The Development of English for Communication of Railway Station Personnel in the Rush Hour at Ayutthaya Station

Abstract

The purposes of this research were 1) to study and analyze fundamental data for English for communication in rush hour at Ayutthaya station and 2) to develop of the English handbook for communication in rush hour and 3) to implement the English handbook for communication in rush hour. This research was mixed methods: research & development and qualitative research. The key informants were 32 peoples involved in English communication with international passengers who were mainly tourists. The research instruments used for data collection were participation observation, observe schedule, in-depth interview and English handbook. The content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative data. The results were as follows.

1. The fundamental data investigation revealed that most international passengers were not from England and America but from Asian and some European countries. There were usually a big crowd of passengers before 10-15 minutes earlier than arrival time, causing rush hour at station. The causes of poor communication were sometimes the station announcer voicers and a loud noise. Learners needed English handbooks for communication in rush hour.


2. The developed English handbook was consisted of easy and short conversational expressions, body language, visual and voice inflections.


3. The outcome of the experiment revealed that learners could communicate with international passengers faster. There were not any communication problems at the station.