bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
ESL Students Use of Alliteration and Assonance in Recalling Formulaic Language
Authors: Horness Paul
Published: October 2023

Formulaic language, such as lexical phrases as hot as hell or pass the buck, in English is common in daily usage. Although formulaic language is common, the lexical phrases are often excluded from word lists. Second language learners of English need to use formulaic language to enhance their proficiency level. Beyond incorporating lexical phrases to word lists, other methods should be examined. This study examined the mnemonic benefit of noticing alliterative and assonant phrases with low and high proficiency learners of English. Previous research has shown that highlighting the concepts of alliteration and assonance is beneficial in recalling monosyllabic two-word units such as pet peeve or bite size. This study inquired whether the mnemonic effect is effective with longer lexical phrases beyond two-syllable phrases even when deliberative learning is not involved. Students from two public universities in Japan participated in the semester-long activity. The participants were asked to classify the phrases into different categories, and then recall the phrases over time. The results indicate that the mnemonic effect is not as clear with longer lexical phrases than it is with monosyllabic lexical phrases. Recall for alliterative expressions seemed to be better than for assonant expressions, but similar to non-salient expressions. Lower proficiency learners seem to process the longer lexical phrases similar to higher proficiency learners so the benefit of noticing alliterative and assonant expressions might be equal for both groups.
How Has Business Communication Changed in the Last 4,000 Years?
Authors: Watson Todd Richard
Published: October 2023

Understanding how language is used in specific contexts and the reasons for this can be helped by examining historical change in genres. In this study focusing on business communication, texts serving the same purpose of demanding payment for a debt but separated by 4,000 years are analysed. The ancient text is a Sumerian cuneiform tablet which is compared to two modern model business letters. The texts are investigated through a genre analysis focusing on functions and linguistic features and a multidimensional register analysis. Both analyses produce similar results with the main exception being the sequencing of functions. The lack of much meaningful change in business communication in the last 4,000 years is likely to be due to the dominant influence of communicative purposes in guiding how language is used.
Underprivileged Students’ Second Language Motivation: Cases of Three Highly-Motivated Non-English Major Students
Authors: Nattheeraphong Anyarat
Published: October 2023

This article presents the main qualitative findings from a mixed-methods study which applied Zoltán Dörnyei’s L2 Motivational Self System to  explore the L2 motivation of 291 non-English major students in a regional university in Thailand. This article focuses on exploring three highlymotivated underprivileged students’ English motivation to gain insights into the extent to which the students’ possible L2-related selves and L2 learning experiences influence their L2 motivation. Also explored were the participants’ significant others’ perspectives on the participants’ English learning in order to gain a more holistic picture of the phenomena under study and to ensure data triangulation. Data were collected using a range of methods including semi-structured interviews and Snake interviews with the three main participants. Unstructured interviews were conducted with the main participants’ significant others. The interview transcripts were analyzed using content analysis. The findings revealed that there was a balance between the hope-for and feared selves, enabling the participants’ possible selves to motivate them in their English learning. The results also showed that the students’ L2 learning experience provided an immediate learning environment which fostered their development and motivated them in their English learning. These findings yielded important insights into how students’ L2-related selves play a crucial role in motivating them in their L2 learning as well as how policy planners, educators, administrators, teachers and parents can help create an environment which promotes L2 learning and motivation in their respective contexts.
An Analysis of Grammatical Errors Made by Thai EFL University Students in an EAP writing Class: Issues and Recommendations
Authors: Kampookaew Parima
Published: October 2023

Grammatical errors are major concerns for many teachers and students. The first step in tackling these errors is to investigate what kinds of grammatical errors students make and how frequently they occur so that remedies can be sought. This study thus set out to analyze the essays written by Thai EFL students. The data used for analysis were 58 essays (24,445 words) produced by 29 second-year students enrolled in an EAP writing class at a public university in Thailand. Through the analysis, 1,199 errors were found. The errors were classified into ten types, and errors on nouns, articles, verbs, word classes, and prepositions were the most frequently found errors, constituting 84.07% of all the errors identified. This study also further divided the ten types of errors into 49 subtypes. This thorough and in-depth error classification revealed that wrong use of singular and plural nouns, omission of the article ‘the’, and subject-verb disagreements were the most prevalent grammatical errors committed by the Thai EFL students in this study. Alarmingly, the results showed that Thai EFL students still struggle with grammatical accuracy when they write. Although these grammatical errors may not completely obscure the meanings of students’ writing, the worrying point is their presence or prevalence can significantly undermine its quality and prevent it from reaching publishable quality. To address this issue, more attempts need to be made on the part of Thai EFL teachers. Therefore, this paper also provides recommendations for how to assist students in fixing thesecommonly made grammatical errors.
A Needs Analysis of Thai Massage Employees’ (Thai Massage Therapists, Receptionists, and Managers) English Communication Skills in the city of Pattaya, Chonburi
Authors: Chiablaem Parichat
Published: October 2023

