RtICELT 2016 Conference Proceedings (Final.Ed.)

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” intonation and content of speech directed at the aged. The International Journal of Aging & Human Development, 41(2), 109-116.Trudgill, P. (1978). Introduction: Sociolinguistics and Sociolinguistics. In P. Trudgill, Sociolinguistic patterns in British English, pp. 1-18. London: Edward Arnold.Wang, Y.-H., Wu, L.-L., & Lu, M.-S. (2014). Effectiveness of Different Training Methods on Improving the Knowledge of Infection Control among Nurse Assistants in Long-Term Care Units. Taipei City Medical Journal, 11(3), 297-309.Williams, A. & Harwood, J. (2004). Intergenerational communication: intergroup, accommodation and family perspectives. In J. F. Nussbaum & J. Coupland. (eds.) Handbook of Communication and Aging Research (2nd ed.), pp. 115-137. Mahwah, N. J.: Routledge.Ylänne-McEwen, Y. (1999). ‘Young at heart’: discourses of age identity in travel agency interaction. Ageing and Society, 19 (4), 417-440.Ylänne, V. (ed.) (2012). Representing Ageing: Images and Identities. Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 101

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” ESL Teachers’ and Students’ Preferred Writing Topics Venus Ma. Hilaria Guarin-Pablo [email protected] De La Salle University-Dasmariñas, Cavite Philippines Abstract The implementation of the K to 12 Program as a reformation to the BasicEducation Curriculum in the Philippine educational system gives teachers the mainrole as facilitators of the learning process, yet in terms of writing, it has been observedthat teachers assign specific topics. There are minimal studies on teachers’ andstudents’ preferred writing topicsMoreover, some researchers have explored thecomparison of teacher assigned topics with students’ self-selected topics on students’perspectives. The purpose of this study is to identify ESL teachers’ and students’preferred writing topics in the Philippine setting. The results of the study show thecomparison between topics often assigned by teachers to be written about and topicsoften chosen by students to write about. The participants of this study were Grade 7to 9 high school students together with their teachers in every grade level. The data ofthis study were taken from the analysis of the open-ended-survey forms distributed toteachers and students. The analysis showed that the preference survey laid basis forEnglish language teaching in terms of the choice between teacher assigned topics andstudent self-selected topics to write about while thinking of topics in class. It issuggested that the measures used in this study be adopted in other writing aspects andthe results be the foundation for further judgment in dealing with teachers’ andstudents’ preferred writing topics.Keywords: Teachers’ preference, Students’ preference, Writing topicsIntroductionIn 2013, the standardization of the Philippine educational system adopted the K to 12program as a reformation to the Basic Education Curriculum. Under the philosophyand rationale of this program, language is said to be the basis of all communicationand the primary instrument of thought based on the Department of Education (K to12 Curriculum Guide, 2013). K to 12 teachers are the facilitators of learning. In termsof giving writing topics, it has been observed that teachers’ assign a specific topicPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 102

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”aligned with the lesson . Based on Musshidi (2014), many English teachers take it forgranted that writing a paragraph or even an essay should be an essay task for theirstudents. Teachers enter their classes, assign challenging topics and expect students towrite coherent, unified paragraphs that aregrammatically accurate. According toWalker, B., Shippen, M.E., Alberto, P. A., Houchins, D. E., & Cihak, D. F. (2005),writing is a complex metacognitive activity that draws on an individual’s knowledge,basic skills, strategies and ability to coordinate multiple processes. Observation showsthat students are allowed to have a sense of liberty to ponder in a classroom settingwith students’ self-selected topics rather than given teacher-assigned topics (Bonyadi,2014) which is supported by Murshidi (2014), which says that students selecting topicsof their preference is letting them have freedom. Various related studies have beenincluded in this paper to have a glimpse on the ESL teachers’ preferred topics andstudents’ preferred topics. Only minimal studies about students’ preferred writingtopics are made; moreover, some researchers have explored preservice teachers’assigned topics and students’ self-selected topics. Students’ writing topic interest havebeen studied in a handful of researches as mentioned by Flynn; Mc Cutchen; Voss &Schauble; Levins & Geldman-Caspar; Shippen et al. (as cited in Arici, 2009). This paper gives a backgrounder on particularly selected writing topics. Themost recent and most thorough writing study was done by Shippen et al. (as cited inArici, 2009) whose research found out that supernatural, education, teen issues (i.e.driving, pregnancy), and current events are what youth’s preferences are. Anotherstudy contrasted preferred writing topics between urban and rural middle school eightgraders by answering a brief survey regarding the informative writing genres of real orimagined stories, reports, and opinions. Divergence appeared on a few selectedwriting topics like society, crime, violence, several topics have something in commonand it was indicated in the study that the very important rural and urban participants’topics involved current events, teen issues, politics, school, and celebrities. As a matterof interest, the adolescence’s similarity appeared to be more noticeable in their writingtopic preference and not on education based on where they are located. Discussed alsowere possible future effects for classroom writing topic preferences (Shippen,Houchins, Puckett, and Ramsey, 2007).To get an in-depth view of students’ preferred writing topics based on gender, thispaper looked at the preferred writing topics of Turkish preservice teachers whoseparticipants were 271 females and 233 male students in Turkey’s governmentuniversity in which a self-report survey was used as an instrument for data collectionand whose results showed that love, education, adventure, language/literature, history,and politics matters were students’ writing preference. Furthermore, the study foundout less convergence writing topics than divergence between the two sexes (Arici,Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 103

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”2009). This study came across the knowledge that few researches have existedinvestigating specific writing preferences such as youth’s, urban and rural eight-graders’about diverging and converging topics. and preferences of male and female preserviceteachers in Turkey to concretize what those participants preferred.To elaborate further on the advantages of student-selected topics, this study includedthe view of Bonzo (as cited in Bonyadi 2014) that topic selection impact on writingfluency of participants in relation to teacher-selected topic against student-selectedtopics showed that total fluency was influenced by the students writing their selectedtopics as indicated in the ANOVA study results. There was also the participants’production of a higher proportion of various lexemes to overall words with own topicselection. The study found out, moreover, that grammatical sophistication and fluencyhas a deep vital relation and this study was subsequently capitalized by Leblanc andFujieda (as cited in Bonyadi, 2014) who conducted a quasi-experimental research usinga type-token formula to calculate the lexical difference of the students’ writing toscrutinize the consequence on university-level Japanese EFL learners’ topic choice.Statistical analysis showed that readers’ selected topics brought rising lexical change inthe text samples after a 10-minute writing activity which had a positive effect. Topicvolition can ergo aid students to probe vocabulary size range in language productionwhich may on the other hand, not be applied in teacher-choice writing tasks as theresearcher concluded. It only shows that student-selected writing topics made themable to include more vocabularybrought about by being tasked to write on topics theylike which entails that they also are knowledgeable about the said topics and for thesake of accomplishing to comply to the requirements of the said class then what theyprefer means they are more comfortable to work on. Thus, students create theirwriting output in the best way they can express themselves. After learning what benefits self-selected topics yield, this paper inquired intothe use of the language system to reinforce on how writing topic preference should begiven attention. According to Walker, Shippen, Alberto, Houchins, & Cihak, 2005 (ascited in Shippen, Houchins, Puckett, and Ramsey, 2007), the utilization of anylanguage system in a way that produces a desired result without doubt involves the skillof producing written thoughts and ideas which have sophisticated metacognitive stepsthat are based on many skills like correct syntax usage, semantics, the writing process,and knowledge of content. Multiple sub-skills encompass each of these broader skillslike the writing process have many steps,for example, pre-writing, writing, revising,editing, and publishing all needing explicit directions. In this paper’s objectives,content knowledge has been the target as it is sourced from writing topic interestwhich is a written expression’s sub skill (Shippen, Houchins, Puckett, and Ramsey,2007).Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 104

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” Aside from writing, we shall now consider another domain of learning which isreading. Edmunds and Bauserman (as cited in Bonyadi, 2014), figured out whatengaged 16 fourth-grade students to read after they were questioned. Permittingchildren to select their own books is a way to raise their interest to read. This researchis supported by Threadkell’s (as cited in Bonyadi, 2014) qualitative study inspecting thestudents’ insight towards teacher-assigned literature compared to self-selected ones.Allowing to choose their own texts showed more motivation for the students to read,according to his study. Reading self-chosen material made students acquire highercontent understanding, but siding in favor of particular teacher-assigned books wasuttered by participants proving that reading materials with quality and high-interestcontent may top other choices.Now in the reading area, it has also been studied that self-selected books, literature, ortexts cause more encouragement on the students to read; however, the second studymentioned participants are for teacher-assigned books with quality and high interestcontent Nevertheless, the determinant on how books may have high quality and high-interest content was not tackled.In addition, another vital concept to consider in this paper is the discussion topicselection issue. An exploration was done by Wolf (as cited in Bonyadi, 2014) whocompared discussion topics given as tasks in Japanese EFL textbooks to self-selecteddiscussion topics according to students’ perceptions. Students’ confidence variationwas aimed by the researcher in terms of textbook assigned and self-selected topicsduring discussion. Using an argumentative essay assignment and the 5-point Likerttype scale administration for the gathering of perceptions and confidence of students,it was discovered by the researcher that there’s a remarkably higher perception ofknowledge possessed by the students towards discussing their own topics. Moreover,discussing their own topics with more confidence was suggested by the research.Allowing students to choose their own topics was shown to be more workable in thisstudy. Discussion topic selection can also be a strong underpinning of this study toexplore on textbook-assigned discussion topics versus self-chosen topics which waselaborated by the study of Wolf above with Japanese EFL textbooks which says thatknowledge possessed is followed by confidence display and which equates topracticability.On the other hand, to prove the fairness of this paper, examining the next tworesearches which discuss teacher-assigned topics must be done. The first one includesa qualitative approach administered by Bonyadi, Zeinalpur, and Reimany (2013), whoinvestigated self-chosen and teacher-assigned topics according to the opinion ofPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 105

