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A comparison between Thai student attitudes toward English as a Foreign Language and their English proficiency at four public (state) universities in Bangkok, Thailand

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A comparison between Thai student attitudes toward English as a Foreign Language and their English proficiency at four public (state) universities in Bangkok, Thailand

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A COMPARISON BETWEEN THAI STUDENT ATTITUDES
TOWARD ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE AND THEIR
ENGLISH PROFICIENCY AT FOUR PUBLIC (STATE)
UNIVERSITIES IN BANGKOK, THAILAND
by
Porapen Rinswat
A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION
August 1996
Copyright 1996 Porapen Rinswat
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UMI Number: 9705169
Copyright 1996 by
Rinswat, Pornpen
All rights reserved.
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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
School of Education
Los Angeles, California 90089-0031
This dissertation, written by
Pornpen ^ insn a t_______
under the direction o f h tL Dissertation Committee, and
approved by all members o f the Committee, has been
presented to and accepted by the Faculty o f the School
ofEducation in partialfulfillment o f the requirementsfor
the degree o f
D o c to r o f E d u c a t i o n
M o m 11. 1143
Dissertation Committee
'Hairpersortj
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ABSTRACT
The purpose of this study was to investigate students' attitudes
toward English as a foreign language in Thailand, and to investigate
the relationship between English proficiency and student attitudes
which may affect their learning of the English language. It was
hypothesized that students' high positive attitudes toward
themselves, toward native English speakers, and toward the English
language would influence greater English language proficiency. Thai
undergraduate juniors majoring in English in the School of Humanities
at four major state universities in Bangkok, Thailand, were used as
subjects for this study.
The instruments in this study consisted of two measures: an attitude
scale adapted by the researcher, and the TOEFL test, a standardized
English-proficiency test. The subjects were tested at their Thai
universities by the researcher. The attitude scale was administered
first, followed by the TOEFL test. The one-way ANOVA and the t-test
were employed in this study.
The analysis of data produced the following outcomes:
1. There was no statistically significant difference between Thai
students' English proficiency and their attitudes toward themselves.
2. There was no statistically significant difference between Thai
students' English proficiency and their attitudes toward the native
English speakers.
3. There was no statistically significant difference between Thai
students' English proficiency and their attitudes toward the English
language.
The study concluded with an analysis of these findings and their
possible importance to foreign language education in Thailand.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The author wishes to express her warm thanks to Dr.
Frederick G. Knirk, chairperson, for his tremendous
support, expertise, and invaluable guidance during the
course of this study. The author also extends her
sincere gratitude to members of her committee: Dr.
William M. Rideout, Jr., and Dr. Edward Kazlauskas whose
commitment, support and suggestions made the completion
of this study possible.
The author's appreciation is further extended to Dr.
Robert N. Kantor including the Committee of Educational
Testing Service, Dr. Suzanne L. Medina, Dr. David Nelson,
Mrs. Payom Dhamabutra, Ms. Attaya Padanupong, Ms. Jarurat
Tantrapom, Dr. Amara Prasitrattasin, Ms. Jitsajee
Pibulnakharin, Dr. Damrong Attaprechakul, and Dr.
Arunthadee Trungampai for their kindness and help in
providing necessary data for this study.
In addition, the author wishes to thank her father
and mother, Mr. See and Mrs. Maneerat Rinswat; her
brothers, Mr. Pornchai and Mr. Porasak Rinswat; her
English tutors, Mr. James H. and Mrs. Patricia Bliss;
and her adopted American mothers, Mrs. Patricia J.
Knirk and Mrs. Sara S. Beard; and her adopted Thai
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father and mother, Mr. Mesa and Mrs. Pirawan Weerasarn,
for all their positive reinforcement, time, effort and
endless love throughout the study. Finally, the author
proffers special thanks to all of her teachers who
partially influence her life in any way.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Eage
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ii
LIST OF TABLES v
CHAPTER
I. INTRODUCTION 1
Background of the Problem
Purpose of the Study
Importance of the Study
Research Hypotheses
Methodological Assumptions
Limitations
Delimitations
Definitions of Terms
Organization of the study
II. REVIEW OF LITERATURE........................... 24
Distinguishing Between the EFL and ESL Terms
Student English Proficiency
Research in Listening Proficiency
Research in Reading Proficiency
Test of English as a Foreign Language
Attitudes and Language Acquisition
Rationale of the Study
Conclusion: Relating Students' Attitudes to
Their English Proficiency
III. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY........................... 71
Research Hypotheses
Design of the Study
The Sample
Instrumentation
Procedure
Variables
Collection and Analysis of the Data
IV. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS............................ 95
Analysis of Findings
Interpretation of Findings
Summary of Findings
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V. SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS . .
Summary
Conclusions
Recommendations
REFERENCES .....................................
APPENDIXES .....................................
Appendix A. A Thai Attitude Scale
Appendix B. An English Translation of the
Thai Attitude Scale
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vi
. 113
128
156
LIST OF TABLES
!Tabl£ Page
1. Percentage of Participants From Each
University.......................................97
2. Two levels of Thai Students' English
Proficiency......................................98
3. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of Thai
Students' Attitudes at Four Public
Universities ................................... 98
4. An Analysis of Variance for Thai Students1
Attitudes Toward Themselves at Four Public
Universities ................................... 99
5. A Comparison Between Sample Means of Thai
Students' Attitudes Toward Themselves at Four
Public Universities by Using the Scheffe'
Procedure.......................................100
6. An Analysis of Variance for Thai Students1
Attitudes Toward Native English Speakers at
Four Public Universities ..................... 100
7. An Analysis of Variance of Thai Students1
Attitudes Toward English as a Language at Four
Public Universities ........................... 101
8. An Analysis of Variance of Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward the Entire Attitude Scale
(Self + Speaker + Language).................... 102
9. A Comparison Between the Pair of Sample Means of
Thai Students1 Attitudes Toward the Total
Variables by Using the Scheffe' Procedure . . . 102
10. Reliabilities and Standard Errors of Measurement
(SEM) of the Entire Attitude Scale.............103
11. The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students'
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes Toward
Themselves......................................104
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viii
Table. Page
12. The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students'
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes Toward
Native English Speakers ........................ 105
13. The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students1
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes Toward
the English Language .......................... 105
14. The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students'
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes
Toward the Entire Scale (Self + Speaker +
language).......................................106
15. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of Thai
Students' Attitudes Toward Themselves ......... 109
16. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of Thai
Students1 Attitudes Toward Native English
Speakers........................................ 110
17. Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of Thai
Students' Attitudes Toward the English
Language........................................ Ill
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CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
Contemporary educational research emphasizes the
importance of establishing a positive attitude in their
students when they learn a second or foreign language
(Lefrancois, 1988). Educators are paying greater
attention to the impact of attitudes and motivations in
the foreign language acquisition today (Crookes &
Schmidt, 1991; Fayer & Krasinski, 1984; Gardner &
Lambert, 1972; Oiler, Hudson, & Liu, 1977; Oiler &
Perkins, 1978; Pierson & Fu, 1982). Chan (1976), Fayer
and Krasinski (1984), Lombardo (1988) and Selman (1968)
suggest that student attitudes and motivation are
important variables for the design and implementation
of a foreign language program. Students taking English
as a foreign language (EFL) change as the world around
them changes, however the traditional university
curricula are often resistant to change (Fayer &
Krasinski, 1984).
Although student attitudes toward learning a
foreign language (e.g., English) should be considered
when planning a curriculum, it is also important to
consider the students' attitudes toward themselves,
toward the target language group and toward the target
language (Baker, 1993; Corder, 1973). EFL research
suggests that affective variables such as attitude and
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motivation should be analyzed when EFL acquisition is
being studied (Gardner, 1985; Gardner & MacIntyre,
1992, 1993b; Kleinmann, 1977; Krashen, 1977; Skehan,
1989, 1991; Spolsky, 1989) . A curriculum should be
evaluated to examine whether student attitudes are
being considered and whether it incorporates advances
in language acquisition theory, methods, and materials.
Background of the Problem
Thai people use English in order to apply
technological information from foreign countries to
their goal of changing their country from an
agricultural to a newly industrialized country
(Boonphokha, 1990). However, English has not been used
in Thailand in general education, in mass media, or in
legal and political systems. Therefore, English
remains a foreign language for most purposes in
Thailand.
In Thailand today, however, many students study
English as a foreign language (EFL) to help them with
their education and their careers. The Educational
Supervisor Unit, of the Ministry of Education in
Thailand (1981) found that most Thai educators used a
traditional teaching style which was teacher-centered
instruction. Thai students had few opportunities to
practice their four skills in learning English:
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listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Teachers
used the Thai language as a medium in teaching English
for 80-90% of the class time. Hence, most students
developed poor skills in learning English.
Pongthongchareon (1983) and Pura (1994) found that most
Thai students have difficulty with both English
listening and reading skills according to each class
level, from K-12 to the university level.
Oiler (1977) and Savignon (1972) suggested that
students who excel in learning English have a positive
attitude toward learning that language. Conversely,
students who fail in learning English or learn English
slowly have a negative attitude toward learning that
language. Gardner (1985), Gardner and Lambert (1972),
Gardner and MacIntyre (1992, 1993b), Skehan (1989,
1991), and Spolsky (1989) also found that there was a
correlation between attitude toward English learning
and English learning success. In other words, a
positive attitude in learning might influence students
to learn English successfully. And yet, at the
university level, at least, no research has been
conducted investigating possible links between the poor
performance of some Thai English students and their
attitudes toward learning English.
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Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this research is to investigate the
attitudes of Thai undergraduate students, using juniors
majoring in English as a foreign language (EFL), in the
School of Humanities or equivalent schools at four
well-known public universities in Bangkok, Thailand.
The afore-mentioned universities are Chulalongkom
University, Thammasat University, Kasetsart University
and Srinakharinwirot University (Prasammitr Campus).
The study examines the relationship between Thai
students' English proficiency and three designated
attitude scales which may affect their learning of
English: the attitudes of Thai students (1) toward
themselves, (2) toward native English speakers, and (3)
towards the English language itself. The English
proficiency measures in this study include listening
and reading proficiency at the university level in
particular, but excludes speaking and writing
proficiency.
Importance of the_St.udy
This study is of particular importance because of
the contribution which it can make to the field of
foreign language instruction in Thailand. It may help
to determine the relationship between students'
attitudes and their proficiency in English. This study
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of attitudes is important for two reasons: (1)
positive student attitudes have been conclusively shown
to influence student learning achievement in English in
other countries; and (2) linguistic and cultural
attitudes can provide crucial information relevant to
the design and implementation of an effective learning
of EFL in Thailand.
Educators have developed a greater understanding
of the impact of attitudes and motivations on learning.
Research shows that motivations are strongly influenced
by attitudes and attitudes strongly correlate with
behaviors such as classroom behaviors (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980; Fazio, 1986, 1990; Fazio & Zanna, 1981;
Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974; Greenwald & Banaji, 1995;
Myers, 1990; Zanna & Fazio, 1982) . If particular
attitudes are present in particular situations,
students will be motivated to learn, which in turn
effects their learning proficiency (Ely, 1986). If
these attitudes are absent, students will not be as
motivated. Marzano, Hagerty, Valencia, and Distefano
(1987) found that attitudes and their dynamics have not
been well understood in education even though they are
very significant. Asher (1980) reported that attitude
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is highly responsible for reading performance. Hence,
most educators are intuitively aware that attitude is a
key element of the reading process.
From a communicative standpoint, students should
develop four skills when learning English: (1)
listening, (2) speaking, (3) reading, and (4) writing
(Widdowson, 1983) . In Thailand, listening and reading
skills are the most essential skills in higher
education. Thai students have studied English for many
years, but their listening and reading skills are often
low (Pongthongchareon, 1983).
Finocchiaro (1964) suggested that listening is the
first fundamental skill in conversing with other
people. Students have to listen to teachers before
they can follow an order, answer a question, tell a
story and give an opinion. Feyten (1991) found that
students' first language listening proficiency was
highly related to their foreign language comprehension.
Pett (1982) suggested that of the four skills, the
reading skill especially is a priority tool for higher
educational studies such as those at the university
level. Dubin (1982) suggested that reading is the
skill that EFL students want and need to use most. For
EFL students throughout the world, reading is the most
significant skill because technical information is
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often written in English. Ward (1980) stated that in
foreign countries, EFL reading skills are more
important and beneficial than other language skills.
It is also the easiest skill to develop since students
have few opportunities to speak English after they
graduate from the university. It is less difficult to
maintain their reading skills by reading books,
magazines, newspapers or journals in English
(Lutoslawska, 1975). In universities, students read
textbooks as the primary source of information
(Kintsch, 1990). When students engage in reading texts,
they can monitor their own reading skills and can
intentionally increase activities that enhance their
performance (Garner, 1987, 1990).
In Thailand, it was found that English listening
and reading skills were not adequately learned even
though students have been taught English from the
elementary level to the university level (Nenthananta,
1989). A study about English listening proficiency of
Thai junior-high and high-school students from 1979 to
1985 showed that students had lower listening ability
than the standard that the Thai Ministry of Education
had given (Maneekul, 1986). Punnark (1988) reported
that the Thai 1981 high-school EFL curriculum included
nine reading classes to prepare students in reading as
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a fundamental skill for further education at the
university level. Chadnarudom (1984) found that
English reading proficiency of high-school students in
Surat-thani, Thailand, was less than 60 percent.
Since English language listening and reading
skills are useful in learning English in Thai higher
education, this study focused on students' listening
and reading proficiency at the university level. The
Test Of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) serves
the purpose of this study because it tests student
English proficiency, especially in listening and
reading proficiency. This study does not attempt to
investigate listening or reading proficiency
separately, but rather investigates total English
proficiency in both. The TOEFL includes three
sections: Section 1, listening comprehension; Section
2, structure and grammar expression; and Section 3,
reading comprehension and vocabulary (Educational
Testing Service, 1992c).
English as a foreign language (EFL) research
suggests that successful EFL learners should be
psychologically prepared to adopt behaviors
characterizing members of the studied linguistic and
cultural group (Baker, 1993; Gardner & Lambert, 1972).
Learner attitudes toward themselves in learning are
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believed to lead them to a desire to express their own
true selves, that is, their own underlying values,
dispositions, and personalities in learning (Baker,
1993; Snyder & DeBono, 1989). In fact, Thai students
might feel that learning English will decrease their
Thai identity (Intaraprawat, 1978). That is, by
favoring their Thai identity, students may express only
their own values toward themselves. Students1 learning
motivations are believed to be fostered by their
attitudes toward native English speakers in particular,
toward foreign people in general, and by their overall
orientation toward the language learning task itself
(Baker, 1993) .
There is evidence that the relationship between
student attitudes and language proficiency, though
important, is complex, indirect (Chihara & Oiler,
1978), and reciprocal (Upshur, Acton, Arthur, & Guiora,
1978) . For example, the very experience of learning a
foreign language may affect the learner's values and
personality in a positive or negative manner. Students
may fail in foreign language class because of lack of
positive attitudes toward that language (Gardner, 1985;
Gardner & Lambert, 1972). However, there is evidence
that students may develop more positive attitudes as
they gain in proficiency (Oiler & Perkins, 1978).
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Their ability to learn becomes an important component
in shaping their attitudes toward a language in
general, and their learning situation in particular.
Although the qualification of attitudes is an elusive
problem, the finding that attitudes may be
substantially relevant to attainment of foreign
language proficiency has been derived from correlations
between quantitative variables (Banaji & Greenwald,
1994; Ely, 1986; Gardner, Lalonde, & Pierson, 1982;
Greenwald, 1990; Lalonde, 1982; Lambert, 1974).
Oiler, Hudson, and Liu (1977), and Gardner (1985)
argued that learning English as a foreign language
(EFL) is not similar to learning English as a second
language (ESL). They noted that ESL students are
exposed to the target language environment and the
language they are learning in their own community.
Oiler et al. (1977) and Gardner (1985) stated that in
EFL situations, the students do not have such a
supportive environment since their peers are not the
native speakers of that target language. EFL students
also learn English in a radically different context;
theirs is not a natural second-language learning
situation. Therefore, EFL students have more
difficulty in learning because they do not have
appropriate supportive role models. Snow and Shapira
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11
(1985) concluded that the best type of motivation for
the effective learning of another language is based on
a supportive language-learning situation and a
student's perception of that kind of the situation.