English communication has gained its importance for Thai massage employees who are required to interact and provide massage services to foreign customers due to the popularity of Thai massage among foreigners. This study attempts to explore and analyze the needs and problems of Thai massage employees towards English communication in their workplaces located in Pattaya City, Thailand. This is a mixedmethodology research collecting data from 132 Thai massage employees through an online questionnaire and semi-structured interviews with five Thai massage employees to obtain insight data and further information. The key findings show that speaking and listening skills are the most needed skills including English vocabulary knowledge. In terms of themost problematic skills, speaking, listening, and writing respectively were rated as high while reading skill reported as moderate. According to the interview, the results reveal that English competency may not greatly affect the quality of Thai massage service; however, being able to use English properly increases customers’ satisfaction and reduces time for the employees to communicate with foreign customers. The findings also indicate that the Thai massage therapists use their body languages, pictures, and memorized English patterns and sample phrases to communicate with foreign customers as their solutions for Englishcommunication problems. This research which was conducted under a fund of the Faculty of Management Sciences, Kasetsart University reports the needs and problems of these groups of people in order to design an English for Spa course based on English for Specific Purposes (ESP) principles to foster English communication skills for the Thai massage employees as well as for business students who are interested in ESP courses.
A Coronavirus Corpus-driven Study on the Uses of If- Conditionals in the Pandemic Period
Authors: Montkhongtham Napanant
Published: October 2023

The COVID-19 pandemic, has greatly affected the lives of everyone. One major concern during this period has been that of communication including content dealing with possibilities and ideology concerning freedom. Thisstudy aims to analyze the application of if-conditionals expressing options and possibilities during the COVID-19 pandemic using data in the Coronavirus Corpus developed in May 2020 by Mark Davies. The extracted if-conditionals were divided in accordance with Puente-Castelo’s (2017) framework of if-typology, and grammatical aspects of all the verb strings were also analyzed in terms of tense and aspect, sentential modality, and voice. It was discovered that speech act conditionals—relevance conditionals—were most commonly applied to provide specific suggestions to deal with the pandemic. The second and third-ranked choices, scoperestricting conditionals and hypothesizing conditionals helped to specify scopes and definitions and to emphasize possibilities and predictions or statistical estimates based on evidence, respectively. The grammatical aspects also corresponded to the COVID situation and helped to convey messages in accordance with the if-conditional functions. The results suggest that the if-construction provides communicative functions fitting various contexts relating to the pandemic. It can facilitate interpersonal communication, allow message receivers freedom to evaluate the proposed option, and provide some safety for the speaker in their choice of phrasing since COVID-19-related circumstances are uncertain. The information can be useful for those seeking linguistic tools for effective communicationand for instructors developing material for English for specific purposes.
“I speak English, but I’m still a Malay”: Language Attitudes and Identity amongst Bilingual Bruneians Living in London
Authors: Noorashid Najib , McLellan James
Published: October 2023

This paper highlights the findings of a study into the language use, identity and attitudes of some Bruneian Malay government officers and students living in London. It is found that their allegiance towards the Malay language and Bruneian culture remains strong, despite their living in a largely Anglophone metropolis which requires them to communicate predominantly in English. As highly proficient bilingual speakers, the respondents are highly aware of the importance of maintaining their vernacular Brunei Malay as a marker of their identity. Through the use of observation and semi-structured interview methods, it emerges thatpredicted patterns of language shift towards the global language do not occur, and there is evidence of maintenance of strong Malay identity precisely because of their requirement to use more English in out-group communication contexts. The ‘zero-sum game’ notion, of more English equalling less Malay, is not applicable. This paper includes vignettes which show the participants negotiating between their languages in work and study contexts. It also demonstrates the need to consider how English interconnects with the other languages that are found in the repertoire of globally mobile South-East Asians.
Manifestation of Agency by English Language Teachers in Relation to Thailand’s Language Assessment Policy
Authors: Dhammarungruang Benjamas , Wudthayagorn Jirada
Published: October 2023

The concept of human agency has received increasing attention in the field of education in the past decade. Yet, education researchers, those in the area of English language teaching included, still have much to grapple with in exploring and conceptualizing agency of teachers—or teacher agency. The current study thus aims to contribute to greater understanding of teacher agency in relation to the English language assessment policy of Thailand’s higher education. Insights are gleaned from questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews with 26 English language teachers of various nationalities, currently teaching undergraduatelevel English, from nine public and nine private higher education institutions across Thailand. Findings reveal five types of manifestation of teacher agency and the various degrees in which personal and ecological factors influence each manifestation type. It also appears that manifestation ofteacher agency depends not so much on the direct demands of policy mandates as on the teachers’ personal dispositions being mediated—or subjugated—by their institutional culture and structure.
Investigating Factors Affecting Students’ Attitudes toward Hybrid Learning
Authors: Sanpanich Nawaporn
Published: October 2023

