THE TEACHING OF THAI SPEAKING SKILLS TO FOREIGN LEARNERS THROUGH A TASK-BASED LEARNING APPROACH

Abstract

This article is aimed at explaining the factors and procedures involved in the task-based approach for teaching speaking skills of the Thai language to foreign learners. In learning Thai language, speaking is the first skill foreign learners must learn, not only as a medium of daily–life conversations, but also as a basis for learning other language skills successfully. However, some foreign learners do not have confidence in their speaking ability, fearing that they might say something wrong or unclear. The task–based approach is a teaching method that can help the intermediate-advanced foreign learners of Thai language to improve their speaking skill, for it not only encourages them to practice but also urges them to think, analyze, and solve problems in real situations and it emphasizes meaning rather than form.