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”students in their writing classes. For students to mirror on their insights of theproblem, the research utilized a particular form of data gathering, self-written reportsproduced by adult students of EFL. In the EFL writing classes, students selecting theirown topics w seen to be more invigorating and enticing for the students which wasrevealed by the result of the study, yet, teacher-assigned topics had number ofstudents’ approval though they were in small numbers. The EFL teachers’ makingversatile instructional strategies would be guided by the future result of this study asthe authors decided to understand the discrepancy of students’ view with regard towriting topic selection. To explain further, the researchers’ argument is a custom-madeselection fitted to students’ perceptions by making them stick to their well-loved topicor what writing topic teachers give. The second study presented by Jones, 2004 that tobe supplied with structure and writing process input, writing students frequently wouldbe in favor of the paper topics a teacher will give them.It is clearly evident that custom-made selection suited to students’ view are teacher-assigned topics which are either letting students pick what topic they prefer or thechoice to write about topics given by the teacher that are adjusted already to theperceptions of the students. Thus, teacher-assigned topics come in the picture of beingliked by the students. And the other author arrived in person to Jones with this resultthat structure and input in the writing process can be advantageous for the studentsprovided with teacher-assigned topics; thus, they frequently prefer topics fromteachers.There are minimal available researches on the preferred writing topics of ESLstudents, and little emphasis on the viewpoint of teachers who mainly assign thetopics. Having no studies surveying ESL teachers’ and students’ writing topicpreferences in the Philippines, thus, this study was conducted. Results of the study willhopefully identify Filipino ESL teachers’ and students’ writing topic preferences.Theoretical SupportESL teachers’ and students’ preferred writing topics are anchored toward thetheoretical supports which investigated youth’s chosen topics based on Shippen et al.’s(as cited in Arici, 2009) whose research found out that supernatural, education, teenissues (driving, pregnancy), and current events are what youth’s preferences are.Besides, the contrast between urban and rural middle school eight graders preferredwriting topics regarding divergence on a few selected writing topics like society, crime,and violence, several topics had something in common. It was indicated in the studythat the very important rural and urban participants’ topics involved current events,Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 106

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”teen issues, politics, school, and celebrities and the adolescence’s similarity appeared tobe more noticeable in their writing topic preference and not on education receivedwhere they are located. Location on the other hand, is another ground for this studywhich also discussed possible future effects for classroom writing topic preferences(Shippen, Houchins, Puckett, and Ramsey, 2007). And the last is the study of thepreferred writing topics of Turkish preservice teachers with 271 females and 233 malestudent-participants in Turkey’s government university whose results showed thatlove, education, adventure, language/literature, history, and politics matters werestudents’ writing preference. Furthermore, the study found less convergence writingtopics than divergence between the two sexes (Arici, 2009).Statement of the ProblemThis paper focuses on explaining the preferred writing topics ESL teachers give theirstudents and preferred writing topics ESL students want to write about. It aims toexplore the divergence and convergence between the two. Specifically, this study seeksto answer the following questions: 1. What writing topics do ESL teachers prefer to give their students? 2. What writing topics do ESL students prefer to write about?MethodologyThe study investigated Filipino ESL high school teachers’ and students’ preferredwriting topics. A researcher-open-ended survey with the following question on top:When asked to write an essay, any story, or genre in your writing class, what topics doyou prefer to write about? With the help of teacher-classmates, a basic qualitativeresearch methodology was used to examine and categorize the data to determinemutually accepted themes found in the participants’ responses. The said methodologyis not encompassed in the five qualitative approaches to inquiry such as: narrative,phenomenological, grounded theory, ethnographic, and case study approaches(Creswell, 2007 and Lichtman, 2006). As specified by Merriam (2009), a BasicQualitative Study would be interested in (1) how people interpret their experiences, (2)how they construct their worlds, and (3) what meaning they attribute to theirexperiences” (p. 23).Participants and SamplingThe respondents of this study are fifty students together with their teachers in everygrade level from 7-9. Based on Fraenkel, J. & Wallen, N. (1993), purposive sampling orPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 107

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”judgmental sampling is where the researcher chooses the respondents or participantsof the study alongside the criteria deemed necessary by the researcher, this techniquewas observed in the selection of the participants. They are based on the followingcriteria: the teachers should be teaching English in a public high school, and theyshould have at least 2 years of experience in high school English . Fifty students werechosen out of the total population of Grade-9 level comprising of twelve sections inTanza, Cavite, fifty students from twelve sections of Grade-7 in Dasmariñas, Caviteand fifty from nine sections ofGrade-8 in Gen. Trias, Cavite with 60-65 students persection.Data Collection Technique and ProcedureA letter was sent to each of the principals or head teachers of the three schoolsinvolved in this study. The teachers of English as a Second Language, together withtheir students in the respective levels, were also asked for permission to participate.The open-ended survey with the question “What topic/s do you prefer when you aregiven a task to write an essay, a short story, or any genre in writing?”. This was used asa technique in the data collection of this paper. Participants listed down writing topicsof their preferences in their own words.Data AnalysisThe researcher classified the participants’ responses to the given question into patternsto arise with themes. An open coding process was utilized to understand what theanswers were. The data was tabulated, and ranked using percentages to compare andcontrast the writing topic preferences of ESL teachers and students using MicrosoftExcel. The researcher classified the paired groups into three: Grade 7 ESL teachers’and students’ preferred writing topics, Grade 8 ESL teachers’ and students’ preferredwriting topics, and Grade 9 ESL teachers’ and students’ preferred writing topics basedon the survey. Each of these groups was discussed and interpreted by the researchersbased on the understanding of the sentiments.Intercoder ReliabilityAn intercoder was tapped to ensure objectivity in creating themes based on theparticipants’ responses. Providing congruency among the themes gathered by theresearcher and himself was the purpose of an intercoder. Reliability of the data was theaim of this.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 108

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”ResultsThe purpose of this study was to identify ESL teachers’ and students’ preferred writingtopics and to analyze whether these topics were convergent or divergent. A thoroughanalysis of the participants’ responses in the open-ended survey from December toMarch, 2015 resulted in various themes which are displayed in this chapter.Research Question No. 1. What writing topics do ESL teachers prefer to give theirstudents?Table 1 Topic Themes Assigned by The Grade-7 Teachers Themes Number of Teachers Percentages1. Family 6 100% 100% Self-Reflection 6 67%2. God 4 67% 67% Nature 4 67% Goals in Life 4 50% Improving Oneself 4 33% 33%3. Friendship 3 33%4. Technology 2 17% 2 Natural Calamities 17% 2 Current Issues 15. Latest Fashion/TrendsTravel 1As presented in Table 1, it is seen that writing themes about family and self-reflectiontop Grade-7 ESL teachers’ preference with 100%, followed by God, nature, goals inlife, and improving oneself with 67%, friendship ranks third with 50%, technology,natural calamities, and current issues have 33%, and latest fashion/trends and travelare chosen last with 17%.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 109

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Table 2 Topic Themes Assigned by The Grade-8 TeachersThemes Number of Teachers Percentage1. Family 4 100% Goals in Life 4 100% 3 75%2. Current Issues 2 50%3. Friendship 2 50% Boyfriend/ GirlfriendTechnology 2 50%Improving Oneself 2 50%Latest Fashion/ Trends 2 50% Crushes 2 50%4. God 1 25% 1 25% Nature 1 25% Natural Calamities 1 25% Self-Reflection 1 25% TravelAs can be seen in Table 2, family and goals in life garner 100%, followed by currentissues with 75%, while friendship, boyfriend/ girlfriend, technology, improvingoneself, latest fashion/ trends, aqnd crushes are tied in number 3 with 50%, and thelast in the list is also a tie among God, nature, natural calamities, self-reflection, andtravel with 25%.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 110

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Table 3 Topic Themes Assigned by The Grade-9 Teachers Themes Number of Teachers Percentage1.Goals in Life 6 86%2. Family 5 71%3. Technology 3 43% 3 43% Improving Oneself 3 43% Self-Reflection 2 29%4. Friendship 2 29% God 1 14%5. Nature 1 14% Current IssuesAs described in table 3, goals in life with 86% is the top choice of Grade-9 ESLteachers, followed by family with 71%, number 3 with 43% are technology, improvingoneself, and self-reflection while friendship and God with 29% rank fourth, and in thelast number are nature and current issues with 14%.Research Question No. 2. What writing topics do ESL students prefer to writeabout?Table 4 Interesting Topic Themes to Grade-7 StudentsThemes Number of Students Percentage1. God 50 100%2. Family 49 98%3. Goals in Life 39 78%4. Friendship 35 70%5. Travel 28 56%6. Nature 26 52%7. Improving Oneself 25 50%8. Technology 24 48%9. Sports 21 42%10. Self-Reflection 17 34%11. Natural Calamities 12 24%12. Latest Fashion/Trends 11 22%13. Crushes 6 12%14. Current Issues 5 10%15. Boyfriend/ Girlfriend 3 6%Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 111

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”As shown in Table 4, all of the Grade-7 students are interested to write about Godwith 100%, followed by 49% students who prefer family with 98%, and 39 studentslike goals in life with 78%. Only 3 or 6% of the students prefer boyfriend/ girlfriend.Table 5 Interesting Topic Themes to Grade-8 StudentsThemes Number of Students Percentage1. Family 48 96%2. God 47 94%3. Friendship 41 82% Goals in Life 41 82%4. Improving Oneself 34 68%5. Nature 31 62%6. Travel 29 58%7. Sports 25 50%8. Self-Reflection 24 48%9. Technology 20 40%10. Latest Fashion/Trends 16 32%11. Crushes 14 28%12. Natural Calamities 9 18%13. Boyfriend/ Girlfriend 5 10%14. Current Issues 3 6%This table illustrates that 48 out of 50 which is 96% of students prefer to write aboutfamily, 47 out of them are interested to write about God which is 94%, and 41 amongthem prefer friendship and goals in life with 82% while three of them like currentissues with 6%.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 112

