Does Thailand's English language education reflect thainess?: The case of a Thai ideology in English language learning

Abstract

It is often said that the success of a nation-state can be attributed to how it is able to construct its identity through the connection it makes with its own people and how the latter, in return, connect back with it, developing a collective sense of oneness at a national level and eventually paving the way for successful governance. While this can happen in many different ways and in various sectors of society, the role of language articulated in a country's national language education policies is crucial in running nation-states. In Thailand, where a collective effort emphasizing the importance of shared culture has served as a national project for years, examining how it has played out vis-à-vis the country's English language education is deemed crucial. Drawing from the concept of Thainess (kwam pen Thai), a conceptual identity relating to one's being Thai, this study examined how said ideology has created an impact on the current state of Thailand's English language education. Employing data from existing documents and materials publicly available and related literature, this study used a quantitative-qualitative approach via concurrent triangulation design and document research methodology (DRM) aided by Norman Fairclough's (2010, Critical Discourse Analysis: The Critical Study of Language. Routledge) categorical data analysis (CDA). This study ultimately explored how Thailand's language education landscape and classroom practices embody Thainess.