An invesitgation of Thai language usage of chinese students, department of applied Thai, the faculty of liberal arts, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon

Abstract

The study aims to examine the language use by Chinese students studying in the Department of Applied Thai, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon. The Participants were 10 Chinese tertiary students in a two-year-transfer program from Applied Thai, Faculty of Arts, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon. The research instrument used in this study was Thai writing test. The collected data were analyzed by using qualitative approach. Textual analysis and thematic categorization were used to identify the results into four categories: grammatical errors (accuracy and acceptance) , theme of story-telling, organizational communication, and others to describe Thai language used by Chinese students. The results of the study obtained from these Chinese students studying in Applied Thai, Faculty of Liberal Arts, Rajamangala University of Technology Phra Nakhon can be summarized as follows: 1. Grammatical errors (Accuracy and acceptance) concerns twekve sub-categories: (1) using words incorrectly according to the context and the meaning of each sentence, (2) misused conjunction, (3) writing long sentence without space, (4) using words irrelevant in the clause or main clause, (5) misspelling, (6) using double negators, (7) using several ๆ (repetition symbol for one word, (8) No indenting content when opening new topic, (9) using punctuations wrong, (10) degree of words used were not equal, (11) wrong sentence organization, and (12) incomprehensible word usage. 2. Theme of storytelling: These participants had positive attitudes in story-telling by providing their impression on each point such as their impression on Thai culture, Thai human relations, appreciation for Buddhism’s faith, scenery and atmosphere, rules and etiquettes, hotel and travel industries, Thai foods, Thai education, as well as the beauty of Thai language. 3. Organizational Communication can be divided into three sub-categories: (1) using bullet points or number to introduce new ideas, but the content was relevant to the same topic, (2) Using narrative writing to describe story, and (3) Using spoken language in narrative writing. 4. Others included eight characteristics as shown in the following: (1) Using verb “มี” (to have) at the start to the sentence instead of using noun or pronouns. (2) High frequency of “ที่” (relative pronoun) to modify clauses in several sentences, (3) Using auxiliaries verbs to show hesitant, for example, “แทบไม่ (hardly), “ไม่ค่อยดี (not quite well), “เกือบ” (almost) , and “ค่อนข้างดี” (quite well), (5) Using English word while writing in Thai, (6) Using ellipsis point (….) at the end of the sentence, (7) Using words to describe characteristics ,and (8) Arranging sentences by using Google Translate.