English language teaching anxiety during practical teaching experience of english student teachers, Burapha University

Abstract

            In  2015, Thailand is entering the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) and English language will be the most common required medium for communicating among the members of AEC countries. Although it has been Thai Government policy for some time to ensure all students can communicate well in English and it has been a compulsory subject, there are still very few Thai people who can speak English well. (Wongleka, 2010) It is recognized that the English teacher has a very important role to play in ensuring students speak good English and the Office of the Basic Education Commission of Thailand sees that there are many factors which affect a student’s ability to learn English. They acknowledge that English teachers require some development to ensure better quality English learning. (Rangabtook, 2007) In fact, for Thai teachers who teach English, using English in classroom is not easy and can even be troublesome. According to Cooper and Simonds (2007), teachers can feel uncomfortable, tense, embarrassed, and shy due to fear of communication in a non-native language. When these feelings take place, the teachers tend to avoid speaking English in classrooms. The researchers, therefore, investigate what causes English language teaching anxiety experienced by Thai English student teachers which would help to increase practicing teaching enjoyment and confidence before they start their English teaching jobs and for future English teachers to teach English to students with their full potential.