Thread: Thai English teachers failing the test

English tutors failing the test

Just one in 10 can score more than 60 per cent


Published on August 21, 2007




Training is needed urgently to improve the standard of English teaching in Thailand, senior government and private educationalists said after seeing the "highly unimpressive scores" in a recent test of English-language teachers.

Of the 14,189 teachers in 30 tourism-oriented provinces who took the test, 74.59 per cent scored less than 41 marks out of a possible 100, according to an Office of Basic Education Commission (OBEC) report.

Only 9.94 per cent of the teachers scored between 60 and 100 marks, while 15.47 per cent managed to score between 42 and 60 marks.

The lowest score earned in the test - which allotted 30 marks for listening ability, 30 marks for reading, 20 marks for writing and 20 marks for speaking - was two.

Among the 30 provinces from where the teachers who took the test came were Bangkok, Phuket, Chiang Mai, Sukhothai and Chon Buri.

The test was conducted jointly by OBEC and Ramkhamhaeng University as a follow-up to a previous one conducted four years ago in which 90 per cent of English-language teachers also did poorly.

The OBEC report described English teaching in Thailand currently as a "failure", and cited the lack of direct education in teaching English for local teachers as the main reason.

Asst Prof Chaleosri Phiboolchol, chairperson of the English-language Teachers' Association of Thailand, said most of the approximately 500,000 English teachers in government and private schools at primary and secondary level "were made to do their jobs" without basic qualifications or proper training.

She suggested giving scholarships and providing training and rewarding outstanding teachers as solutions to encourage self-development among English teachers.

Assoc Prof Suchada Nimmannit, a lecturer with Chulalongkorn University's Language Institute, said the Education Ministry had failed to substantially improve English teachers.

"Training every few years for teachers is not enough to develop them academically," she added.

She said that if sending Thai English-language teachers to countries with native English speakers and highly professional training was too expensive, exchange programmes among Southeast Asian countries would be good enough to expose them to new experiences and prompt them to adjust to all-English environments.

Akkhara Akkharanithi, a lecturer at the Language Institute, said the teaching of English should also be improved at kindergarten level, where all the teachers are too burdened with full-time tasks to improve their English teaching.
She suggested that all government English teachers who worked for more than five years should be allowed to study English overseas on their own funds, while more scholarships should be made available to those who proved to be outstanding English teachers.

Thammarat Kijchalong
The Nation

She said that if sending Thai English-language teachers to countries with native English speakers and highly professional training was too expensive, exchange programmes among Southeast Asian countries would be good enough to expose them to new experiences and prompt them to adjust to all-English environments.

beeeeeeeeeecause Vietnam and Cambodia are all english environments???

perhaps she means the Phils. or Malaysia ?

Originally Posted by mrT

beeeeeeeeeecause Vietnam and Cambodia are all english environments???

No, but the level of English is higher there, as the students study to learn English, not just to get a piece of paper saying they have studied it.

I think Malaysia, Hong Kong, The Philippines and Singapore have near fluent levels of English though.

Originally Posted by mrT

She said that if sending Thai English-language teachers to countries with native English speakers and highly professional training was too expensive, exchange programmes among Southeast Asian countries would be good enough to expose them to new experiences and prompt them to adjust to all-English environments.

beeeeeeeeeecause Vietnam and Cambodia are all english environments???

Some South East Asian English teachers I've met have very good pronunciation, can speak spontaneously, and are good teachers.

of all the teachers I've interviewed over the years here in Thailand, the best one came from...
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.korea...sorry MrsQ

We ran an English course for the Thai teachers at our school a few years ago.. Gues who didn't attend? Yep, the English teachers, who were obviously too good for such a thing

The other teachers were great and really enjoyed it.

"We" have a retired English gentleman working as a volunteer teacher in one of the village schools... his work with the kids has actually made them try to SPEAK the lingo which is one of the things Thai kids are not to eager to try. Needless to say that his approach to teaching is different from what the kids are used to.

Appoint Bangkok Shill as Minister of Education. He'd get it sorted in no time flat.

So anyone got the test then? I'd love to take it.

I once did a "workshop" for Thai primary teachers to give them some ideas on how to teach English. I'd say about 80% of them couldn't understand a word I said. The ones who could understand were great though. Mostly younger teachers.

The sad fact is that the government makes them teach English, but the teachers can't speak it themselves. Waste of time really.

Not surpized as many would be Teachers buy their Degree in Bangkok.

There was a similar result in 2004, when a TOEFL test was conducted in SE-Asia. Thailand scored second worst, right after Cambodia. However, they narrowly escaped the looser position, that of cambodia, by only 1 point. (Cambodia scored 200 points, Thailand 201 points).

The Thai ministy of eduaction then blamed all the foreign teachers for this miserable outcome.

We operate a language school in Bangkok (French and German). Almost all governmental schools offer French classes in upper levels. We visited a couple of them, but were unable to understand or communicate with the local language teachers (neither in French nor English).
We offered them free teachers training - not a single Thai French teacher was interested.
Some may say...they probably didn't understand what we had to offer.....

Originally Posted by hillbilly

At a British curriculm school that I am know well; but is common in Thailand,

I just hope you don't teach English, HB

I know a lovely lady who teaches English in a somewhat remote school in Ubon province. She gets free accomodation in a wooden shanty and she ferks like a minx. She feels reasonably well done by on her 8,000 Bht per month, there is no way she can spend it there so she is buying a house in Ubon City, because teachers get this easy credit because they are government type employee's.
It's a bit of a shame she can't speak English.

Originally Posted by hillbilly

The C is still lower than 50%.

It depends upon which level of GCSE you take as well. But, I agree that the system is shite now. I preferred the old 'O' level system that meant you had to know the subject or you failed.

As for 'A' levels. Some of them are bitchingly difficult and some are not.

^My uni, Nottingham, came 83rd

Originally Posted by hillbilly

The C is still lower than 50%. In America that is a do-over, flunk, waste of time...

Yes, but don't you do a lot of multiple choice tests in the US. In England they are thought of as a waste of time, too. Can't really judge anything on a %, need to know the quality and depth of the assessment.

Doctors pretty much need straight A grades for GCSE and A-level. Marmite is right, A-C is viewed as a pass and most of the time if you take a higher level exam you cannot get a grade lower than C, just A, B, C and fail.