Thai Pre-Service Science Teachers’ Perceptions of Their Filipino ESL/EFL Lecturers’ Intercultural Communicative Practices in Science Teacher Education

Abstract

There has been an increasingly dominant presence of Filipino ESL/EFL lecturers in Thai higher education; yet, few studies explore the intercultural communicative practices between these Filipino lecturers and pre-service teachers in science teacher education. This study examined Thai pre-service science teachers’ perceptions of their Filipino lecturers. The theoretical framework of this study consists of intercultural communicative competence (ICC), tensions between native and non-native English speakers (NES-NNES), and Thai students’ perceptions of English and its varieties. Using a qualitative research paradigm, this study employed focus-group interviews with 15 pre-service teachers from biology, math, and general science majors at a Rajabhat University in Thailand. The findings suggest three key issues: 1) Filipino lecturers’ teaching styles and methods, 2) classroom communication, and 3) their English accent. The implications of this study promote not only the integration of cross-cultural exchanges and translanguaging practices into classroom interactions between NES/NNES lecturers and Thai learners but also awareness of World Englishes and Global Englishes to envisage multicultural/lingual realities in social and professional contexts. This study sheds new light on the pragmatic benefits of enhancing Thai learners’ intercultural communicative competence as part of ESL/EFL pedagogy in Thai higher education.