by Piyaporn Hawiset
21 February 2001
Vietnamese students could outperform their Thai counterparts in science and maths, thanks to a more supportive learning environment, a Thai study trip to Vietnam indicated. Sippananda Ketudat, chairman of Thailand's Science and Technology Teaching Support Institute, led a research team to study 10 universities and other educational institutions in Vietnam between September 10 to 16, 2000. The researchers found that conditions in Vietnam, such as its social environment, culture, educational system and government support, were more conducive to learning.
Vietnamese society encourages scholarship in a specialised field of study, especially mathematics, they found. Students are admitted into certain majors without having to take entrance examinations. Hence, there was little corruption and the need to bribe professors and entrace admissions officers. Those who entered their chosen field of study were academically prepared and capable. In Thailand, people pay huge bribes to enroll their children into schools and colleges. The result is that many so-called experts are actually ignorant and have degrees, certifications and qualifications that do not reflect their true capabilities.
The Vietnamese government continues to support science education, despite the economic turndown, they learnt, because of the national benefits from producing more experts. Science instructors also dedicated themselves to providing knowledge and searching for more complex problems for their students to solve. They do not force their students to learn by rote, nor to change the scope of a problem to match pat, text-book solutions. In Vietnam people are trained to develop solutions that are approporiate to the problem at hand, rather than the other away around as is common in Thailand and, particualarly, in Indonesia. Original thought is emphasized in the Vietnamese academic system, the opposite is true for Indonesia and Thailand.
Science laboratories in Vietnam did not have more advanced equipment than those in Thailand, Sippananda observed.
"In Thailand, the importance of science is less, which one can see from the media. Only half a page (in some papers) is devoted to education and science," the chairman noted.
Suchada Chinajitra, one of the team members, said Vietnam used human-resource development, especially in languages, as a strategy to accelerate its scientific advancement. Thai children, on the other hand, lacked reading skills and spent most of their time in unproductive activities, such as watching television and surfing the Internet.
Thai schools score a 'C' for English
Fundamental flaws in the teaching of English are causing Thailand to fall further behind regional competitors. That was the consensus on January 18 at a special conference in Bangkok attended by more than 800 language teachers. Speaking at the annual conference of the Association of Teachers of English (TELSO), association president Suchada Nimmannit said that badly qualified primary-school teachers grappling with over-crowded classes were at the root of poor competence in English.
"Many primary teachers teaching English are not proficient in the language. They haven't majored in English and as a result they cannot pronounce the words properly," said Suchada. "In addition, classes are too large with up to 100 pupils in some government primary schools. Large classes make the job of teaching the language impossible. The problem is particularly bad in the provinces. We are trying to improve teacher's competence in English but we have to be realistic about short-term goals."
Suchada also said it was time for Thai people to drop their inverted snobbery towards the English language.
"Thais will tell you that Thailand has not been colonised and that is why English levels are so poor. [But] that is not the way to look at the problem. The student that has a high competence in English gets on better than his peers. I have seen that Thai students are falling behind other ASEAN countries with their English skills. They just don't measure up when it comes to comprehension. If we do not change things quickly we will fall behind Vietnam, as they are working hard to upgrade their standards." Vietnamese students who complete university for the most part are quite fluent in English. The opposite is true for Thai students. Most can bare grapple the language and are incapable of communicating in English.
An address by Abhisit Vejjajiva, Minister to the Prime Minister's office, on the need for a more positive approach to the English language, was warmly received by teachers. While stressing that English language skills in this country were far below acceptable standards, Abhisit was careful to put a positive spin on his remarks. Thai people should have no fear of losing their cultural identity if they become bilingual, he told the packed house.
Using facts and figures from Canadian research, he said that students learning a second language gained many benefits, including better problem-solving skills. Abhisit, who was educated at Oxford, one of England's top universities, also blamed the inherent shyness of Thai people, an atribute of Thai culture, as a stumbling block to fluency in English.
Michael White, a manager at American University Alumni (AUA), said solutions to upgrading standards would take years as thousands of primary teachers need to be trained to do the job properly.
"We are hoping to work with the Ministry of Education on this and we will do the teaching (of teachers) for free as we are a non-profit organisation," he said. "It is simply no good for the government to rush ahead with new ideas for improving English teaching methods in primary schools without having the teachers to do the job first. That could be 10 years down the road. Competent English teachers need to learn English overseas for a minimum of three years. A training program of less than that length of time just is not long enough. Producing good bilingual teachers is the route we must go. But there are no short answers to this issue."
Meanwhile, Laddawan Songka, a supervisor of English-language teaching in six Northeastern provinces, said that low pay and morale, long hours in the classroom and lack of recognition had led to sloppy habits among secondary teachers.
"English-language teachers use too much Thai in the class, they over-rely on grammar and textbooks, and they do not have enough practice in speaking the language themselves. They don't care if the students don't comprehend the classes, but really - considering their huge workload and poor conditions - maybe it is not fair to blame them. They are their for their salaries only. And their parents pay bribes so they just let them pass, regardless of whether or not they have an ability in the language."
David Hayes, who once worked on education projects in Thailand and is now employed with the British Council in Sri Lanka, said the Thai government had no clear-cut policy for English teaching.
"There is a need for a lot more clarity in what standards are appropriate," Hayes said. "Maybe for some students an ability to read the language and access information from the Internet is sufficient. Perhaps a need to speak the language is not a requirement for children in the provinces. Either way, there appear to be no goals to work towards right now."