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Table 6 Interesting Topic Themes to Grade-9 StudentsThemes Number of Students Percentage1. Family 48 96%2. God 39 78%3. Nature 36 72% 36 72% Goals in Life 34 68%4. Friendship 31 62%5. Improving Oneself 30 60%6. Travel 29 58%7. Technology 26 52%8. Sports 19 38%9. Latest Fashion/ Trends10. Self-Reflection 16 32%11. Crushes 9 18% 9 18% Natural Calamities 6 12%12. Boyfriend/ GirlfriendCurrent Issues 6 12%This table reveals that 48 out of 50 students or 96% of the Grade-9 students areinterested to write about family, followed by 39 students or 78% like God, and 36 ofthem or 72% prefer to write about nature, and goals in life. Only 6 or 12% of them areinterested in boyfriend/ girlfriend and current issues.DiscussionCautious qualitative studies on the preferred writing topics of ESL teachers and ESLstudents have established several major themes relative to the particular questions thestudy cited. Such major themes are focused on Grade-7 ESL teachers' preferredwriting topics vis-a-vis Grade-7 ESL students' writing topics of preference; Grade-8ESL teachers' selected topics in writing in contrast to their students'; and Grade-9 ESLteachers' chosen writing topics compared to their students' which shall discuss theresults in the research questions no. 1: “What writing topics do ESL teachers prefer togive their students?” and 2: “What writing topics do ESL students prefer to writeabout?” respectively.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 113

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”According to the results of this research, some teacher-assigned topics whichcoincided with student-selected topics or vice-versa. However, Grade-7 ESL students’writing topic themes such as sports, crushes, and boyfriend/ girlfriend were notincluded in the ESL teachers’ preferences, but for students, sports even got 42%,crushes had 12%, and boyfriend/ girlfriend had 6%. The reason why teachers do notgive importance to such topic themes is because they believe that grade 7 must bemore serious with their studies due to the difficulty of high school than elementarylevel; instead of making them inclined to write about crushes, and boyfriend/ girlfriendtopics.In addition, the grade-8 ESL teachers’ preferred writing topic themes. Sports topicreceived 50% and was not chosen, paralleled with grade 7 and grade 9 teachers notchoosing sports because more time to play was part of the elementary age and shouldbe minimized at high school level unless initiated at home but not at school by theteachers.And for the last group which is the Grade-9 ESL teachers and students, the students’choices included: travel with 60%, sports with 52%, latest fashion/trends with 38%,crushes and natural calamities with 18%, and boyfriend/ girlfriend with 12% were notin the list of teachers’ preference. Grade 9 have the ideal ages of fourteen to fifteen inwhich students are allowed to go on their way without chaperone or adult supervision;thus; the broader perspectives on travel develop which can be further be in accordancewith latest fashion/ trends as they also become more independent in choosing theirclothing styles.To relate this study further to other researches, it sufficed to look at Shippen et al’s (ascited in Arici, 2009) most current and comprehensive writing study that revealed thefollowing themes: supernatural, education, teen issues (driving, pregnancy), and currentevents as youth’s preferences. To juxtapose, Shippen et al’s writing topic themecurrent events are convergent to this paper’s theme on current issues in which bothESL teacher-participants and student-participants chose. Another study included inthis paper is of (Shippen, Houchins, Puckett, and Ramsey, 2007) about the urban andrural middle school eight graders’ preferred writing topics regarding the informativewriting genres of real or imagined stories, reports, and opinions in which case has thewriting topic theme reports which can be related to current issues included in thispaper’s result. Moreover, the study of male and female Turkish preservice teachers(Arici,2009) whose results showed that love, education, adventure, language/ literature,history, and politics matters were listed as students’ writing preference which boileddown to be connected in some way to one of this paper’s found theme which isboyfriend/ girlfriend Nevertheless, it is not included in the Grade-7 and Grade-9 ESLPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 114

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”teachers’ preferences. To give a more broadened notion of love, it can also be referredas friendship, family, and God which were selected by teacher-participants andstudent-participants in this paper.To go back to Bonyadi (2014) who emphasized, “It is viewed that teacher-assignedtopic hinders students’ freedom to think as compared to students’ self-selected topicwhich enables learners to experience a sense of democratic classroom atmosphere”(page 389), concluding that some topic themes in writing were even constantly chosenby students and not by teachers like sports, crushes, and boyfriend which are naturallikings of high school students. Teachers’ awareness of students’ choices may yield astrong possibility of a freer classroom environment. Students’ chance to select their own writing topics highly supports the view ofBonzo (as cited in Bonyadi 2014) that topic selection impact on writing fluency ofparticipants in relation to teacher-selected topic against student-selected topics showedthat total fluency was influenced by the students writing their selected topics asindicated in the ANOVA study results. There was also the participants’ production ofa higher proportion of various lexemes to overall words with own topic selection. Thestudy found out, moreover, that grammatical sophistication and fluency have a deepvital relation. This study was subsequently capitalized by Leblanc and Fujieda (as citedin Bonyadi, 2014) who conducted a quasi-experimental research using a type-tokenformula to calculate the lexical difference of the students’ writing to scrutinize theconsequence on university-level Japanese EFL learners’ topic choice. Statistical analysisshowed that readers’ selected topics brought rising lexical change in the text samplesafter a 10-minute writing activity which was a positive effect. Topic volition can ergoaid students to probe vocabulary size range in language production which may on theother hand, not be applied in teacher-choice writing tasks as the researcher concluded.To add, this study shall support what was mentioned by Flynn; Mc Cutchen; Voss &Schauble; Levins & Geldman-Caspar; Shippen et al (as cited in Arici, 2009) thatstudents’ writing topic interest are only investigated in a few studies. To reiterate whatthe next writers (Shippen, Houchins, Puckett, and Ramsey, 2007) said that multiplesub-skills encompass each of these broader skills like the writing process has manysteps like pre-writing, writing, revising, editing, and publishing and they need explicitdirections. In this paper’s objectives, content knowledge has been the favorable targetas it is sourced from writing topic interest which is a written expression’s sub skill,then allowing students to choose the writing topic of their choice.To maintain the stand that student-selected writing topics are truly beneficial, theresearcher has also connected the result of this study to Edmunds’ and Bauserman’s(as cited in Bonyadi, 2014) work that figured out what engaged 16 fourth-gradePathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 115

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”students to read after they were questioned. The questions determined that bypermitting children to select their own books i raised their interest to readTo support further, another significant contributor in this paper is to consider thediscussion topic selection issue. An exploration was done by Wolf (as cited in Bonyadi,2014) who compared discussion topics given as tasks in Japanese EFL textbooks toself-selected discussion topics according to students’ perceptions. Students’ confidencevariation was aimed by the researcher in terms of textbook assigned and self-selectedtopics during discussion. Using an argumentative essay assignment and the 5-pointLikert type scale administration for the gathering of perceptions and confidence ofstudents, it was discovered by the researcher that there’s a remarkably higherperception of knowledge possessed by the students towards discussing their owntopics. Moreover, discussing their own topics with more confidence was suggested bythe research. Allowing students to choose their own topics was shown to be moreworkable in this study. Hence, the researcher’s stand is that freedom of students tochoose their own topics in writing, reading, or discussion topics highly suggest positiveeffects.However, in contradiction to students’ preference favorability, Jones, 2004 said that tobe supplied with structure and writing process input, students frequently would be infavor of paper topics a teacher will give them while a neutral stand was given byBonyadi, Zeinalpur, and Reimany (2013), who investigated self-chosen and teacher-assigned topics according to the opinion of students in their writing classes. Forstudents to mirror on their insights of the problem, the research utilized a particularform of data gathering, self-written reports produced by adult students of EFL. In theEFL writing classes, students selecting their own topics was seen to be moreinvigorating and enticing for the students which was revealed by the result of thestudy, yet, teacher-assigned topics got number of students’ liking though they are smallin numbers. The EFL teachers’ making versatile instructional strategies would beguided by the future result of this study as the authors decided to understand thediscrepancy of students’ view with regard to writing topic selection. To explain further,the researchers’ argument is custom-made and fitted to students’ perceptions bymaking them stick to their well-loved topic or what writing topic teachers give andanother author named Threadkell (as cited in Bonyadi, 2014) presented a differentperspective showed in his qualitative study inspecting the students’ insight towardsteacher-assigned literature compared to self-selected ones that allowing to choose theirown texts revealed more motivation to read for the students according to his study.Reading self-chosen material made students acquire higher content understanding, butsiding in favor of particular teacher-assigned books was uttered by participants provingPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 116

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”that reading materials with quality and high-interest content when selecting may topother choices.ConclusionThe grades 7 to 9 teachers’ preferred writing topics were topped by family, self-reflection, and goals in life while grades 7 to 9 students’ topics of choice showed God,and family while numerous topics selected by students were not on the teachers’ list.Grade-7 ESL students’ writing topic themes such as sports, crushes, and boyfriend/girlfriend were not included in the ESL teachers’ preferences. Students’ selected sportstopic theme was not a part of the grade-8 ESL teachers’ preferred writing topicthemes. And travel, sports latest fashion/trends, crushes and natural calamities, andboyfriend/ girlfriend were not in the list of teachers’ preference. Hence, teachers ofESL in high school and other levels for that matter should be open to giving writingtopics aligned to the preference of their students or tailor-made topics for greaterencouragement and better outputs, better yet, for students’ sustained interest in writingas a learning domain.Recommendations This paper recommends further studies in other socio-cultural setting andinvestigations related to the preference of writing topics between teachers and studentsat various levels and topics in other learning domains may also be undertaken.ReferencesArici, A.F. (2009). Preferred Writing Topics of Preservice Teachers. European Journal of Educational Studies 1(2), 2009Bonyadi, A. (2014). The Effect of Topic Selection on EFL Students’ Writing Performance. Sage Publishing.Bonyadi A., Zeinalpur Sh. & Reimany (2013). Perceptions of students towards self- selected and teacher- assigned topics in EFL writing. Procidia-Social and Behavioral Sciences 98, 385-391. In Bonyadi, A. (2014). The Effect of Topic Selection on EFL Students’ Writing Performance. Sage Publishing.Bonzo D. (2008). To assign a topic or not: Observing fluency and complexity in intermediate foreign language writing. Foreign Language Annals, 41, 722-735. InBonyadi, A. (2014). The Effect of Topic Selection on EFL Students’ WritingPerformance. Sage Publishing.Creswell, J. W. (2007). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five traditions. Thousand Oaks: Sage.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 117

