USING A SURVEY FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING: A STUDY OF CONCEPTS OF LITERACY OF THAI EFL TEACHERS Jakraphan Riamliw University of Pittsburgh, USA University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, Thailand April 22, 2011

Overview of the Presentation Purposes of the study & Research questions How a survey fits the purposes of the study Methods and procedures Data analysis and interpretation

Purposes of the Study  To investigate: Thai university-level teachers’ concepts of literacy for EFL instruction their connections of concepts of literacy to EFL instruction their classroom instructional practices the challenges of EFL literacy instruction that they face

Research Questions 1. What concepts of literacy do Thai teachers of university-level Foundation English courses hold for their L2 literacy instruction? a. Are they traditional or contemporary concepts of literacy? b. What is the relationship between the concepts of literacy and the demographic backgrounds of the teachers (e.g., age, gender)?

Research Questions 2. How do Thai teachers of university-level Foundation English courses connect their concepts of literacy to EFL instruction? a. What is the relationship between the connections of the concepts of literacy to EFL instruction and the demographic backgrounds of the teachers?

Research Questions 3. What are the literacy instructional practices of Thai teachers of university-level Foundation English courses? a. What is the relationship between the literacy instructional practices and the demographic backgrounds of the teachers?

Research Questions 4. What are the challenges of EFL literacy instruction of Thai teachers of university-level Foundation English courses? a. What is the relationship between the challenges of EFL literacy instruction and the demographic backgrounds of the teachers?

How a survey fits the purposes of the study * A large number of participants Instruments: Self-administrated and paper-based surveys Interviews Classroom Observations

Methods and Procedures (1) Participants: Approx. 200 Thai teachers of university-level Foundation English courses in 20 universities in Thailand + Approx. 60 teachers in 4 Universities (Case Study) Data collection: - University-based survey coordinators - Researcher

Methods and Procedures (2) Teachers from 167 Institutions Teachers from Top 50 Institutions Target Population -----> Sampling Population -----> Sample/Representative Figure 1. An Overview of Sampling (Purposive Sampling) Source: Teachers from 20 Institutions

Methods and Procedures (3) Geographical Representation of the Representative Universities Limited Admission University (8) Autonomous University (7) Open Admission University (1) Private University (4)

Methods and Procedures (4) Designing survey questions Consider: - purposes of the study and purposes of the questions - types of questions (closed-ended and open-ended) V alidity and reliability of the instrument Reliability: - Using multiple questions in both closed-ended and open-ended response formats - Conducting pilot testing Validity: - ‘Content validity’ (the judgment about content questions of the survey by experts)

Data Analysis and Interpretation (1) Data analysis and presentation will be carried out through: Quantitative analysis (PASW statistics 18) Qualitative analysis (only for further explaining the quantitative findings)

Data Analysis and Interpretation (2) Examples of identifying variables and level of measurement Independent Variables Age (ratio): open-ended data Teaching experience (ratio): open-ended data Gender (nominal): male and female Geographical area of the institution (nominal): north, northeast, center, east, and south Degree earned (ordinal): bachelors, masters, doctorate, and other Dependent Variables Concepts of literacy (nominal): traditional and contemporary Literacy addressed by syllabus (nominal): yes and no Satisfaction with teaching activities/techniques/strategies (ordinal): very satisfied, satisfied, little satisfied, dissatisfied

Data Analysis and Interpretation (3) Summary of Data Analysis and Interpretation Procedures Level of Measurement of Independent Variables Level of Measurement of Dependent Variables Permissible Statistics Correlation Techniques nominal - Frequency counts and percentages, n(%) - Mode - Chi-square Test - Phi ordinalnominal - Chi-square Test - Cramer’s V nominalordinal - Spearman’s rho ordinal rationominal Point-Biserial Correlation Coefficient ratioordinal Biserial Correlation Coefficient

Thank you. Enjoy your lunch!