DOI: 10.14457/tu.the.2021.104
title: The development of English teacher education model in the south of Thailand

description: This study was conducted to propose a model of English teacher education program in the South of Thailand in terms of an overall goal, specific goals, objectives, content domains, teaching and learning methods and approaches, and assessment scheme of the goals and objectives. The objectives of this study included 1) to investigate the qualifications of English teachers in the South of Thailand; and 2) to develop a model of English teacher education program in the South of Thailand in terms of an overall goal, specific goals, objectives, content domains, teaching and learning methods and approaches, and assessment scheme of the goals and objectives. For the first objective, the Delphi technique and exploratory sequential mixed-methods design were employed with three phases of study: a qualitative and two quantitative phases. For the qualitative phase, 49 experts who were experts from professional organizations, educators and school teachers responded to an open-ended questionnaire asking their opinions toward the expected qualifications of English teachers in the South of Thailand in the next five to ten years. Furthermore, semi-structured interview was conducted to get further elaboration of any unclear open-ended responses. The data from the open-ended questionnaire and interview were analyzed by using content analysis. 216 qualifications emerging from the qualitative data were developed into a rating scale questionnaire that was sent back to the same experts to confirm each qualification. The finding revealed that the 197 agreed qualifications were kept and 7 were deleted. The 12 qualifications that needed reassessment were developed into a new rating scale questionnaire and sent back to the same experts. The result indicated that 6 of them were kept. The final 203 qualifications were proposed as expected qualifications of English teachers in the South of Thailand. All 203 qualifications were categorized into 10 groups as language proficiency, professional content knowledge, pedagogical competence, technological competence, contextual competence, personalities, professionalism, global competence, academic degree and school duties. For the second objective, key concepts from each qualification group were put together to determine the overall goal of the model. To form the specific goals, all qualifications in each qualification group were modified into dominant themes before transferring to the specific goals. For each specific goal, the objectives and content domains were set based on the details of the certain qualifications of English teachers got from the prior Delphi study. Further, the analysis of the documents on teaching methodology and assessment was conducted to propose suitable teaching and learning methods and approaches and assessment scheme of English teacher education program in the South of Thailand. To propose the teaching and learning methods and approaches, content domains, knowledge, skills and attitudes that pre-service English language teachers in the South of Thailand were expected to learn and master were taken into consideration. Furthermore, principles of various learning theories, teaching and learning methods and approaches were also reviewed to find suitable methods and approaches bringing about achieving the goals and objectives of the program. To propose the assessment scheme of the goals and objectives, all specific goals and objectives were taken into consideration. Furthermore, principles of various assessments were also reviewed to find suitable evaluation scheme leading to the accomplishment of the goals and objectives of the program. Then, the first version of the model was created. The first version of the model was validated by using a mini focus group discussion with three experts, including a university lecturer teaching English teacher education program, a lecturer specializing in curriculum development and instruction, and a lecturer specializing in educational administration and teacher development. All experts held doctoral degrees and academic ranks at least as Assistant Professor. The mini focus group discussion was conducted online with the researcher as a moderator. Besides, the experts provided the written comments through a model validation form. The experts were asked to express their opinions toward each component of the model whether it was appropriate or not. The experts’ responses were summarized and used as suggestions to improve the model. The final version of the model consisted of the objective of the model, an overall goal, specific goals, objectives, content domains, teaching and learning methods and approaches, assessment scheme of the goals and objectives, and outcomes of the model presented in terms of the implementations and implications of the model.