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Department of Education (2013) K to 12 Curriculum Guide ENGLISH (Grades 1 to10). Republic of the Philippines, DepEd Complex, Meralco Avenue,Pasig CityEdmunds K., Bauserman K. (2006). What teachers can learn about reading motivation through conversations with children. Reading Teacher, 59, 414-424.Flynn, E. A. (1983). Gender Differences and Student Writing, Annual Meeting of theConference on College Composition and Communication,Detroit, M. L. In Arici, A.F. (2009). Preferred Writing Topics ofPreservice Teachers. European Journal of Educational Studies 1(2), 2009Fraenkel, J. & Wallen, N. (1993). How to design and evaluate research in education. (2nd Ed.) New York: McGraw-Hill.Jones, N. (2004). When Students Join the Debate about the Control of Writing Courses. National Tsing Hua University, Taiwan.Leblanc, C., Fujieda M. (2012). Investigating effects of topic control on lexical variation in Japanese university students’ in-class timed- writing. Humanities Review, 17, 241-253. In Bonyadi, A. (2014). The Effect of Topic Selection on EFL Students’ Writing Performance. Sage Publishing.Lichtman, M. (2006). Qualitative research in education. California: Sage.Merriam, S. B. (2009). Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation. San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Murshidi, G. (2014). UAE Male Students’ Interests Impact on Reading and Writing Performance and Improvement. English Language Teaching; Vol. 7, No. 9; 2014.Canadian Center on Science and Education.Shippen M., Houchins D., Puckett D., & Ramsey M. (2007). Preferred writing topics of urban and rural middle school students. Journal of Instructional Psychology, George Uhlig Publisher.Threadkell J. E. (2010). Seeking new perspectives on self-selected and teacher-assigned texts:Exploring adolescent readers’ experiences (Doctoral dissertation). University ofManitoba, Winnipeg, Canada. In Bonyadi, A. (2014). The Effect of TopicSelection on EFL Students’ Writing Performance. Sage Publishing.Walker, B., Shippen, M.E., Alberto, P. A., Houchins, D. E., & Cihak, D. F. (2005).Using the expressive writing program to improve the writing skills of highschool students with learning disabilities. Learning Disabilities Research andPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 118

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Practice, 20(3), 175-183. In Shippen M., Houchins D., Puckett D., &Ramsey M. (2007). Preferred writing topics of urban and rural middle schoolstudents. Journal of Instructional Psychology, George Uhlig Publisher.Wolf, J. (2013). Exploring and contrasting EFL learners’ perceptions of text- book assigned and self-selected discussion topics. Language Teaching Research, 17, 49-66. In Bonyadi, A. (2014). The Effect of Topic Selection on EFL Students’ Writing Performance. Sage Publishing.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 119

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” Autonomy and Empowerment: An English Camp Case Study Rotsukhon Songkhong [email protected] Lawrence Honkiss [email protected] Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, ThailandAbstractThis qualitative research aims to investigate if an English camp, conducted andorganized by university level students, has an impact on their educational experience,language development, confidence building and learners’ autonomy. The informantsin this study were 35 third year English major students (N= 119) who independentlyorganized an English camp for primary students in three primary schools inPathumtani province. The informants were selected via a multiple- stage randomsampling and the effect and sample size were calculated using G*Power program. Theresearchers have employed a semi-structured interview questionaire consisting of fourcomponents in assessing the effectiveness of English camp: educational experience,language development, confidence building and learners’ autonomy. All items in theinterview questions were constructed using The Empathy Map (Osterwalder &Pigneur, 2009) and adjusted to Thai students’ context. Three experts in the field ofEnglish Language Teaching (ELT) were asked to ensure the congruence andappropriateness of each interview question. Index of Item Objective Congruence(IOC) was used to qualify the content validity of the interview questions. A pilot studywas also conducted to a small random group of the population. After conducting theinterview, coding and theming was then employed by the researcher in analyzing thedata. The transcripts were initially coded based on the questions from the interviewguide. The results revealed the 35 participants participating in this research studyperceptions towards conducting an English camp as a useful and effective tool todevelop their English language . The possible implications of this study would bemore meaningful for ELT field and the people concerned.Key words: English camp, Educational experience, English language developmentPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 120

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”IntroductionWiriyachitra (2002) emphasizes the importance of English language in Thailand asitis the first foreign language that students learned in school. Thai students have beentaught English as a compulsory course for all level of study until graduation. It is alsoone of the primary requirements when entering tertiary education. Moreover, asKongsom (2009) reported, English language is not only becoming popular inclassroom but also in every phase of life. The needs to communicate in English isbecoming more of a trend in everyday life as well as a requisite for classroominteraction. However, Thais’ level of English proficiency is still low compared tomany countries in Asia despite the fact that English language teaching in Thailandhas been in continuous transformation for the past three decades (Wiriyachitra,2001). For young learners, it is of primary importance to immerse them to the secondlanguage community or to use the language authentically. One of the assumptions ofCommunicative Language Teaching (CLT) is to provide opportunity to the learnersto discover their own routes towards learning and lead them to be autonomous learners.In Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT) alone, there aremany approaches implored to meet the autonomous learning objectives such as Self-Access Learning Center, commercial Self-Access Computer Programs, modificationof pedagogies and alike. The focus is on improving classroom based instruction andit produces not only teacher-centered classroom but also limit students to bedivergent thinker. Functional fixedness took place when the task, intended forautonomous learning, was given. Functional fixedness means seeing the items as theonly receptacle for the task but ignoring other functional options to do the task. Inthe end, most students become demotivated. Motivation is one of the main pointsof research in English Language Teaching (ELT) not only in Thailand but also inother countries where English is a second or foreign language (Dornyei, 2001:Dornyei, Kyriacou, 2005 and Ushioda, 2006).There are many factors in dealing with motivation and high among them, asmentioned by Dan Pink in his TED talk in 2009, is the adequate responsibility of thetask taker to execute the task. According to him, the higher the responsibilitydelegated to every individual or a group, the better the output of the task. In terms oftask design, that is autonomous-learner oriented, most lecturers gave students anassignment to interview foreigners, make a short video presentation of some touristattraction in Thailand, and conduct some simulation such as cooking, news casting,video commercial etc. These are authentic tasks but also very typical tasks, and mostoften than not, students use the same video presentation for different subjects. Inanalyzing each video, it is evident that most students merely memorized the interviewPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 121

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”questions. There was little to no interaction between foreigners and the students. Insome cases, students simply asked questions and ignored the interviewees response.Generally, there are two main issues to be addressed. First is the authenticautonomous learning task or the types of task given to the learners. Second, theextent of responsibility delegated to the learners in order for them to be responsiblefor their own learning. It means a responsibility that will engage them, equip themand that is just enough for them not to sink and not to float easily when executing thetask.The researchers of this research used English camp as the autonomous task for thestudents. A majority of the study for English camp focuses on the effects of theparticipants primarily because the organizers are the teachers (Wighting, M. et.al.,2006) and the participants are the students. With the extensive literature review onthe subject, the researchers found that there is no research conducted on theeffectiveness of English camp to the organizers particularly if it is independentlyorganized by the students. In this research, it was hypothesize that using Englishcamp and utilizing students would yield a positive response and positive learningoutcome for the students. These were the main platforms of this research. Hence,this research aimed to investigate the effectiveness of English camp third yearEnglish major students in terms of the following objectives: a) to know theeducational experiences, b) to understand the extent of language development, and c)to validate the effectiveness of English camp.MethodologyProceduresThis research is part of a mixed- methods research using an exploratory sequentialdesign. A qualitative study was conducted to acquire pertinent information from thefield, then the qualitative information was transformed to create a quantitativeresearch instrument in the 2nd phase as a quantitative study. However, in this study,only part of the qualitative research was presented. The qualitative research wasdesigned and divided into four main phases as shown in Figure 1.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 122

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” 1st phase Construct and qualify the interview questions2nd phase3rd phase Construct the participants and conduct interview sessions Transcriptions, coding and theming4th phase Analysis/interpretation and presentation of results Figure 1 The research procedures of the studyFigure 1 shows the procedures taken after reviewing the literature related to the study.The researcher initially started the 1st phase which is the stage of constructing andqualifying the interview questions by designing and arranging before asking theexperts to consider the validity of the questions. The participants in the study wereselected via a multiple –stage random sampling and were asked to participate in a one-hour-interview. The researchers applied the Calazzi’s method (transcribing, codingand theming the data) before the data was analyzed, interpreted, and presented theresults as a whole.ParticipantsThe participants in this study were 35 third year English major students (N= 119)who independently organized an English camp for primary students in three primaryschools in Pathumatni Province. They were selected via a multiple- stage randomsampling which calculated the effect and sample size using G*Power program. Theyall shared a variety of backgrounds: gender, age, and faculty.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 123