This study aimed at investigating factors including gender, prior experience of hybrid learning, and computer literacy that affect students’ attitudes toward hybrid learning with reference to different learning aspects. The study adopted a survey research methodology using a questionnaire and examined 879 students who had enrolled in hybrid English courses in a university. The finding revealed that all factors had an effect on students’ attitudes toward hybrid learning. Gender had an effect on attitudes toward four learning aspects - study management, technology, online interaction, and online learning. Prior experience of hybrid learning had an effect on two learning aspects - technology and online learning; and computer literacy had an effect on attitudes toward every learning aspect and had the most effect on the use of technology. Based on the findings, this study provides guidelines and a useful information base for future course improvement.
From Experience to Classroom Activities: Preparing EIL Hosts for Visitors to Thailand
Authors: Laoriandee Wutthiphong
Published: October 2023

Through the lens of English as an International Language (EIL), this study investigates experience and linguistic challenges university students and tour guides in Thailand have when hosting foreign visitors, and how those challenges can be addressed in classroom activities. A questionnaire was distributed to 113 university students and 70 tour guides. Additionally, interviews with seven students and two tour guides were employed for data triangulation. It was found that the participants most frequently took visitors to historical places and had problems with specialized vocabulary and Thai culture-specific words. Visitors’ accent also hindered the success in hosting visitors. A two-hour session incorporating EIL tenets of communication strategies and inter-cultural sensitivity that addressed vocabulary problems was implemented with 26 students. This study is hoped to provide insights into real experience and commonly found linguistic problems for visitor hosts. This can lead to informed decision of English for Tourism course designers and teachers.
Complex Interplay of Cognitive and Strategic Processing in EFL Listening: Implications for Teaching
Authors: Rukthong Anchana
Published: October 2023

Although listening is key to communication, it remains the least studied skill compared to other skills, both at the national and international levels, among learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). There is also often a lack of awareness among scholars and teachers of how listening takes place, how it is best taught, and how it can be studied. To fill this gap, this study investigated the process of listening activated by Thai EFL learners while listening for comprehension. Twenty-four undergraduate participants were asked to complete a 30-minute multiple-choice listening test, with stimulated recalls conducted immediately afterward. Their stimulated recall transcriptions, listening notes and test responses were analyzed to identify which cognitive processes and strategies they used while listening and to investigate the extent that they were successful as listeners. The results showed that although the participants activated cognitive processes for listening at both the lower and higher levels, the majority, both high and low ability listeners, reported relying more on processes at the lower level (word recognition and parsing). Common strategies used by the participants are inferencing, elaboration, and comprehension monitoring. The activation of the cognitive processes and strategies was interactive and interrelated in a very complex way. Based on the findings, implications are discussed for how effective listening skills are best taught in the EFL classroom, what kinds of materials should be used, and how listening skills can best be assessed.
Translation of Thai Culture-Specific Words Into English in Digital Environment: Translators’ Strategies and Use of Technology
Authors: Wongseree Thandao
Published: October 2023

The present research investigates how translators deal with the challenges of translating culture-specific words from Thai into English within a digital environment. Using strategies suggested by Baker (2018), the study collected data from surveys, written sources and observations to examine which approaches are used by translators. It also addresses how technology impacts the decision making of translators as they create translations employing both Bourdieu’s concept of habitus (1977, 1990) and the Actor-Network Theory proposed by Latour (1987, 2005). The findings show that translators use eight primary strategies when translating culture-specific words, with the use of loan words being the most common and literal translation the least used. The habitus of translators possibly influences their translation choices, with technology playing a crucial role in determining which solutions and strategies translators choose. This proves the extent to which technology currently influences translators in the completion of translation tasks in digital environments. Consideration of these factors should be considered as a way to improve translation training in a Thai context.
Towards the Study of Political Text and Translation in Thailand: A Case Study of Thai Translations of Biden’s Inaugural Address
Authors: Phanthaphoommee Narongdej
Published: October 2023

