraya Ratchawangsan’s themes via the theoretical lens of postcolonialism, the paper examines the ways in which King Vajiravudh (King Rama VI) adapted the plot of Othello in Phraya Ratchawangsan to reveal and challenge the ignored racial discourses in Siam (Thailand) in the twentieth century. As a result, I argue that Phraya Ratchawangsan highlights racial discourses in the same way as the colonial legacies in Shakespeare's Othello that have often been overlooked in the Siamese society at the time. Such discourses animalize humans of different skin colors and have been maintained by white supremacy. To contest such racial discourses, King Rama VI subverted the concepts of Siamese beauty and “Otherness” via the acts of Somdet Phra Wigromratchsri, the King of Sriwichai Kingdom. Consequently, by analyzing the Siamese dance drama Phraya Ratchawangsan with insights of postcolonial studies, one can see that the conception of class hierarchy and the haves and the have-nots in Siam are not the only crucial issues that need to be reexamined. The problematic, yet often ignored racial discrimination in Siam, now Thailand, should be discussed and investigated, especially when it intensifies power of the class hierarchy, widening social gaps in Thailand. By doing so, the unity of Thailand is perhaps strengthened.

Material Processes in Philippine Department of Health’s English Press Releases on COVID-19: A Transitivity Concordancing Analysis

Leonardo O. Munalim — 2025-01-10

The COVID-19 pandemic might be considered as a disruptive moment in history. This small-scale study was motivated by the preponderance of this pandemic. It attempted to determine the roles and goals of the Philippine DOH as reflected in its complete set of 30 official press releases published during the peak of the pandemic from February 2020 to March 2020. The relatively short and early period of the COVID-19 pandemic could largely speak about crisis management of the Philippine’s Department of Health (DOH). The study employed the theoretical and analytical grounding of Material Processes and transitivity concordancing under Systemic Functional Linguistics and Critical Discourse Analysis. With the aid of AntConc and UAM Corpus Tool, results showed that the Philippine DOH painted itself as the Ensurer, the Monitorer and the Receiver. Its goals focused on the ‘Strategic Moves’ in combatting the pandemic. The foreground of these ‘Strategic Moves’ and the ‘Person/Public-Related’ goals might mean that it intentionally painted and privileged itself as a pro-people department. Such linguistic choices might have significantly mitigated public anxiety during the height of the crisis. I offer recommendations in terms of comparative studies of crisis management within the different spheres of world Englishes. The paper hopes to provide readers with the insights into how a government uses its linguistic resources in crisis management.

A Transitivity Analysis of Dean’s Message in a University Context: An Analysis of Gender Variations in Academic Written Discourses

Mohammad Husam Alhumsi — 2025-01-10

According to Halliday's theory of transitivity, readers can completely understand a text by identifying the precise language features that convey the author's purpose and intention. This paper focuses on analyzing a variety of process categories applied in academic written discourse at a university level. However, little research has compared the discourse patterns of male and female professors. Therefore, the current paper aims at investigating and comparing gender differences in academic written discourses between male and female deans’ messages within a university setting. This study adopts critical discourse analysis of Halliday’s theory of transitivity process types, representing the framework for this research. To examine transitivity process types, qualitative and quantitative methods were employed. Independent sample t-test has also been used to determine whether there is an effect of gender on the prevalence of transitivity process categories. The results disclosed that material processes are the most prevalent ones in both female and male deans’ messages. Moreover, the results revealed that there is no substantial effect of gender on the prevalence of transitivity process categories. Examining the roles and circumstances of participants could yield more relevant information for future studies.

