The ethnic-based violent conflict in Southern Thailand, which intensified in 2004, has resulted in over 5,300 deaths and thousands of injuries, where nearly 160 killed have been teachers and education workers (Al Jazeera, 2013). Today, assimilation and discrimination policies enacted upon the largely Muslim population of Southern Thailand's Pattani, Yala, and Narathiwat provinces are among the root causes of this conflict. This research analyzes how language, along with language policy, cultural identity, identity construction, and linguistic planning contribute to the conflict in Southern Thailand. The central questions that this research hopes to answer are: To what extent does language policy implementation in Thai public schools contribute to the ongoing-armed conflict in Southern Thailand? Specifically, how do Thai public school teachers perceive their Thai language as being connected to the violent ongoing conflict in Southern Thailand? What are Thai public school teachers' attitudes toward teaching the Thai language in Southern Thailand? Do Pattani Muslim students perceive their Thai language acquisition experience in schools as being connected to the ongoing-armed conflict in Southern Thailand? What are Pattani Muslim students' attitudes toward learning the Thai language in Southern Thailand? And what are the language conflicts and tensions between Thai public school teachers and students of both cultures? With deeper knowledge of these interrelationships, a more balanced and realistic approach to addressing Thailand's current problems, particularly in the southern Muslim-dominated provinces, may become evident.
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