Making sense of it all

I read “Caught in a “primordial” English trap”, (Opinion, Nov 20) with interest, especially the example of the typical assignment to interview a foreigner. I’ve been victim of this assignment myriad times since I first taught English in Thailand with the Peace Corps over 50 years ago. Apparently, not much has changed.

Over the past two decades, I have been returning to Thailand as a visiting senior professor with some regularity at the invitation of some of the most highly regarded universities in Thailand.

On reflection, Ajahn Pattamawan’s suggested remedies from Brazil and Portugal seem less appropriate here, where young fast food servers and coffee shop baristas speak a much more proficient variety of English than most government clerks in the Chaeng Watthana Immigration offices.

As an outsider, I would offer a few suggestions to both the Thai government and to the universities that are relying more and more on full-time foreign faculty, short-term visiting scholars like myself and the growing number of foreign students who sustain many of the university international graduate programmes in the country.

First, it is baffling to me why there apparently is no foreign language proficiency requirement (whether English, Chinese or any other world language) for government employees whose major responsibility is to interact with foreigners eight hours a day, five days a week, all year long. Perhaps one of the universities that offer graduate degree programmes in English as a second, foreign or international language could contract with the Immigration Office to offer instruction to the staff there. At the same time, the Office of Immigration could partner with representatives of Thai universities to make it easier for them to attract and retain valuable full-time foreign faculty, short-term visiting scholars, and foreign students.

Second, while Thai faculty members are subsidised (by the government or their universities) to attend international conferences around the world, there is apparently no requirement for the recipients of these grants to show the benefits of this travel in terms of publication of their own research, an almost universal requirement of universities outside of Thailand in order to receive future funding. This is how universities are evaluated on the global academic market and why all Thai universities regularly score toward the bottom of those rankings.

I am familiar with one tenured professor at a major Bangkok university who teaches English in an international graduate programme. She averages about two international trips (usually to the US or England) each year. In the 20 or so years since receiving her PhD from abroad, she has yet to publish anything in an international or even regional journal.

Third, English is everywhere in the Thai physical environment, some of it amusing, some baffling, but most perfectly grammatical. This is a very rich but under-utilised source of linguistic input for language learners. Rather than the pervasive but futile foreigner interviews, English teachers at all levels might consider taking advantage of the rich linguistic landscape all around them to increase their students’ linguistic, metalinguistic, community and global awareness, all identified by the Ministry of Education as required outcomes of language education.

THOM HUEBNER, PHD Professor Emeritus, San Jose State University