This study focused on the attitudes of Thai EFL
students toward themselves, toward the target language
group (i.e., native English speakers), and toward the
target language itself (i.e., English). It is
important to study the impact of student attitudes upon
the acquisition of EFL. According to Baker (1993) and
Lombardo (1988), attitude and motivation can be long
term and connected with real-life situations or
immediate and related to involvement in current EFL-
classroom situations. Therefore, if teachers
understand their students' attitudes, they will be in a
better position to support the second language
acquisition process (Baker, 1993; Lombardo, 1988).
Information regarding attitudes can also prove
beneficial when designing EFL courses at the university
level. EFL programs in universities may be designed in
such a way as to improve student attitudes. For
example, it has been suggested that teachers should
provide multisensory, different language lessons that
invoke students' learning performance (Ehrman, 1989;
Oxford & . Ehrman, 1993; Oxford, Ehrman, & Lavine, 1991).
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To support student attitudes, Domyei (1994) and
Jakobovits (1970) suggested that courses might include
common life experiences in the foreign culture, such as
conversing with a native on travel and shopping,
studying foreign movies, reading foreign newspapers,
and listening to foreign radio broadcasts. It might
also be useful to group the students according to their
different attitudes to help them learn English better.
For example, a teacher might show a video or a film,
play interesting music, or invite a native English
speaker as a guest if a group of students has strong
positive desires to have an experience in a foreign
country where English is spoken (Domyei, 1994). This
anticipated experience would be highly motivating to
learners to become better EFL students. According to
Jakobovits (1970), the courses on how to do something
in EFL can be as short or as long as their complexity
warrants and the students' English proficiency
requires. For the purposes of educational requirements
at the university level, these courses can be specified
in accordance with the rational and justified demands
of the situation (Jakobovits, 1970).
In contrast to the findings previously cited,
research, though not at the university level, conducted
to date with Thai students has found no significant
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13
differences between attitudes toward EFL and English
proficiency (Boonphokha, 1990; Jard-iam, 1985;
Pathumarak, 1989; Soubsen, 1987; Tongta, 1985). Why do
these findings contradict the previous research? This
investigation of students' attitudes toward EFL and
their English proficiency is needed to further the
clarification of the issue.
Research Hypotheses
It is hypothesized that Thai students' positive
attitudes, especially toward students themselves,
toward the target-language group (native English
speakers), and toward the target language (English)
will lead to greater English language proficiency,
especially for English majors in the School of
Humanities or equivalent schools at four major public
Thai universities in Bangkok, Thailand.
The following three research hypotheses were
tested:
1. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
themselves than those who have low TOEFL scores.
2. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
native English speakers than those who have low TOEFL
scores.
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14
3. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
English as a language than those who have low TOEFL
scores.
Methodological Assumptions
The following three methodological assumptions
were implicit in this study:
1. The reliability and validity of the instruments
were sufficient to permit accurate inferences regarding
the attitudes of the students.
2. The students1 reported attitudes derived from their
experiences with EFL honestly and accurately.
3. The design, controls, sampling procedures, and data
processing techniques used in this study were
appropriate to the intent of the investigation.
Limitations
Three limitations were noted:
1. It was acknowledged that students' attitudes were
affected by a number of factors other than EFL.
2. To the degree that the methodological assumptions
set forth above were not met, the internal and external
validity of the study might be limited.
3. Listening and reading proficiency (only) were
investigated. Speaking and writing proficiency were
excluded.
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15
Delimitations
The delimitations in the study were as follows:
1. Though a review of literature found information
regarding a wide range of attitudes of EFL students,
most of the in-depth research reported was limited to
measuring students' perceptions toward learning
English.
2. The instrument in this study (attitude scale) was
adapted and designed strictly for Thai students in four
public universities in Bangkok, Thailand.
3. The study was not designed to measure changes in
student performance, but rather student performance at
a specific time.
4. The sample described in this study was limited to
undergraduate juniors who were majoring in English, in
Schools of Humanities or equivalent schools at four
public universities in Bangkok, Thailand.
5. No assumptions of generalizability to any other
groups were intended.
6. Causal variables related to student attitudes were
not investigated as part of this study.
7. The number of the sample in this study was limited
by the number of instruments (the TOEFL booklets) that
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16
Educational Testing Service (ETS) made available, and
by the mandatory restrictions of the four previously
mentioned universities.
Definitions of Terms
The following terms are employed throughout the
remaining chapters:
Students
In this study the term is delimited to only Thai
undergraduate juniors majoring in English, in the
School of Humanities or equivalent schools at four
public universities, namely, Chulalongkorn University,
Thammasat University, Kasetsart University and
Srinakharinwirot University (Prasarnmitr Campus),
Bangkok, Thailand.
English as a foreign language (EFL)
This term will be used here to refer to English, a
non-native language, which is learned and employed by
speech communities outside of the national or
territorial boundaries in which the "foreign language"
is normally used (Stem, 1983) . In the literature
considered, the EFL situations usually produce
significant consequences to which attention has been
drawn (Carroll, 1966, 1981, 1985, 1990; Christophersen,
1973; Feyten, 1991; Gardner, 1985; Gardner & Lambert,
1972; Harrison, Prator, & Tucker, 1975; Hartmann &
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Stork, 1972; Marckwardt, 1963; Paulston, 1974; Quirk,
Greenbaum, Leech, & Svartvik, 1972; Sparks & Ganschow,
1991, 1993b; Stern, 1969) . Foreign language learning
is frequently undertaken with many different purposes
in mind, such as travel abroad, communication with
native speakers, reading foreign literature or foreign
scientific and technical works (Dornyei, 1994;
Jakobovits, 1970). Learning a foreign language in
Thailand often requires more formal instruction and
other measures compensating for the lack of
environmental support than learning a second language
in the country where it is spoken. A foreign language
is not a national language and has no legal status
within the nation (Stem, 1983) . For example, Thai
people in Thailand employ English as a foreign
language.
Attitudes
This term is used here to refer to a psychological
construct or phenomenon that cannot be observed
directly. It is a predisposition to perceive, feel or
behave toward a certain thing. Attitudes normally
include three components: (1) emotions or effects; (2)
cognition, beliefs, and opinions; and (3) tendencies to
act. The theories of attitudes may consist of learning
theories, behavioral theories, cognitive information
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18
processes, and component interactions. Attitudes
derived from past experience or prior evaluations are
enduring and consistent, but they are not innate and
can be modified (Allport, 1935; Cronbach, 1977;
Dejnozka & Kapel, 1982; Doob, 1947; Krech, Crutchfield,
& Ballachey, 1962; Nuttin, 1975; Osgood, Suci, &
Tannenbaum, 1957; Page, Thomas, & Marshall, 1980; Reich
& Adcock, 1976; Samoff, 1960; Smith, Bruner, & White,
1956; Thurstone, 1931; Zimbardo & Ebbesen, 1970).
Greenwald and Banaji (1995) suggested that some of
the above definitions may appear dated. However, later
works are still within the boundaries of those
mentioned definitions (Eagly & Chaiken, 1993; Fazio,
1986; McGuire, 1985; Petty & Cacioppo, 1981; Zanna &
Rempel, 1988).
Attitudes toward students themselves
This variable is defined for this study as
students' attitudes toward their own true selves,
including their underlying values, dispositions, or
personalities as they see them (Snyder & DeBono, 1989).
This variable may help to facilitate students'
motivation and their motivated action of being self-
determined (Deci, Vallerand, Pelletier, & Ryan, 1991).
In this study, Thai undergraduate juniors'
attitudes toward themselves at four public universities
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19
were investigated. Thai students may value how the
study of English is going to benefit them. For
example, students may study English in order to gain
their families' approval, to go into international
business, or to achieve a higher job status.
Attitudes toward the target language-group
This variable is defined for this study as Thai
students1 attitudes toward native English speakers such
as American or British people. For example, students
may study English because they have English-speaking
friends to socialize with, they may have pen-pals in
English-speaking countries, or they may want to live
with an American family.
Attitudes toward the target language
This variable is defined for this study as Thai
students1 attitudes toward English as a foreign
language or EFL. For example, students may study
English because it is widely spoken throughout the
world, or they may be interested in the English
language, literature, and culture, because some of the
best written materials in a given subject may be
written in English.
Attitude scale
This term is a measure developed for this study to
evaluate the positive or negative feelings of students
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toward EFL. A student's total score normally indicates
the direction and the intensity of the attitudes. One
of the major attitude scales is the Likert type. The
Likert type scale allows the student to respond to a
statement in one of five ways: (1) strongly agree, (2)
agree, (3) be undecided, (4) disagree, and (5) strongly
disagree. Using this scale, a total score is derived
to assess student attitudes (Anastasi, 1976; Dejnozka &
Kapel, 1982; Edwards, 1979; Selltiz, 1976) .
English language proficiency
This was defined in this study as student scores
on the TOEFL examination. Scores from the TOEFL range
from 200 to 677. TOEFL test scores include three
section scores and a total score. Section 1 attempts
to test students' listening comprehension; Section 2,
their structure and grammar expression; and Section 3,
their reading comprehension and vocabulary. Throughout
this study, English language proficiency includes
listening and reading proficiency in English. Since
evidence of the validity of the TOEFL examination was
based on total scores, total scores were used as a
measure of "English language proficiency" in this
study. Thus, all students were administered all three
section examinations necessary to determine total
scores (Educational Testing Service, 1992c).
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21
High level of English prof iciency_(High TOEFL scores)
This term is defined in this study as a total
score of each student's performance on the TOEFL which
equals or exceeds 500. This value is selected for the
study based on the normal minimum standard for entry to
university study for undergraduate students in both
Thailand and America. As in the 1989 survey, community
colleges surveyed in 1991 reported that foreign
students who are considered for admission should have
the minimum total TOEFL score of 500 which is most
often associated with readiness to begin their work
academically without any restriction (Educational
Testing Service, 1992c).
Low level of English proficiency (Low TOEFL scores)
This term is defined in this study as a total
score of each student1s performance on the TOEFL which
is below 500.
Thg-.tar.get language., group
This group consists of native speakers who speak
English as their first language (e.g., Americans,
British, Australians).
The target language
This is the English language which Thai students
are attempting to acquire as a foreign language.
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22
The native language
This refers to the native Thai language of the
study group.
Organization of the Study
The study includes five chapters.
Chapter I includes an introduction, states the
background of the problem, the purpose and importance
of the study, and lists the research hypotheses,
methodological assumptions, limitations, delimitations
and essential definitions. It also includes this
organization of the study. Chapter II consists of a
review of literature as follows: that which explains
the distinction between EFL and ESL; that which
discusses student English proficiency which includes
research in English listening and reading, in student
attitudes and language acquisition; and finally a
rationale of the study. Chapter III describes methods
and procedures, and provides information regarding
sample selection, instrumentation, procedure,
variables, and collection and analysis of the data.
Chapter IV provides an analysis of the findings,
followed by an interpretation of pertinent results in
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relation to the three research hypotheses. A brief
discussion of the findings concludes the chapter.
Chapter V sets forth a summary of the findings, a
statement of conclusions, and a set of recommendations.
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CHAPTER II
REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE
Few research studies have focused on the
relationship between student attitudes in learning
English and their English language proficiency in a
non-English speaking country. The goal of this study
is to investigate student attitudes with a view toward
improving the design and implementation of an English-
as-a-foreign-language program in Thailand for native
Thai speakers. Currently, many Thai students are still
depending on an antiquated approach which focuses
primarily on teacher-centered instruction. Little or
no consideration is given to student attitudes or
motivations regarding the learning of English. This
literature review examines the existing body of
knowledge regarding these topics.
This chapter first examines the differences
between learning English as a foreign language (EFL)
and learning English as a second language (ESL) and
reviews the current research in listening and reading
proficiency. This is followed by the review of current
research on the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) and on learner attitudes as they relate to
language proficiency. Finally, this chapter summarizes
a conclusion of this review of the literature.
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25
Distinguishing between the EFL and ESL Terms
Although the terms "English as a foreign language"
(EFL) and "English as a second language" (ESL) were
previously mentioned briefly in Chapter I, it is worth
mentioning again in detail since these two terms have
been often confused. According to Stern (1983),
"foreign language" is a non-native language or a non-
legal-status language when studied within the national
boundaries of the learners.
Previously, the term "foreign language" was
commonly used; however, recently the term "second
language" has been increasingly used to refer to most
non-native-language learning. Generally the two terms
are employed synonymously (Gardner & Tremblay, 1994;
Green & Oxford, 1995) . Yet there is a conceptual
distinction between "second" and "foreign" in
particular language learning cases (Ely, 1986; Riley,
1993; Stem, 1983).
Today the distinction between a non-native
language learned and employed within a country and
termed a "second language," and a non-native language
learned and employed in a speech community outside
national or territorial boundaries and termed a
"foreign language," is crucial. A "second language"
commonly has an official or recognized status within a
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26
country which a foreign language does not have (Stem,
1983) . For example, the Thai people in Thailand learn
Thai which is the official native language and consider
English to be a foreign language. At the same time,
some Thai-American people in America may consider Thai
as their native language and English as their second
language because they are in an English-speaking
environment.
In the research literature, these two terms are
usually linked to different underlying motives
(Christophersen, 1973; Ely, 1986; Harrison, Prator, &
Tucker 1975; Hartmann & Stork, 1972; Marckwardt, 1963,
1978; Paulston, 1974; Quirk, Greenbaum, Leech, &
Svartvik, 1972; Riley, 1993; Stern, 1969). The reasons
for which a student learns a second language usually
differ from those a student learning a foreign
language. Since the second language is often the
official language or at least a highly recognized
language in the nation where it is studied, it is
crucial "for full participation in the political and
economic life of the nation" (Paulston, 1974: 12-13).
Furthermore, it is often the language used, at least
partially, in education (Marckwardt, 1963, 1978).
There are various reasons for which foreign language
learning is undertaken including travel abroad,
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communication with native speakers, reading of foreign
literature, and reading of foreign scientific and
technical works (Domyei, 1994; Jakobovits, 1970) . The
ultimate goal of foreign language curriculum and
instruction is to have learners exposed to the native
speakers of that target language (Bacon, 1992). A
further distinction between the two is that a second
language often takes place in a more supportive
environment than foreign language learning, since
second language students are surrounded by English
speakers, thereby creating an all-encompassing
supporting environment. Furthermore, a second language
is commonly learned informally; for example, students
"pick up" the language in daily life, due to its
prevalent use in the environment. Thus, "English as a
foreign language" differs in a variety of ways from
"English as a second language (Marckwardt, 1963,
1978) ."
Student English Proficiency
Throughout this study, the issue of English
language proficiency focuses on listening and reading
proficiency and excludes speaking and writing
proficiency in English. Two reasons are as follows.
First, in Thailand, listening and reading are found to
be two of the most essential skills needed at the
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28
university level. Second, it proved to be impossible
to find a standardized test to investigate students1
language proficiency in all four skills at the same
time. Since this study employed the TOEFL test to
investigate both student listening and reading
proficiency, TOEFL was found to be standardized and
suitable for the purpose of this study.
English proficiency research studies have been
organized into two categories: (1) listening
proficiency, and (2) reading proficiency.
1. Research in Listening Proficiency
In Thailand, listening to English and
understanding what is heard is an essential skill for
communication that Thai students must achieve to
further their educational, potential professional,
social, and family success (Ministry of Education in
Thailand, 1991). Zappolo (1981) reported that in daily
life communication, people use 45 percent of their time
in listening, 30 percent in speaking, 16 percent in
reading and only 9 percent in writing. There is
evidence that Thai students have limited listening
proficiency in English since in all English classes
from K-12 to the university level, teachers spend most
of their class time speaking Thai to their students
(Boonphokha, 1990; the Educational Supervisor Unit,
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Ministry of Education in Thailand, 1981;
Pongthongchareon, 1983; Pura, 1994). Maneekul (1986)
conducted research and found that from 1979 to 1985
both junior-high and high-school students achieved a
lower performance in English listening proficiency than
the expected criterion given by the Thai Ministry of
Education. Research by Lertlai (1985), Kaew-waew-noi
(1981) and Stananont (1981) produced similar results.
They discovered that tenth-grade Thai students
performed very poorly, hardly achieving even the lowest
level of English listening proficiency. Hiangrath
(1984) found that twelfth-grade students had very poor
listening proficiency in English. Hence, Thai students
ought to pay more attention to English listening skill
than any other skills.
