Vocational College English Teachers Awareness of Establishment of the ASEAN Community and Its Impact on English Language Teaching

Journal article

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Publication Details

Author list: Khunmontri, S.;Trakulkasemsuk, W.;Bunsom, T.

Publication year: 2014

Journal: วารสารศิลปศาสตร์ มหาวิทยาลัยอุบลราชธานี (1686-5596)

Volume number: 10

Issue number: 2

Start page: 77

End page: 106

ISSN: 1686-5596

Abstract

The ASEAN Community will be soon established in 2015 and thus the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will surely receive great interest. With the policy of the free-flow of skilled labor, Thai vocational graduates can anticipate this new challenge. Since English has been adopted as the main working language of the ASEAN Community, it will certainly be an essential tool with which Thai vocational graduates should be equipped. To do so, vocational school English teachers will play an important role. This study therefore aims to investigate the understanding of vocational college English teachers about the ASEAN Community and its impact on their beliefs in what and how to teach English. Four experienced vocational school English teachers were interviewed. Then, the interview data were transcribed and grouped into themes. The results showed that the teachers were aware of the ASEAN Community establishment. However, their knowledge of ASEAN was still superficial. As a result, they could make only general suggestions for English language teaching (ELT) to prepare vocational students for the AEC. The findings also suggested that assistance from the Ministry of Education and a clearer English teaching policy and curriculum are needed.

Keywords

vocational school English teachers, teachers’ awareness, the ASEAN Community, AEC, ELT