Materials Development in a Thai EFL Context

As English language is important in the higher education in Thailand, all universities need to develop students’ English language proficiency so that they can work and communicate by using English language in the society. There are many English courses that students must study, and each course has a different course description. In order to align with the course description, teachers must choose appropriate textbooks. Normally, Thai teachers use a commercial textbook due to its quality. Moreover, it is easy and convenient to buy commercial textbooks as there are various publishers in Thailand. However, it has been found that after choosing commercial textbooks, teachers select only some parts of the textbooks to teach students. Teachers cannot choose all parts of the textbooks to teach because some parts of the textbooks do not align with the course description. To solve this problem, Thai teachers need to use more than one commercial textbook and select some parts of each textbook to teach students in that course.

Materials development is considered to be the main contribution to English language teaching in a Thai EFL university context. Thai teachers are required to write their own textbooks in order to align with the course description. In addition to the course description, teachers must consider other factors when they need to develop textbooks.

As I am one of participants in textbook development, I found that teachers should focus on levels of English proficiency. Although students are in the higher education, it does not mean that they have high levels of English proficiency. In fact, many Thai EFL university students have lower-than-expected performance in terms of English language skills. Therefore, some commercial textbooks which are designed to teach undergraduate students cannot be used in a Thai EFL university context.

Culture is also an important factor which should be taken into account. Some commercial textbooks are designed based on culture in many countries around the world. However, Thai culture is not found in those textbooks. As a result, in order for students to be able to apply knowledge to the real situation, they should learn how to use English language in a Thai context. For example, students should learn vocabulary related to different kinds of food so that they can talk about food with foreigners. In this case, words of Thai food should be introduced, such as grilled pork with sticky rice, pad thai, etc.

Additionally, digital literacy should be integrated into English language teaching. When teachers design textbooks, they should focus on activities which promote digital literacy. There are many activities which can lead to the development of English proficiency based on digital literacy. According to my experience as a participant in textbook development, I found that teachers should ask students to use their digital literacy skills to help them find ideas to write in the topic given by teachers.

Taken everything into consideration, textbooks written by Thai EFL teachers absolutely serve students’ needs, so materials development should be promoted in a Thai EFL university context.