Educators realize that listening skill plays an
important role in language learning and communication.
The number of listening activities in textbooks has
been increased (Anderson & Lynch, 1988; Rost, 1990;
Rubin, 1994; Underwood, 1989; Ur, 1984). Anderson and
Lynch (1988) considered listening as a communicative
activity and as a language learning activity. They
also reported a few ways in which listeners can
progress or fail to progress. First, the listeners may
not hear what has been said clearly due to competing
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30
background noise or unfamiliarity with a speaker's
accent. Second, as a common problem for foreign
listeners, they can hear adequately but they may not
understand certain words or phrases of a foreign
language such as English. The biggest problem seems to
be that listeners fail to focus on the other person's
point of view or idea, but Montgomery (1981) gives
assurance that with practice, listeners may increase
their listening ability up to 100 percent.
Successful listening consists of three parts:
input or the words uttered by the speakers, the
listening process or the listeners' application of many
types of information available to those words, and
output or the response from the listener (Anderson &
Lynch, 1988). Learners seem to derive far more benefit
from listening than from speaking; however native
English speakers may fail to produce listener-friendly
messages for foreign learners who have not had prior
listening practice in English.
A few studies in listening perception, such as
Voss' (1984) and Conrad's (1985), showed the same
results. Namely, they showed that the second language
listeners made similar errors in a task where they had
to transcribe a tape-recorded text. Many of the errors
showed that the participants processed incoming speech
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in meaningful chunks, unless they were beginners. They
used higher-level information, such as expectations
about meaning, to supplement the information, rather
than depending solely on identifying sounds and words
one by one. Some studies have suggested that visual
support such as video and visual line drawing, can
advance students' listening comprehension (Herron,
Secules, Morris, & Curtis, 1995; Mueller, 1980; Rubin,
1990, 1994).
Listener characteristics also have much impact on
students' listening comprehension. These
characteristics are language proficiency level, memory,
learning disabilities in first language, and background
knowledge (Rubin, 1994). Although the standardization
of listening proficiency exams still evolves, language
proficiency should be regarded as a significant
variable in each study (Dunkel, Henning, & Chaudron,
1993; Thompson, 1995). TOEFL is shown to be one of
standardized tests for listening comprehension research
(Educational Testing Service, 1992c). The relationship
between learner memory and listening is complicated and
unclear (Stevick, 1993a, 1993b). Dunkel et al. (1993)
found that students with high short-term memory
performed better than students with low short-term
memory in listening comprehension. Sparks and Ganschow
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32
(1991) suggested that learners who have difficulties in
foreign language learning may have interference
learning resulting from their native language.
Background knowledge is shown to enhance students'
listening comprehension in four studies (Chiang &
Dunkel, 1992; Long, 1990; O'Malley & Chamot, 1990;
Schmidt-Rinehart, 1992).
There is relatively little research about foreign
learners1 listening skills or their problems in second
language listening. Among others, Krashen (1981)
claimed that comprehension plays an important role in
the whole process of language learning. At the
university level teachers might facilitate foreign
students1 ability to understand the language in context
and to summarize the main issue, as background to the
discussion on listening skills (Anderson & Lynch,
1988). Three main skills that emerge from the analysis
studies for foreign listeners are as follows: the
ability to recognize the topic of conversation from
native English speakers' initial remarks; the ability
to predict likely developments of the topic to which
listeners will have to respond; and lastly, the ability
to recognize and signal when they have not understood
enough of the information given in order to either
predict or respond. Chaudron, Cook and Loschsky (1992)
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33
found that note taking enhanced students' listening
comprehension. In addition, foreign listeners'
attitudes and motivations are found to be significant
factors (Anderson & Lynch, 1988; Rubin, 1994) .
For foreign-listener attitude and motivation
purposes, successful listening also depends on the
listeners feeling confident enough to ask for
clarification or repetition when they do not fully
understand (Anderson & Lynch, 1988). Successful
foreign listeners, those who have achieved simple
comprehension, are more likely to have the self-
confidence needed to adopt these active listening
tactics. However, if those listeners have been exposed
to very difficult or incomprehensible listening
materials, they may suffer in two ways: They may be
exposed to discouraging experiences; and they may
develop inactive and unsuccessful listening habits
which cause them to listen by sitting back and
disregarding a largely meaningless sequence of sounds
(Anderson & Lynch, 1988).
Although, listening is an essential skill for the
achievement of successful communication for foreign
students such as Thais, there is evidence that
inadequate studies have been conducted in the
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34
relationship between English proficiency in listening
and reading and EFL student attitudes, even at higher
levels, such as at the university level.
2. Research .in ..Reading .Efficiency
Adams, Carnine, and Gersten (1982) and Kintsch
(1990) reported that most university students in
English classes spent a large part of their school time
reading textbooks in order to acquire information.
Students were normally assigned to read pages and were
tested later to see if they had learned the significant
information. The process by which students learned
information from textbooks was a reading skill.
Reading seems to be a significant skill for students to
acquire in order to engage in university programs
(Adams et al., 1982; Tavornpayak, 1991).
A reader is a synthesizer who can connect memorial
and material textual fragments from different sources
to comprehend passages which relate to one another
(Caimey, 1988, 1990, 1992; Crafton, 1981; Graves,
Cooke, & LaBerge, 1983; Hayes & Tierney, 1982; Witte,
1992). According to Marzano, Hagerty, Valencia, and
Distefano (1987), reading is a part of a larger system
of behavior which implies that reading behavior should
not be studied in isolation. Instead, reading behavior
should be viewed as a subset of a much larger system,
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35
one taking into account the student's attitudes and
instructional setting. Hence, student attitudes should
be a significant factor in predicting students' reading
and learning performance (Newell & Winograd, 1995).
Baraitz (1985) stated that reading is a
complicated communication process, one which
incorporates the use of multiple meaningful language
processes. Non-native-English speakers should have
various opportunities to read natural and purposeful
material in actual contexts, rather than in isolated
segments which do not permit the student to engage in
the total reading process (Bamitz, 1985; Dyson, 1993;
Rowe, 1993; Short, 1992). Hudelson (1984) discovered
that EFL students can read English before they have
complete oral control of the language. He also
reported that even students who speak little or no
English read some print in their environment and employ
that knowledge in order to increase their overall
English proficiency. There is a strong relationship
between language and reading as reported by these
studies (Bamitz, 1985) .
In the reading process, students have different
ways of organizing knowledge in reading comprehension
(Applebee, 1993; Goodlad & Su, 1992). Students bring
their experience of the world and knowledge of a
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language to the text as they develop a meaningful
understanding of the text (Spiro, Bruce, & Brewer,
1980). Good readers can link related ideas from their
prior knowledge experiences or "schemata" to their
current reading (Anderson, 1977; Lehr, 1991; Rumelhart,
1980; Wolf & Heath, 1992). Adams and Bruce (1982)
reported that prior knowledge is able to influence the
students' interpretation of a text by providing an
overall context for the information being encoded,
comprehended, and recalled. Students may struggle more
to construct the meaning of the text if they are less
familiar with the concepts and content of the text.
Hence, very specific content can be extremely difficult
for EFL readers. They may struggle not only with the
language, but also with the context since a background
knowledge may be lacking (Adams & Bruce, 1982).
Several EFL studies have explored the role of
schemata which has an impact on reading comprehension
(Aron, 1986; Bamitz, 1986; Carrell, 1983, 1984a,
1984b, 1984c, 1987; Carrell & Eisterhold, 1983; Floyd &
Carrell, 1987; Johnson, 1981, 1982; Hudson, 1982; Obah,
1983; Reynolds, Taylor, Steffensen, Shirley, &
Anderson, 1982). Johnson (1982) discovered that among
a group of university students representing 23
different nationalities in advanced-level EFL reading
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classes, those who had read a story about an American
custom, Halloween, and were familiar with the custom
and understood it, recalled more from the portions read
than those who were unfamiliar with the custom.
Johnson (1981) also found that prior cultural
experiences were quite important. In a related study,
it was found that the cultural origin of texts (e.g.,
Iranian or American folklore) greatly affected the
extent to which students comprehended what they were
reading. The results of these studies support the view
that reading is a constructive process.
Reading is claimed not to be only a teaching
device, but also a testing device (Bernhardt, 1983,
1984, 1991; Chabot, Zehr, Prinzo, & Petros, 1984;
Horiba, 1990). Carrell (1983) studied specific effects
on reading comprehension of three different elements of
background knowledge: prior knowledge of the content
of the text (familiar versus unfamiliar); prior
knowledge of a given content area of the text (context
versus no context); and the degree to which the
vocabulary gave clues to the content area (transparent
versus opaque). It was also found that even advanced
and high-intermediate EFL readers did not make good use
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38
of contextual and schematic clues. Therefore, most
students usually have difficulty in making predictions
based on context.
Along with prior knowledge, vocabulary knowledge
has also been considered as an important element of
reading comprehension (Henning, 1978; Judd, 1978; Koda,
1989; Krashen, 1989; Kruse, 1979; Laufer, 1990;
Saville-Troike, 1984; Schulz, 1983; Yorio, 1971).
Guthrie and Greaney (1991), and Pearson and Fielding
(1991) studied the effect of reading comprehension and
stated that "just plain reading" can improve students'
comprehension (as measured by standardized tests),
vocabulary knowledge, ability to make sense in their
own reading, ability to read independently, and even
English grammar skills.
Although reading is an important skill for
successful communication among EFL students such as
Thais, more studies should be conducted to clarify the
issue. The relationship between proficiency in reading
English and EFL student attitudes should also be
clarified.
Teat—of Englisli-as_.-si-F.oreign Language
The TOEFL test was important to this study because
it tests foreign students, non-native English speakers,
at the university level (College Entrance Examination
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Board & Educational Testing Service, 1967; Educational
Testing Service, 1992c). Its major goal is to provide
scores attesting to the degree of foreign students1
English proficiency when they are attempting to enter
colleges and universities where English is the medium
of instruction, in America and abroad. TOEFL is also
sometimes employed as a criterion for licensing
professionals trained in foreign countries. In fact,
many academic institutions in other countries and
certain independent organizations, agencies, and
foreign governments have discovered the test scores to
be useful. Furthermore, it is commonly referred to by
agencies of the U.S. Federal government interested in
the English proficiency of various job applicants
(College Entrance Examination Board & Educational
Testing Service, 1967). Each year more than 850,000
non-native English persons took the TOEFL test
(Educational Testing Service, personal communication,
March 1, 1996). From July 1989 through June 1991
alone, 1,178,193 examinees took the TOEFL test
(Educational Testing Service, 1992a).
The following is a description of the test.
Originally, TOEFL consisted of five sections. In 1970,
a three-section TOEFL was developed and introduced as a
result of extended research (Pike, 1979; Swineford,
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1971; College Entrance Examination Board & Educational
Testing Service, 1970; Educational Testing Service,
1992c). Each form of the present TOEFL test contains
three separate time sections. In each section, each
question is in multiple-choice format with four
possible answers or options. All responses are gridded
on answer sheets that are computer scored. The actual
TOEFL completion time is generally two and a half
hours; yet nearly three and one-half hours are needed
for test administrators to allow examinees to enter a
testing room, to enter identifying information on their
answer sheets, and to hand out and accumulate the test
materials (Educational Testing Service, 1992c).
Brief descriptions of the three sections of the
TOEFL test are as follows:
Section 1, listening comprehension, tests the
ability to understand English as a medium in North
America (Educational Testing Service, 1992c). The oral
features of the language are stressed, and the problems
test vocabulary and structures that are regularly
English spoken. The stimulus material and oral
questions are recorded in standard North American
English, and the answer options are provided in test
books. There are three parts in section 1, and each
part includes a specific type of comprehension task.
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The first part asks an examinee to select an option
which is the closest in meaning to a statement heard on
the recording. The second part contains a number of
short conversations between two persons. Each
conversation is followed by a spoken question and the
examinee must select the best answer to the question
from four options in the test book. The third part
provides either a long conversation or a short talk on
many subjects. After each conversation or talk the
examinee is required to answer several questions about
what was heard and each must select only the best
answer from the options in the test book. Questions in
each part are spoken only one time (Educational Testing
Service, 1992c).
Section 2, structure and written expression,
investigates recognition of chosen structure and
grammatical points in standard written English
(Educational Testing Service, 1992c). The language
tested is rather formal and the topics of the sentences
are of a general academic nature. Hence, individuals
in specific study fields have no certain advantages.
Whenever topics have a national context, they pertain
to United States or Canadian history, culture, art, or
literature. However, knowledge of these contexts is
not required to answer the grammatical structure points
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in the test. Section 2 has two parts. The first part
investigates an examinee's ability to identify the
correct structure required to complete a number of
given sentences. The examinee reads each incomplete
sentence given in the test book and must select the
word or phrase that best fits the given sentence from
the four options. Only one of the options is the
correct answer. The second part investigates an
examinee's ability to recognize correct grammar and to
detect errors in standard written English. When the
examinees read sentences in which some words or phrases
are underlined, they must identify the one underlined
word or phrase in each sentence that would be wrong in
standard written English (Educational Testing Service,
1992c).
Section 3, vocabulary and reading comprehension,
measures the ability to understand the meaning and use
of words in written English and the ability to
understand various reading materials (Educational
Testing Service, 1992c). To avoid providing any
benefit to individuals in a particular field of study,
adequate context is given so that no subject-specific
familiarity with the subject matter is necessary to
answer the questions. Section 3 has two parts. The
vocabulary part consists of sentences in which one word
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43
or phrase is underlined. Each sentence is followed by
four options including single words or phrases. The
examinee must select the one word or phrase that would
best express the meaning of the underlined word(s) in
each original sentence. In the reading comprehension
part, the examinee reads many short passages on
different academic subjects. A number of questions are
asked after each passage. Most questions are about the
factual information in the passages, although examinees
may also be required to make inferences or recognize
analogies. In all cases, examinees can answer the
questions by reading and understanding the passages
(Educational Testing Service, 1992c).
The calculation of TOEFL scores is worth
mentioning (Educational Testing Service, 1992c). The
TOEFL raw scores for the three sections are derived by
counting the number of questions answered accurately.
Examinees will not have penalty points subtracted for
their wrong answers. Since the scores of the new test
form are constructed to equate those of former forms,
the difficulty level may deviate slightly from one form
to another. Because the number of questions answered
accurately in the test depends in part on its level of
difficulty, the raw scores on each section are
transformed to fit a uniform scale by a method that
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takes into account the difficulty level of the specific
test form. The three separate sections are scaled so
the mean-scaled score for each section is one-tenth of
the total scaled-score mean (achieved by equating the
standard deviations of the scaled scores for the three
sections) and the total score is ten-thirds times the
sum of the three sections‘ scaled scores (Educational
Testing Service, 1992c).
Section 1 Section 2 Section 3 Sum
Example: 46 + 54 + 50 = 150
(150x10)+- 3 = 500
TOEFL section scores are reported on a scale that
can range from 20 to 68 (Educational Testing Service,
1992c). The TOEFL total scores on a scale can range
from 200 to 677. This method of scaling results in
rounded scores. The last digit of the rounded scores
can take on only one of three values which are zero,
three, and seven. Scores for each new form of the test
are transformed to fit to the same scale by a
statistical equating procedure known as an item
response theory. This determines equal scaled scores
for person of equated ability regardless of the level
of difficulty in the test form and the level of average
ability of the group taking the test (Educational
Testing Service, 1992c).
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45
On the basis of an experimental TOEFL score, a
well-written three sections had a reliability
coefficient of approximately .86 (Educational Testing
Service, 1992a). This was a very satisfactory
reliability although the test was short. High
reliability depended in part on the soundness of each
item (College Entrance Examination Board & Educational
Testing Service, 1967).
At.ti.tudss_and_Laaguage-Acquisition
An attitudinal concept and learning has always
played a primary role in educational psychology
(Lepper, 1988; Paris, Olson, & Stevenson, 1983;
Pintrich, 1989). However, it is not the intent of this
research to take a stand on any single definition of
attitudes. Several attitudinal definitions are
provided to discuss the issues with which this paper is
concerned. For instance, Krech and Crutchfield (1948)
argued that an attitude is a constant organization of
motivational, emotional, perceptual, and cognitive
processes regarding an individual's aspect. Thurstone
(1928, 1946) defined an attitude as the intensity of
positive or negative effect toward a psychological
object. A psychological object means a symbol, person,
phrase, slogan, or idea about which people can differ
with respect to positive or negative effect. Allport1s
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46
definition (1935) of attitude is that it is a mental
and neural state of readiness, arranged through
experience and using a directive or dynamic influence
upon an individual's response to related objects and
situations. Bloom (1976) stated that it was
preferential to use the term attitudes in connection
with student learning rather than terms such as
"interests," "likes," "dislikes" and "motivation." The
general term "attitudes" produces a more generalized
set of affective characteristics. Greenwald (1989)
supported Bloom1 s idea and further explained that a
current partial listing of psychology's attitudinal
concepts includes even more terms: drives, emotions,
incentives, needs, secondary reinforcement and values.
