Needs of Ability and Skill of Foreign Language Use by Enterprises and Organizations in the Northeast(Thai)

Abstract

The objective of this research was to study the needs of ability and skill in foreign language use by enterprises and organizations in the northeast region of Thailand. The results found that most workplaces/organizations have personnel who are able to use a foreign language (93.2%). English was most used in service giving, followed by Japanese and Chinese which were used in phone communication, marketing and reception. Most administrators and owners or managers of enterprises were fairly satisfied with English ability and skills in production, travel guiding, service giving and phone communication. Half of workplaces/ organizations had developed/promoted foreign language ability and skills for personnel. Most workplaces/organizations wanted to develop/promote foreign language ability and skills for personnel (91.5%): the needs in English came first, followed by Chinese and Japanese. Most highly needed was English for personnel to be able to speak and listen; also they needed it for domestic training, further education, and internet use. Most career groups had foreign language use in their work: English came first, followed by Lao (Vientiane). These career people found themselves with rather good command of English (over 40%) while Japanese and Chinese was not good enough (over 42%). Most of the career group needed development/promotion; more than half highly and most highly wanted practice via TV programs. The development method they highly wanted was the one emphasizing self-practice. Therefore, related agencies can have a supportive role by creating instructive media to meet the needs for skill development in foreign language use among these career groups.