Thai Teaching Candidates Want Standard Of English Requirements Lowered

[Chittychangchang]

An internet discussion about teacher candidates calling for lower English-language requirements sparked arguments over their necessity on social media this week.
Taking over online discussions for nearly a week, the matter gained attention after some candidates for an initiative which recruits teachers to work in their hometowns rallied online to lower the proficiency score required to teach.
Nearly 3,500 eligible candidates who already passed the test were called to report to the Office of the Higher Education Commission over the weekend. To finally secure a teaching job in their hometown, they will be obligated to submit their English language proficiency scores by Oct. 1.
The position requires scores of 400 of 990 for the Test of English for International Communications, or TOEIC; 3.5 of 9 for the International English Language Testing System, or IELTS; or 40 out of 120 for the Test of English as a Foreign Language Internet-Based Test, or TOEFL iBT.
This sparked concern among some candidates who found the requirement difficult to meet and, they said, irrelevant to their teaching skills.
That included the manager of unofficial online Facebook page Teachers Return Home – Initiative to Train Teachers for Local Development, who encouraged candidates to ask the project to cancel or lower the English language proficiency requirement. Many comments shared his stance.
“It’s something that’s so irrelevant to being a teacher,” wrote Facebook user Podjaman Mint Pongkla. “It’s probably okay to just reduce [the TOEIC requirement] down to 250.”
“Can we change it from testing to training?” wrote Facebook user Natsanan Thaiteacher. “You can just spend the 1,500-2,000 baht test fee on arranging a training session instead.”
“Testing is useless. We don’t have to use it. What is the reason for that?” said user Wankhangna Tongkaotorpai.
These public comments quickly drew criticism from netizens who deemed it unacceptable for a teacher to have such poor English proficiency.
Many of them expressed their concerns through the hashtag #TeachersReturnHome which also became the top-trending topic on Twitter earlier this week.
“Oh my god. Now I understand why kids from the provinces have such poor English,” wrote Twitter user @brie_pie. “I’m not surprised I’ve met a teacher who pronounced the letter ‘H’ as ‘hed’ #Sympathyforfutureofthecountry #TeachersReturnHome”
“Emerging knowledge nowadays is in English,” wrote Facebook user Kwanchai Phuntee. “If teachers didn’t know English and taught students outdated knowledge, what would happen?”
But some argued English ability has nothing to do with the potential to teach.
“Can a person who is not good at English be a good teacher?” wrote Facebook user Panuwat Borphimai. “There are so many factors. Won’t they be able to teach physics or other subjects if their English isn’t good?”
Nearly a week after the topic went viral, the page on which the matter was first brought to attention was deleted, but that did not stop the debate from continuing.
As a former teacher I can see both sides of this argument. Teaching is an art, a skill, and it is not all about qualifications. Back in the UK some of the most highly qualified teachers in their subject were also the worst teachers.
Teaching is all about using your personality to put over whatever you are trying to teach. Humour is a major factor as without it , teaching becomes boring and pupils don’t learn.
On the other hand, there is no getting away from the fact that English is becoming more and more important in the education of Thai students. You only have to look at the exam results of Asian students to see that the countries who come out on top come from places like Singapore where English is widely spoken.
Basically, teachers NEED to be able to teach but lowering the standard of English speaking in potential teachers is not the way forward.

Thai Teaching Candidates Want Standard Of English Requirements Lowered - Buriram Times

[cyrille]

Just to put this in perspective, a 3.5 in IELTS basically means the candidate can communicate, very slowly and deliberately, at a level like... 'My name Jip.' 'I from Udon Thani.' 'I like shop.'

In writing, they can write nowhere near enough intelligible material to reach the 250 word limit for task two, and they cannot go beyond communicating the most basic of messages, with frequent spelling and grammar errors that cause severe strain for the reader.

In other words, even worse than FRT.

[aging one]

Here is in Toeic as well.


255 - 400
(26% - 40%)


Elementary Proficiency
Speaker has functional, but limited proficiency. Able to maintain very simple face-to-face conversations on familiar topics.

10 - 250
(0 - 25%)


Basic Proficiency
Able to satisfy immediate survival needs.

[Passing Through]

This is a general requirement for all teachers, I think, and in that case, it seems a bit ridiculous. A TOEIC score of 400 (or IELTS 3.5) is pretty much useless so why waste teachers' time getting to that level? Better to use that class time to learn your core subject or how to teach.

[fred flintstone]

tit...innit

[One For The Money]

Should try Gaelic.

[sabang]

Yes, argue among yourselves why every other country is leaving you behind in English proficiency. English is the official language of Asean BTW. Then get the teletub general to issue a S.44 edict- 'thou shalt improve thine Angkrit'. Problem solved.

Meanwhile, in the real world, Samsungs $bn+ dollar investment into Vietnam (was gonna go to Thai, but y'know), appears to be going quite well- and employs many thousands of people, along with technology transference, skills training etc. CP's buying of a mid-sized Insurance company in China has been good too, and seen it's share price rise substantially.

[Passing Through]

^ English teachers need good English but it's probably not such an issue for maths teachers. A much, much, much more pressing problem and one much more deserving of classroom time is teachers' competence in their core subject and learning how to teach; most Thai teachers are pretty awful at their job, and becoming totally fluent in English is not going to do much to change that.

[nidhogg]

^ dunno. Scraping "thai maths" might be a frigging good start. Move it to social studies if they wanna keep it, by why the frig make thai kids learn two entirely separate wats of doing it?

Make em teach international maths, and that needs english to support it.

[cyrille]

This is a general requirement for all teachers, I think, and in that case, it seems a bit ridiculous. A TOEIC score of 400 (or IELTS 3.5) is pretty much useless so why waste teachers' time getting to that level? Better to use that class time to learn your core subject or how to teach.

Well, I would agree that lowering the requirement would make less sense than scrapping it all together.

The reasons for requiring at least an Elementary level of English are outlined in the article.

But make it any lower and all you're doing is confirming 'this candidate cannot communicate in English'.

Becoming totally fluent in English is not the issue.

[One For The Money]

math math

[Neverna]

What's the big deal? They've just graduated from university and were taught basic English there so they should know enough English to pass the low levels of attainment required. That said, one has to wonder why the extra test is needed. It's almost like they don't trust the standards of their own universities.

[cyrille]

funny, that.