For the most part these attitudinal and motivational
terms are poorly defined and their relationship to one
another is unclear. Therefore, if used, the single
term "attitudes" should be defined more precisely in
relation to this broader set of motivational constructs
(Greenwald, 1989; Rajecki, 1990).
Attitudes are driven outside by conscious
attention (Bargh, Chaiken, Govender, & Pratto, 1992;
Fazio, Sanbonmatsu, Powell, & Kardes, 1986). That
attitude drives are initiated by stimuli, the presence
of which is unreportable (Greenwald, Klinger, & Liu,
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1989). Gagne (1974, 1977) also categorized attitudes
as one of the five possible outcomes of learning.
According to Gagne, attitudes are learned through
positive and negative experiences and modeling.
Research suggests that there is strong relationship
between students1 attitudes and behaviors which has
normally been considered as the primary evidence to
predict the validity of attitude construct (Ajzen &
Fishbein, 1980; Fazio, 1986, 1990; Fazio & Zanna, 1981;
Fishbein & Ajzen, 1974; Greenwald & Banaji, 1995;
Myers, 1990). Ely (1986) suggested that students'
attitudes toward English as a foreign language is one
of affective variables and effect both their English
proficiency and classroom behaviors. For example, if
students are members of an English club and receive a
great deal of recognition for their performances in the
club, they are likely to have a positive attitude
toward English and to try harder to learn English. If
students have a respected friend, teacher, parent or
sibling who has a positive view of learning English,
they may be encouraged to develop a favorable attitude
so as to improve their English learning as well.
For purposes of this study, the term "attitude" is
defined as the Thai students' perception of themselves
as non-native English students who consider English as
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48
a foreign language. While not measured in this study,
a motivation is defined as an individual1s willingness
to learn English. The total score a student achieved
from the TOEFL test is accepted as defining his or her
English proficiency.
Woolfolk and McCune-Nicolich (1984) stated that a
positive attitude appears to be at the heart of the
most important concerns of educators. Most teachers
may have asked themselves: "Why do the students pay no
attention in learning? Students today do not seem to
care about their education." The problem is that these
students lack positive attitudes toward learning which
may result in problems in foreign language learning
(Sparks & Ganschow, 1991) . Woolfolk and McCune-
Nicolich (1984) asked whether the lack of positive
attitudes is really at the heart of school failure.
According to classroom teachers (Lufler, 1978) and
researchers (Sparks & Ganschow, 1991, 1993a, 1993b,
1995; Walberg & Uguroglu, 1980), the answer is "yes."
They said that one of the critical tasks of teaching is
to increase positive attitudes toward foreign language
learning. As students begin a lesson or class, they
bring with them particular attitudes (Wlodkowski,
1981). These attitudes can boost student motivation
for learning the foreign language such as English.
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49
During a given lesson, the linguistic activities which
students engage in can have powerful effects on student
attitudes and motivation. If the students are left
with a sense of competence from their own
accomplishments and have a positive attitude toward
their efforts, they will be more motivated to pursue
similar tasks in the future (Wlodkowski, 1981) .
Gardner (1985), Gardner and MacIntyre (1993a, 1993b),
and Lambert (1974) reasoned that the study of attitudes
is complex, yet attitudes do appear to be associated
with foreign language proficiency.
The study by Oiler, Hudson, and Liu (1977)
examined the relationship between several factors
including students' attitudes toward themselves, toward
the native language group, and toward the target
language group. Other factors are their reasons for
learning English as a second language. Their reasons
might be for traveling to the United States of America
or another English speaking area and for attaining
proficiency in ESL. Sixteen females and 28 males,
between the age of 14 to 35, participated in the study
by completing an English proficiency test and a
questionnaire. All subjects were native Chinese
speakers: some spoke Mandarin, some Cantonese, and
some Taiwanese. Three were from Hong Kong, and one was
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50
bom in the U.S. Thirty were students of the
University of New Mexico and 14 were students at the
University of Texas at El Paso. Results indicated that
attitudinal variables were related to scores on an
English proficiency test. Normally, students1
attitudes toward themselves, toward their native
language group (Chinese) , and toward the target
language group (westerners) were positively correlated
with attained levels of proficiency in ESL.
Moskowitz (1981) introduced the term "humanistic
activities." According to Moskowitz, humanistic
education attempts to teach both the intellectual and
the emotional dimension of students. Hence, humanistic
activities combine the subject matter to be learned
with students' feelings, interests, experiences and
attitudes to help students accept and understand
themselves and one another. As students have higher
positive attitudes toward themselves and share what is
important to them, the positive reinforcement helps
make the class personally rewarding and relevant.
Moskowitz (1981) stated that humanistic activities
may enhance students' attitudes toward English as a
foreign language. There is evidence that the use of
humanistic activities in language classrooms using EFL
may impact students' attitudes toward themselves,
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toward the acceptance of their classmates, and toward
English as a language. Subsequently, by developing
students' positive attitudes, they will be motivated to
learn EFL better.
Moskowitz (1981) conducted two studies at Temple
University employing language students from eleven
classes in which humanistic techniques were used. The
sample consisted of high school students studying
various language subjects: French, Spanish, German,
Italian, Hebrew, and EFL. Each teacher from Temple
University selected one high school class in which to
carry out the study. The teachers administered three
questionnaires prior to the students' exposure to
humanistic activities; then they administered the same
questionnaires again two months later after exposure in
order to determine whether the student attitudes had
changed. Both studies appeared to have significant
positive attitude increases toward themselves, toward
the language, and toward their classmates.
The following hypotheses were accepted. Using
humanistic activities to teach a foreign language such
as English: (1) enhances the foreign students'
attitudes toward learning the target language such as
English; (2) enhances the foreign language students'
attitudes toward themselves; and (3) enhances the
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foreign language students' attitudes toward the class
members in their language class and the class members'
perception of them. These studies demonstrated that
humanistic activities fostered the development of
student positive attitudes not only to learning a
language but overall.
Fayer and Krasinski (1984) conducted a study in
1982-83 of a second-year ESL program at the University
of Puerto Rico in order to examine whether the existing
curriculum was aligned with student attitudes toward
the second language, English. The instrument employed
was a questionnaire in Spanish which measured students'
English proficiency and their motivations and attitudes
toward the language. Subjects consisted of 864
students enrolled in low-intermediate skills-oriented
classes. Half the subjects reported good reading
comprehension. While 81 percent indicated that they
had always liked English, 77 percent claimed that their
attitudes had improved since they were in elementary
school. Although English is required in Puerto Rico,
subjects believed that English competence was essential
due to Puerto Rico's relationship with the United
States. Students admitted that the language had been
forced on them, yet they did not perceive that English
skills had any negative effect on their Spanish. The
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53
students claimed reading was the most urgently needed
skill but that English language speaking ability would
be most needed in the future. They felt their greatest
need was to improve their reading skills. Most
subjects planned to take an English elective course
such as a conversational course in the future. More
than a third of the subjects favored an English program
which exceeded the existing two year requirement.
Lombardo (1988) studied a survey of students at an
Italian university. She investigated the issues as
follows: (1) student attitudes toward, and interest
in, learning EFL; (2) students' need for using English
personally, academically and professionally; and (3)
their opinions about the most important skills in EFL
and about the most useful classroom activities in
learning them. A random sample of 200 students at all
English language proficiency levels and in all four
program years was investigated. A parallel
questionnaire in Italian was administered to
professors. Those professors were asked about their
perceptions of students' present and future English
language needs, their own academic and professional
uses of English, and their need for an improvement of
English language skills. The study focused on
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54
predicting learner success, on the relationship of
social interaction and language learning, and on the
perceived primacy of speaking skills.
The results were as follows: Eighty-three percent
of the students reported that English was beneficial
for writing a thesis (Lombardo, 1988). All professors
except one claimed that reading in English was
beneficial for writing a thesis. Students identified
the following professional activities that required
English and rated them from the highest to the lowest:
listening to oral reports, attending at conferences and
meetings, presenting oral reports, reading professional
materials, and socializing. The reasons that students
would need to function at high level in learning
English were mastering the language, achieving the
ability for informal conversation, for traveling,
living or working abroad, and for listening to the
radio and watching television in English. Professors
rated the following necessary: listening to oral
reports, reading specialized books and journal
articles, reading textbooks, reading professional
materials, reading official documents, and attending at
conferences and meetings. Students and professors
reported the same two activities: listening to oral
reports and reading professional materials. Professors
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stated that English was the foreign language they
employed most often in their academic or professional
careers. Students reported the use of English
activities most often in their personal lives in the
following way: Sixty three percent of students
frequently listened to the radio or to records and
tapes in English, but 31.5 percent rarely did.
Furthermore, 14.5 percent frequently employed English
socially, but 73.5 percent only occasionally did.
While 14 percent often read newspapers and magazines,
65.5 percent seldom did.
The main reasons that students wanted to learn
English were to utilize it in their jobs and in
interact with non-native speakers (Lombardo, 1988).
Although students felt it was unimportant to interact
with native-English speakers, 60.5 percent had already
visited an English-speaking country. Most students
indicated that they would like to visit an English-
speaking country someday in the future. This would
seem to indicate a positive attitude toward English and
native-English speakers. However, some students had
more specific positive attitudes as follows: Thirty-
two percent of students intended to live in an English-
speaking country, either studying or working, for a
duration of time after their graduation. Most students
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indicated that they would have chosen to study English
at their university although it was not compulsory.
When asking students to rate their own English
proficiency, they responded as follows: 17.5 percent
of the students rated their speaking as poor, 82
percent as very good; 6.5 percent rated their listening
as poor, 93 percent as very good; 18.5 percent rated
their reading as poor, 81 percent as very good; 57.5
percent rated their writing as poor, 40 percent as very
good. In this case, students at the higher level of
English proficiency consistently rated their ability to
speak, to listen and to read in English higher than
those at lower levels did. Most students evaluated
themselves low on their ability to write in English.
Of the four language skills that students felt most
important to acquire, 93.8 percent indicated that
speaking was very important, 99.5 percent listening, 43
percent reading and only 33.5 percent writing in
English. Of the four skills students would most like
to improve, 54 percent chose speaking better, 37
percent listening better, 5 percent reading better, and
4 percent writing better in English. These results
were consistent with students1 responses when they
rated speaking skill the most highly. When professors
answered the same question, 33 percent of the
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professors wanted to speak better, 43 percent to listen
better, 12 percent to write better and 4 percent to
read better in English. Only 8 percent of the
professors did not answer this question because they
were satisfied with their English proficiency and did
not want to improve it. Students indicated the
essential classroom activities for learning English in
the following way: listing percentages in a descending
scale, conversation or discussion on various subjects
(70 percent), economics reading (38.5 percent),
listening to tapes (37.5 percent), oral reports (28
percent), writing business reports (27 percent),
pronunciation exercises (26 percent), writing business
letters (25.5 percent), writing letters or compositions
(20.5 percent), general reading (19.5 percent),
translating into English (18.5 percent), oral grammar
exercises (16 percent), written grammar exercises (13.5
percent), quizzes and tests (10.5 percent), writing
term papers (9 percent), and lastly 7.5 percent for
analyzing words (Lombardo, 1988).
Pierson and Fu (1982) conducted a study of eleven
representative secondary schools in Hong Kong.
Subjects were 466 tenth-grade students, 258 males and
208 females. The students were examined by a
questionnaire given in Chinese at their own schools
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58
during a free period on an ordinary school day by two
Chinese research assistants. Each class included from
30 to 40 students, and the average age of the students
was 16 years old.
The research instrument in Pierson and Fu's study
(1982) was divided into three parts: a background
questionnaire, an attitude questionnaire, and a
proficiency test. The background questionnaire
contained 16 questions which gave information on the
subjects' age, sex, family background, socio-economic
status, education, knowledge of Chinese dialects, and
acquaintance with English-speaking westerners. The
attitude questionnaire both directly and indirectly
measured the students' linguistic and cultural
attitudes. The direct measure asked students to rate
23 emotive statements regarding language and culture on
a scale from 1 to 5, from absolutely agree to
absolutely disagree. The 23 statements, which were
drawn from a pool of 46 statements developed in Hong
Kong by the researchers, emphasized the relationship
between language and other factors including politics,
social interaction, career, ethnicity, and education
(Pierson & Fu, 1982) .
The indirect measure was made up of a list of 20
character traits patterned on the Spolsky (1969) scale
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of stereotypes. Using a scale of 1 to 5, the subjects
were instructed to determine the suitability of these
traits as they applied to themselves, to Chinese
people, and to westerners. These character traits
included the following: helpfulness, honesty,
trustworthiness, appearance, and familial loyalty. The
scale of stereotypes was assumed to provide an
indication of how the students would like to be, how
they tended to perceive most Chinese, and how they
tended to perceive most westerners. According to the
data, the subjects were uncertain regarding: (1)
freedom of language choice, (2) desire to learn
English, (3) lack of self-confidence in using English,
(4) approval for using English, (5) discomfort about
Chinese speakers using English, and (6) English as a
mark of education. Furthermore, the more students
believed that students in Hong Kong should not be
forced to study English, and English should not be the
medium of instruction in Hong Kong, the higher the
proficiency test scores. The more students claimed to
be sincere when dealing with others, loyal to one's
family, and motivated to strive for success, the higher
the proficiency scores. The more they perceived
themselves as very able and far-sighted, the lower they
performed on the proficiency test. The more students
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indicated Chinese people as presentable and outstanding
in appearance, humble and polite, the lower they
performed on the proficiency test. The more the
subjects thought Chinese people were clever and smart,
and trustworthy, the higher the proficiency scores.
The more students perceived western people as gentle,
graceful, and trustworthy, the lower the test scores.
The more students thought of western people as
logically minded and wise, hardworking, and self-
confident, the better they did on their proficiency
test (Pierson & Fu, 1982).
Rationale of the Study
A new attitude scale was adapted and modified with
certain general ideas and some instances adapted items
from a variety of studies and scales (Pierson & Fu,
1982; Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Fayer & Krasinski, 1984;
Lombardo, 1988; Oiler et al., 1977). Other studies and
scales in Thailand, though not at the university level,
are also listed (Boonphokha, 1990; Charoensit, 1988;
Jard-Iam, 1985; Gaitthong, 1991; Kajornnatee, 1987;
Nenthananta, 1989; Pathumarak, 1989; Soubsen, 1987;
Tongta, 1985; Wirojanakorn, 1991). This instrument was
needed because of six reasons. First, there are few
standardized and validated attitude scales available
for investigating attitudes of non-native English
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students at the university level in a foreign country,
especially at particular variables: attitudes toward
themselves, attitudes toward native English speakers,
and attitudes toward the English language. Second, the
above five questionnaires mentioned above appeared to
be standardized and validated in other languages, one
in Spanish (Payer & Krasinski, 1984), one in Italian
(Lombardo, 1988) , one in Chinese (Pierson & Fu, 1982),
and two in English (Gardner & Lambert, 1972; Oiler,
Hudson, & Liu, 1977). To be able to use such a
questionnaire, the researcher would require expert
translators. The translations might jeopardize the
study because the standardization and the validation of
the study might not survive the translation. Third, an
attitude questionnaire written in Spanish might be
suitable for Puerto Ricans, one written in Italian, for
Italians, but those questionnaires might not be suited
to the people in Thailand because Thais speak Thai,
have a different culture, different environmental
settings and different ways of doing things from people
in the countries previously mentioned. Fourth, the
questionnaire employed in Fayer and Krasinski1s study
(1984) did not appear to be consistent. Some questions
in the questionnaire had a scale of 1 to 5 (worse to
better), some had a scale of 1 to 4 (total agreement,
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agreement, not in agreement, and total disagreement),
and some had a scale of 1 to 2 (yes or no). A
questionnaire by Oiler et al. (1977) appeared to have
both the scales of 1 to 5 (most important to least
important) and of 1 to 4 (disapprove very much,
disapprove, doesn't matter, and approve very much).
