THAI STUDENTS’ AWARENESS ATTITUDES OF GLOBAL ENGLISHES PEDAGOGY AND TARGET INTERLOCUTOR

Abstract

The widespread use of English as a world language has caused changes in the sociolinguistic reality of English speakers, English use, and English-speaking societies. No paradigm has been able to completely capture and account for such changes in the English language given the current changes. In order to reflect the sociolinguistic realities of today, researchers have advocated for a paradigm shift from traditional pedagogy to a new pedagogy that can prepare students to use English in intercultural communication and incorporate multiple varieties of English and cultures. The attitudes of 20 Thai English major students who successfully completed a one-semester Global English language teaching course were investigated using questionnaire and interview data. The analysis included both quantitative and qualitative methods using descriptive statistics and qualitative content analysis, respectively. The results demonstrated that the 15-week GE-informed pedagogy significantly improved student views toward GE awareness. The students further reported that English should be viewed as a language serving varied communicative needs among different multilingual users and not just native users as target interlocutors. These results call for more GE-awareness pedagogical activities for a better understanding of the practical uses of English and in compliance with global linguistic diversifications.  Article visualizations: