The Status of Speech Acts in Thai Academic Works Over the Past 33 Years (1993-2025)

Abstract

The objective of this research is to synthesise the status of speech acts in 180 Thai academic works over the past 33 years, from 1993 A.D. to 2025 A.D. A‍ documentary research approach was used to analyse and synthesise data from Thai university research databases and three online databases: Thai Journals Online (TCI-ThaiJo), Google Scholar, and Google. The data analysis revealed that knowledge in discourse studies can be categorised into five key areas: 1) discourse research can be classified into four periods: the pioneering stage (1993–2002), the expansion stage (2003–2012), the growth stage in the digital era (2013–2022), and the contemporary stage (2023–2025); 2) five main groups of theoretical approaches were employed, with discourse-related theories and related frameworks being the most commonly used; 3) eight primary themes in discourse studies were identified, with the most common being the analysis and classification of speech acts; 4) types of discourse studied were classified into seven categories, with general or comprehensive discourse being the most studied; and 5) seven types of analytical contexts were utilised, with everyday communication being the most frequently examined. These findings highlight existing gaps and future directions for the development of discourse research in Thailand.