The existing literature concerning the translation of political discourse in Thailand remains limited. To encourage more research in this area, this paper proposes a model for analysing the translation of political texts in the Thai context. Drawing upon Munday’s (2012, 2018) appraisal approach to translation and Schäffner’s (2004, 2012) analysis of the political context around translation, this paper offers a two-level methodology for investigating the Thai-English and English-Thai translation of political texts. The case of US President Biden’s 2021 inaugural address was chosen for testing the model. The findings reveal that the two Thai news agencies translated only some parts of the speech, resulting in a selective re-presentation of Biden’s political discourse. The ideological presentations of the two Thai versions are strikingly different: one representing a faithful portrayal of the original standpoint and the other with a stronger attitude in numerous ideology-laden terms. This paper also discusses the epitextual and contextual elements of the translations in question.
Distinguishing the Language of Destructive Cults from the Language of Mainstream Religion: Corpus Analyses of Sermons
Authors: T. Palayon Raymund , Watson Todd Richard , Vungthong Sompatu
Published: October 2023

The language of religious leaders expressed in their sermons characterizes the social characteristics of their groups. Over the past decades, most studies into cults specifically destructive cults and mainstream religion have mainly focused on their social-psychological characteristics with limited applicability to other religious groups. In this study, corpus-based methods were applied to the sermons of the leaders of two destructive cults (namely, Peoples Temple led by Jim Jones and Heaven’s Gate led by Marshall Applewhite) and the sermons of mainstream religious groups represented by Baptist preachers to distinguish the language between dangerous and beneficial religious groups based on the patterns of key linguistic features. The methodological process includes keyness analyses (namely, keyword analysis, key semantic tag analysis, and key part-of-speech analysis) and multidimensional analysis. The results from a keyness perspective show that the destructive cult sermons promote non-religious concepts with the use of othering, intensification, and strong elaboration. For the mainstream sermons, they uphold religious concepts for life development with the use of personal involvement and moderate elaboration. The results from a text dimension perspective show that the language of destructive cults and the language of mainstream religion displayed in their sermons are both persuasive and elaborative. However, the language of destructive cults is more persuasive and elaborative than the language of mainstream religion. The findings may serve as a basis for how to recognize the potential detrimental and beneficial characteristics of religious groups based on their language.
The Effects of Project-Based Blended Learning with Communication Strategy Instruction on English Oral Communication Ability of Undergraduate Engineering Students
Authors: Pinphet Pichai , Wasanasomsithi Punchalee
Published: October 2023

Thai undergraduate engineering students seem to have difficulty mastering English oral communication ability. This study investigated the effects of project-based blended learning with communication strategy instruction to develop English oral communication ability of undergraduate engineering students. Four communication strategies, namely asking for clarification, asking for confirmation, circumlocution, and use of fillers and hesitation devices, were taught to 20 undergraduate engineering students inside class. The participants carried out their online tasks and independent project via social platforms (e.g., Facebook, Skype, etc.). Quantitative and qualitative data collection and analyses were conducted. The participants’ pretest and posttest scores were compared using the Wilcoxon signed rank test to examine their English oral communication ability development in six aspects (i.e., range, accuracy, fluency, interaction, coherence, and pronunciation) based on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR) 2017. The findings revealed that changes in English oral communication ability took place after the participants were taught communication strategies, thus indicating that project-based blended learning with communication strategy instruction could be used to promote English oral communication ability of language learners.
Using Storytelling: From EFL Teachers’ Perceptions to Young Learners’ Reading Performance
Authors: Trinh Quoc Lap  , Nguyen Mai Thy  , Le Thanh Thao
Published: October 2023

The query on how to teach young learners to succeed in their English learning has been somehow under-explored. Just a few studies investigated the usefulness of the storytelling (ST) technique on English as a foreign language (EFL) young learners’ (YLs) in the Vietnamese context. Consequently, this study attempts to examine (1) EFL teachers’ perceptions of the contributions of ST, (2) YLs’ attitudes towards the effects of ST on their reading performance, and (3) the impacts of ST on YLs’ reading performance (RP). The study followed a mixed-methods design, using a questionnaire, interviews and reading tests to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. First, a survey was administered to 38 EFL teachers who have taught YLs for more than five years. The experimental study recruited 43 YLs who were divided into two groups, 21 YLs in two control groups and 22 others in two experimental ones. Six YLs in the experimental groups were invited to partake in the interviews, and 43 YLs took the reading pre-test and post-test. The results showed that the teacher participants positively perceived the potentials of ST. The YLs interviewees showed their positive attitudes towards the effects of ST on their RP. The test results indicated the significant impacts of the technique on the YLs’ RP. Pedagogical implications and suggestions were presented at the end of the paper.
Translation Errors Made by Thai University Students: A Study on Types and Causes
Authors: Duklim Bunyarat
Published: October 2023

