A study of English language needs for aircraft maintenance mechanics of Thai Aviation Industry Co., Ltd.

Abstract

          The objectives of this research were to find out 1) the opinions of the English language needs for aircraft maintenance mechanics; 2) the differences in the opinions of the English language needs. The sample were 213 aircraft maintenance employees of the company, divided into 143 aircraft maintenance mechanics and 70 supervisors or higher. The research tool was a semi-structured interview form and opinionnaire. Statistics used for data analysis were frequency, percentage, arithmetic mean, and standard deviation Opinion comparisons were performed using t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA). Statistically significant differences were set at P < 0.05. The results showed that English was significant for all three areas of use. The sample group strongly agreed that English used in aircraft maintenance centers and English for education/training were necessary with the mean score x̅= 4.33 (S.D.=0.72) and x̅=4.27 (S.D.=0.79) respectively. English for daily life use, likewise, it was necessary with a lower mean score of x̅=3.52 (S.D.=1.03). In term of 4 of English skills, the subjects saw that the English language used in the aircraft maintenance center and English for education/training, reading skills was essential at the “strongly agree” level with the highest mean x̅=4.15 (S.D.=1.03) and x̅ =4.11 (S.D.=1.03) respectively. For the English language for daily life use, it was a need for listening skills at “strongly agree” level with the highest mean score x̅=3.86 (S.D.=1.03). However, there was no difference between the means of these two groups, P=0.16, 0.36, 0.70 respectively.