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10 - English Language Teacher Education in Thailand: A Mix of Global and Local

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 October 2020

By
Richard Watson Todd  and
Pornapit Darasawang
Edited by
Amy Bik May Tsui
Amy Bik May Tsui
Affiliation:
The University of Hong Kong
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Summary

In Thailand, English proficiency is generally low but demand for English is high. Hence, the need to improve the quality of English language teacher education is urgent. Pre-service education is divided into three main types: first, Bachelor of Education (BEd) programmes for school teacher preparation, mostly run by Rajabhat teacher training institutes which are highly traditional and may manifest nationalist concerns of Thainess and preconventional morality; second, master’s programmes run by universities for university teacher preparation; and third, short initial training courses run by private companies which prepare foreigners, often native speakers of English, to be teachers. Demand for foreign teachers of English in Thailand is high since the native-speaker model of English is prevalent. The certification of teachers by the Teachers Council of Thailand following pre-service education focuses on knowledge not teaching ability, and the application of certification to foreign teachers is inconsistent. Until recently, in-service teacher education has either promoted inequalities by targeting the best teachers or has been of debatable quality. Local resistance to global trends in English language teacher education suggests that English language education in Thailand may not be able to cope with an increasingly connected and changing world.

Keywords

Thailandforeign English teachersin-service teacher educationnative-speaker model of Englishpre-service teacher educationteacher certification
Type
Chapter
Information
English Language Teaching and Teacher Education in East Asia
Global Challenges and Local Responses
 , pp. 195 - 216
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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