The research investigates probable causes of translation errors by examining types of Thai-to-English and English-to-Thai translation errors and determining the most common translation errors. The participants of this study were 32 English for Communication students at a Thai University. The data used in this study was obtained from exercises and examinations of students. Data analysis was carried out using content analysis and sorted by frequency and percentage. The results obtained found that syntactic errors (65%) were the most frequent translation errors, followed by semantic errors (24.6%) and miscellaneous errors (10.4%), respectively. The causes of errors and translation problems were determined through interviews and stimulated recall. Translation procedures, low self-confidence, carelessness, and anxiety were the main causes of errors found. This study recommends that additional class time be provided to address all errors found. Moreover, group work and the implementation of authentic translation is proposed to increase self-confidence and decrease anxiety. It is hoped that this study results can improve translation teaching and the course “Translation from Thai into English” in Thailand.
Analysing the Thai to English Translations of Tourism Discursive Elements in the Tourism Authority of Thailand’s English Webpages
Authors: Chueasuai Pasakara
Published: October 2023

With its tourism industry becoming the main source of income of the country, Thailand has put an emphasis on promoting tourist destinations to foreign tourists via different channels including online resources. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), a state agency in charge of tourism promotion, provides useful information of attractions in Thai and other languages on their webpages. This paper attempts to analyse the tourism discursive elements as posited by Durán Muñoz (2012) and Dann (1996) in the English version of the TAT webpages on Bangkok and to analyse how these components are translated. The study found few uses of the tourism language characteristic in the translated version as the result of the moderate uses of these constituents and the exclusion of certain Thai texts in the translation. The investigation also found that these linguistic tools are both literally translated and adapted. While the original meaning is preserved by literal translation, adaptation tends to heighten the tourism discourse quality in the translated text yet alters the original meaning.
Move Structures and Stance Adverbials in Editorials From The Bangkok Post and The New York Times
Authors: Rojanaatichartasakul Seehhazzakd , Phoocharoensil Supakorn
Published: October 2023

Apart from the fact that there are no fixed rules for writing newspaper editorials, there is no single study incorporating both analyses of moves and stance adverbials in online English newspaper editorials from The Bangkok Post in comparison to those from an international online English newspaper from another country. The aims of the present study include 1). exploring the move structure of editorials from The Bangkok Post and The New York Times, 2). finding stance adverbials in each move, and 3). identifying the positions of the stance adverbials found in each move. 60 editorials from 2017 to 2019 with the length of 550-700 words whose purpose is to call for action were selected from each newspaper archive. A list of stance adverbials and a proposed move structure were employed for identifying the moves and stance adverbials. ANTCONC was used as a tool for counting the frequencies (converted into percentages and normalized frequencies afterwards) and identifying the positions of stance adverbials. In both corpora, most of the editorials contain the sequence of Move 1-Move 2-Move 3-Move 4 (1234 or MS1). Furthermore, other outstanding move sequences include Move 1-Move 2- Move 3- Move 2-Move 3- Move 4 (123234 or MS2) and Move 1-Move 3- Move 2- Move 3- Move 4 (13234 or MS3). Epistemic stance adverbials were found two times more frequently than attitudinal stance adverbials and about seven times more frequently than style stance adverbials. The most prevalent sub-categories of epistemic stance adverbials are doubt/certainty, source of knowledge, and actuality, whereas the most outstanding attitudinal stance adverbials are importance and evaluation. Those showing importance were more frequently used in The Bangkok Post than those showing evaluation, but this is reversed in The New York Times. Whether these findings were influenced by the L1 of the writer, cultural differences, and institutional practices could be carried out in additional research.
Is Direct Speech the Norm in English-Thai Simultaneous Interpreting? The Effect of Gender-Specific Terms on the Use of Direct Speech in Interpreting
Authors: Sukgasi Benjarat
Published: October 2023

This study investigates using the concept of norms whether English-Thai interpreters regard direct speech as an appropriate interpreting style in simultaneous interpreting. It also explores whether gender-specific linguistic terms in Thai, which consist of first-person pronouns and formality-marking particles (FMPs), affect the interpreter to deviate from direct speech. Questionnaires and interviews were used to collect data. As a result, 12 interpreters answered the questionnaires, and four interpreters participated in the interviews. The results show that direct speech is the norm among the interpreters in this data set: 90.9% of respondents believed that English-Thai simultaneous interpreting should be done in the direct style, and 58.3% regularly used first-person pronouns and FMPs based on the speaker’s gender. However, some respondents did not use first-person pronouns or FMPs along these lines. Some of their reason might be to avoid gender-specific terms. The interviews’ results also showed that although the negative feelings toward using different-gender first-person pronouns and FMPs were different among individuals, all four interview participants admitted that they had misused FMPs when interpreting for the different-gender speakers. The results, therefore, suggest that gender-specific terms induce the interpreters to shift from direct to indirect speech.
The Development of English Grammar for Teachers Coursebook
Authors: Iamsirirak Ekamorn
Published: October 2023