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Data Collection and AnalysisIn this study, the data was collected using a semi-structured interview using TheEmpathy Map (Osterwalder & Pigneur, 2009). The Empathy Map is a qualitative toolresearchers use to gain a deeper insight into the respondents. Similar to user persona,an empathy map can represent a group user or customer segment through thefollowing attributes: think and feel, hear, see, say and do, pain, and gain. To analyzequalitative data, a typological analysis (Chanthawanit, 2011) was used to categorize andgroup data according to type. Inductive data analysis, was used in which patterns,themes, and categories of analysis t “emerge out of the data rather than being imposedon them prior to data a collection and analysis” (Patton, 1990, p. 390). In terms ofscrutinizing each transcript, the author, however, was able to identify common themesand patterns. Moreover, each interviewee was assigned code and listed in a codingmatrix. So that the procedures enabled the authors to note which codes were evidentwithin each interview, and when several interviewees discussed similar issues orconcerns within any given theme. From this procedure, a code matrix, that is a list ofcommon codes and themes, was constructed.Trustworthiness and ValidityThe term trustworthiness, according to Merriam (1998), is considered an essentialelement of conducting any type of qualitative research. It consists of credibility,transferability, dependability, and confirmability (Lincoln & Guba, 1985). In thisresearch, credibility was addressed in twofold, a) approval of the actual interviewtranscripts and b) reconfirming the final findings and interpretations to the respectiverespondents of this study. Furthermore, triangulation of data collection as well asmember checking was done in order to increase the credibility of the findings. For thetransferability issue, the researchers in this study provided a thick description of theresearch context and the full transcriptions. In addition, complete theme and codewere presented in the full report to enable other researchers the benefit of transferringor adopting the results in other context. The dependability and confirmability issue wasaddressed by proper documentation of the research process and data collectionprocedures and asking independent coders to code qualitative data. Lastly, Index ofItem Objective Congruence (IOC) was used to validatey the content of the interviewquestions.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 124

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Results and DiscussionTo address the objectives of this research, the results were categorized into three mainaspects: a) educational experiences, b) effectiveness of English camp and c) languagedevelopment.Table 1Example of Significant Statements Transcript No. Page Line No. Significant Statements Number 6Educational Experience 2 12 2 9-10Positive Learning Experience 2 6-71. “I’m very happy doing his project.” 1 2 7-8 32. “It was such a very good learning experience.” 23. “It was very fun.” 3Effectiveness of English Camp4. “It was very helpful for us and I think for 2students too.”5. “I\" think, it is effective because, amm, I can 4see my classmates really prepare and practicethemselves.”6. “They don’t do their homework but this camp 5 3 2-3made them work more than us.”Extent of Language Development7. Ahhh... I think... my grammar improved. 8 64 688.” I understand it [grammar] now. It may not 10be all, but better than before.”9. “I know the past tense but I want to know 11 8 19-21more.”Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 125

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Table 1 shows some examples of some significant statements related to the categoriesoutlined in the objectives. At the interviews, the thirty one participants participating inthis research study revealed their perceptions towards organizing an English camp.Many of them mentioned it was a useful and effective way for the students to havepositive learning experience “It was such a very good learning experience,” “I’m veryhappy doing this project,” “It was very fun,” “Very exiting” and alike.Table 2 Example of Codification and Theme FormationSignificant Code Category ThemeStatement Fully Affective Positive Learning Experience No. satisfied/appreciated Effectiveness of English 1 Positive affirmation Cognitive Camp Activity related Psychomotor Language Development 2 enjoyment 3 Help Facilitate Learning Effective Functional 4 Initiative Autonomy/Induct 5 ive learning 6 Grammar /Past tense Linguistic competence 7 Better than before Improvement Want to know more Initiative 8 9Table 2 shows the some examples of codification and theme formation. From thesignificant statements, keywords were coded and interpreted to create the categoryand theme. For example, the statement I’m very happy doing his project. The keywordsidentified by three independent coders were very happy. It was coded as fully satisfied,meaning this participant appreciated the English camp activity. In this case, thedomain associated with the code satisfaction or appreciation is the affective domain.Hence, the affective domain was designated and the theme unanimously drawn uponPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 126

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”created a positive learning experience. To be more specific, the findings yieldedstudents perception into the following:On Positive Learning ExperienceOne of the many positive feedback responses was Participant A. In the interview withthe researchers, she expressed that she really liked the English camp task: Researcher: So, how do you find the English Camp? Participant A: I’m very happy. I feel very positive about it. I think it was one of the best task I’d ever experience. I really want to do it with little kids in my village.”There were many similar feedback responses such as “It was very challenging but Ifeel very happy doing it” (Participant D). Participant E, G, J and K also mentioned“Happy,” “Will do it again,” “Like,” “Good project,” and “Good effects”. Apart fromthat, Participant J stated, “I feel the students who studied with us learned something. Ifeel very happy to see that they can answer and can remember what we taught them.Seeing them learn is the happiest feelings I got from the camp.” The positiveaffirmation of doing an English camp was very evident in all participants in thisresearch and most of the participants also expressed their enjoyment in the activities.On the Effectiveness of the English CampThe theme effectiveness emanated from the various significant statements such as “It wasvery helpful for us and I think for students too,” “It was useful,” “Helpful,” and“Good effect.” All respondents in this research affirmed that it was indeed effective. Researchers: In what way do you think this English camp is effective? Participant K: I think, it is effective because, amm, I can see my classmates really prepare and practice themselves. Researcher: What do you mean? (Follow-up question) Participant K: I mean, this camp is helpful because I saw many of them (classmates) really focus on studying the topic they were assigned to teach. Helpful because they I didn’t see them having the same effort to other homework or other task.”Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 127

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Participant O and L shared the same observation. “They don’t do their homework butthis camp made them work more than us” (Participant O). “Yeah, it’s true. Myclassmate intend (common lexical choice of Thai learners when they mean focus or payattention) to do this work more than other work.” It can be noted that this particularsignificant statement and among others, connotes one of the main objectives ofpromoting autonomous learning, hence discovery or inductive learning. Studentsbegan searching various activities and exercises related to their topic. “I read grammarbooks and tried answering practice test about past tense. It’s difficult for me because Idon’t understand the explanation in the book but I tried to find the answer to theInternet and other books” (Participant Q). Another participants seconded theaforementioned statements which she said, “When I knew that our topic was PresentContinuous, I thought it was easy. Many questions came to mind, when I beganreading the rules and answering some practice exercise. And I tried to find the answerby myself. I don’t want to ask my teacher because I feel she believes in us to find thecorrect answers by ourselves” (Participants AC). Further questions were asked by theresearchers on what particular language pattern they had learned from that Englishcamp and they showed a considerable amount of notes and illustrations. The onlynegative feedback from the camp was that they had less time for preparation. Studentsthought it would be better if they could have prepared at least three weeks in advance.Although their teaching materials and exams were checked by their respective teachers(assigned to monitor the progress of each group), they still feel that they could dobetter.On the Areas of Language DevelopmentFor the areas of language development, the researchers considered all the aspects ofboth communicative competence and linguistic competence. In this case however, itwas evident that communicative competence was not the focus because students mustuse L1 (first language) to explain the instructions in the class. It was students’linguistic competence that was triggered for improvement because part of their taskwas to teach and explain the grammatical aspect of their assigned task. Researchers: In what way do you think your English language improve in thisEnglish camp? Participant AA: Ahhh... I think... my grammar improved. Researchers: Could you give us an example?Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 128

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” Participant AA: The topic assigned to us was simple past tense. I’m really having a hard time with tenses but... Ahh I think I’m better now. I mean, I understand it now. It may not be all, but better than before.Participants J, S, U and Y also confirmed that they understand the grammatical aspectassigned to them better than when they were studying it in the classroom. Theresearchers further inquired the reason why they think they understand it better andthe responses were, “I have to because I didn’t want to lose face to my classmates andmy students.” (Participant P), “I know the past tense but I want to know more.”(Participant Y), “I don’t but I think I like to study at the time I want to study. I wentto the coffee shop alone and practice answering some grammar exercise.” (ParticipantJ). For other participants who answered in Thai language, the responses were “I’mmotivated because my role now is a teacher and I really want to be a teacher in thefuture.\" (Participant Z), “It was very challenging. We know our task and it was ourfirst time to be instructed ‘up to you how you will do it’ and for me, ahhh... I reallyfeel big responsibility and no one can help me except myself.” (Participant L). As mentioned in the methodology, this research was the qualitative phase of themixed- methods research (exploratory sequential design). There were three mainfactors that could be the main attributes for the quantitative phase of this study asfollows:1. Positive Learning Experience a. Satisfaction level. The satisfaction level of the students should be taken into consideration when conducting English camp. The main reason is that the time required for them to prepare and actually conduct the camp takes more than their regular school hours. b. Hands-on experience. Questions related to the practicality of English camp should be included. The practical aspect or actual application of English language should have a clear and measurable indicator. c. Enjoyment. Since one of the objectives of the English camp is to provide fun or enjoyable activities to the participants, it is also co- essential that the organizers, students in particular, also enjoy conducting the English camp.2. Extent of Language Development a. Improvement. Linguistic competence is one of the prevailing improvements that the students revealed in the camp. Summative examination can be one of the tools to measure the extent of language development.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 129

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” b. Confidence building. Although building confidence to second language learners normally under the aspect of speaking skills, 3. Effectiveness of English Camp a. Delegation of responsibility. There should be some rehearsals or a teaching pedagogy workshop prior to the actual English camp. Students might enjoy and feel excited to teach the subject matter in their own way but there should be certain guidelines particularly in terms of pedagogy. b. Motivation. The primary motivation of the students (organizers) must be measured and outlined.ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that the use of English camp as an autonomouslearning task provided positive learning experiences to the students, improved theirlinguistic competence, increase their level of confidence, hence, competence, in termsof English structure and provided them opportunity to be freely responsible for theirlearning. Apart from that, students were highly motivated in conducting and designingthe activities in the camp, thus provided them opportunity to collaborate and exerciseteamwork in dong the task. This English camp task also served the university missionof providing hands-on or actual and authentic tasks to the students for English practice.The main limitation of this research was the pedagogical procedures. Students mayhave adequate knowledge of what they were teaching but the teaching pedagogy needsimprovement. It is recommended to conduct a micro teaching workshop andpresentation prior the actual English camp activity.ReferencesChanthawanit, S. (2011).A Qualitative Data Analysis. Chulalongkorn University Press.Dornyei, Z. 2001 Teaching and Researching Motivation. UK, Harlow: Pearson Education.Donryei, Z., K. Csizer, and N. Nemeth. 2006 Motivation, Language attitudes and globalization: Hungarian perspective. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Kongsom, T. (2009). The effects of teaching communication strategies on Thai learners of English (Doctoral dissertation, University of Southampton).Kyriacou, C. and Zhu, D. 2008 Shanghai pupil’s motivation towards learning English and the perceived influence of important others. Educational Studies. Vol. 34, No. 2, May 2008, 97-104.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 130

