NEEDS OF ENGLISH FOR ELDERLY PEOPLE IN DOEM BANG NANG BUAT, SUPHANBURI

Abstract

This research aimed to 1) study the needs of English for elderly people in Doem Bang Nang Buat, Suphan Buri and 2) to serve as guidelines for the English course development for elderly people in Doem Bang Nang Buat, Suphan Buri. This research used mixed methods, with a sample of 21 elderly people selected by the purposive sampling. The tools used in this study were questionnaire, in-depth interview and focus group discussion. Quantitative data were analyzed through use of percentage, frequency, average, and standard deviation. Qualitative data used content analysis. 

The findings of the study were as follows:    1) Most of the 21 subjects who were farmers, vendors, housekeepers, retired government officers, Buddhist monks and workers had the desire to be trained in four English skills in both real and unreal situations since they wanted to apply knowledge and skills of English to advance their careers, especially listening and speaking about greeting, introducing products and services, recommending places, asking for and giving information. 2) English course development for elderly people in Doem Bang Nang Buat should be developed based on learners’ personal information and needs of English which include training type, topics of conversation, content, skills, activities, and teaching methods of instructors.