Coursebooks exist all over in the world of education. They are generally used as one of the major course materials. To write a coursebook for a particular course is challenging. This study was purposively conducted to develop an English grammar coursebook for teachers to meet the needs of teacher students in English education programs. The study was based on research and development (R&D) with three phases conducted through mix-methods research. In Phase 1, 60 experienced teachers and 226 current teacher students responded to questionnaires that were used to investigate the needs for English grammar topics. 16 grammar topics that were important to Thai teacher students of English were discovered. In Phase 2, 31 participants volunteered themselves in a 16-week data collection process. The coursebook was finally developed and composed of 14 chapters including grammar content knowledge, and a variety of exercises including preferable book layouts evaluated by teacher students’ needs. In the final phase, Phase 3, three experts contributed by offering their suggestions and recommendations when editing the complete version of the coursebook. The study also found that the coursebook could facilitate learners of all proficiency levels: beginner, intermediate, and advanced, helping them improve their grammar proficiency by a step higher. Ultimately, the study helped illustrate some alternative ways for teachers, lecturers, and authors to compose a coursebook by using a research-based coursebook development process.
A Multimodal Analysis of Political Cartoons and the Discourse of Palestinians’ Displacement: Sheikh Jarrah Case
Authors: Lulu Reem Adib , Abdul Racman Sohayle M. Hadji , Habeeb Luwaytha Salah
Published: October 2023

This study aims to explore the political cartoons that highlight the displacement of Palestinians in the village of Sheikh Jarrah. It investigates the way this discourse is portrayed as well as the predominant themes of these cartoons. The data of this study consists of eight political cartoons drawn from Palestinian online newspapers from May to July 2021, featuring the displacement issue of Sheik Jarrah by well-known local cartoonists. Multimodal discourse analysis (MDA) in which language analysis is combined with the analysis of other semiotic resources including colors, gestures, images, etc. for interpreting meaning (O’Halloran et al., 2011), is adopted for the analysis. Visual Social Semiotics of Kress and Van Leeuwen (2006) is also used as a linguistic framework. The study asserts that understanding the three different aspects of the visual compositions, namely, representational, interactive and compositional, that serve as a semiotic mode of communication, is essential for conveying the intended message of the visual compositions. The study also identifies the predominant themes or messages of the selected cartoons, which mainly focus on two main points: (i) the tyranny and oppression of Israel over Palestinians through eradication and displacement; and (ii) the Palestinians’ struggle, steadfastness and resistance in the event of Israel’s forced displacement.
Diagnosing Comprehension Skills
Authors: Louw Stephen
Published: October 2023

The skills approach to reading facilitates diagnosis of reading comprehension by enabling various reading skills to be isolated. By testing students on each of these skills, teachers are able to develop a focused remedial programme. This paper presents four reading comprehension skills and shows how a diagnostic test based on these skills can be developed for students of English as a second or foreign language. The strategies here form the basis of the Reading Comprehension Skills Battery, developed as a research project in the National Institute of Education, Singapore (Lim, 1994; Lim, Ho and Wong, 1994). It is hoped that English teachers will benefit from being able to focus on specific reading comprehension strategies to assist the students improve their comprehension capabilities, both in the language and content area subjects.
An Exploratory Study of Reflective Dialogue Journal Writing of EFL Graduate Students in the English as a Foreign Language Context
Authors: Maneepakhathorn Reongrudee
Published: October 2023

This study was conducted to examine Thai EFL graduate students’ perceptions towards reflective dialogue journal writing (RDJW), their writing fluency as well as self-awareness of their own English language learning and writing development. Thirty-four Thai graduate students aged 23 to 39 were required to carry out the RDJW task for 13 weeks – one journal entry per week. The teacher provided feedback to each journal entry on its content to which the students replied in a dialogic manner. After having completed 13 journal entries, the students completed a questionnaire and were interviewed individually. In addition, focus group discussions were implemented. The students’ writing fluency was also assessed quantitatively through a product-based indicator. The findings of the study revealed that the students viewed RDJW as a means to engage a student and the teacher in a two-way communication as they exchanged information without worrying about making or correcting errors in the writing. The students also reported an improvement in their writing fluency since their journal entries were longer and they could communicate their thoughts and feelings more easily. A paired t-test confirmed the significant gains in terms of the number of words written in the journals. RDJW also served as students’ reflection which heightened the awareness of their own English language learning and writing development.
Coursebooks or the BNC? Teaching English Verbs and Their Dependent Prepositions
Authors: Sumonsriworakun Piyaboot
Published: October 2023