Gardner and Lambert's study (1972) had a questionnaire
with the scales of 1 to 7 (i.e., very interested to not
interested at all, etc.) and also of 1 to 4 (not at
all, a little, fairly well and fluently) . Having such
inconsistent scales in one questionnaire might bias the
study, cause difficulty in analyzing the data and
affect the results of the study.
Fifth, Lombardo (1988), and Fayer and Krasinski
(1984) seemed to oversimplify the study of students'
English proficiency by using only questionnaires. The
questionnaires in both studies did not attempt to
measure the students' real performance in English
proficiency. For example, in order to investigate
student English proficiency, both studies only required
students to evaluate their own speaking, listening,
writing, and reading skills in English. There was no
standardized English proficiency test administered to
students in each study in order to investigate their
proficiency. Therefore, it was questionable whether
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the students' self reports alone would produce an
accurate instrument to measure their real performance
in English proficiency.--'
Sixth, the questionnaire by Lombardo (1988)
attempted to study students' attitudes, motivations,
interests, needs and their opinions regarding the most
important language skills in English. It was a rather
broad study and might not have captured every aspect
that the study addressed. Also, the study by Fayer and
Krasinski (1984) tried to measure student attitudes,
motivations and needs all at the same time and in one
questionnaire which might have been excessively
ambitious. It proved to be very difficult to measure
all attitudes, motivations, interests, needs, and
opinions in one study because these five subjects were
quite different in definition and might have expressed
different values to different students. The following
explanation would clarify the issue:
Katz and Stotland (1959), and Krech, Crutchfield
and Ballachey (1962) argued that an attitude is a state
of readiness, an inclination to act or react in a
particular manner when faced with particular stimuli.
Therefore, a person's attitudes exist but are inactive
most of the time; attitudes are disclosed in speech or
other behavior solely when the object of the attitude
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is perceived. For example, an individual may have
strong positive or negative attitudes toward traveling
in foreign countries but these are disclosed only when
some issue linked with traveling abroad arises or when
encountered on an attitude questionnaire. According to
Gardner (1985) , Gardner and Tremblay (1994) , Katz and
Stotland (1959), Krech et al.(1962), and Rajecki
(1990), attitudes are fostered by beliefs (the
cognitive component) and frequently draw strong
feelings (the emotional or affective component) that
will lead to certain behavior patterns (the action
tendency component). Motivation is a combination of
students' attitudes toward the language learning
(Clement, Gardner, & Smythe, 1980; MacIntyre & Gardner,
1991). Richterich and Chancerel (1980) distinguished
definitions between attitudes and motivations as
follows: Motivations may appear, disappear, and
reappear. The capacity to resist any change of
motivations relies on the state of an individual1s
needs. However, an attitude is not constrained to a
need and thus is less specific than a motivation. The
nature of attitudes contains the following five
aspects: (1) strength which is a potential to resist
any change; (2) magnitude which is its effect on a set
of behaviors; (3) intensity which is the amount of
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beliefs with which it is exhibited; (4) an individual's
commitment regarding the subject of attitude; and (5)
vividness which is the accuracy with which it is
exhibited. An attitude has three components which are
direction, intensity and dimension. Direction refers
to a draw or a rejection. Intensity refers to the
strength of a draw or rejection. Dimension refers to
the attitude toward an object which may be easy or
complicated to understand. Dimension may be alone and
well defined, which is called a uni-dimensional
attitude, or varied, which is a multi-dimensional
attitude. Attitude scales should be employed when
motivational problems occur. For instance, teaching
English in Thailand will be more productive and
appreciated if student attitudes toward learning EFL
are understood.
Dewey (1959) asserted that an interest refers to
the personal feeling of satisfaction toward an object,
a slogan or an idea. Interest is a term that signifies
an individual characteristic or an affective state
which is only a part of motivation (Schiefele, 1991).
Good (1973) stated that individuals' interests may be
temporary or permanent depending on their curiosities
and past experiences. Individuals' interests endure
personal feelings toward particular topics, subject
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areas, or activities (Hidi, 1990; Prenzel, 1988;
Renninger, 1990; Renninger & Wozniak, 1985; Schiefele,
1990, in press). Larsuwong (1985) argued that if an
interest is a good feeling toward something, then it is
solely a part of an attitude. In other words, an
interest is a positive attitude. Interests must
underlie the long-term motivation that is essential to
master a second language such as EFL (Gardner &
Lambert, 1972).
According to Kaufman, Stakenas, Wager, and Mayer
(1981), a need is the discrepancy between real
performance and desired performance or is the gap
between real results and desired results. In other
words, it is the gap between "What is?" and "What
should be?" Needs can enhance motivations (Deci, in
press). Widdowson (1979) referred "student needs," to
what students need to do with a language such as
English once they have achieved it, and to what they
need to do to develop the language successfully.
Research showed that students' motivation toward
foreign language learning is based on a need of
achievement (Au, 1988; Gardner, 1985; Horwitz, 1990;
Oxford & Shearin, 1994). It was discovered that the
more students discuss about what they should learn in a
foreign language such as English and the more they
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evaluate themselves on their progress in learning
English and in deciding what problems they need to
solve most, the more active and motivated they are and
the better they learn. Needs and fear, such as needs
for achievement or a fear of failure, seem to be
appropriate for short-term goals (i.e., passing a
language course) but seem to be inadequate for
producing the students' tenacity in their painstaking
and time-consuming task to acquire real proficiency in
learning a new language such as English (Gardner &
Lambert, 1972).
An opinion refers to a temporary set of
perceptions of points of view or stimulus objects
(Cooper & McGaugh, 1966). An opinion is temporary in
that individuals can reverse themselves and realize
that the points of view (cognitive organization) or
stimulus objects they now view as an obstacle may later
be perceived as the tendency of a stimulus to reinforce
another stimulus. Opinions play a central role in the
thought process in that they portray cognitive
summaries along the way. Ideas and constructs are
organized during the consistent process of cognitive
investigation. When individuals' summaries emerge,
they may stand back and estimate them. It is an
opinion to the extent that the estimated summary is
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68
temporary, and non fixed. Richterich and Chancerel
(1980) referred an opinion to a verbal expression of an
attitude and stated that an attitude is measured by
coherence to or withdrawal of opinions. Both an
opinion and an attitude have direction, intensity and
dimension.
Obviously, terms such as attitudes, motivations,
interests, needs and opinions are quite different in
meaning. This proposed study attempts to investigate
only student attitudes and to exclude those other terms
because those variables are quite different from
attitudes. Hence, such questionnaires as that of
Lombardo (1988), and Fayer and Krasinski (1984) are not
suitable for the purpose of this study and will not be
employed.
Furthermore, Oiler, Hudson and Liu's study (1977)
was worth mentioning in that it was tested with Chinese
students at the university level. The subjects were
from different countries (i.e., Taiwan, Hong Kong, and
the U.S.). Such subjects from different locations
might have caused bias in the study results since the
students had different cultural backgrounds, and
different ways of life caused by, among other factors,
the different ways they might have been raised by their
families.
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69
Conclusion: Relating Students' Attitudes to Their
English Proficiency
This study attempts to eliminate as many biases as
possible. While student attitudes at the university
level in non-English speaking countries are studied in
various countries, the issue has not been studied in
Thailand. The attitude scale in this study will be
consistent with the scale of 1 to 5 (strongly disagree
to strongly agree) throughout the study. Finally, this
study attempts to examine only student attitudes,
excluding student motivations, interests, needs and
opinions.
Attitude measures are in need of improvement and
also, language proficiency tests need to be made more
reliable (Oiler, Hudson, & Liu, 1977) . This study
employs the Test of English as a Foreign Language
(TOEFL) which appears to have validity and reliability
throughout the test and is therefore the most suitable
test for Thai students to use in testing their own
English proficiency at the university level. This
investigation further attempts to address the topic of
attitudes by utilizing a measurement instrument (i.e.,
an attitude scale) which is more sensitive to student
attitudes than those in previous mentioned studies.
Therefore, it is the purpose of this study to adapt and
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expand a new attitude scale to investigate Thai student
attitudes at the university level in a non-English
speaking country.
It is hoped that this study will effect an
improvement or even a new and more suitable curriculum
for teachers to use to teach English in Thailand at the
university level. In addition, students1 attitudes
toward foreign language are a positive predictor for
language proficiency and classroom participation (Ely,
1986). According to Sparks and Ganschow (1993b),
students who have problems of foreign language learning
may have poor attitudes. Finocchiaro and Bonomo (1973)
stated that the purpose of investigating student
attitudes is to judge student interests in English and
in cultural understanding, and the purpose of testing
student English proficiency is for students to judge
themselves as to whether they have the capacity to
learn English quickly and easily or whether they will
need a longer time to learn it. Hence, the results of
the study will really contribute valuable knowledge for
Thai students learning English as a foreign language in
the Thai society in the future. It is certainly time
for this issue to be examined.
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CHAPTER III
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
This chapter describes the procedures which were
used in conducting the study. A discussion of the
following topics is presented in this chapter: (1)
research hypotheses, (2) design of the study, (3) the
sample, (4) instrumentation, (5) procedure, (6)
variables, and (7) collection and analysis of data.
Research Hypotheses
The following three research hypotheses were
tested:
1. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
themselves than those who have low TOEFL scores.
2. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
native English speakers than those who have low TOEFL
scores.
3. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
English as a language than those who have low TOEFL
scores.
Design of the Study
Two measures were administered to Thai students
majoring in English at four major state universities in
Bangkok, Thailand: (1) an attitude scale in learning
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72
English which was adapted, expanded and modified by the
researcher; and (2) the Test of English as a Foreign
Language (TOEFL), a well-known standardized English
proficiency test, sponsored by Educational Testing
Service, Princeton, New Jersey. The correlation
between the students' English proficiency and their
attitudes in learning English was then ascertained.
The Sample
A sample group was selected for a pilot study.
The subjects used to pilot this attitude scale were
twenty juniors in the School of Education at
Srinakharinwirot University (Pathoomwan Campus) in
1993. They were accepted to the university by passing
the national entrance examination. This group was
representative of the subjects of the final study in
that they were Thai undergraduates and shared the same
level of English background at the university level in
a non-English speaking country.
The study population consisted of the
undergraduate students majoring in English in the
School of Humanities at four major state universities.
It is worth mentioning that the four universities,
namely Chulalongkom University, Thammasat University,
Kasetsart University and Srinakharinwirot University
(Prasarnmitr Campus), had different names for the
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School of Humanities. Chulalongkom University termed
it the "School of Arts;" Thammasat University, the
"School of Liberal Arts;" and Kasetsart University and
Srinakharinwirot University (Prasammitr Campus) used
the name, "School of Humanities." Although these four
universities had different names for the School of
Humanities, it was understood that the schools were
similar because all four had the same curriculum at the
university level. These schools were accredited by the
state and recognized as being academically equivalent.
For the purpose of this study, the term "School of
Humanities" was used throughout the study to represent
the different names that these four universities use so
as to avoid confusion and the need to repeat
information. The study investigated only juniors from
these designated universities. It excluded freshmen,
sophomores, and seniors. Freshmen and sophomores were
not included because many of them had not yet chosen
their majors. Seniors were not included because of
anticipated attrition (e.g., early graduation). When
comparing students' English proficiency, it was best to
compare students with similar levels of English
background; thus only one level (juniors) were studied.
To the purpose of this study, juniors best represented
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74
the students in the School of Humanities at the
university level in this non-English speaking country
whose major was English.
The subjects were 86 students from these four
state universities. To comply with university policy,
only volunteers were used for the study, which
ultimately reduced the total number available from two
of the four universities. The larger student
populations of the first two universities may have
contributed to a lower rate of participation. However,
the researcher could personally recruit full
participation from the final two universities. All of
the assigned students participated in this study and no
students withdrew during the phase of study.
Chulalongkorn University subjects were 22 volunteer
students (19% of population); Thammasat University
subjects were 20 volunteer students (32% of
population); Kasetsart University subjects were the
entire population consisting of 12 students (100% of
population); and Srinakharinwirot University
(Prasarnmitr Campus) subjects were also the entire
population, namely 32 students (100% of population).
The instructors in the four afore-mentioned
universities informed students in class and put up the
information about this research study at bulletin
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75
boards. One incentive for students to participate in
this study was that they received the opportunity to
take the TOEFL test at no charge. The students also
received their total test scores of their performances
including the score of each section by mail from the
researcher if they desired.
Instrumentation
The instruments in this study consisted of two
measures: (1) an attitude scale adapted by the
researcher; and (2) the TOEFL test, a standardized
English-language proficiency test, which was provided
by Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey.
1. The Attitude Scale
The researcher developed an attitude scale in
order to obtain the information regarding the attitudes
of Thai students majoring in English in the Schools of
Humanities at the university level in a non-English
speaking country. The process of developing this scale
included the following five steps:
1. Establishing the goals of the attitude scale
to serve the purpose of the study.
2. Studying the students1 attitudes in learning
English from textbooks, journals, and related research
both in the United States and Thailand, as well as
interviewing and consulting experts in teaching EFL or
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76
ESL at the university level in order to obtain the
essential information about students' attitudes to
English learning.
3. A Likert-type attitude scale was adapted and
modified from scales used by Fayer and Krasinski
(1984), Gardner and Lambert (1972), Lombardo (1988),
Oiler, Hudson, and Liu (1977) , and Pierson and Fu
(1982) with elements from other studies (Boonphokha,
1990; Charoensit, 1988; Gaitthong, 1991; Jard-Iam,
1985; Kajornnatee, 1987; Nenthananta, 1989; Pathumarak,
1989; Soubsen, 1987; Tongta, 1985; Wirojanakorn, 1991).
The attitude scale was divided into three parts: (1)
attitudes toward students themselves, (2) attitudes
toward native English speakers, and (3) attitudes
toward English as a language.
The instrument was adapted by the researcher in
Thai, rather than in English, to reduce language bias
in the responses, and for ease of completion.
Pierson and Fu's questionnaire (1982) suggested by
Oiler et al. (1977) was one of the questionnaires used
regularly in an ESL program at the Chinese University
of Hong Kong. Also, Pierson and Fu's questionnaire
(1982) was developed in Hong Kong for an Asian
population. Gardner and Lambert's questionnaire (1972)
appeared to be consistent, and reliable. Factor
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77
analysis was employed in their study to estimate the
validity of the instrument (Gardner & Lambert, 1972).
Lombardo's questionnaire (1988) appeared to have
content validity because the instrument was developed
and modified by her and her colleagues during a long-
planned project in 1984-1985.
The researcher selected items from each of the
previously mentioned studies which best represented
what had to be measured in the context of this study in
Thailand. These items were modified as necessary in
order to measure Thai student attitudes to English
learning.
4. Content validity was investigated by
consulting with instructor experts teaching EFL in the
School of Humanities at the universities in Thailand.
In addition, this attitude scale was adapted and
modified under the supervision of three American
professors who specialized in validation of research
tests and instruments at the University of Southern
California. The attitude scale was finally judged as
to whether or not all the information received
effectively matched the questions and the purpose of
the study.
5. Following necessary modifications in
accordance with the instructor experts' suggestions,
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the modified attitude scale was administered to the
selected sample for a pilot study so as to determine
the relevance and clarity of the instrument.
Pilot Study
The pilot study to test the attitude scale was
administered to a sample of twenty juniors majoring in
English at Srinakharinwirot University (Pathoomwan
Campus). The final study was conducted at the
Prasaramitr Campus of the same university. The
subjects in this pilot study were not the same as the
subjects in the final study to avoid contamination of
the results. The pilot subjects were asked to complete
in the same room on a single date an attitude scale.
The students were not allowed to talk to one another.
To standardize testing, the conditions of the room,
such as the lighting, and the use of separate tables
for students, were arranged to match exactly the room
conditions of the final study.
The attitude scale was administered in Thai for
three reasons: (1) to provide additional evidence of
the validity and reliability of the instrument; (2) to
avoid any bias resulting from use of the instrument;
and (3) to avoid bias from the language effect on the
responses. The attitude scale had three parts (i.e.,
the students' attitudes toward themselves, toward
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79
native English speakers and toward English as a
language) and consisted of 51 items. After finishing
the attitude scale, some students were interviewed in
Thai to help determine the causal attributes of their
responses. Some unclear items in the instrument were
identified by students who took the pilot sample so
that the researcher could clarify and modify these
items before they were used for the final study.
