No more failing marks in English

The Education Ministry deserves praise for its ambitious 10-year plan to make all students fluent enough in English by the time they graduate Grade 6 to be able to express themselves in everyday situations.

The plan, going into effect as the new semester begins in early November, calls for a fivefold increase in the number of hours spent in English class for pupils of state-run primary schools. They’ll spend five hours per week studying the rudiments of conversational English instead of one, Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin has announced.

The scheme is a good step towards overcoming the Thai educational system’s embarrassing failure to produce graduates who can speak English well. Lessons begin at the primary level and for most students continue through high school. But what’s clearly absent despite all those years of coaching is the confidence required to use what they’ve learned. Anyone learning a foreign language must have – along with the basic knowledge – the willingness to test their abilities in conversation with native speakers.

Millions of Thais are adept at English, but the majority, despite years of lessons in youth, rarely speaks the language, presumably because they remain uncomfortable even trying. How bad is the situation here? Thailand ranks 14th among 16 Asian countries in terms of English ability and 62nd among 70 countries worldwide, according to the Education First Language Institute’s 2015 proficiency index.

We have a major problem with a shortage of English-language teachers, and another with a shortage of teachers who can actually speak English well themselves. Schools employing native speakers to coach their kids can’t come close to meeting demand nationally, and nor can private tutors. 

The Education Ministry also plans to run 18 training centres with the help of the British Council, the goal being to improve the skills of 13,500 English teachers in the first year. The goal can really be achieved only if the teachers emerging from training avoid the usual mistake of focusing on grammar and vocabulary rather than actual communication skills. 

A vast vocabulary and deep understanding of syntax and sentence structure are of little worth when you can’t keep up your end of the conversation. For that, students have to be taught to listen carefully and repeat clearly. They have to be encouraged to stand up in class and practise their words and phrases – and then go out and try their skills on foreigners, who more often than not are happy to help.

Too many Thai students view English merely as a subject that must be studied to pass exams. They should be shown that it is far more important than that. English is the predominant international language, the common tongue among people of dozens of nations. Global trade depends on it, as does the sharing of culture, and there is far more valuable information available on the Internet in English than in any other language.

If many Thais are aware of the benefits of English, as seems to be the case, then their hesitation to speak the language can only be blamed on the way it’s taught in school. It is well past time to put English instruction on the right path. Imagine a classroom of Grade 1 pupils hearing easy conversational phrases in English and getting the gist of what’s being expressed. They become familiar with some of the passages and repeat them as easily as the slang heard in the halls. The structure of the sentence and the multitude of additional words can come later. For now they’re speaking simple English. 

Our students should be learning English – or any other foreign language – for the sake of communicating with the world, not just to pass exams.