This study answers a question which has been on my mind since I started my EFL teaching career. This long-term query addresses the issue of why some of my students in Thailand were able to achieve English fluency, especially listening and speaking skills, while others did not. All students used the same textbooks, studied in the same classroom in the same school, and were taught by the same teacher, using the same teaching methods. Yet, some students were more successful than others. There must be other factors that encouraged them to learn and led them to success in learning English.
For this reason, the initial purpose of my research is to study the factors that lead to Thai university students' achievement in English listening and speaking skills. My second interest is that of EFL curriculum development. The findings from my study will be presented to EFL teachers, educational administrators, and curriculum designers on the university level.
The study concentrated on the factors that could be changed or developed by the learners, the teachers, the curriculum designers, or the parents, in order to achieve top quality English speaking and listening skills. The three aspects focused upon in the study were cognitive, affective, and environmental. The study was conducted in Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, Thailand. Ten students from the Business English Program were selected by their average grades in five listening and speaking-related courses. The advanced students were also highly recommended by their teachers and acknowledged by their classmates as having excellent listening and speaking skills in English.
The research data were collected through various methods. First, classroom observations were used in order to gather data on the participants' learning styles and learning behaviors. Second, individual interviews with each student were used as the principal method for data collection. Third, diary writings were used in order to collect the data on the students' daily-life activities.
The findings of this study reveal that the background knowledge of English, the willingness to use the language, and exposure to language-using situations were the main and vital factors for achievement in English listening and speaking skills in Thailand.
Other factors which support the three main factors, were students' learning-cultural backgrounds, their learning styles, their goals for learning English, and their opportunities to use the language.
According to the research findings, recommendations were presented for both language learners and EFL instructors in Thailand, in terms of the development of listening and speaking skills. The learners were advised to speak English without fear of embarrassment, to be active language users, to be confident about learning and using the language, to have definitive goals for learning English, to get more involved in English language situations, to begin speaking English with others by discussing topics with which they are well acquainted, to listen to English-language radio stations, and to self-reflect on language use.
The EFL teachers were advised to create interactive classrooms, new classroom environments, outside classroom activities, and tutoring projects. EFL instructors were also encouraged to design special curricula for listening and speaking courses to accommodate students' background knowledge and differences, to have on-going discussions with students' regarding their goals for learning English, and to integrate technology into the classroom.