Each item in the attitude scale was given a
discriminative analysis, which compared the responses
of those in the upper and lower 27-percentile groups.
Items with a discrimination index (D) of less than .20
were eliminated from the scale. A measure of item
discrimination refers to a measurement of each item
(i.e. in an attitude scale) to determine its ability to
help discriminate between those students who have high
positive attitudes and those who do not (Hopkins,
Stanley, & Hopkins, 1990). Hopkins et al. (1990)
argued that "a standard index of item discrimination is
the coefficient of correlation of the examinees' scores
on an item with their total scores on the rest of the
test" (p.270). The item analysis method employed in
this study is D-index for item analysis suggested by
Johnson (1951) and popularized by Findley (1956). Its
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values have been demonstrated to be roughly correlated
linearly with biserial coefficients (Bridgman, 1964;
Hales, 1972).
Further item modifications such as replacing some
words that were more understandable and more
appropriate to the Thai culture were made by consulting
the experts, including instructors in teaching EFL at
the university level in Thailand. The attitude scale
included 51 items in this study. No items in the scale
were dropped. The three parts of the attitude scale
had a reliability coefficient of .88 and the standard
error of measurement of .12. The attitude scale proved
to be in an acceptable range of a qualified instrument.
The measurement scale was subsequently modified as
necessary. The final attitude scale was standardized
before being used in the full study.
The final attitude scale of this study (Thai
version) is provided in Appendix A, and English version
in Appendix B. It had 51 items and employed five-point
attitude Likert scales which permitted students to
respond in one of five ways to each statement:
strongly disagree, disagree, undecided, agree, and
strongly agree.
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The instrument was divided into three parts:
Part 1 was concerned with students' attitudes
toward themselves which included Items 1-4, and 26-38
in the attitude scale. Each item corresponded to the
student's attitude toward themselves. For example, "I
feel comfortable when I hear a Thai speak English"
dealt with the student's self-esteem and self-
perception.
Part 2 was concerned with the attitudes toward
native English speakers which included Items 5-20.
Each item corresponded to the student's attitude toward
native English speakers. For example, "I would like to
understand how Americans think and why they behave as
they do" dealt with student willingness to understand
native English speakers such as American or British
people.
Part 3 was concerned with the attitudes toward
English as a language which included Items 21-25 and
39-51. Each item corresponded to the student's
attitude toward English as a language. For instance,
"I study English because English is widely spoken
throughout the world" dealt with the student's
willingness to study English as a language.
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2. The Standardized English Proficiency Test (the
TOEFL test)
In Thailand, TOEFL is commonly considered to be
one of the best English proficiency tests. The TOEFL
test is also widely used as a mandatory requirement for
Thai students at the university level.
The TOEFL instrument was sponsored by Educational
Testing Service or ETS (Princeton, New Jersey) . The
researcher received ETS' assistance by contacting Dr.
Robert N. Kantor for information. According to R. N.
Kantor (personal communication, August 12, 1993) , the
TOEFL research program provides the use of TOEFL test
materials (for example, a form of TOEFL from the
Institutional Testing Program) or data to persons who
conduct research regarding the boundary of the TOEFL
context. However, prior to such an offer, ETS required
a written description of the research proposal and its
methodology in order to evaluate the qualification of
the research design and the potential interest of the
study regarding the boundary of the context. The
researcher submitted a six-page abstract describing the
purposes for the TOEFL test materials and test
statistics which would be used, and a letter of
recommendation from the Chairperson of the researcher's
committees at the University of Southern California.
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Under the final contract with ETS, the researcher
agreed to submit a final copy of this research study to
ETS. ETS provided all of the booklets and scored them
at no charge for this researcher. According to the
Educational Testing Service (1992a), TOEFL includes
three sections:
Section 1 involves listening comprehension. Here
students have an opportunity to demonstrate their
ability to understand spoken English. There are three
parts to this section, with special directions for each
part. Students are not allowed to take notes or write
in their test books at any time.
Section 2 is concerned with structure and written
expression. It tests students' ability to recognize
language that is appropriate to standard written
English. There are two types of questions in this
section, with special directions for each type.
Section 3 involves vocabulary and reading
comprehension. It tests students' comprehension of
standard written English. There are two types of
questions in this section, with special directions for
each type.
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84
TOEFL is rather generous in allowing time for
completion of these three sections, although time for
reading the directions of each section is included
within the time limits. An average of 92 percent of
TOEFL examinees finish each section within the time
limits (College Entrance Examination Board &
Educational Testing Service, 1967).
Using the scores of those examinees tested in the
United States and Canada and the medians of forms
administered between July 1989 and June 1991, the three
sections of TOEFL had a reliability coefficient of
approximately .95. Consideration of the standard error
of measurement underscores the fact that no test score
is entirely without measurement error. Scores from
TOEFL range from 200 to 677 points. According to the
Educational Testing Service (1992c), two-thirds of the
examinees have true scores within 14.1 points of their
reported total scores and 95 percent have true scores
within 28.2 points of their reported scores. When
comparing total scores for two examinees, an examinee
who achieves higher scores than the other should not
conclude that he/she has a significantly higher level
of proficiency in English unless there is a difference
of at least 28 points between them (Educational Testing
Service, 1992c).
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Moreover, validity as related to contents,
criteria, and constructs, is a concern of the TOEFL
Committee of Examiners (Educational Testing Service,
1992c). There is evidence which supports the content
validity of TOEFL (Duran, Canale, Penfield, Stansfield,
& Liskin-Gasparro, 1985). Duran et al. (1985)
conducted a study and found that successful performance
on a TOEFL examination required a broad extent of
competencies. Powers (1985) found that the three
sections of listening comprehension questions employed
in present TOEFL examinations were evaluated as being
among the most appropriate of those considered. Angoff
(1989) found no cultural benefit for any examinees who
had lived more than one year in the United States.
Stansfield (1986) reported that in 1984, the TOEFL
program invited 24 specialists in the testing of ESL to
a conference to discuss the content validity of the
existing test. Those papers from the conference
provided additional information about the language
tasks that arise on TOEFL and found that they were a
significant reference toward understanding the content
validity of the test.
There also is evidence which supports the
criterion-related validity of TOEFL. Maxwell (1965) at
the University of California, Berkeley Campus, found a
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.87 correlation between total scores on TOEFL and the
English proficiency test for the foreign student
placement at that campus. Upshur (1966) conducted a
study to determine the correlation between TOEFL and
the Michigan Test of English Language Proficiency and
found that they yielded a correlation of .89. Pack
(1972) and Gershman (1977) also conducted some studies
comparing TOEFL and Michigan Test scores. A study by
the American Language Institute (ALI) (1966) at
Georgetown University compared scores on TOEFL with
scores on the ALI test. The study yielded a
correlation of the two tests for 104 students of .79.
The study further investigated how performance on the
TOEFL test related to teacher ratings. The correlation
between TOEFL and those ratings for 115 students was
.73. Pike (1979) studied the relationship of the TOEFL
test and its subsections to other criterion measures,
including writing samples, cloze tests, oral
interviews, and sentence-combining exercises. The
results revealed a strong correlation between the
(formerly) five sections of TOEFL and the English
skills they were intended to measure.
Finally, the research also supports the construct
validity of this measure. Angoff and Sharon (1970)
discovered that the mean scores on the TOEFL test of
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native English speakers in the United States were far
higher than those of foreign students who had been
administered the same test. Clark (1977) continued
studying the performance of native speakers on TOEFL
and similarly found that the scores of such
performances on the test as a whole proved to be lower
as in the study by Angoff and Sharon (1970) . While the
mean raw score for native speakers taking two different
forms of TOEFL was 134 out of 150, the mean scores for
the non-native speakers taking the same forms were 88
and 89. This beneficial information provided guidance
on which to base evaluations of questions during the
review stage of test development. Such information
about the relationship between native and non-native
English speakers empirically supports the construct
validity of TOEFL as an English proficiency measure.
Additional evidence for the construct validity of TOEFL
was reported in a later study series about the factor
structure and the test dimensionality (Boldt, 1988;
Hale, Rock, & Jirele, 1989; Oltman, Strieker, &
Barrows, 1988) . Henning (1991a, 1991b) reported
evidence of the construct validity measured by existing
and prospective listening and vocabulary item types.
Other TOEFL validity evidence was yielded in studies
about the relationship between the TOEFL test and
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88
several commonly used aptitude tests such as Graduate
Record Examination (GRE), Scholastic Assessment Test
(SAT), and the Test of Standard Written English for
undergraduates (TWE) (Angelis, Swinton, & Cowell, 1979;
Wilson, 1982; Powers, 1980).
Procedure
This study was conducted during the period of
December, 1993, to January, 1994, with the generous
cooperation of the four major Thai universities and the
subjects previously mentioned. The subjects were
tested at their universities by the researcher on
separate dates. All of the assigned students
participated in the study (100%). The procedure of
this study consisted of two parts, the attitude scale
and the English proficiency TOEFL test. The attitude
scale was administered first.
1. The Attitude Scale
The attitude scale was administered to the
subjects from the same university in the same room on
the same day. The condition of the testing room, its
lighting and the use of separate testing seats, were
duplicated in each university by the researcher to
eliminate any bias from test conditions. The attitude
scale was administered first because of the ease of
answering the items and the short duration needed for
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its completion (approximately 20 to 30 minutes).
Answering the TOEFL examination questions was more
difficult and the test was much longer (approximately
105 minutes) therefore students' fatigue after the test
was likely. Fatigue could cause bias from inaccurate
or hasty responses on the attitude scale.
Students were asked in Thai to complete the
attitude scale individually without any communication
with other persons. No time limit was imposed. In the
attitude scale, students were asked to write their
first name, last name, sex, years of studying English,
university's name and the test date as a personal
reference for the researcher. Students were informed
that their personal information including the attitude
scores received from their attitude scales would be
kept confidential by the researcher. In addition, the
students were requested to write their names in full
and their mailing addresses including their telephone
numbers if possible on separate pieces of paper
provided by the researcher so that the researcher could
mail or phone them their attitude and TOEFL scores
privately. These names and addresses would be
important information for later contact in case the
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researcher wanted to interview some students to elicit
information as to possibly unclear aspects of the
study.
The following verbal instructions were provided to
all of the students in each university by the
researcher:
(English translation of Thai verbal instruction)
1. "Thank you for your cooperation."
2. "Your responses in the attitude scale are very
important."
3. "According to the attitude scale, please think
carefully about each of the items. Circle a "1" on the
form if you strongly disagree, a "2" if you disagree, a
"3" if you cannot decide, a "4" if you agree, and a "5"
if you strongly agree."
4. "The attitude scale should not take more than 20
minutes to complete, but take all the time you need for
this."
5. "Please bring the attitude scale to me when you are
done. Thank you."
2. The TOEFL test
In the final study, the TOEFL test was
administered after the attitude scale in the same room
and on the same day in each university by the
researcher. The test was carefully administered under
standardized conditions as specified for this
examination (Educational Testing Service, 1992b). The
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91
total time to take TOEFL was 105 minutes which
consisted of Section 1 (35 minutes), Section 2 (25
minutes) and Section 3 (45 minutes). After the test,
all TOEFL test books and answer sheets were collected
and sent to be scored. The TOEFL test was scored by
Educational Testing Service with the score of each
section and the total score of each student reported.
Variables
1. Independent variable:
Attitudes of juniors at four major Thai
universities toward learning English as a foreign
language.
2. Dependent variables:
2.1 Student attitudes toward:
2.1.1 students themselves (defined as "self")
2.1.2 native English speakers (defined as
"speaker")
2.1.3 the English language (defined as
"language")
2.2 Student English proficiency:
2.2.1 High level of English proficiency (High
TOEFL)
2.2.2 Low level of English proficiency (Low
TOEFL)
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92
Collection, and Analysis of the Data
The data were gathered during the period of
December, 1993, to January, 1994. The data coding was
of two parts: the attitude scale, and the TOEFL test.
1. The Attitude scale. According to the study
data coding, each item of the attitude scale consisted
of five alternatives. On each item the middle
alternative was given a value of zero. The responses
one space or two spaces on either side of the middle
point were given, respectively, values of 1 or 2 (or -1
or -2) depending upon the directionality of the
statement. Reverse scoring was introduced on
negatively-stated items to permit the receiving of
relatively high positive scores to be indicative of
comparatively high positive levels in the student
attitudes.
2. The TOEFL test. The derived TOEFL scores of
the students from Educational Testing Service were
classified into two groups: high and low levels of
English proficiency. The high level of English
proficiency was defined by the derived total score of
each student on the TOEFL test which equals or exceeds
500. The low level of English proficiency was defined
by the total score of each student on the TOEFL test
which is below 500.
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93
Once the data were collected from these two
measures, the data analyses were performed via the use
of the Statistical Package for the Social Science
("SPSS-X User's Guide," 1988). The following analyses
were included:
1. The mean value of each variable in the
attitude scale was determined.
2. The standard deviation of each variable in the
attitude scale was determined.
3. The Schef fe' procedure was employed to test
the four groups of students' attitudes at four major
state universities. Borg and Gall (1989) stated that
Scheffe' procedure is one of several t-tests for
multiple comparisons. In Borg and Gall's words (1989),
"The standard error of this [Scheffe'] t-test is
derived from the variances of all the groups rather
than from the variances of two specific groups being
compared. [This Scheffe'] t-test takes into account the
probability that the researcher will find a significant
difference between mean scores simply because many
comparisons are made on the same data" (p.553).
4. The one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was
used to statistically analyze student attitudes of the
four major state universities. The three variables of
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94
the attitude scale were investigated: attitudes toward
themselves, attitudes toward native English speakers,
and attitudes toward the English language itself.
5. The t-test on different scores was used to
determine statistical significance between the TOEFL
scores and the three variables of the attitude scale
(Boneau, 1960).
6. The reliability of the adapted attitude scale
was tested by using Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha which
was a general form of the Kuder-Richardson Formula 20
(KR-20) that could be when items are not scored
dichotomously, such as the attitude scale employed in
this study. The scale included items that had several
possible answers, each of which was given a different
weight (Cronbach, 1951). The attitude scale in this
study had a reliability coefficient of .88.
7. The standard error of measurement of the
attitude scale was determined to be .12 (Williams &
Zimmerman, 1984).
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CHAPTER IV
ANALYSIS OF RESULTS
In this chapter, the findings were reported with
respect to students' English proficiency and their
attitudes toward learning English. The data obtained
were categorized into three groups: (1) Thai students'
attitudes toward themselves which was defined as
"Self;" (2) Thai students' attitudes toward native
English speakers which was defined as "Speaker;" and
(3) Thai students' attitudes toward the English
language which was defined as "Language." Major tables
provide the data for these research questions, followed
by an interpretation of the findings. A brief summary
of the findings concludes the chapter.
Analysis of Findings
In this section, the statistical results from the
analysis of variance is initially presented. This is
followed by an interpretation of the findings and a
summary of findings relative to each of the three main
research hypotheses. These three research hypotheses
are as follows:
1. Thai students majoring in English as a foreign
language (EFL) who have high TOEFL scores will have
higher positive attitudes about themselves than those
who have low TOEFL scores.
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2. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
native English speakers than those who have low TOEFL
scores.
3. Thai students majoring in EFL who have high TOEFL
scores will have higher positive attitudes toward
English as a language than those who have low TOEFL
scores.
The main purpose of this investigation was to
determine whether students' English proficiency in two
variables which were "High TOEFL," and "Low TOEFL"
affected the students' attitudes in three variables
which were "Self," "Speaker," and "Language." In order
to accomplish this, an analysis of variance (ANOVA) and
a t-test were performed. A significance level at the
.05 level was set. The data from this analysis are
displayed in the following tables.
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Table 1
Percentage of Participants From Each University
University Study Sample Percentage of
Total Population
1. Chulalongkom 22 19%
2. Thammasat 20 32%
3. Kasetsart 12 100%
4. Srinakharinwirot 32 100%
Sum 86 100%
As Table 1 indicates, the study sample consisted
of 86 students from these four state universities:
Twenty-two Chulalongkom University students, 20
Thammasat University students, 12 Kasetsart University
students, and 32 Srinakharinwirot University
(Prasarnmitr Campus) students. The variance in
participation rates among the four universities
resulted from requirements that the researcher used
only volunteer subjects due to mandatory university
policy. The larger number of students at the first two
universities may have contributed to a lower rate of
participation. The researcher was able to personally
recruit full participation from the final two
universities.