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Lincoln, Y. S., & Guba, E. G. (1985). Naturalistic inquiry. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.Merriam, S. B. (1998). Qualitative research and case study applications in education. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Osterwalder, A & Pigneur, Y (2009). Business model generation. Portland, USA: Self PublishedPatton, M. (1990). Qualitative evaluation methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Ushioda, E. 2006 Language motivation in a reconfigured Europe: Access, identity, autonomy. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 27, no. 2: 148-161.Wighting, M., Nisbet, D., & Tindall, E. (2006). Exploring a summer English language camp experience in China: A descriptive study. The Asian EFL Journal. Retrieved from https://docs.google.com/viewerng/viewer?url=http:// asian- efl-journal.com/pta_feb_06_mw.pdf&hl=en_USWiriyachitra, A. (2001). A Thai university scenario in the coming decade. Thai TESOL Newsletter, 14(1), 4-7.Wiriyachitra, A. (2002). English language teaching and learning in Thailand in this decade. Thai TESOL focus, 15(1), 4-9.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 131

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” Attitudes of Undergraduate Students towards the Implementation of Weblogs and www.youtube.com as Key Components in Task Completion Assigned in ‘01-320-017 English for Career (1)’ Course Pornpimon Hart-Rawung [email protected] Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, ThailandAbstractAs an English language teacher, it is recognized that equipping the 21st centuryRMUTT future graduates with sufficient English communication skills maybeinadequate for their future careers. This deficiency is so because to effectively work ina well-known organization, graduates also require necessary social skills or soft skills,such as team work, critical thinking, and creative thinking to deal with day-to-dayworking difficulties. This study explored whether the implementation of social mediatechnology in English classes would promote both the students’ English skills andsoft skills. This study involves fourth-year RMUTT engineering students who enrolledin ‘English for Career 1’as their elective course, following their successful completionof ‘English 1 and English 2’ courses. This course aimed to provide students withpractice in four English skills for their future careers. The course lasted for onesemester, with 15 weeks of in-class study and 2 weeks for the midterm and finalexams (week 9 and week 17). This research was a quantitative study, using aquestionnaire survey. The population consisted of 112 fourth-year engineeringstudents attending ’01-320-017: English for Career 1’ course in the semester 2 /2012.Two group tasks were assigned at the beginning of the semester 1) designing an idealworkplace weblog; and 2) performing a role play entitled ‘Visiting a Workplace’ andposting it on www.youtube.com. The data obtained was analyzed through SPSSstatistics. The results indicated that after attending this course, the student’s Englishproficiency was significantly developed. The two group-work tasks not onlyeffectively foster students’ English proficiency in reading comprehension andconversational skills, but also promoted necessary soft skills while completing thetasks. The soft skills developed through performing Tasks 1 were: 1) critical andanalytical thinking, 2) weblog designing, 3) team working, and 4) informationgathering. Task 2, in addition, nurtured skills in creative thinking, team work,communication and social media application.Keywords: Weblog and Website, English skills, Soft skills, Tasks assignedPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 132

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”IntroductionEnhancing graduates employability is the ultimate target of all tertiary institutions.Preparing the 21st century future graduates to successfully work in recognizedworkplaces require not only professional skills, but also soft skills. Professional skills,or job-specific skills, are specific abilities that are related to a particular job, forexample, the ability to diagnose patient’s symptoms is a job specific skill for a doctor,and the ability to design a constructive course is a job specific skill for a coursedesigner. Soft skills, or transferable skills, on the other hand, are abilities that can beapplied in many jobs, for example, the ability to work as a team, the ability to manageyour work in the time frame, and the ability to think critically (Leepatanapan, 1997;Pholsward, 1993; Rasul et al., 2013; Saravanan, 2009; Shea, 1997; Watson, 1999).Moreover, it is unquestionable that ability in English communication, as the mostpowerful working language, is a must for potential Thailand graduates to competeeither on domestic stage, or ASEAN or the world areas. Consequently, the futuregraduates also need sufficient English ability to perform their day-to-day jobresponsibility. Tailoring an ESP course that could increase both English skills and softskills of the learners is, therefore, necessary for ESP teachers, or course designers totake into account.This study designed the CLTL teaching model to encourage genuine and meaningfulcommunication together with vital soft skills in an English language classroom. t TheCTLT Model interlinks three prominent teaching approaches and two popular typesof social media technology. The three teaching approaches are Communicative, Task-based, and Learner-centered approaches), and the two types of social mediaTechnology are Weblogs and Websites.The three teaching instructions nurture English skills of learners in different ways.First, communicative language teaching is an approach where teaching materials andclassroom activities are focused on communication (Hymes, 1971; Munby, 1980;Oxford, 1990; Brown, 2001: Richard & Renandya, 2010), whereas task-based languageapproach is focused on tasks that are pre-set to cultivate meaningful communicationand interaction of the learners (David & Hart, 2010;Nunan, 1989; Richards & Rogers,2001; Friedenburg et al., 2003; Richard & Renandya, 2010). In contrast, learner-centered approach is the instruction that learners are the center of the learningprocess, teachers, on the other hand, are their helpers in the learning (Nunan, 1988;Louhiala-Salminen, 1996; Richard & Renandya, 2010; Gordon, 2002).Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 133

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” With the current situation of global teenagers being knowledgable with socialmedia technology; incorporating social media in the language classroom somehowincreases learners’ motivation and the efficiency of the English language learningprocess (Amir, Ismail & Hussin, 2011; Chun, 2001; Deng & Yuen, 2009; Imus et al.,2004; Li & Hart; 2010; Liang, & Bonk, 2009; Nadzrah, 2009; Sujud & Rahim, 2013).This study applied weblog and www.youtube.com as platforms for students toshowcase their completed tasks. This study, thus, aimed at exploring whether the implementation of socialmedia technology, weblog and www.youtube.com, in ‘English for Career 1’ coursecould promote students’ English skills and soft skills. The research question was asfollows: “What were the attitudes of the engineering students on implementing weblog and website as key components in task completion on their English skills and soft skills?”MethodPopulation and ProceduresThe research population of this study was 112 fourth-year-engineering studentsattending “01-320-017: English for Career 1’, an elective course, in the 2/ 2012semester at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi which commenced inNovember 2012 and ended in February 2013. The students who were eligible toattend this course were required to complete two compulsory courses – FundamentalEnglish ad Communicative English. The study was a quantitative study; the data wascollected through a questionnaire survey and analyzed through SPSS software andcontent analysis.‘01-320-017: English for Career 1’ course was an ESP course. The researcherparticularly designed this study using the CTLT model to promote English skills andsoft skills for potential graduating engineering students. Two tasks related to eightlearning units were assigned as group activities at the beginning of the course, andweblog and www.youtube.com were set as the main components to complete the twospecific tasks. This meant they were employed as platforms for students to showcasetheir completed tasks. The two tasks were: 1) designing an ideal workplace weblogand 2) performing a role play entitled ‘Visiting a Workplace’ and posting it onwww.youtube.com. This course comprised of eight learning units, and each unit wasdelivered through the following 3 stages: pre, while and post. In the pre stage, newvocabulary, language structure or context was contextualized; whereas, in the whilePathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 134

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”stage, the learners learnt and practice the language points focused. The post stageallowed students to apply what they learnt and practiced in the previous stages in theirengineering context through task completion. Each unit task consisted of preparing arole-play script and performing the role play. Below is the timeline of the study:Week Learning Unit/ Task1 Course introduction and tasks assignment2-3 Unit 1: Meeting people Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play4-5 Unit 2: Asking and giving information Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play6-7 Unit 3: Asking and describing things in the workplace Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play8 Unit 4: Asking and giving directions and locations Asking and giving directions and locations Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play9 Midterm examination10-11 Unit 5: Stating problems and suggesting solutions Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play12-13 Unit 6: Explaining uses and functions Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play14-15 Unit 7: Maintaining and repairing things Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play16 Unit 8: Giving and following instructions and understanding experiments Task: Preparing a role-play script and performing the role play17 Final ExaminationPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 135

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”The following table shows details of the two tasks: Submission DueTable 1Details of the two tasks ProceduresTask 1: Design an ideal company weblog. By the end of the year 2012Direction: Your company has to be a joint companyof the ASEAN countries plus 6(AEC+6). Yourcompany profile includes its vision/ missions/targets/ products or service/ organization chart.Post your company blog on the class Facebook(closed group) within the submission due.Task 2: Prepare a ‘role play’ script entitled ‘Visiting a By the last week of Februaryworkplace’ 2013Direction: Your role play is to combine the languagepoints from the 8 learning units from this course. (26 Feb-3 Mar 2013)Once the script is approved, rehearse the role play.Tape it as a video clip and post it onwww.youtube.com. Post your VDO clip link on theclass Facebook (closed group) within the submissiondue.Results and DiscussionTo answer the research question, “What were the attitudes of the engineering students onimplementing weblog and website as key components in task completion on their English skills andsoft skills?”, the research results were categorized into three main groups: 1)Development of four English language skills, 2) Development of English skills andsoft skills from performing Task 1, and 3) Development of English skills and softskills from performing Task 2 as follows:Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 136

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”1. Development of Four English Language SkillsTable 2Development of four English language skillsSkill English very low low fair high very Ability high 35.6Listening previous ability 9.4 0 49.9 4.7 0 current ability 0 42.7 30.8 61.8 8.3 2.3Speaking previous ability 7 21.3 45.1 4.7 0 0 current ability 0 35.6 30.8 52.3 16.9 0Reading previous ability 4.7 52.3 21.3 0 current ability 0 11.8 69 22.5Writing previous ability 9.4 45.1 7 2.7 current ability 0 40.4 49.9 11.2Table 2 compares the development of the four major English abilities of theengineering students before and after they took the English for career 1 course. 1.1 Listening skill Before studying this course, the majority of the students (49.9%) rated theirlistening skills as fair. More than a quarter (35.6%) rated themselves as low; a fewrated as very low (9.4%). Only 4.7 per cent rated their listening skills as high. Nonerated themselves as very high. After attending this course, on the other hand, the majority of the students(61.8%) rated their listening as high. More than a quarter (30.8%) rated it as fair.Only 8.3% felt confident and rated their skills as very high. None rated their listeningskills as low and very low. 1.2 Speaking skill Before studying this course, most of the students rated their speaking skills asfair (45.5%) and low (42.7%). A few (7%) rated their speaking ability as very low.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 137