The study compares English dependent prepositions of the verbs agree, apply, and die shown in English language coursebooks and a corpus. It also suggests English prepositional verbs and their dependent prepositions that are suitable for teaching to L1 Thai learners and a method that should be employed for the instruction. The data were collected from four English language students’ books used by many upper secondary schools in Thailand and the British National Corpus. The findings demonstrate that the coursebooks offer nearly all of the most frequent dependent prepositions of the verbs with scant sentence examples and collocations, while the corpus reveals more dependent prepositions with numerous sentence examples and collocations. Further, the corpus data provide many noun collocates that can be arranged into themes according to their semantic preferences. It is advisable that the coursebooks and corpus data should be used in Thai EFL class to complement each other. The most frequent constructions should also be taught as phraseology through indirect access to data-driven learning, with suggested inductive activities and examples of simplified key word in context concordances.
A Systematic Review on ESP Teachers: Current Focus, Collaboration, and Sustainability
Authors: Supunya Nuntapat
Published: October 2023

Since its emergence in the 1960s, English for Specific Purposes (ESP) has been a dominant subfield in language education and English language teaching. The mainstream ESP literature appears to be linguistic-oriented with less attention directed towards ESP teachers. Responding to the calls for more ESP teacher research, this systematic review aims to be a substantial starting point in scrutinising research on ESP teachers published from 2010 to 2022 in the Scopus-indexed journals to frame current research foci, explore existing pedagogical collaborations, and propose suggestions regarding the issue of sustainability. Thirty-seven empirical studies were initially short-listed, of which thirty-two were analysed. A synthesis of ESP teacher articles yields seven lines of research: teachers’ perceptions and beliefs, teachers’ identity development and agency, perceived challenges and needs, collaborative practices, teaching and innovation, teachers’ knowledge, and technology in ESP. Two distinctive types of collaboration to effective instruction across contexts are illustrated. Drawn from the twelve years of research, the sustainability in ESP is presented to depict pedagogical, administrative, and policy implications. Last, future research directions are also proposed.
Students’ and Teachers’ Beliefs about Written Corrective Feedback: Perspectives on Amount, Type, and Focus of Feedback in an EFL Setting
Authors: Hopper Derek , Bowen Neil
Published: October 2023

Many writing teachers believe that giving written corrective feedback (WCF) is an important part of learning to write. Equally, students like to receive it. However, most previous research on WCF has looked at its overall effectiveness, with less attention paid to the differences of opinion between students and their teachers, and the implications of these differences. Accordingly, our aim was to investigate further these differences by carrying out a partial replication of Amrhein and Nassaji (2010). Using a combination of multiple-choice questions, Likert scale items, and open-ended questions, we sampled the beliefs of 469 undergraduates and 40 of their teachers at two public Thai universities. Our findings revealed significant differences of opinion between both groups when it came to the ideal amount of WCF, preferred type of WCF for grammatical errors, and the most useful WCF for specific error types. Qualitative comments also highlighted the affective side of WCF, the realities of the task-at-hand for teachers, and a misalignment between theory and practice. Based on our findings, we make recommendations for teacher development, cross-cultural awareness in teaching writing, increased communication between students, teachers, and theorists, and the importance of assessment rubrics in the feedback process.
Students’ Reactions to Task-based Learning
Authors: Wiriyakarun Pamararat
Published: October 2023

In recent years, task-based teaching has received a great deal of attention both in the literature and in real situations, especially at university level. Task-based instruction is claimed to be a very effective and powerful approach to learning. However, task-based learning may be difficult to implement with Thai students who are accustomed to traditional types of classroom learning and who may be resistant to innovation. This paper examines the reactions of students coming from traditional learning backgrounds to task-based teaching.
Genre of Consultations
Authors: Ngonkum Sutida
Published: October 2023

This study was conducted to investigate the genre moves pattern used in teacher-student consultations which given as support for portfolio learning at King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT). The subjects were the undergraduates in KMUTT, who were studying Science or Engineering. The main instrument used in this study was the transcripts from the consultations. In the findings, five compulsory genre moves together with a further three optional moves were found. It is hoped that this five-move pattern may be useful for developing consultations.
Students’ Perceptions of a Library, Self-Access and the Internet
Authors: Maneekhao Kasamaporn
Published: October 2023

University students are supposed to be able to search for information by themselves. To help students learn this important skill, a resourcing task was then assigned to the first year students. This paper shows the students’ attitudes and perceptions towards searching from three information resources, namely, a library, a self-access centre and the Internet. A questionnaire was used to survey the students’ opinion towards the three resources after completing the task. This task can increase the students’ confidence in using the resources and raise their perceptions towards the resources as well.
Using Learning Profiles to Inspire Effective Consultations
Authors: Kongchan Chada
Published: October 2023

