Development of English Communication Skills for Young Volunteer Tourist Guides to Promote Sustainable Community-Based Tourism at Ban Piang Luang, Wiang Haeng District, Chiang Mai Province

Abstract

This research aimed to: 1) develop and evaluate a community-based tourism guidebook for Piang Luang Subdistrict; 2) design a developmental process and assess the English communication skills of volunteer youth tourist guides; and 3) create and evaluate innovative English-language media to promote community-based tourism through volunteer youth guides. The population and sample consisted of communities in Piang Luang Subdistrict. Purposive sampling was employed for the qualitative component, including key informants: 1) 50 individuals related to community tourism resources, and 2) 5 individuals involved in the development and evaluation process of English communication competence. For the quantitative component, the sample comprised 50 grade 7 students from Ban Piang Luang School. The research instruments included interview forms, pre-test and post-test assessments, speaking skill evaluation criteria for tour guides, and a satisfaction questionnaire toward the community tourism guidebook and the innovative English-language media. The findings revealed that: 1) the community tourism resources were found to be diverse and highly potential for development as cultural, natural, and educational tourism destinations, with all key components aligned with the 5 As framework and most respondents reported a high level of satisfaction with the community-based tourism guidebook (  = 4.35), particularly in terms of content (  = 4.44) and format (  = 4.27). The process of developing and evaluating English communication competence consisted of three stages: the preparation stage (selection of youth participants, needs analysis, and lesson development based on the guidebook), the development stage (systematic and step-by-step skill development), and the evaluation stage (assessment of knowledge through pre-test and post-test, and speaking skills through practical performance). The results indicated that post-test scores were significantly higher than pre-test scores at the 0.05 level. In terms of speaking ability, most participants were at Level 4 (Very Good) (15 students), Level 3 (Fair) (14 students), and Level 2 (Pass) (12 students). and 3) the innovative English-language media developed were comprehensive in their components and engaging in presentation, with most respondents reporting a high level of satisfaction (  = 4.39).