A STUDY OF PROBLEMS AND NEEDS FOR DEVELOPING THAI LANGUAGE COMMUNICATION COMPETENCY OF THAI LANGUAGE STUDENT TEACHERS

Abstract

The objectives of this research article were to study: 1) the problems in speech communication faced by Thai language student teachers from the perspectives of mentors and lecturers; and 2) the needs for the development of communication competency in Thai language student teachers. Two research instruments were used: 1) a questionnaire to identify communication problems of Thai language student teachers from the perspectives of mentors and lecturers, which included both a quantitative study using a 5-level rating scale and a qualitative study using open-ended questions analyzed by content analysis; 2) a questionnaire to assess the needs for developing communication competency in Thai language student teachers. The statistics used for data analysis included the mean, standard deviation, and Priority Needs Index (PNI_modified), with qualitative data analyzed through content analysis. The sample group was selected by simple random sampling based on the Krejcie and Morgan table, consisting of 152 mentors of Thai language student teachers from Lower North Rajabhat Universities, five Thai lecturers with experience in teaching Thai speech from Lower North Rajabhat Universities, and 155 third-year Thai language student teachers from Lower North Rajabhat Universities.

The results of the research were as follows: 1) Regarding the conditions of speech communication problems of Thai language student teachers from the perspectives of mentors and lecturers, mentors identified tone of voice as the most significant problem, followed by external personality and language. Lecturers identified personality as the most significant problem, followed by language and content. 2) Regarding the needs for developing communication competency, it was found that there is a strong need to enhance speech communication competency, particularly in terms of internal personality, followed by external personality and content, respectively.