Thai Students’ Mistakes in English: Evaluation of Linguistic Proficiency and Lesson Plan

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Background

The student is 18 and his first language is Thai. The level of the student’s proficiency is elementary. The learner has quite significant vocabulary but his writing and grammar are poor. The young man is learning English as he wants to master the language to obtain a well-paid job as it is great advantage for an applicant to speak English. The socioeconomic status of the family has improved considerably over the past few years and his parents are now able to invest more in their son’s education. However, the student will not use the language extensively in the nearest future as he is attending a college in Thailand. He might use English in communicating via social networks and at English classes but he is unlikely to have enough English practice. It is necessary to note that since the student’s first language is Thai, he is acquainted with the English alphabet. More so, he uses some words borrowed from English though he pronounces the words in a specific ‘Thai’ manner. Thai and English are very different and the student has numerous issues with pronunciation (especially stress) and grammar.

Evaluation of Linguistic Proficiency

Speaking

The student was asked a number of questions concerning his plans for future and the reasons for learning English. It is possible to provide a piece of his oral speech to analyze some of common mistakes the student makes:

aɪ ta-‘raɪ ‘lɜːn ‘ɪŋglɪʃ ‘verɪ ‘gu… ɪt’ɪs ‘verɪ dɪfɪ’kut
‘bʌt ‘aɪ ‘get pɜː’fekt
ənd we’peɪ ‘ʤɔb

The orthographically transcribed text is as follows: “I try learn English very good… It is very difficult. But I get perfect and well-paid job”. It is clear that interference is the major reason for the mistakes (see table 1). It is also noteworthy that when the student is more focused and speaks slowly, he makes fewer mistakes. At the same time, the speaker’s listening skills are proper when the teacher uses simple words and speaks slowly.

Number	Error	Correction	Orthographic representation	Analysis/reason for error
1	ta-‘raɪ	traɪ	try	In Thai, consonant clusters are not common and Thai speakers add a vowel sound to make it ‘easier’ to pronounce.
1	‘gu	gud	good	Thai students tend to omit the last /d/ and /s/ sound.
2	pɜː’fekt	‘pɜːfekt	perfect	In Thai, stress is usually put on the last syllable.
3	we’peɪ	wel’peɪd	well-paid	In Thai, apart from omitting the last consonant sound, Thai tend to omit /l/, /r/ sounds.

Table 1. Speaking: Pronunciation Analysis

When it comes to grammar, it is possible to consider the following piece:

I start learn English two years ago.
I not want bad job
for I need help my family.

As seen from table 2, the major reason is interference and lack of knowledge. The student was speaking rather slowly and with numerous mistakes in pronunciation and stress. It is noteworthy that the student was a bit nervous.

Line	Type of error	Error	Correction	Analysis
1	Subject-verb agreement	I start learnEnglish two years ago.	I startedtolearn English two years ago.	In Thai, there are no tense suffixes as tense is clear from the context with the help of modifiers of time (two years ago). More so, Thai students often omit the last consonant d, s. Furthermore, tois omitted as there is no such particle between verbs in Thai.
2	The use of negations, missing article	I notwant badjob	I don’t want abad job.	In Thai, negation is made with the help of a word and no auxiliaries are used. In Thai there are no articles, and it is difficult for students to use them correctly.
3	The use of modal verbs	I need help my family.	I need tohelp my family.	In Thai, there is no particle toand there is nothing between two verbs.

Table 2. Speaking: Spoken Grammar and lexis analysis

Writing

As for writing, it is possible to take a closer look at the following extract from the student’s writing:

I preffer going to cinema.
I likemoviesabout super hero. I like Batman, Ironman, Spiderman.
My favorit movie is X men.

Line	Type of error	Error	Correction	Analysis/reason for error
1	Spelling	preffer	prefer	The reason is likely to be the lack for morphological knowledge. In Thai, doubling of consonant is not common but students know words where this doubling happens and may use it where it is not required.
2	Grammar: plural nouns	super hero	super heroes.	The reason may be the lack of morphological knowledge as well as interference as in Thai, the last consonant sound is often omitted.
2	Space	likemoviesabout	like movies about	In Thai, there are no spaces between words in writing.
3	Spelling	favorit	favorite	The reason is lack of morphological knowledge.

Table 3. Writing: Grammar and lexis analysis

As seen from table 3, writing is weaker than speaking as there are many errors. Lack of morphological knowledge is major reason for mistakes though there are still traces of interference. Clearly, the student has issues with English spelling as it is very differ from Thai. It is also noteworthy that the student uses simple vocabulary but uses all the words correctly.

The student was asked to write about his hobby. He was supposed to write a letter to his pen friend. The register used was appropriate. However, the use of linking sentences and words was not effective. Handwriting was also good enough as it was readable though there were cases of merging (the student forgot about space between words).

Lesson Plan

Main objective: After this lesson, the student will be able to write words properly, use present and past simple (endings –s and -ed).

Materials used: worksheets (exercises on tenses), board, handout (Past regular, n.d.).

Warm-up (5 min): The teacher greets and asks the following: How are you? Then there is a question on the board: What’s your favorite film/book? The student reads and answers it.

Presentation 1 (10 min): The teacher writes the following words on the board: middle, grass, prefer, spoon, settle, proof, pass, clock plus. The student reads and translates the words. Then he writes them down in an alphabetical order. It is possible to ask him to make up a sentence or two.

Production activity (5 min). After that, (on a separate sheet of paper) the student is welcome to add the doubles as suggested by Clutterbuck (2000):

Add oo (one word is extra as it needs only one o): sp___n, pr___f, cl___ck

Add ss (one word is extra as it needs only one s): pa____, plu____, gra___

Add doubled letters where necessary: mi____le, pre___er, se____le

Presentation 2 (10 min): Using the handout, the teacher discusses the use of past tense with the student. The student makes up sentences. The student uses the same cards to practice present simple (including negative forms).

Production activities (10 min): The student works on exercise on past simple (“Elementary grammar exercise”, 2014). After that, the student works on present simple (“Elementary grammar exercise: Past simple tense”, 2014).

Speaking activity: The teacher talks with the student about things he and his sister/parents did yesterday. He is welcome to ask questions to the teacher.

Recommendations

Lesson	Functional / structural objectives	Skills objectives	Phonological objectives	Lexical objectives	Rationale
1	To be able to use past simple tense (regular verbs).	To develop speaking skills to discuss past actions.	To pronounce ending –edcorrectly (without omissions).	To learn routine verbs.	The learner needs to communicate with English speaking people about routine activities
2	To be able to use to with such verbs as need, want, and so on and to express purpose.	To develop speaking skills to express cause-effect relationship in events.	To use to without stress as Thai students tend to stress all words.	To learn verbs of causality.	The learner needs to communicate with English speaking people, and this will make the learner’s speech more diverse.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it is possible to note that the student makes spelling and grammar mistakes. The student also has issues with pronunciation. Major reasons for that are interference and lack for morphological knowledge. Clearly, it is important to take into account peculiarities of the Thai language when teaching the student.

Reference List

Clutterbuck, P. (2000). Blake’s word bank. New York, NY: Blake Education.

Elementary grammar exercise: Past, present and future tenses. (2014). Web.

Elementary grammar exercise: Past simple tense. (2014). Web.

Past regular. (n.d.). Web.