Teach students to use English, expert says
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An internationally recognised Thai educator yesterday urged the Education Ministry to implement its English Speaking Year 2012 policy in line with proven techniques and a results-oriented approach.
“I don’t want to see the Education Ministry go ahead without a clear direction,” Associate Professor Saowalak Rattanavich said.
As a lecturer at Srinakharinwirot University, she has conducted extensive research on Concentrated Language Encounter-based teaching. Many of her projects have been funded with foreign grants.
Countries including Japan, India, Malaysia and South Africa have adopted teaching models developed by her.
“Language classes must focus on content relevant to learners’ daily lives. The content must be practical,” she said.
The Education Ministry recently unveiled the English Speaking Year 2012 policy as a way to prepare the country and its population for the full advent of the Asean Economic Community in 2015.
“We must start with real usage of speaking, reading and writing the language in daily life first. Grammar can come later,” Saowalak said.
Teachers must also be provided adequate training.
“The language class should be fun and fresh. And importantly, the teachers must understand that each student is different,” she said. “Teachers must know how best to develop the potential of each student.”
Supapak Poramatikul, director of the university’s Prasarnmit Demonstration School (Secondary), said her school had improved students’ performance in foreign languages by hiring native speakers.
“But I’m not sure how schools with budget constraints will cope with the English Speaking Year 2012 policy,” she said.
Efforts to improve students’ foreign-language fluency must be sustained over the long term otherwise there will be no tangible results, Saowalak said. Her models have been proved effective in improving language competency of students at the primary level in foreign countries.
“If we implement them here, big changes should be seen in three years,” she added.