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Only 4.7 per cent rated themselves as high, and very few rated it as very low (9.4%).No one rated their skills as very high. After attending this course, on the other hand, the majority of the students(52.3%) rated their speaking ability as high and more than a quarter (30.8%) rated itas fair. 16.9% felt confident and rated their skill as very high. Only 2.3 percent ratedit as low, and none rated their speaking skill as very low. 1.3 Reading skill Before studying this course, most of the students rated their reading skills asfair (52.5%). Almost a quarter (21.3%) equally rated their reading ability as low andhigh. Only 4.7 percent rated themselves as very low, while no one rated it as veryhigh.On the other hand, a majority of the students (69%) rated their reading ability ashigh and 22.5 percent confidently rated it as very high, after attending the course.Only 11.8 percent rated it as fair, but none rated their reading skills as very low. 1.4 Writing skillBefore studying this course, most of the students rated their writing skills as fair at45.1%. More than a quarter (35.6%) rated their writing ability as low. A few (2.7%)rated themselves as very high and only 7 percent rated their skills as high, while veryfew (9.4%) rated their skills as very low.After attending this course, the majority of the students improved their writingability by rating it as high (49.9%) and fair (45.1%). 11.2 percent confidently rated itas very high. None of them rated their writing skill as low and very low.Figure 1 Previous level of four English skills Figure 2 Current level of four Englishskills Figures 1 and 2 briefly conclude that the four English skills of the engineeringstudents were significantly developed at a high level after taking the English forPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 138

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Career 1 course. In addition, almost none of them indicated their English ability aspoor and very poor. 2. Development of English Skills and Soft Skills from Performing Task 1Table 3Development of English skills and soft skills from conducting Task 1 Skill very low fair high very low high1.Critical and analytical 0 0 19 54.7 26.1thinking2. Weblog designing 0 4.7 16.6 54.7 23.73. Reading comprehension 0 4.7 35.6 49.9 04. Team working 0 4.7 21.3 47.55. Information searching 2.3 4.7 19 35.6 26.1 38 Figure 3 Development of English skills and soft skills from conducting Task 1Table 3 and Figure 3 display the development level of English skills and soft skillsresulting from performing Task1, designing an ideal company blog. The majority ofthe students assessed the development of their four skills, critical and analytical thinking,weblog designing, reading comprehension, and team work as high, respectively at 54.7, 54.7,49.9 and 47.5 percent . Skills in information searching, however, was the highestskilled developed (38%) in the ‘very high’ category. Task 1 could considerablypromote both English skills and soft skills of the engineering students.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 139

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”3. Development of English Skills and Soft Skills from Performing Task 2Table 4 and Figure 4 illustrate the advancement of one English skill and four softskills resulting from conducting Task 2, performing the role play and posting it onwww.youtube.com. The data clearly revealed that the majority of the studentsassessed the development of the four skills, team work, conversational skills,communication skills and social media application as high, respectively at 45.1, 66.6, 54.7and 47.5 per cent. In contrast, creative thinking was rated as the highest skill developedat 47.5 per cent in the ‘very high’ category. In short, Task 2 could significantly enhanceboth English skills and soft skills of the engineering students.Table 4Development of English skills and soft skills from conducting Task 2 Skill very low fair high very low high1. Creative thinking 0 2.3 7.0 42.7 47.52. Team working 0 0 14.1 45.1 40.43. Conversational skill 4.7 2.3 9.4 66.6 16.64. Communication skill 0 4.7 16.6 54.7 23.75. Social media application 0 2.3 21.3 47.5 28.4Figure 4 Development of English skills and soft skills from conducting Task 2Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 140

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Implications and ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that designing an ESP course through CTLT model,the combination of communicative, task-based, and learner-centered approachestogether with social media technology are able to successfully increase vital skillsrequired for their future career, English skills and useful soft skills.ConclusionIn conclusion, the study indicated that both English skills and soft skills of the fourthyear engineering students were developed after attending 01-320-017: English forCareer 1. The first task, designing an ideal company workplace could assist theirreading comprehension, critical and analytic thinking, weblog designing, teamworking, and information searching. Moreover, the second task, visiting a workplace,could support their conversational skills, creative thinking, team working,communication skills and social media application.ReferencesAmir,Z., Ismail, K. & Hussin, S.(2011). Blogs in language learning: maximizing students’ collaborative writing. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, Volume 18, 2011, 537-543Brown, H. D. (2001). Principles of language learning and teaching. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall Regents.Chun, D. (2001). L2 reading on the web: Strategies for accessing information in hypermedia. CALL Journal, 14(5), 367-403.David, B. & Hunt, A. (2010). Implementing task-based language teaching. In Richard & Renandya (Ed.), Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. (pp.96-106). New York: Cambridge University Press.Deng, L. & Yuen, A.H.K. (2009). Blogs in higher education: implementation and issues, TechTrends, 53(3), 95.Friedenberg, J., Kennedy, D., Lomperis, A., Martin, W. & Westerfield, K. (2003). Effective practices in workplace language training: guidelines for providers of workplace English language training services. Virginia: TESOL Inc.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 141

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Hymes, D. (1971). Competence and performance in linguistic theory. In R. Huxley, & Ingram, E. (Eds.), Language acquisition: models and methods (pp. 3-23). London: Academic Press.Imus, A., Ployhart, R., Ritzer, D., & Sleigh, M. (2004). Technology: a boom or a bust? An understanding of students’ perceptions of technology use in the classroom. Inventio: Creative Thinking about Learning and Teaching, 6(1).Leepatanapan, S. (1997). An industrial needs driven curriculum design methodology and its application to manufacturing in Thailand. Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy, University of Missouri, Rolla, Rolla.Li, R. & Hart, R.S. (2010). What can the world wide web offer ESL teachers?. In Richard & Renandya (Ed.), Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. (pp.374-383). New York: Cambridge University Press.Liang, M. & Bonk, C.J. (2009). Interaction in blended EFL learning: principles and practice, International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, January 6(1), 3-16.Louhiala-Salminen, L. (1996). The business communication classroom vs what should we teach today? English for Specific Purposes, 15(1), 37-51.Munby, J. (1980). Communicative syllabus design: a sociolinguistic model for defining the content of purpose-specific language programmes. Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.Nadzrah, A.B. (2009). E-Learning Environment: Blogging as a Platform for Language learning. European Journal of Social Sciences, 9/4: 584-604.Nunan, D. (1988). The learner-centred curriculum. Glasgow: Cambridge University Press.Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language learning strategies. New York: Newbury House Publishers.Pholsward, R. (1993). The English Language Needs of Thai Computing Professionals. RELC Journal: A Journal of Language Teaching and Research in Southeast Asia, 24 (1), 86-108.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 142

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Rasul, M. S., Abd Rauf, R.A., Mansor, A.N. Yasin, R.M. & Mahamod, Z. (2013). Graduate employability for manufacturing industry. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 102(2013), 242-250.Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and methods in language teaching: a description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Richard J.C. & Renandya, W.A. (2010). Methodology in language teaching: an anthology of current practice. (pp.96-106). New York: Cambridge University Press.Saravanan, V. (2009). Sustainable Employability Skills for Engineering Professionals. The Indian Review of World Literature in English, 5 (II – July),1-9.Shea, J. (1997). An integrated approach to engineering curriculum with multi-objective decision modeling and linear programming. Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy, Oregon State University, Oregon.Sujud, A. & Rahim, N. A. (2013) Learning through blogging, Australian Journal of Basic and Applied Sciences, 7(1): 191-198.Watson, P.G. (1999). A hirability study: the characteristics that cause an engineering student to receive a job offer: Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy, Michigan State University, Mighigan.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 143

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” English Language Needs of Residents Neighbouring Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi Pornpimon Hart-Rawung [email protected] Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Thailand Buntao Permkasetwit [email protected] Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, Thailand AbstractA survey on English language needs of residents neighbouring Rajamangala Universityof Technology Thanyaburi (RMUTT) is a study based on the Thailand nationalresearch strategic policy (2012-2016) regarding educational development:strengthening the speaking potential of people in local Thai communities inaccordance with their way of life. Not only did this study aim at exploring the genuineEnglish language needs of people in the communities near the university, it alsodetermined a tuition fee and time duration appropriate for the people involved.These variables could be used to determine whether the participants could attend anEnglish training program provided by RMUTT. In addition, other restrictionsaffecting their training attendance were investigated. The research subjects included422 people in five communities neighbouring the university. These included 1) Klong6-Housing Community, 2) Pornpimarn Community, 3) Sinthanee Grand VilleCommunity, 4) Pornthisarn-3 Community, and 5) Pornthisarn Market Community.The research instrument was a questionnaire survey. The results revealed that Englishlanguage levels of people in the five communities ranged from low to medium andthat the English language skills that people in the communities wanted to developwere conversational and grammatical skills. Three English training programs desiredby the local residents were 1) English for Everyday Conversation, 2) English forSpecific Purposes, and 3) English for Higher Study, respectively. They also expressedvarying levels of interest, and successful expectation in attending the programs rangedfrom medium to high. The appropriate time for their study was determined to beSaturday and Sunday between 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. Overall, time constraint was the majorobstacle in the training participation.Keywords: English language needs, RMUTT, residents neighbouring RMUTTPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 144