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98
Table 2
Two Levels of Thai Students' English Proficiency
English Number of Percentage of
Proficiency Participants total participants
High TOEFL 33 38.4%
Low TOEFL 53 61.6%
As Table 2 indicates, 86 students were tested with
the TOEFL examination in order to divide their levels
of English proficiency. The percentage of students who
had high English proficiency was 38.4%. The percentage
of students who had low English proficiency was 61.6%.
Table 3
Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of Thai Students'
Attitudes at Four Public Universities
Variable Mean SD
Self 4.10 .45
Speaker 4.05 .36
Language 3 .70 .47
Total 3 .94 .34
The statistics in Table 3 show the means and
standard deviations of the Thai students' attitudes
toward themselves, toward native English speakers, and
toward the English language. A Likert-type scale was
used, ranging from 1 (the strongest disagreement) to 5
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(the strongest agreement). The mean scores of
students' attitudes toward themselves was 4.10, toward
native English speakers was 4.05 and toward the English
language was 3.70. The total mean score of these three
variables was 3.94. These mean scores of students'
attitudes indicated strong agreement.
Table 4
An Analysis of Variance for Thai Students' Attitudes
Toward Themselves at Four Public Universities
Source Sum of
Squares
degree of
freedom
Mean F
Square
Between Groups 2.08 3 .69 3.71*
Within Groups 15.31 82 .19
Total 17.38 85
*p < .05
As Table 4 indicates, the F ratio was associated
with a p level below the .05 criterion level.
Statistical significance at the .05 level was achieved
among groups of four public universities. The data in
this table indicate that students' attitudes toward
themselves had statistical difference between groups of
four public universities at the .05 level.
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Table 5
A Comparison Between Sample Means o£ Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward Themselves at Four Public
Universities by Using the Sche£fe' Procedure
University Mean
Thammasat 3.85
Chulalongkom 4.10
Kasetsart 4.12
Srinakharinwirot 4.26*
(*) Denotes pairs of groups significantly
different at the .05 level
As this table indicates, Thammasat students'
attitudes toward themselves were significantly lower
than those of the Srinakharinwirot students. This
finding was unexplained by this research. No other
significant differences were found with respect to any
other pairs of the afore-mentioned universities.
Table 6
An Analysis of Variance for Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward Native English Speakers at
Four Public Universities
Source Sum of
Squares
Degree of
Freedom
Mean F
Square
P
Between Groups .60 3 .20 1.5 .21
Within Groups 10.71 82 .13
Total 11.31 85
As Table 6 indicates, the F ratio was not
associated with the p level at or below the .05 level.
Statistical significance at the .05 level was not
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achieved between groups of the four public
universities. As demonstrated by the table,
statistical significance at the .05 level was not also
obtained by students' attitudes toward native English
speakers at any of the four public universities.
Table 7
An Analysis of Variance of Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward English as a Language
at Four Public Universities
Source Sum of
Squares
Degree of
Freedom
Mean
Square
F P
Between Groups 1.51 3 .50 2.38 .07
Within Groups 17.36 82 .21
Total 18 .87 85
As demonstrated by Table 7, statistical
significance at the .05 level was not obtained by
students' attitudes toward English as a language at any
of the four public universities. The F-ratio was not
associated with the p level below the 0.5 criterion
level as well.
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102
Table 8
An Analysis of Variance of Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward the Entire Attitude Scale
(Self + Speaker + Language)
Source Sum of
Squares
Degree of
Freedom
Mean F
Square
Between Groups 1.12 3 .37 3.62*
Within Groups 8.47 82 .10
Total 9.60 85
*p < .05
Table 8 summarizes the ANOVA results for students'
attitudes toward the entire attitude scale (Self +
Speaker + Language). When considering these total
variables, there was a significant difference at the
.05 level of the students' attitudes among the four
universities.
Table 9
A Comparison Between the Pair of Sample Means of
Students' Attitudes Toward the Total Variables
by Using the Scheffe' Procedure
University Mean
Thammasat 3.74
Kasetsart 3.94
Chulalongkom 4.00
Srinakharinwirot 4.03*
(*) Denotes pairs of groups significantly different at
the .05 level
The above table presents the statistical
difference between Thammasat students' attitudes and
Srinakharinwirot students' attitudes at the .05 level.
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103
No other significant differences were found with
respect to other pairs of the afore-mentioned
universities.
Table 10
Reliabilities and Standard Errors of
Measurement (SEM) of the Entire Attitude Scale
Variable Alpha Reliability 1 SEM 2 SEM
Self .82 .19 .38
Speaker .71 .19 .38
Language .83 .19 .38
Total .88 .12 .24
As Table 10 indicates, the reliability analysis of
the instrument (attitude scale) was analyzed. The
reliability of the instrument on the entire attitude
scale was .88. Within the instrument items which
related to variable "Self," the reliability was .82;
followed by the reliability of variable "Speaker," .71;
and finally the reliability of variable "Language,"
.83. The range of inter-item reliability was generally
consistent and was found statistically to be within the
acceptable range.
The standard error of measurement indicates that
the errors of measurement could be expected to follow
any sampling distribution. As demonstrated by the
table, it was estimated that two-thirds of all attitude
scores would be within ± 1 SEM of their true score and
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104
about 95 percent would be within ± 2 SEM. For variable
"self," "speaker," or "language," approximately two-
thirds of the students had true score within ± .19 of
their reported scores, and about 95 percent had true
scores within ± .38 of their reported scores. For the
entire attitude scale, two-thirds of the students had
true scores within ± .12 of their reported scores, and
95 percent have true scores within ± .24 of their
reported scores.
Table 11
The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students'
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes
Toward Themselves
English Proficiency Number
of Cases
Mean SD T
High TOEFL 33 4.06 .41
.72
Low TOEFL 53 4.13 .48
As this table indicates, students who had high
TOEFL scores or those who had low TOEFL scores did not
have statistically significant difference with respect
to students' attitudes toward themselves at the .05
level.
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105
Table 12
The Statistical Di££erence Between Thai Students'
English Pro£iciency and Their Attitudes
Toward Native English Speakers
English Proficiency Number
of Cases
Mean SD T
High TOEFL 33 4.09 .40
.91
Low TOEFL 53 4.02 .34
As demonstrated by the table, no statistically
significant difference was obtained from the students
who had high or low TOEFL scores with respect to their
attitudes toward native English speakers at the .05
level.
Table 13
The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students'
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes
Toward the English Language
English Proficiency Number
of Cases
Mean SD T
High TOEFL 33 3 .78 .40
1.26
Low TOEFL 53 3 .65 .51
According to Table 13, there was no statistically
significant difference between students who had high or
low TOEFL scores with respect to students' attitudes
toward the English language at the .05 level.
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106
Table 14
The Statistical Difference Between Thai Students'
English Proficiency and Their Attitudes Toward the
Entire Scale (Self + Speaker + Language)
English Proficiency
of cases
Number Mean SD T
High TOEFL 33 3.97 .32
.61
Low TOEFL 53 3.93 .35
In overall, there was no statistically significant
difference between students who had high or low TOEFL
scores with respect to their attitudes toward the
entire scale (Self + Speaker + Language) at the .05
level.
Interpretation of Findings
The main purpose of this study was to determine
the relationship between Thai students' English
proficiency and their attitudes in learning English.
The students were juniors from four major public
universities in Bangkok, Thailand. These students'
attitudes were categorized into three variables:
attitudes toward themselves, toward native English
speakers, and toward the English language.
Consequently, three major hypotheses were proposed and
tested. In the following section, the data generated
by this investigation are discussed relative to each of
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107
these hypotheses. This will be discussed by the
factors which may have influenced the outcome of this
study as follows:
1. Was There a Statistically Significant Difference
Between Thai Students' English Proficiency and Their
Attitudes Toward Themselves?
The critical crisis of distribution-t suggested
that there was no statistically significant difference
for the relationship between Thai students' English
proficiency and their attitudes toward themselves.
Hence, the first hypothesis was not accepted. That is,
students1 attitudes toward themselves did not appear to
have any significant correlation with their English
proficiency, as measured by their TOEFL scores.
Consequently, students1 English proficiency could not
be attributed to their attitudes toward themselves.
2. Was There a Statistically Significant Difference
Between Thai Students' English Proficiency and Their
Attitudes Toward Native English Speakers?
The critical crisis of distribution-t suggested
that there was no statistically significant difference
between Thai students' English proficiency and their
attitudes toward native English speakers. Therefore,
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108
the second hypothesis was not accepted. That is
students' attitudes toward native English speakers did
not appear to have any significant correlation with
their English proficiency, as measured by their TOEFL
scores.
3. Was There a Statistically Significant Difference
Between Thai Students' English Proficiency and Their
Attitudes Toward the English Language?.
The critical crisis of distribution-t suggested
that there was no statistically significant difference
between Thai students' English proficiency and their
attitudes toward the English language. Therefore, the
third hypothesis was not accepted. That is, students'
attitudes toward the English language did not appear to
have any significant correlation with their English
proficiency, as measured by their TOEFL scores.
Additional Findings
This section consists of items of Thai students'
attitudes toward themselves, toward native English
speakers, and toward the English language as
demonstrated by Tables 15, 16, and 17.
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109
Table 15
Mean Scorea and Standard Deviations of Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward Themselves
Item Number Toward "Self" Mean SD
The Strongest Agreement
"I believe that studying English will help me..."
30. be proficient in the English language. 4.51 .87
31. go into international business. 4.56 .67
37. prepare for my advanced studies 4.45 .71
(e.g. graduate school).
Strong Agreement
1. "I feel that learning English will increase 4.35 .81
my Thai identity."
2. "I feel that learning English will increase 4.22 1.02
my ability to learn Thai."
3. "I feel comfortable when I hear a Thai speak 4.14 .96
English."
4. 1 1 1 feel my teachers want me to learn English.1 1 3.62 1.03
The following items begin with phrase
"I believe that studying Bnglish will help me..."
26. study in another country, such as America or 4.38 .84
England.
27. shop in a foreign country. 3.90 1.02
28. gain social recognition. 3.56 1.14
29. pass the national entrance exam. 4.15 .87
32. get a higher paying job. 4.37 .70
33. gain my family's approval. 3.51 1.13
35. raise my standard of living. 3.77 .93
36. get a higher job status. 4.33 .69
38. travel abroad. 4.37 .77
Being Undecided
"I believe that studying English will help me..."
34. gain my friend's approval. 3.47 1.06
The study suggested that students had the
strongest positive attitudes toward themselves in items
30, 31, and 37. Items 1-4, 26-29, 32-33, 35-36, and 38
were found to indicate strong positive attitudes. Only
item 34 was found to indicate students' attitudes as
being undecided.
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Table 16
Mean Scores and Standard Deviations o£ Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward Native English Speakers
Item Number Toward "Speaker" Mean SD
The Strongest Agreement
7. "I feel that by speaking English to foreigners 4.69 .49
I will become more and more like them."
o
H
"I would like to have native English-speaking 4.70 .51
friends to socialize with."
14. "I feel proud that I can speak English with 4.53 .57
foreigners."
Strong Agreement
9. "I enjoy comprehending some aspects of native 4.45 .57
English speakers' way of life."
11. "I would like to have pen-pals in English- 4.35 .70
speaking countries."
12. "I would like to understand how Americans 4.20 .70
think and why they behave as they do."
15. "I enjoy learning about the American's 4.34 .68
way of life."
16. "I am eager to help English-speaking strangers 4.47 .70
find their way in Bangkok."
17. "I would like to exchange ideas with 4.42 .74
Americans."
00
H
"I would like to live with an American 4.05 .97
family."
19. "I would like to have a job where I cam 4.49 .76
communicate with many English-speadcing
foreigners."
to
o
"Learning English will enable me to gain good 4.10 .99
English-speatking friends when I travel abroad."
Being Undecided
5. "I wish I could think and behave like native 2.27 1.08
English speakers."
6. "I feel easy amd confident when I speaik 3.43 1.08
to native English speakers."
8. "At Christmas time, I would like to send 3.43 1.28
cards auid gifts to my English-speaking friends.
It
13. "I would like to marry someone who is a 2.85 1.13
native-English speaUcer."
The study suggested that students had the
strongest positive attitudes toward native English
speakers in items 7, 10, and 14. Items 9, 11-12, and
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Ill
15-20 were found to indicate strong positive attitudes;
and items 5, 6, 8, and 13 indicate attitudes as being
undecided.
Table 17
Mean Scores and Standard Deviations of Thai Students'
Attitudes Toward the Bnglish Language
Item Number toward "Language" Mean SD
Strong Agreement
21. "When I have free time, I often think of 3.53 .97
some vocabulary or some sentences in English."
22. "When studying English in the classroom, I 3 .81 .71
feel active and joy."
25. "I would like to teach English to my friends 3.91 .85
who need help."
The
followina items beain with Dhrase "I studv Enolish because...”
39. English is widely spoken through out the world. 4.44 .88
40. I am interested in the English language, 4.97 .89
literature, and culture.
41. Much of the literature of my chosen profession 3.57 1.01
is available in English only.
44. I like to read books and magazines published 3.73 .91
in English.
45. The music I most enjoy has English lyrics. 4.05 .91
46. I like to listen to radio broadcasts in English. 3.77 .89
47. I like to listen to English language audio tapes. 3.90 .91
48. I like to see films, video tapes or plays 4.26 .90
in English.
49. I prefer to speak English more than any other 4.03 1.01
foreign language.
50. I enjoy participating in the activities which 3.98 .78
we do in English courses.
51. I want to write stories, articles, etc. in English. 3.69 1.05
Being Undecided
23. "The English language is superior to Thai." 3 .10 .84
24. "I often spend a few hours practicing English 2.72 1.13
after class."
The
followina items beain with Dhrase ”1 atudv Enalish because...”
42. The best material that I have found is 3.08 1.01
written in English.
43. Much of the computer software that interests 3.07 1.05
me is presented in English.
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112
The study suggested that students had strong
positive attitudes toward the English language as the
following items: 21-22, 25, 39-41, and 44-51. Items
23-24 and 42-43 were found to indicate students'
attitudes as being undecided.
Summary .of -Eludings.
The findings resulting from this study and
presented in this chapter are summarized as follows:
1. Statistically significant difference at the .05
level was not achieved for the relationship between
students' high English proficiency and their high
positive attitudes toward themselves.
2. Statistically significant difference at the .05
level was not achieved for the relationship between
students' high English proficiency and their high
positive attitudes toward native English speakers.
3. Statistically significant difference at the .05
level was not achieved for the relationship between
students' high English proficiency and their high
positive attitudes toward the English language.
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CHAPTER V
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
The purpose of this study was to investigate
students' attitudes with a view toward English as a
foreign language in Thailand. The study examined the
relationship between Thai students1 English
proficiency and various attitudes which affect their
learning English. It was hypothesized that Thai
students1 high positive attitudes toward themselves,
toward native English speakers, and toward the English
language would lead to greater English language
proficiency. Thai undergraduate juniors majoring in
English as a foreign language (EFL) in the School of
Humanities or equivalent schools at four major state
universities in Bangkok, Thailand, were used as
subjects for this study. It was anticipated that
these findings could provide a basis of possible
modifications and improvements in both curriculum and
instruction in Thailand. In addition, the findings of
this study are useful in the modification of English-
language course content.
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114
Sample
The sample consisted of 86 Thai undergraduate
juniors majoring in EFL from four major state
universities: Chulalongkom University, 22; Thammasat
University, 20; Kasetsart University, 12; and
Srinakharinwirot University (Prasarnmitr Campus), 32.
Participation was voluntary according to the mandatory
restrictions of the afore-mentioned universities. All
of the assigned subjects participated in this study.
No subjects withdrew during the phase of study.
Instruments
There were two measures in this study: (1) an
attitude scale, adapted by the researcher in order to
obtain the information regarding Thai students1
attitudes toward EFL in the School of Humanities or
equivalent schools at the university level in
Thailand; and (2) the TOEFL test, the standardized
English-language proficiency test which was provided
by Educational Testing Service, Princeton, New Jersey.
Procedure
The students previously mentioned were tested at
their universities by this researcher on separate
dates. To eliminate any bias from test conditions at
each university, the researcher duplicated the
condition of the testing room, its lighting and the
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115
use of separate testing seats. The attitude scale was
administered first, followed by the TOEFL test.
