Language literacy, language education policy and classroom practices in a Thai primary school context

Rattima Thanyathamrongkul, Wareesiri Singhasiri and Sonthida Keyuravong
King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand

Prompted by UNESCO initiatives on promoting world literacy (UNESCO, 2005, 2014), many countries, including Thailand, have launched language education policies to push literacy development forward. Accordingly, this study seeks to investigate the policies promoting literacy in Thailand and their implementation at the local level. Language education policy ('LEP') documents were analysed together and with regard to the backgrounds of national LEPs. Semi-structured interviews with a superintendent and school teachers were conducted to elicit data concerning the interpretation of policies. In addition, ten Standard Thai lessons were observed to examine how one teacher implemented policy. The data analysis revealed that LEPs in Thailand are top down and positively resulted in raising awareness of the policy practitioners. Despite the fact that they were top-down policies, the findings indicated that the teacher also independently decided on how to teach literacy. These results may imply that an analysis of LEP documents and an investigation of policy implementation may lead to better understanding of how LEPs and classroom practice are intertwined in each context.
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Authors: Rattima Thanyathamrongkul is a PhD candidate in Applied Linguistics at the School of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT). Her research interests include language classroom practices and code-switching in educational contexts. Email: rattima.t@mail.kmutt.ac.th Wareesiri Singhasiri is Assistant Professor in the Department of Language Studies, School of Liberal Arts, King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, Thailand. She has a PhD from the University of Essex. Her interests are learning strategies, learning styles and research methodology. Email: wareesiri.sin@kmutt.ac.th Sonthida Keyuravong is Associate Professor in the Department of Language Studies, School of Liberal Arts, and King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. Her interests are course design, material development, and self-access learning. Email: sonthida.key@kmutt.ac.th Please cite as: Thanyathamrongkul, R., Singhasiri, W. & Keyuravong, S. (2018). Language literacy, language education policy and classroom practices in a Thai primary school context. Issues in Educational Research, 28(4), 1060-1079. http://www.iier.org.au/iier28/thanyathamrongkul.pdf