Developing Intercultural Communicative Competence: A Guide for English Foreign Language Teachers in Thailand

ABSTRACT\ud DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE:\ud A GUIDE FOR ENGLISH FOREIGN LANGUAGE\ud TEACHERS IN THAILAND\ud by\ud Kornvadee Wangkijchinda\ud Master of Arts in Teaching International Languages\ud California State University, Chico\ud Spring 2011\ud Today's rapid globalization brings people closer together. People from different sociocultural backgrounds adjust to fulfill their needs to become interculturally competent due to the challenges of global competitiveness, including education. Thai people still maintain their strong traditional culture and values with their own notion of communicative competence, harmonious hierarchy relationships based on collectivism and non-confrontation. This paper highlights aspects of Thai cultural values and Buddhist religion that may influence Thai students' behaviors and attitudes in Thailand. Being obedient, friendly and respectful to teachers are characteristics of Thai students' learning behavior. However, Thai learners are also regarded as passive and shy learners who are reluctant to ask questions (non-risk takers) for fear of being wrong and embarrassed. Without an understanding of intercultural awareness and knowledge, such behaviors may\ud lead to frustration and negative cultural stereotyping in language classrooms in which foreign EFL teachers as well as Thai learners come from different cultural backgrounds. Understanding the learners' culture, therefore, is essential for the improvement of instructional methods as part of English language pedagogy. This thesis looks at Thai learners' cultural backgrounds and how culture influences their learning behaviors and attitudes in order to identify appropriate teaching approaches that suit Thai learners' needs and preferences. Conclusions from the research suggest that in order to help Thai students become successful intercultural communicators, they need to develop a notion of communicative competence that includes using social networks as a supplemental tool in class to reduce shyness and intimidation. The design of effective weblog tools along with the development of collaborative social networks allow Thai students to express themselves clearly and properly, as well as create a positive attitude toward learning English. Use of weblog tools can also foster self-regulated lifelong learning which is considered to be the heart of Thailand's new education reform with the aim of developing Thailand into a knowledge-based economy and society.CSU, Chic