Participants were asked in Thai to complete the
attitude scale individually without any communication
with others. No time limit was imposed. The TOEFL
test was then administered under standardized
conditions as specified by Educational Testing Service
(ETS) (1992b). The TOEFL test was scored by ETS.
Data-Analysis
The investigation was conducted using the
Scheffe' procedure to determine the attitudes of each
group of students at the four major state universities
in Bangkok, Thailand. The one-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA) was employed to investigate students'
attitudes toward three variables: (1) attitudes
toward the students' themselves which was defined as
"Self;" (2) attitudes toward native English speakers
which was defined as "Speaker;" and (3) attitudes
toward the English language which was defined as
"Language." The t-test on different scores was
employed to determine between the TOEFL scores and the
three variables of Thai students' attitudes. A
reliability coefficient of the adapted attitude scale
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116
was identified by using Cronbach's Coefficient Alpha.
The attitude scale had the reliability coefficient of
.88 and a standard error of measurement of .12.
Summary of Major.Findings
The analysis of data produced the following
outcomes:
1. There was no statistically significant difference
between Thai students' English proficiency and their
attitudes toward themselves.
2. There was no statistically significant difference
between Thai students' English proficiency and their
attitudes toward the native English speakers.
3. There was no statistically significant difference
between Thai students' English proficiency and their
attitudes toward the English language itself.
Conclusions
The three hypotheses mentioned above were not
supported by the findings specifically. The study
showed that the high and low TOEFL groups performed
essentially the same on each of three dependent
variables: attitudes toward "self," "speaker," and
"language." There were some studies that support
these findings (Boonphokha, 1990; Jard-iam, 1985;
Pathumarak, 1989; Soubsen, 1987; Tongta, 1985).
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117
However, these findings seemed contradictory to other
research (Baker, 1993; Lambert, 1974; Lufler, 1978;
Walberg & Uguroglu, 1980; Wlodkowski, 1981).
Factors Influencing the Outcome of This Study
As has been reported, no statistically
significant differences were found for students'
English proficiency and their attitudes toward
themselves, toward native English speakers, and toward
the English language. The research from the field of
psychology offered support for the relationship of
high English proficiency and high positive attitudes,
yet their relationship was not evident in this study.
There are several possible reasons why the
differences among these relationships did not meet the
expected findings, including the following:
1. This study investigated Thai students' attitudes
by employing a Likert-type attitude scale of only five
steps ranging from strongly disagree to strongly
agree. A linear attitude scale might not be the best
way to measure students1 attitudes. According to
Oppenheim (1966), an attempt to place an individual's
attitude on a linear attitude scale from high negative
to high positive attitudes by ranking a numerical
score is quite primitive. Oppenheim also asserted
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118
that there is no evidence that this model of attitudes
is absolutely correct, but it is certainly easier for
the purposes of attitudinal measurement than other
models. Oppenheim (1966) suggested instead that
"attitudes may be shaped more like concentric circles
or overlapping ellipses or three-dimensional cloud
formations" (p. 107).
2. The English proficiency of the entire research
population was surprisingly low. The lack of variance
led to restriction of range difficulties, making it
difficult to measure the effect of the research
variables. This lack of student proficiency may have
resulted from confounding variables which were not
considered in the original design as follows:
2.1 One of the variables noted by the researcher
during the data collection phase was the lack of a
supportive environment. Thai people considered the
Thai language as the medium of instruction in classes
and in daily life within the boundaries of the
country. English, however, is considered only as one
of the many foreign languages spoken in Thailand.
2.2 Another limitation of this study is the
homogeneity of the Thai juniors at the university
level majoring in EFL in Bangkok, Thailand. According
to Ehrman and Oxford (1995), the limitation such as
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119
restriction of range of participants and their
homogeneity may weaken the correlation of essential
variables.
2.3 Though not investigated in this study, there
may be some other confounding effects of EFL
educational experiences on Thai students' attitudes.
An example may be students' low self-esteem resulting
from poor academic performance. Other studies on
affective variables toward learning EFL are anxiety,
motivation, learning strategies, student beliefs,
general intelligence, personality, group dynamics, and
intercultural issues (MacIntyre, 1995; Gardner, 1985;
Gardner & MacIntyre, 1992, 1993a, 1993b; Skehan, 1989,
1991; Spolsky, 1989).
3. The standard error of measurement (SEM) of TOEFL
needs to be taken into an account. According to
Educational Testing Service (1992c), it was estimated
that two-thirds of all TOEFL scores would be within
± 1 SEM (14.1) of their true score and about 95
percent would be within ± 2 SEM (28.2) . That means
when comparing TOEFL scores of two students, one
student who achieves higher TOEFL score than the other
should not conclude that he/she has a significantly
higher level of English proficiency unless there is a
difference of at least 28 points between them.
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120
According to V. Wongpiyanantakul (personal
communication, August 11, 1994), the total-score norm
of Thai students taking TOEFL was 490, which was lower
than the criterion of the total score of 500 given in
this study. Consideration of the standard error of
measurement underscores the fact that a student who
has TOEFL score of 490 and the other who has TOEFL
score of 500 have significant differences in their
English proficiency. The total score of 500, however,
is a criterion that most universities in the United
States of America and other countries around the world
use in accepting international students to study in
their four-year college.
4. The Likert-type attitude scale in this study also
had a standard error of measurement of .12. This
could be estimated that students1 attitude scores were
possible to deviate from their true score for 12%.
Although this was quite a good instrument for
measuring Thai students' attitudes, the standard error
of measurement of this instrument should be
considered.
5. The issue of sensitivity of the well-done TOEFL
examination should also be considered. Since TOEFL
has three sections in one test, students might have
performed better in one section than the others
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121
because they might have their own specialized skills
in achieving English learning. For example, the first
students who received a total score of 500 scored 35
in the Section 1 (listening comprehension) , 55 in
Section 2 (grammar and English expression), and 60 in
Section 3 (reading comprehension) . It is worth
mentioning that the total score of TOEFL has been
calculated by the scale score, which is not by simply
adding the scores of Section 1, 2, and 3 together.
Therefore, the student who had a high total score
might have performed poorly in Section 1, English
listening, but did well in other sections. In
contrast, another student may have had a TOEFL total
score of 487 and had the scores of Section 1 to 3 as
follows: 52, 46, and 48. The second student was
found to have higher English proficiency in listening
comprehension than the first student, while the first
student had a higher total score in English
proficiency than the second student. The issue of
English proficiency is rather complicated and should
be another study by itself.
6. The research findings suggest that students have
differences in family background, culture and
environmental background. According to Davidoff
(1976) and Greenwald and Banaji (1995), attitudes may
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be obtained from an individual1 s family and culture.
In addition, environmental conditions and time may
affect attitude initiation.
7. Students' English proficiency might be a long-term
result correlating with students' high positive
attitudes. The transition process of attitudes toward
language proficiency is slow and charged with a range
of personal emotions (Houtz, 1995). This study,
however, investigated students only a short period of
time, which might have caused only the short-term
effect.
8. Jakobovits (1970), Krashen (1981), Lambert (1974)
and Wlodkowski (1981) reasoned that high positive
attitudes prove to be highly associated with the
proficiency of a foreign language such as English.
Contradictory to the above research, this study,
however, indicates that in Thailand, students'
attitudes toward EFL at the university level may not
be strongly correlated with their English proficiency.
A possible reason might be that these two variables
(attitudes and English proficiency) might be
completely independent from each other. The studies
that support this study are those of Boonphokha
(1990) , Jard-iam (1985), Pathumarak (1989), Soubsen
(1987), and Tongta (1985).
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9. Additional possible causal factors are as follows:
cultural differences between Thai subjects in this
study and U.S. subjects in previous research; the
homogeneity of the Thai population; the difference of
Thai students' socio-economic status (SES); the
quality of English education in Thailand; and student
differences in age, sex, grade-point average, family
income, parents' occupation, and family's support for
further education.
In summary, the major finding of this study was
that in Thailand, students' English proficiency did
not significantly correlate with their attitudes
toward themselves, toward native English speakers, and
toward the English language. While the effect of
students' English proficiency or its interaction with
students' attitudes was not statistically significant,
it might be suggested that English proficiency and
attitude were independent variables rather than
dependent variables because they may not, in fact, be
dependent on each other. Several confounding
variables which may have impacted the results of this
study and diluted the findings were listed.
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124
Recommendations
The following recommendations have been offered by the
researcher:
1. Another replication of the study should be
conducted in Thailand and other countries with EFL
training to see whether or not the study would produce
the same results.
2. When replicating a study, it would also be helpful
to sample a group of students with a wider range of
English proficiency, ranging from highly proficient
students (lacking in this study) to low proficiency
students. One way to do this would be to take the
extreme upper and lower scores (10% of the population
of each side) on TOEFL administered to a larger
population (approximately 1,000 students) and then to
administer the attitude scale to each of these two
groups. The next study should also try to identify a
descriptive study with an open-ended attitude scale
and an interview to obtain the important findings.
3. Schools selected for study should be limited to
those which employ more contemporary, positivistic
approaches to learning, including positive student
attitude reinforcement models. According to the
study's findings, most students had high positive
attitudes toward EFL but had low English proficiency.
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If teachers are expert enough to present model lessons
which include students' attitudinal reinforcement
toward EFL, students might be motivated to derive a
better foundation of learning EFL. Positive attitude
may be another tool to successful English learning.
According to Harste's advice (1989), teachers should
design their instruction to be expansive enough for
each student's learning development, flexible enough
to apply to personal and cultural characteristics of
students, specific enough to affirm student language
development and thinking, and sensitive enough to
warrant student success.
4. This study encourages instructors at the
university level to prepare more and better English
teaching in their curriculum. According to the study,
Thai students at the university level had high
positive attitudes in English learning but they were
not well enough prepared to make good use of their EFL
in a foreign country or in the real world.
Universities ought to provide competent instructors
and other activities to enhance students' proficiency
of English such as a trip abroad in summer; viewings
of English films or video tapes; and interesting
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conversations in English (e.g., hobbies, movie stars,
foreign films, music, current events); and interesting
books.
5. Thai culture and American culture are totally
different. The problem with Thai students learning
English is that they have not been exposed to much
American culture. One will never learn a foreign
language well without having an appreciation of that
language. One way to learn to be appreciative in
English learning is to learn about that foreign
language culture. For example, Thai students do not
celebrate or know much about the holidays in America
such as Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving. When
students only learn the language without any
understanding of the culture, they have less
appreciation and lose their interest.
6. Future studies should test freshmen, sophomore,
senior, and graduate students to see whether or not
the results will be the same.
7. Future studies should investigate other variables
correlating with attitudes that this study left out
such as: interests, values, motivations, and needs.
8. Future studies should try to better measure the
four basic language skills in testing English
proficiency.
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9. Future studies should study the additional
environment settings that affect the relationship of
students' attitudes and their English proficiency such
as teacher differences, universities, students'
characteristics and their creative thinking, their
socio-economic status (SES), and their family's
background.
10. Future studies should investigate students'
attitudes by using alternative attitude scale and
include more observations of students' behaviors.
11. In a country where students have highly positive
attitudes toward learning English but are hindered by
learning impediments such as unqualified language
teachers, lack of supplementary English books and
other media necessary for English learning and native
English speakers, results are not as good. There is
hope that students' English proficiency in Thailand
will increase in the future if broader actions and
more research are encouraged in these particular
issues.
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Zappolo, C. (1981) . A graded listening comprehension
progress. English Teaching Forum. 12(4), 31.
Zimbardo, P. G., & Ebbesen, E. B. (1970). Influencing
attitudes and changing behavior. Reading, MA:
Addison-Wesley.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Appendixes
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Appendix A
A Thai Attitude Scale
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
Appendix B
An English Translation of the Thai
Attitude Scale
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
161
AN ATTITUDE SCALE FOR ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (BFL)
STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY LEVEL IN THAILAND
First name Last name______________________
Please check one of the following: Sex:_______M, ______F
Years studying English:__o to 5, 6 to 9, 10 years or more
University's name:___________________________ Date____________
Please circle the number that best represents your response on the
scale of one to five. The following numbers will signify the same
throughout this questionnaire:
1 = Strongly disagree
2 = Disagree
3 = Undecided
4 = Agree
5 = Strongly agree
1. I feel that learning English will increase my 1 2 3 4 5
Thai identity.
2. I feel that learning English will increase my 1 2 3 4 5
ability to learn Thai.
3. I feel comfortable when I hear a Thai speak 1 2 3 4 5
English.
4. I feel my teachers want me to learn English. 1 2 3 4 5
5. I wish I could think and behave like native 1 2 3 4 5
English speakers.
6. I feel easy and confident when I speak to 1 2 3 4 5
native-English speakers.
7. I feel that by speaking English to foreigners 1 2 3 4 5
I will become more and more like them.
8. At Christmas time, I would like to send cards 1 2 3 4 5
and gifts to my English-speaking friends.
9. I enjoy comprehending some aspects of native 1 2 3 4 5
English speakers' way of life.
10. I would like to have native English-speaking 1 2 3 4 5
friends to socialize with.
11. I would like to have pen-pals in English- 1 2 3 4 5
speaking countries.
12. I would like to understand how Americans 1 2 3 4 5
think and why they behave as they do.
13. I would like to marry someone who is a 1 2 3 4 5
native-English speaker.
14. I feel proud that I can speak English with 1 2 3 4 5
foreigners.
15. I enjoy learning about the American's 1 2 3 4 5
way of life.
16. I am eager to help English-speaking strangers 1 2 3 4 5
find their way in Bangkok.
17. I would like to exchange ideas with Americans. 1 2 3 4 5
18. I would like to live with an American family. 1 2 3 4 5
19. I would like to have a job where I cam 1 2 3 4 5
communicate with many English-speaiking foreigners.
20. Learning English will enaible me to gain good 1 2 3 4 5
English-speaiking friends when I travel aibroad.
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
When I have free time, I often think of some 1 2 3
vocabulary or some sentences in English.
When studying English in the classroom, I 1 2 3
feel active and joy.
The English language is superior to Thai. 1 2 3
I often spend a few hours practicing English 1 2 3
after class.
I would like to teach English to my friends 1 2 3 4
who need my help.
"I believe that studying
162
4 5
4 5
4 5
Items 26 to 38 begin with the phrase
English will help me..."
26. study in another country, such as America
or England.
27. shop in a foreign country.
28. gain social recognition.
29. pass the national entrance exam.
30. be proficient in the English language.
31. go into international business.
32. get a higher paying job.
33. gain my family's approval.
34. gain my friend's approval.
35. raise my standard of living.
36. get a higher job status.
37. prepare for my advanced studies
(e.g. graduate school) .
38. travel abroad.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
2
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
3 4 5
3 4 5
3 4 5
3 4 5
3 4 5
3 4 5
3 4 5
Items 39 to 51 begin with the phrase "I study English because
39. English is widely spoken through out the world. 1 2 3
40. I am interested in the English language, 1 2 3
literature, and culture.
41. Much of the literature of my chosen profession 1 2 3
is available in English only.
42. The best material that I have found is written 1 2 3
in English.
43. Much of the computer software that interests 1 2 3
me is presented in English.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
English.
49. I prefer to speak English more than any other
foreign language.
50. I enjoy participating in the activities which
we do in English courses .
51. I want to write stories, articles, etc.
in English.
I like to read books and magazines published 1 2 3 4 5
in English.
The music I most enjoy has English lyrics. 1 2 3 4 5
I like to listen to radio broadcasts in English. 1 2 3 4 5
I like to listen to English language audio tapes.1 2 3 4 5
I like to see films, video tapes or plays in 1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
1 2 3 4 5
Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Rinswat, Pornpen (author)

Core Title A comparison between Thai student attitudes toward English as a Foreign Language and their English proficiency at four public (state) universities in Bangkok, Thailand

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag education, bilingual and multicultural,education, higher,education, language and literature,OAI-PMH Harvest

Language English

Contributor Digitized by ProQuest (provenance)

Advisor Knick, G. (committee chair), Kazlauskas, Edward (committee member), Rideout, William M. (committee member)

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c17-529046

Unique identifier UC11350129

Identifier 9705169.pdf (filename),usctheses-c17-529046 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier 9705169.pdf

Dmrecord 529046

Document Type Dissertation

Rights Rinswat, Pornpen

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the au...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus, Los Angeles, California 90089, USA