While self-directed learning is currently being introduced throughout Thailand in order to encourage students to become autonomous learners, consultations are also emphasized to provide support and give guidance. However, the practical problems of limited time and large numbers of students diminish the potential benefits of consultations. This paper suggests a way to make 5-minute consultations effective by requiring students to attempt peer and self-correction before the consultation and by encouraging the use of learner profiles to guide further learning after the consultation.
Vocabulary strategy training: An attempt to activate passive vocabulary for written communication
Authors: Tepsuriwong Saowaluck
Published: October 2023

This article is based upon the reflection on my own teaching situation in an attempt to answer the question ‘Why can’t my students make use of the vocabulary they encountered while reading in writing a report?’ The problem inspired me to add lessons on vocabulary strategy training as a remedy. It was noticed that, after the lessons, most students successfully used a variety of memory strategies to help them enlarge their vocabulary knowledge. Moreover, the lessons helped them retrieve and activate words in their lexicon for writing, suggesting that vocabulary understanding is vital in activating passive vocabulary for written communication.
Factors affecting the use of the Self Learning Centre at the Bank of Thailand
Authors: Chullawatchanatana Wantana , Srimavin Wilaksana
Published: October 2023

The aim of the research was to find out factors affecting the use of the Self Learning Centre (SLC) at Bank of Thailand (BOT). The findings will be contemplated as a guideline for establishing future self-access centres that will open to the general public. The subjects were 50 personnel who used the SLC. The study was undertaken from 22nd to 30th August 2004. Their attitudes on factors influencing the use of the SLC were analysed from a questionnaire and informal talk. The results showed that the factors affecting the use of the centre were the provision of atmosphere, services, and learning materials. The bank personnel came to the SLC because they were satisfied with these facilities. Therefore, in establishing a self-access language centre for a community, factors that could foster a learning environment, such as quietness, light quality, the decoration of the rooms and service hours, should be considered. In order to give good services, librarians might help the users to set their goals, learning plans and so on. Moreover, learning materials should be up-to-date in content, and the centre should provide a variety of materials, i.e. those that are paper-based and computer-based as well as audio-visuals.
classroom language of larger and smaller classes
Authors: Watson Todd Richard Watson
Published: October 2023

This paper compares the discourse of two parallel classes, one large and one small by investigating talking time, use of L1, use of student names, questioning, feedback, directives and discipline. The findings show that the two classes differ in terms of the use of student names and the strength and impersonality of directives. For the other issues which primarily concern teacher-student interaction, there are no clear differences between large and small classes.
Two consecutive ruptured intracranial aneurysm in patient with multiple intracranial aneurysms
Authors: Seong Jonghyun , Kim Jongyeon , Lee Seungjin , Kim Byeongoh
Published: October 2023

When aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage due to multiple aneurysms is suspected, identifying the rupture site is essential to determine the exact surgical site, but it may not be easy. Even if embolization is adequately performed, complications may remain. Typical complications include rebleeding and hydrocephalus in the early phase and delayed cerebral ischemia in the delayed phase. Herein, we describe a case of rupture of an intracranial aneurysm after performing embolization for a different ruptured intracranial aneurysm in a patient with multiple intracranial aneurysms. Patients with multiple intracranial aneurysms need to be considered for closer observation than those with a single ruptured intracranial aneurysm, even if the patient’s prognosis is good.
Microhomology-mediated circular DNA formation from oligonucleosomal fragments during spermatogenesis
Authors: Hu Jun , Zhang Zhe , Xiao Sai , Cao Yalei , Chen Yinghong , Weng Jiaming , Jiang Hui , Li Wei , Chen Jia-Yu , Liu Chao
Published: October 2023

The landscape of extrachromosomal circular DNA (eccDNA) during mammalian spermatogenesis, as well as the biogenesis mechanism, remains to be explored. Here, we revealed widespread eccDNA formation in human sperms and mouse spermatogenesis. We noted that germline eccDNAs are derived from oligonucleosomal DNA fragmentation in cells likely undergoing cell death, providing a potential new way for quality assessment of human sperms. Interestingly, small-sized eccDNAs are associated with euchromatin, while large-sized ones are preferentially generated from heterochromatin. By comparing sperm eccDNAs with meiotic recombination hotspots and structural variations, we found that they are barely associated with de novo germline deletions. We further developed a bioinformatics pipeline to achieve nucleotide-resolution eccDNA detection even with the presence of microhomologous sequences that interfere with precise breakpoint identification. Empowered by our method, we provided strong evidence to show that microhomology-mediated end joining is the major eccDNA biogenesis mechanism. Together, our results shed light on eccDNA biogenesis mechanism in mammalian germline cells.