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Volume 15 Number 3, Autumn 2018, Pages 566-899   


 http://dx.doi.org/10.18823/asiatefl.2018.15.3.9.700 PDF Download
   

CA-informed Conversation Teaching: Helping Thai Students Unpack English Conversations to Become Conversationally Competent

    Kemtong Sinwongsuwat, Ph.D., Kathleen Nicoletti, Ph.D. & Bunthan Teng


Despite Thai students having studied English from the primary to tertiary level, Thais continue to have the lowest English proficiency levels among their ASEAN neighbors. This fact has raised serious concerns about Thailand's capacity to viably compete in the globalized economy. This paper reports findings of a quasi-experimental study designed to determine the effectiveness of employing CA-informed instruction in a Thai university English conversation classroom. Based on these findings and those found in two previous studies undertaken in the same institutional context, the authors provide an argument for the integration of CA within the CLT-centered university-level EFL classroom. This integration, the paper argues, raises learners' awareness of the genuine nature of naturally occurring conversation and, in doing so, can have a positive impact on their oral proficiency in English.

Keywords: Conversation Analysis (CA), CA-informed language instruction, EFL learners, teaching English conversation, Thai university students