Constructivism in English as a foreign language secondary classrooms in Bangkok, Thailand.

摘要

The purpose of this study was to investigate how Thai teachers who were trained in the United States bring back their constructivist-based skills and strategies to apply in different school contexts in Bangkok, Thailand. Four teachers from four different schools were selected as participants of the study. The qualitative case study was the method of this study. Data collection included classroom observations and interviews with the four teachers. Murphy's constructivist checklist was used to code the classroom observation data to help specify what and how certain constructivism characteristics were supported.; Data from classroom observations and interviews revealed that among the four teachers, Jitra from the private school was the only one who could be considered a “constructivist” teacher. Jitra supported all characteristics listed in Murphy's checklist in her thematic English class. Andrew, from the international school, and Pim, from public school “B,” supported some constructivist characteristics during their English instruction. However, due to their insufficient knowledge of the constructivist concept, Andrew's and Pim's attempts to implement the constructivist/student-centered approach resulted in failure. Kate from the public school “A” was the least among the four teachers who accommodated constructivist characteristics. Her English instructional activities reflected more of a traditional teaching approach.; During the cross-case analysis, the factors that seemed to support the constructivist implementation included the fact that all four teachers had been exposed to western ideas and philosophies regarding teaching and learning during their study abroad experiences. The systems and schools in which the teachers worked also possibly influenced their constructivist implementation. Andrew and Jitra who worked in the international school and the private school, respectively, had more freedom in planning instructions compared to Kate and Pim who worked in public schools.; The cross-case analysis also revealed several common factors that seemed to negatively influence the teachers' implementation of constructivist instruction. The emerging factors included the (a) students being accustomed to the teacher-centered approach, (b) textbook's limitation, (c) time constraints and content coverage, (d) testing and the university entrance examinations, and (e) bureaucratic norms of schools.