In Love and English: A Case of An Extracurricular Activity Conducted in Thailand’s Tertiary Level

Abstract

In Thailand, in-class teaching and learning are regarded as the principal form of obtaining English proficiency in all skills including listening, speaking, reading, and writing. However, Thai students are still deficient of the ability to effectively wield the skills in real life. This reflects the inadequacy of the classroom teaching of the language and its lack of practical advantage. Therefore, extracurricular activities have been implemented alongside classroom teaching to enhance learners’ ability to use the language in an authentic context as well as their confidence and self-esteem. Chulalongkorn University in Thailand offers students with a variety of out-of-class activities by making it a requirement that first-year students participate in any of them as they are embedded as part of the score collection. One of them is entitled “Love Guru” which allows students from all faculties and majors to participate in. It is organized three times per semester and has mostly received positive feedbacks so far from students as a novel alternative to learn English which additionally serves to bond them together, boost their self-esteem, and encourage them to use English as a means of discussion about the issues that they can identify with. This article elaborates on the characteristics, implementations and results of the activity based on the teacher’s experiences.