An investigation into the readiness of teaching english as the Lingua France in TEFL countries of ASEAN: The case of Thailand

Abstract

        The purpose of this study is to investigate the readiness of TEFL countries in ASEAN especially Thailand, to see whether they will be able to meet the requirement of English policy in 2015 It is a qualitative research conducted by means of content/documentary analysis. The documents include the curriculum and relevant books or papers obtained from the Office of Basic Education Commission, Ministry of Education. The eight relevant documents selected in the past decade (2003-2011) were analyzed as sources of data for solving ELT problems, with particular reference to Thailand. The major results were synthesized from eight relevant books and were summarized according to important macroskills and microskills of understanding English as a lingua franca. Following the research results, the recommendations are presented in five categories: (1) for teacher development; (2) for classroom practices; (3) for curriculum development; (4) for teachers’ behavior; and (5) for further research. In conclusion, this research clearly indicates that Thailand is not ready to use English as a lingua franca in 2015.