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World Englishes-based lessons: their effects on anxiety and language achievement of Thai tertiary students
Jaruda Rajani Na Ayuthaya1, Pragasit Sitthitikul2.
Foreign language classroom anxiety (FLCA) is prevalent among Thai learners, affecting language
learning achievement. This problem has been rooted in ineffective pedagogical practice informed
by native speaker (NS) ideology of English language teaching (ELT) policy in Thailand. This has
made learners struggle to reach an unrealistic goal of NS norms as the only way to be proficient
users of English, leading to low self-esteem and fear of speaking English. This study aims to
investigate a paradigm shift in ELT as a means to reduce students’ FLCA. By incorporating World
Englishes (WE) into English as a Foreign Language (EFL) classroom practice, it is believed that
students will develop a more realistic goal of being efficient English users rather than struggling,
and failing, to become like native English speakers. As a result, they will develop self-esteem and
more confidence in using their own English, considered a crucial anxiety-buffering factor. Quasiexperimental
research with 92 first-year students at one government university in Bangkok was
employed over 17 weeks in one of their required English courses. FLCA questionnaires and
English achievement tests were used as a pretest and posttest to find out anxiety and achievement
levels, while a focus group interview yielded supplementary data. Means, SD, T-test results and
content analysis were used for data analysis, showing a significant reduction in anxiety resulting
from the WE-based instruction and an increase in achievement from the FLCA reduction.
Therefore, this study concludes that global ELT curriculum should incorporate more WE in
classroom practice as an alternative means to reduce FLCA and indirectly increase language
achievement.
Affiliation:
- Thammasat University, Thailand
- Thammasat University, Thailand
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