ASEAN Economic Community and Developing English Proficiency Essay Sample

ASEAN or Association of Southeast Asiatic Nations was founded in 1967. presently dwelling of Indonesia. Malaysia. Singapore. Brunei. the Philippines. Vietnam. Cambodia. Laos. Myanmar. and Thailand. Since its constitution. ASEAN states have bit by bit and continually strengthened their economic integrating. from the ASEAN Preferential Trading Arrangement ( PTA ) in 1977 to the ASEAN Free Trade Area ( AFTA ) and now they further travel to a deeper liberalisation degree to make the ASEAN Economic Community or AEC by 2015. The liberalisation marks under AEC include non merely the free motion of goods but besides the free mobility of factors of production among member states.

AEC and English proficiency in Thailand
So what’s all this ballyhoo about the AEC? You encounter it everywhere—on the wireless. on telecasting. in the newspaper. AEC is coming. Prepare for the AEC. Are You ready for the AEC? It’s about every bit exciting as the rumour about an foreign invasion. So is AEC an foreigner invasion? Well. kind of. But non the big-headed- green- creature- with- a- flying- disk sort of thing. AEC stands for ASEAN Economic Community. We compare it to an foreign invasion because it will convey about new chances and menaces. If you’re life in Thailand. this constitution will hold an impact on you.

AEC is the regional economic integrating with the end to organize a individual market base. It consists of the ASEAN members and it is to be launched in 2015. When the barriers between states are opened. the flow of goods. people. services. and capital will take to the addition in regional competition. There needs to be a common linguistic communication for AEC members to utilize for communicating. It so happens to be English ; no large surprise at that place. The English linguistic communication demand is a concern for many Thai people because Thailand is still dawdling behind in this country. Several researches have shown that Thailand’s English linguistic communication proficiency is at what they called. “a really low proficiency level” . Other ASEAN members like Singapore. Malaysia. Indonesia. and Vietnam all surpass our mark. The coming of the AEC and English proficiency in Thailand may be interpreted as either an chance for Thais to develop their English accomplishments or a challenge to endanger the state.

Thais should non fuss when the foreigner blasts its destructive-English-gamma-ray. We can get down analyzing English today to better ourselves for 2015. Thai people ( particularly the 1s populating in Bangkok ) are already immersed in the English linguistic communication environment. Take a expression at the advertizement hoardings. the ATM machines. the stores in Siam country. and the sky train station—many of them use both the Thai and English linguistic communication.

English accomplishments shouldn’t be limited to merely big corporations and hotels ; traffic bulls and sellers should larn it every bit good. By larning English. we do non intend merely larning a few phrases. Learning English requires the scholar to be able to talk it in an apprehensible mode with right grammar and pronunciation. When more aliens come to Thailand. there will be more demand for English use. The Ministry of Education had already launched the English Speaking Year 2012 run which involves instructors carry oning assorted activities in schools to allow pupils pattern talking English. This is a good start. More student exchange plans and scholarships should be funded every bit good.

Language schools are other options that can assist Thai pupils improve their English accomplishments. Schools such as The Knowledge at Lake Rajada has a forenoon and eventide classs. doing it convenient for pupils to take the clip that they want to come survey. Every schools in Thailand should supply an English class as portion of their faculty. Companies. infirmaries. touristry centres. hotels. and police Stationss need to administrate English-training workshop to assist construct up their employees’ linguistic communication accomplishments.

Literature Reappraisals:
Theoretical Framework and the Determinants of English Language Ability
This subdivision reviews and discusses earlier plants on factors finding English linguistic communication proficiency. The involvement on the determiners of English linguistic communication capacity belongs to a broader field of the economic sciences of linguistic communication. which has developed since the late seventiess ( Posel and Casale. 2010 ) . Research undertaken by economic experts into the acquisition of linguistic communication accomplishments has to day of the month focused on the instance of immigrants. This focal point is due to immigrants’ evident greater sensitiveness to the issues concerned. In Thailand. one time the AEC takes consequence. the issue of English linguistic communication proficiency will turn into a sensitive issue for Thai labour. It could find workers’ opportunities of retaining a present occupation or acquiring a new occupation. Therefore. this survey employs the attack used in the research on immigrants’ linguistic communication acquisition and applies it to analyse the determiners of English linguistic communication ability of Thai workers.

