Assessment of TV Vocabulary Instruction Broadcast in Thailand Nationwide
Main Article Content
Abstract
Because of the crucial role of English in all aspects of life, including business and education, local and national attempts have been made to ameliorate English language instruction. Academically, the Ministry of Education of Thailand has broadcast its educational TV programs on the English subject since 2007 to enhance high school students’ English proficiency. Individuals recognized to be successful English teachers at tuition centers in Thailand were invited to teach English lessons televised nationwide. Given the significance of vocabulary in successful communication, their vocabulary teaching receives our attention. This study specifically aims to assess the effectiveness of vocabulary instruction theoretically and empirically. Theoretically, three unique vocabulary activities were described and subsequently assessed based on current vocabulary teaching theoretical frameworks. Empirically, 125 high school students who acknowledged that they were regular viewers of TV vocabulary instruction lessons were the participants of this study. The test devised to examine the impact of vocabulary instruction was based on the TV teaching materials, consisting of 15 word pairs whose meanings are subtly differentiated. Based on these word pairs, 15 sentences were constructed to examine the students’ ability to choose the appropriate words for particular contexts. The participants’ test scores, as well as interviews, suggested that such instruction did not seem to contribute to sustainable vocabulary learning. The results highlight the indispensable nature of theoretically informed instruction for the benefit of Thai learners of English and implicate practical suggestions to empower English language teachers in vocabulary instruction.
Article Details
References
Calderon, M. (2007). Teaching reading to English language learners, grades 6-12. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.
Cobb, T. (2007). Computing the vocabulary demands of L2 reading. Language Learning and Technology, 11(3), 38-63.
Coxhead, A. (2006). Essentials of teaching academic vocabulary. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Fan, Y.M. (2003). Frequency of use, perceived usefulness, and actual usefulness of second language vocabulary strategies: A study of Hong Kong learners. The Modern Language Journal, 87(2), 222-241.
Kanoksilapatham, B. (2005). Intonation meaning in English discourse: Thai speakers. Indonesian Journal of English Language Teaching, 1(2), 136-163.
Kanoksilapatham, B. (2009). Teaching English intonation in Thailand: Overview. Journal of the Faculty of Arts, 31(2), 299-319.
Kanoksilapatham, B. (2010). Examining English pronunciation competence of Thai teachers: Word stress assignment. In Gregory T. Papanikos & Nicholas C. J. Pappas (Eds.), Horizons in Education (pp. 467-480). Athens: Athens Institute for Education and Research (ATINER).
Kanoksilapatham, B. (2013). Thai elementary school teachers’ English pronunciation and effects of teacher variables: ASIAN Preparation. Journal of Teaching and Education, 2(3), 71-77.
Kirkpatrick, R. (2012). English education in Thailand: 2012. Asian EFL Journal, 61, 24-40.
Laufer, B. (1997). What’s in a word that makes it hard or easy: Some intralexical factors that affect the learning of words. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 140-155). United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Laufer, B. & Hulstijn, J. (2001). Incidental vocabulary acquisition in a second language: The construct of task-induced involvement. Applied Linguistics, 22(1), 1-26.
Lewis, M. (2000). Teaching collocation: Further developments in the lexical approach. London, UK: Language Teaching Publications.
Meara, P. (2005). Ten best ideas for teaching vocabulary. The Language Teacher 29(7), 11-14.
Nation, I.S.P. (1990). Teaching and learning vocabulary. New York: Newbury House.
Nation, I.S.P. (2001). Learning vocabulary in another language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Nation, I.S.P. (2005). Teaching vocabulary. Asian EFL Journal, 7(3), 47-54.
Prapphal, K. (2003). English proficiency of Thai learners and directions of English teaching and learning in Thailand. The English Teacher, 6(2), 144-152.
Schmidt, R.W. (1990). The role of consciousness in second language learning. Applied Linguistics, 11(2), 129-158.
Scholfield, P.J. (1997). Vocabulary reference works in foreign language learning. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition, and pedagogy (pp. 279-302). Cambridge. Cambridge University Press.
Skehan, P. (1999). A cognitive approach to language learning. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press.
Thornbury, S. (2002). How to teach vocabulary. Boston: Pearson Education.
Wesche, M. & Paribakht, S. (1999). Reading and incidental L2 vocabulary acquisition: An introspective study of lexical inferencing. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 21, 195-224.
Zimmerman, C.B. (1998). Historical trends in second language vocabulary instruction. In J. Coady & T. Huckin (Eds.), Second language vocabulary acquisition: A rationale for pedagogy (pp. 5-19). Cambridge: Cambridge University.