THE PERCEPTIONS OF UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS TOWARDS ENGLISH NEEDS AND THEIR FUTURE CAREER GOALS AFTER GRADUATION: A CASE STUDY OF BANGKOK UNIVERSITY
Keywords:
English Needs, Future Career Goals, Perceptions, Undergraduate StudentsAbstract
The study aims 1) to study the levels of perceptions towards English needs and educational and career goals after graduation of Bangkok University students 2) to classify the perceptions towards English needs and 3) to investigate the relationship between the perceptions towards English needs and educational and career goals after graduation. 220 undergraduate students of Bangkok University were randomly selected to complete the questionnaire used as the research instrument to measure students’ educational and career goals as well as their perceptions of English needs. The mean, the standard deviation, an exploratory factor analysis and Pearson Correlation were used to analyze the data.
The result of the study revealed that the overall student perceptions of English needs were in a high level. Additionally, students’ purposes for further educational and career goals, as well as working with Thais were at a moderate level. The finding can be classified into three groups: 1) reading and listening 2) formal speaking and academic writing 3) informal reading, listening, and speaking skills. These three groups, English skills, of student perceptions towards English needs were at a high level. In addition, the perceptions of English needs and education and career goals were positively related. The students having a goal of further study or attending workshops perceived these three groups of English skills at a significance level. Moreover, the students aiming at working with Thais and foreigners recognized these two groups of English skills significant: reading and listening skills and formal speaking and academic writing. However, there was no positive relationship between the perceptions of students preferring to work with Thais and English needs.
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