Thai EFL Undergraduate Students’ Perceptions toward Learning English through Target Language Strategy
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Abstract
The current study aims to investigate EFL undergraduate students’ perceptions toward learning English through target language strategy. The participants of this study were 20 participants at a university in Yala. The research instruments included questionnaire and semi-structured interview. The quantitative data from the questionnaire were analyzed for arithmetic mean and interpreted using descriptive analysis. The qualitative data from the semi-structured interview were analyzed using content analysis. The results showed that the participants had good perceptions toward learning English though target language (English) strategy (x̄ =3.77). When considering each domain, the results showed that the most highly rated domain was instructional medias (x̄ =4.19). The least rated domain was the teaching process (x̄ =3.28). The open-ended questions and semi-structured interview results showed that the students had mixed perceptions toward learning through target language. The students perceived that target language strategy was not only helpful for developing their English proficiency but also self-directed learning and self-responsibility since it offered them to be more self-dependence. However, some negative perceptions were also found. Some students pointed out that this teaching strategy was not appropriate for students those who have low English proficiency. The findings suggest that target language strategy can be implied to improve Thai EFL undergraduate students’ English proficiency with careful considerations of involving factors.
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