Study of Communication Strategy Use Among Thai EFL Students: A Case Study of GE Students at RMUTI SKC

Abstract

This research aims to investigate communication strategies used in oral communication among Thai EFL students of different English proficiency levels, when speaking English in real context with three main objectives. These include 1) to find out the frequency of communication strategy use of Thai EFL students at the low, medium, and high levels of English proficiency; 2) to compare communication strategies use in oral communication among Thai EFL students of different English proficiency: low, medium, and high level, and 3) To compare communication strategies use in oral communication between business administration students and engineering students. The number of participants were 130 students studying in English as GE courses at Rajamangala University of Technology Isan Sakon Nakhon Campus, academic year 2024 including 65 engineering students and 65 business administration students obtained through purposive sampling method. The data were collected through 2 research instruments: English proficiency test, and questionnaires. The data for this study were analyzed by the assistance of SPSS program considering on descriptive statistics: mean (x), standard deviation (S.D.), ANOVA, and T-test for Independent Sample. The results in this study indicated that the Business Administration students and Engineering students of low and medium level of English proficiency usually used CSs and high level of English proficiency occasionally used CSs. The results also showed that the students with different levels of English proficiency did not use CSs differently. Moreover, Business Administration students and Engineering students did not use CSs differently.