Language capacity can be analyzed utilizing the human capital model. Harmonizing to human capital theory. linguistic communication accomplishments can be considered as human capital because they can fulfill the three demands for human capital. that it is productive. dearly-won to bring forth. and embodied in the individual ( Chiswick. 2008 ) . First. a person’s proficiency in English linguistic communication is productive in the liberalized labour market. Those who speak/read English would happen it easier to obtain a occupation and would by and large be more productive on the occupation. accordingly increase their net incomes. These benefits should supply economic and societal inducements for Thai workers to better their English linguistic communication. Second. the acquisition of linguistic communication accomplishments is non without costs. Workers may hold to pass a considerable sum of their ain clip and money for linguistic communication preparation schools. books. etc. . to go proficient in English linguistic communication. And in conclusion. linguistic communication accomplishments are embodied in the individual. Unlike having physical capital. such as a piano. it can be transferred to other individuals ; but like larning to play a piano. linguistic communication accomplishments can non be separated from the individual.

This survey employs the theoretical account of linguistic communication acquisition to analyze the determiners of English linguistic communication capacity. This theoretical account was foremost introduced by Chiswick and later developed in a series of surveies done by Chiswick and Miller ( 1995. 1998. 2000. 2002. 2003 and 2007 ) and Chiswick ( 2008 ) . A figure of surveies associating to this issue are besides undertaken based on this theoretical account. Harmonizing to the theoretical account of linguistic communication acquisition. there are four conceptualized variables that could impact the degree of English linguistic communication ability of workers. They are exposure. efficiency. economic inducements. and wealth.

First. the degree of English linguistic communication proficiency of persons mostly depends on the extent of their exposure to that linguistic communication. Therefore. the more frequently workers are exposed to English linguistic communication. the better linguistic communication accomplishments they will hold. For that ground. chances to hear. speak. read. and study linguistic communication are of import for linguistic communication acquisition. Harmonizing to a series of work done by Chiswick and Miller ( 2000. and 2002 ) . they find some factors that can stand for persons’ exposure to linguistic communication. i. e. instruction degree. countries’ historical background.

Second. efficiency refers to the ability to change over exposure into linguistic communication acquisition ( Chiswick. 2008 ) . Some persons find it easier to larn a linguistic communication than others and this may be an of import factor in linguistic communication acquisition ( Burdria and Swedberg. 2010 ) . Age Is a good placeholder for efficiency in geting linguistic communication accomplishments. Younger people have a higher ability of larning linguistic communications. However. age is non a relevant variable for this survey. Education is considered another efficiency variable. Those with more schooling are more adept in larning linguistic communication because they are more efficient scholars ( Chiswick. 2008 ) .

Third. the economic inducements for bettering linguistic communication proficiency depend on the expected addition in rewards and the expected continuance of employment. Burdria and Swedberg ( 2010 ) analyze the determiners of Spanish linguistic communication proficiency for male and female immigrants in Spain and they find that be aftering to remain in Spain more for good is positively associated with linguistic communication larning. although merely for work forces.

Last. it is to see the supply side of the market for investing in linguistic communication acquisition. Greater wealth encourages investing in linguistic communication accomplishments and hence enhances linguistic communication proficiency. Harmonizing to Chiswick and Miller ( 2000 ) . they use education attainment as a placeholder for wealth in their survey on the determiners of finish linguistic communication proficiency of immigrants in Canada. The determination shows a strong support of wealth factor on immigrants’ proficiency.

Data and Methodology
Language proficiency has progressively become of import as it is one of the cardinal accessing factors into any labour market under the trade and investing liberalisation. Since vocational pupils will go a major fledgling in the Thai labour market after their graduation. with an AEC understanding. their linguistic communication proficiency is therefore required for. at least. a good communicating in English at work. To near the accurate policy of accomplishment betterment for Thai labour. this survey focuses on researching vocational students’ English proficiency which could be utile information for policymakers to supply appropriate and proactive policies.