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”IntroductionEnglish for Specific Purposes (ESP) in English Language Training (ELT) originatedfrom three factors: 1) English as a worldwide language in international economiccommunication and a powerful instrument in learning new and modern knowledge,2) a development in linguistics’ target - the direction of language teaching switchingfrom describing language components to using language in authentic and meaningfulcommunication, and 3) an emphasis on the particular learners in terms of differentlanguage learners acquiring language in different ways (Hutchinson and Waters,1987). This development widely affected language teaching practitioners whendesigning specific language instruction to meet the needs of English languagelearners with various learning experiences and learning styles in the late 1960s andthe early 1970s (Hutchinson & Waters, 1987; Richards, 2001). According toHutchinson and Waters (1987, p.19) ESP is “an approach to language teaching inwhich all decisions as to content and method are based on the learner’s reason forlearning”. Hutchinson and Waters highlight that “designing a course is fundamentallya matter of asking questions in order to provide a reasoned basis for the subsequentprocesses of syllabus design, materials writing, classroom teaching and evaluation.”In the scope of ESP program design, it is believed that different types of learnerscome with their own specific types of language learning needs. Hence, needs analysishas been widely accepted as the first essential step in the ESP designing process.Indeed, it is at the heart of the design of an ESP syllabus (Cowling, 2007; Dudley-Evans & St. John, 1998; Feez, 1998; Friedenberg et al., 2003; Hart-Rawung, 2009;Hutchinson &Waters, 1987; Jasso-Aguilar, 1999; Munby, 1980: Nunan & Lamb,1996; Orr, 2002; Reeves & Wright, 1996; Richards, 2001; Richterich &Chancerel1988).In order to develop a constructive ESP program that could enhance the Englishproficiency of residents who live in five communities around RMUTT, needsanalysis, or the needs analysis process is the first crucial step in developing an Englishtraining program for a particular group of learners. This study, hence, aimed atexploring the genuine English language needs of people in the five communitiesnearby RMUTT, including an appropriate and affordable tuition fee, an appropriatetime duration, and other restrictions that may affect the training attendance. Thesevariables could then be used to determine whether the participants could attend anEnglish training program provided by RMUTT. The research questions were asfollows:Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 145

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity” 1. What are the English language skills desired by people in RMUTT’s neighbouring communities? 2. What are the expected English training programs desired by the nearbycommunities? 3. What kind of expected English development project can people from those five communities afford?MethodPopulation and ProceduresThe research samples of this study were 422 people in five communities neighbouringthe university: 1) Klong 6-Housing Community, 2) Pornpimarn Community, 3)Sinthanee Grand Ville Community, 4) Pornthisarn 3 Community, and 5) PornthisarnMarket Community. The study was a quantitative study, and the data were collectedthrough a questionnaire survey and analyzed through SPSS software and contentanalysis. The questionnaire, prepared to investigate various aspects of the Englishlanguage needs of people from the five communities, consisted of three mainsections: 1) demographic information, 2) current English language ability, and 3)specific requirements of the English language development project.Results and DiscussionTo answer the three research questions, the results were categorized into three mainparts: 1. Levels of English language proficiency, 2. Expected English training programs of the neighbouring communities, and 3. Expected English Language development project of the neighbouring communities ✓ Demographic Information of Residents from the Five CommunitiesAltogether a total of 422 people from five communities near the university took partin the questionnaire survey for this study. The percentage of male and femaleparticipants was approximately42.6 and 57.4 per cent, respectively. The majority ofthe participants were single with an age of less than 25 years old. Half of them hadlower than a Bachelor’s degree, and the other half completed their Bachelor degreestudy. Most of them were students and traders.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 146

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Regarding English language, most of the participants revealed that English wasimportant for them. Half of them felt worried while speaking with foreigners, whereasthe other half did not. They practiced English by reading English newspapers andusing the internet. (b)English Proficiency Self-evaluation by People from the FiveCommunitiesThe participants’ English proficiency in the four skills of the English language wasassessed through a self-evaluation procedure in order to provide a comprehensivebackground knowledge of people in the five communities.Table 1Self-evaluation of English language proficiencySkill Klong 6- Pornpimarn Sinthanee Pornthisarn PornthisarnOverall Housing Community Grand Ville 3 MarketConversation Community low(46.7%) Community Community CommunityReading low (36.2%) and medium and medium low(45.0%) low(31.2%) low(38.6%)Writing (51.2%) (46.7%) and medium and medium and medium low (40.0%) low(58.3%) (44.0%) (61.0%) (54.4%) and medium and medium (48.8%) low(45.0%) low(29.9%) low (40.9%) low(37.5%) (38.8%) and medium and medium and medium and medium low (53.3%) (44.0%) (50.6%) (52.3%) (52.2%) and medium low(52.0%) medium low (45.5%) low (37.5%) (43.3%) and medium (59.7%) and and medium and medium low(70.0%) (37.0%) good(22.1%) (50.0%) (57.5%) and medium low(49.0%) low(23.4%) low(54.5%) (30.0%) and medium medium and medium (61.9%) (42.0%) and (43.2%) good(24.4%)The results in the Table 1 show the level of English language proficiency of people inthe five communities by their self-rating. The overall English proficiency of people inthe five communities, Klong 6-Housing, Pornpimarn, Sinthanee Grand Ville, andPornthisarn Market, was low and medium. When considering particular English skills,Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 147

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”it was found that people in Klong 6-Housing, Pornpimarn, Sinthanee Grand Ville,and Pornthisarn Market communities had the same English proficiency level, rangingfrom low to medium, in conversation, reading, and writing skills, whereas the majorityof people in Porntisarn 3 had a medium level in those skills. (c) Expected English Training Programs of the Neighbouring CommunitiesTable 2 demonstrates the desired English training programs of people in the fiveneighbouring communities. The results indicated that while people in everycommunity wanted to increase their conversational skills, people in Pornthisarnmarket wanted to increase their grammatical skills as well. While every communitywanted English for Everyday Conversation, people in Pornthisan 3 additionally wantedEnglish for Careers, and people in Pornthisarn Market additionally wanted both Englishfor Careers and English for Higher Education. People in the five communities, moreover,wished for both native speakers and Thai teachers to deliver the English trainingprograms. Table 2 Expected English training programs of the neighbouring communities Klong 6- Pornpimarn Sinthanee Pornthisarn 3 Pornthisarn Housing Community Grand Ville Community Market Community Community CommunityEnglish Conversation Conversation Conversation Conversation 1.ConversationSkills 2. GrammarEnglish English for English for English for 1.English for 1. English forTraining Everyday Everyday Everyday Everyday Everydayprogram Conversation Conversation Conversation Conversation ConversationTeachers 2. English for 2. English for Careers Careers 3. English for Native Native speakers Native speakers Native speakers Higher Education speakers and and and and Thai teachers Thai teachers Thai teachers Thai teachers Native speakers and Thai teachersPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 148

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”4. Expected English Language Development Project of the NeighbouringCommunities Table 3 demonstrates the expected English language development project forthe five neighbouring communities. The results revealed that the majority of peoplein the five communities were interested in enhancing their English proficiency byparticipating in an English language development project organized by RMUTT.Their level of interest ranged from average to high. The level of expectation tosuccessfully improve their English with RMUTT was average to high. The appropriatedays and times for the program were on Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.The affordable tuition fee was 2,500 baht/ 30 hours and 2,000 baht/20 hours. Thepotential difficultés participants believed they would face when trying to attend theprogram were time availability and transportation.Table 3Expected English language development project of the neighbouring communities Klong 6- Pornpimarn Sinthanee Pornthisarn 3 Pornthisarn Housing Community Grand Ville Community Market Community Community medium to high medium to CommunityLevel of Interest medium to low to medium to high high medium to high medium Sat - Sun medium to highLevel of Expectation medium to medium to (9 am – 4 pm) high medium toto succeed high high 2,000 baht/ 20 high hrs.Time Sat - Sun Sat - Sun Sat - Sun Sat - Sun (9 am – 4 pm) (9 am – 4 Time availablity (9 am – 4 pm) (9 am – 4 pm) pm) 1. 2,500 baht/ 1. 2,500 30 hrs. baht/ 30 hrs.Tuition 2,000 baht/ 20 2,000 baht/ 20 2. 2,000 baht/ 2. 2,000 hrs. hrs. 20 hrs. baht/ 20 hrs.Restriction Time Time Time Time availablity availablity availablity availablity and transportationPathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 149

The 1st Rt International Conference on English Language Teaching (RtICELT) 2016 Proceedings “Diversity our Identity”Additionally, people in the five neighboring communities mentioned moreexpectation for the training programs that will be organized for them as follows: 1. The introductory lesson should be free, and a reasonably priced tuition should be collected for the advanced course. A free introductory lesson will be kind of an incentive for those who want to increase their English language skills with a limited budget. Longer training hours for each program should be considered. 2) It is a great project. Everyone could communicate with foreigners. Current RMUTT students could also be a part of the teaching team. Through this, they not only help people in the nearby communities, but they improve their own English ability. 3) I wish I could speak English with foreigners. Please start the program soon.ConclusionThe results of this study suggest that the real English language need of people in thenearby communities is enhancing their conversational skills, and the English languagetraining program that could serve their needs is English for Everyday Conversation.The appropriate day for them to attend the program is on the weekends from 9 a.m.to 4 p.m. The affordable tuition is 2,000 baht for 20 hours. The significant obstaclesfor their participation are time restraint and transportation.ReferencesCowling, J. (2007). Needs Analysis: Planning a syllabus for a series of intensive workplace courses at a leading Japanese company. English for Specific Purposes, 26(4), 426-442.Dudley-Evans, T. & St. John, M. J. (1998). Developments in ESP-a multi-disciplinary approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Feez, S. (1998). Text-based syllabus design. Sydney: AMES Quality Language & Literacy Service.Friedenberg, J., Kennedy, D., Lomperis, A., Martin, W. & Westerfield, K. (2003). Effective practices in workplace language training: guidelines for providers of workplace English language training services. Virginia: TESOL Inc.Hart-Rawung. P. (2009). Internationalising English Language Education in Thailand: English language Program for Thai Engineers. Unpublished Doctor of Philosophy, RMIT University, Melbourne.Pathumtani, Thailand, May 14, 2016 Page | 150