1

Course Title: Thai for Communication and Culture

Organized by: Office of International Community Service
Faculty of Humanities, Srinakhariwirot University
Academic Year 2010
URL: http://hu.swu.ac.th/

Objectives:
1. To train trainees to employ a wide range of vocabulary,
sentence structures and language skills to communicate
effectively.
2. To train trainees to create their own phrases and sentences
to express themselves in Thai.
3. To train trainees to be aware of cross-cultural
misunderstanding between two languages, Thai and
English.
4. To train trainees to express their thoughts and demonstrate
nonverbal language to communicate with Thais
appropriately and effectively.

Syllabus structure:
Thai for communication and culture 230 hours
The system of language 10 hours
Thai for communication 138 hours
Thai society and manners 69 hours
  2

Course description:
The system of language
This session covers a wide range of vocabulary and
sentence structure needed for foreigners who have no previous
knowledge of Thai. Phonetic alphabets are introduced to help
foreigners to distinguish between the Thai alphabet and sounds
along with the tonal markers. Foreigners will learn how to
create their own Thai phrases and sentences and express
themselves in Thai. Politeness particles are also introduced to
help foreigners better understand how to master pronunciation in
Thai meaningfully and appropriately.

Thai for communication

The session includes several aspects of
communication such as opening or closing conversations; taking
turns during conversations; interrupting; using silence as a
communicative device; knowing appropriate topics of
conversation; and using nonverbal behavior. The pragmatic
difference betweens Thai and English which may cause
misunderstanding for foreigners such as greeting, apology will
be discussed to help foreigners better understand Thai language
use and prepare them to communicate in real life situations
effectively. The course materials are mainly focused on listening
and speaking skills. Reading and writing lessons and activities
are integrated to reinforce conversation skills.
  3

Thai society and manners

This session covers characteristics of Thais; social
etiquette; Thai society; social norms, important religious
holidays; attending rituals, visiting historic sites, and interaction
with local Thais. The session provides foreigners with
opportunities for authentic exposure to real life situations.
Fieldtrips are a part of the session used to reinforce foreigners
linguistic and pragmatic competence.

Method of teaching:
An eclectic method is adopted for language teaching. The
primary goal of the course is to prepare foreigners to be well
equipped with language skills and the understanding of culture
needed to communicate with Thais effectively, therefore; the
three dominant approaches used in language instruction are the
audio-lingual method, the direct method, and communicative
language teaching. These methods will help foreigners to master
the pronunciation of Thai in a short period of time. The teaching
strategies are listed as follows:
1. Drill
2. Lecture
3. Discussion
4. Demonstration
5. Hands-on Experience
  4

Evaluation and Assessment:

1. Quizzes
2. Demonstration
3. Classroom observation
4. Conversation with instructors
5. Teaching Report/Diary from instructors

Contact
Faculty of Humanities Srinakharinwirot University
Sukhumvit 23, Wattana, Bangkok 10110 Thailand
Tel: (66 2) 2601770 – 7, (66 2) 6495000 ext. 6228 ,6205, 6292, 6293
Fax: (66 2) 2584118, (66 2) 22601914
Office hours: 8.30 a.m. – 4.30 p.m.
Website: http://hu.swu.ac.th/
E-mail: supattra@swu.ac.th, porrapad@swu.ac.th, paweena@swu.ac.th,
arisarar@swu.ac.th