Lexical Collocation Analysis in a Corpus of Research Articles in Physical Education and Sport Science

Piriya Thaksanan — 2025-01-10

Understanding how words naturally come together in language is critical for developing fluency and natural expression when studying a second or foreign language. However, many language learners struggle with collocations because they have not been taught how words normally combine. The purpose of this study was to look at keywords and lexical collocations in research articles on physical education and sport science that have been published in reputable journals. A corpus called COPES was created, consisting of 737,901 running word tokens taken from 144 high-quality scientific articles in the field of physical education and sport science. These articles were examined with AntConc version 4.2.4, a freeware corpus analysis toolkit for concordancing and text analysis. From this analysis, the first 200 keywords were identified. It was observed that the majority of these words functioned as nouns (64 %), followed by verbs (20.5%), adjectives (14%), and adverbs (1.5%). These keywords were then used as nodes to uncover their collocations. The study found that the most prevalent collocations were noun + noun, adjective + noun, noun + verb, and verb + noun. The study also delved into the pedagogical implications and provided recommendations for future research endeavors.

Effects of the Global Englishes-Informed Instruction on Thai University Students’ Attitudes Towards English Language Learning

Natthaphong Sirijanchuen — 2025-01-10

Promoting Global Englishes through multilingual role models can transform English language learning by emphasizing communication and cultural diversity. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of promoting Global Englishes (GE) language awareness, particularly by highlighting multilingual speakers as role models, on Thai students’ attitudes toward English language learning. The initial teaching intervention involved 40 Thai university students, and data were collected using qualitative research approach through reflective journals and semi-structured interviews. This process led to the identification of nine salient themes, primarily focusing on the study's exploration of attitudes toward diverse English accents within the framework of Global Englishes. It notably highlights participants' reactions to the accents of multilingual speakers. The findings provide a nuanced understanding of Thai students' attitudes towards English language learning, revealing a collective emphasis on the importance of communication overachieving native-like proficiency. These insights contribute to the broader discourse on teaching English in non-native contexts, advocating for a shift from traditional accent reduction pedagogy to promoting communicative competence and accommodating linguistic and cultural diversity.

Effects of Formative Self-Assessment on Thai Students’ English Language Proficiency

Patcharee Imsri — 2025-01-10

This study aimed to gain more understanding of Thai EFL students’ self-assessment during practice test engagement. The participants were 95 Thai undergraduate students majoring in English at a public university in Thailand. The correlation and multiple regression analyses were employed to study the relationship between the practice test and English language proficiency test (TOEIC) scores. The analysis of the confusion matrix was also performed to measure the accuracy of students’ self-assessment from the practice tests. The findings revealed that while Thai EFL students perceived themselves as “poor performers” for grammar and listening skill, their self-perception for vocabulary improvement was positive. A significant correlation was also found between the vocabulary practice test and the English proficiency test scores. The completion of multiple practice tests enhanced the students’ vocabulary knowledge and enabled them to improve their English proficiency test score. Finally, the confusion matrix results revealed the accuracy for students’ self-perception of grammar and listening skill. They did not overestimate or underestimate their abilities, but accurately predicted themselves as “low achievers” for these two skills. As demonstrated in the findings, students are the key factors for their learning success. It is essential to engage them with their own learning process, so that they will be able to identify their strengths and weaknesses in learning.

Thai Primary Teachers' Views on Social and Emotional Learning: A Preliminary Survey

Chayada Thanavisuth — 2025-01-12

This study aimed to examine Thai primary school teachers’ perceptions of Social and Emotional Learning (SEL), their experiences with SEL in classrooms, and the barriers to implementing these practices. Utilizing a Thai-translated version of the Instrument to Assess Teacher Perceptions of Social Emotional Learning (SEL) in PK–12 Schools, the study surveyed 189 primary school teachers in Thai medium schools. Additionally, qualitative analysis of open-ended questions was conducted using thematic analysis. The survey yielded significant insights into teachers' knowledge, skills, training, and experiences with SEL, as well as the obstacles to implementing SEL practices or receiving professional development within the Thai educational context. Results indicated that Thai primary teachers believe SEL has the potential to enhance students' social, emotional, and academic outcomes. The study suggests the need for developing SEL policies and curricula, enhancing teacher training, and conducting future research on the impacts of SEL.

Editorial

Rusma Kalra — 2025-01-10