A Filipino EFL Teacher’s Positioning in a Thai Secondary School: A Case Study

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the positioning of “Laura”, a Filipino teacher who teaches English as a foreign language (EFL) in a secondary school in the district of Sai Yok in Kanchanaburi province, Thailand.  The concept of positioning helps to understand how individuals take up particular positions as a result of their obligations, acceptance, resistance, or negotiation with regard to other people or groups. Drawing upon a semi-structured interview transcript, the findings suggest that Laura’s positioning is complex, shifting, and multiple as it interplays with a number of factors such as ethnicity,ว linguistic barriers, and sociocultural differences.  As a result, she positions Thai students as disrespectful, whereas she positions herself as a stranger in the school.  The findings reveal Laura’s negative attitudes towards Thai students’ classroom behaviour.  The pedagogical implications of this study are the recognition of Thai students’ culture of learning, concerning classroom behaviour, attitudes, expectations, values and beliefs in a good learning and teaching methodology, which can promote positive positioning for both Laura and her students.  It is advisable to examine “non-Thai” EFL teachers from a wider linguistic, ethnic, and cultural background by exploring their attitudes towards school and classroom experiences because they create linguistic, ethnic, and cultural diversity in Thai schools.