วารสารวิทยาลัยบัณฑิตเอเซีย ...

The purpose of this research was to study factors related to the development of the 21st century’s foreign language learning potentialities of elementary school students in terms of the schools’ policies, problems in the policy administration, the schools’ curriculum administration, problems in the schools’ administration, the teachers’ roles and class management, problems in class management, the students’ roles, and the knowledge they can apply in their lives. The target group was 56 schools in Phon District under Khon Kaen Primary Educational Service Area Office 3. The samples were 48 schools selected by single-stage cluster sampling. Four sets of five-level closed-ended and open-ended questionnaires based on Likert’s and unstructured questions were used to collect the data from the deputy directors of academic affairs, heads of the departments, teachers, and the sixth graders of each school. The deputy directors revealed that the schools followed the policies of the Ministry of Education at a high level in all aspects. Their problems were the unmatchable policies and practicalities, the change of the curriculum and its impracticalities, the shortage of teachers, the non-English major teachers, the teachers’ lack of time to improve the lessons, the students’ lack of motivation, inabilities to speak the language, and readiness to study. The deputy directors wanted all these problems to be solved accordingly. In reference to the information from the department heads, it was found that the main content of the curriculum was at a high level whereas the language content in relation to other subjects area was at a moderate level. Their administration problems concerned the curriculum change and its appropriateness for small schools, the shortage of English major teachers, the teachers’ chances to improve themselves, the students’ lack of sufficient vocabulary and abilities to communicate in the language, and their lack of confidence in speaking because they were afraid of making mistakes. As for the teachers’ roles, they were found at a high level in all aspects. Regarding the teaching, the teachers strictly followed all indicators of the curriculum at a high level. Their problems were the lack of native speakers, the inappropriate teaching materials, the students’ different backgrounds, their lack of basic knowledge and motivation in seeking further knowledge.. The students’ realization of their roles was at a moderate level in all aspects. The students also learned more via the Internet, the libraries, and extra lessons. The knowledge they could apply was at a moderate level, except for following the orders, requests, and suggestions, which was at a high level. The students recommended the schools provide more computers (76.20%), time to read English books in the libraries (40.10%), more Japanese and Chinese books in the classrooms (36.70%), and more Thai textbooks (11.40%). For class management, they recommended pleasant learning atmosphere (56.40%), displays of students’ work (55.00%), speaking the foreign language (44.10%), watching foreign movies (39.60%), inviting native speakers to class (34.20%), and foreign language performing (32.70%).