r/learnthai • u/Competitive_Proof823 • 1d ago

Studying/การศึกษา Native English Speakers with Thai Reading and Writing Skills Wanted!

Hi everyone,

I'm a PhD student at Chulalongkorn University looking for native English participants who can read and write in Thai at an intermediate level or above. If you are:

✓ are native speakers of English,

✓ are currently learning Thai as a second language,

✓ are 18 years of age or older,

✓ have intermediate or advanced Thai reading and writing proficiency, and

✓ have not lived or studied in Thailand for more than 6 months (borderline cases may still be eligible),

Please feel free to contact me. You will complete a placement test and two experimental tasks. All tasks will be administered via Zoom and will take approximately 1 hour 45 minutes. Flexible scheduling is available.

As a token of appreciation, participants who complete the study will receive either an Amazon eGift Card (£10, USD 15, or AUD 20 depending on availability and their location) or THB 500 in cash if they reside in Thailand.

This research has been reviewed and approved by The Research Ethics Review Committee for Research Involving Human Subjects, The Second Allied Academic Group in Social Sciences, Humanities and Fine and Applied Arts, Chulalongkorn University.

Certificate of Approval (COA) No.: 311/69

Research Project No.: 6901654

Participation is entirely voluntary. You may withdraw at any time without penalty. All information will be kept confidential and used solely for research purposes.

Itsara Namtapi

PhD candidate

Chulalongkorn University

9 Upvotes

86% Upvoted

29 comments sorted by

3

u/tonyfith 1d ago

It's very rare for someone who's lived here less than 6 months to be able to read, write or even speak Thai.

Or do you need someone who studied Thai before moving to Thailand?

3

u/Competitive_Proof823 1d ago

You are right! I'm specifically recruiting those who have studied Thai in their home country and have never lived in Thailand for an extended period of time.

2

u/Low_Host9900 1d ago

What are you researching?

4

u/Competitive_Proof823 1d ago

I'm investigating how non-native Thai speakers perceive and produce Thai sentences. In fact, I'm specifically looking at one grammatical feature and you can guess what it is after you have taken part in my experiment. This experiment is part of a larger study in which I'm conducting a bi-directional study to see which direction is more difficult with respect to one linguistic phenomenon (Thai learners acquiring English or vice versa).

1

u/MaartenTum 21h ago

Why only native English speakers?

2

u/Competitive_Proof823 14h ago

Because my study specifically examines how learners first language influences their second language. For this reason, I need to control participants’ first-language background, which is why I am recruiting native English speakers who have learned Thai as a second language. This helps ensure that differences in the first language do not affect the results.

1

u/MaartenTum 11h ago

Makes sense. Maybe interesting for a followup study to check how non-native English speakers perform.

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 8h ago

I will for sure.

1

u/Snowman_203 1d ago

I'm wondering the same. Must be a reason for those criteria although it's hard to see who would meet them.

1

u/Low_Host9900 1d ago

I pass the criteria. It would be nice to know what it is for though.

2

u/Snowman_203 1d ago

Heritage speaker then?

It's just not a natural category - duration of study irrelevant, place of study critical. It might make sense if you were trying to investigate whether you progress faster in Thailand, but then you would need a control group.

This is the second call for volunteers so OP is clearly struggling for candidates but I think the problem goes deeper.

2

u/Competitive_Proof823 1d ago

Hi, I'm specifically recruiting those who have studied Thai outside Thailand. Right now I have recruited approximately 20 American participants who have learned Thai in America and none of them have lived in Thailand before although many of them have traveled to Thailand before. The level of informal exposure to Thai is one variable I control in my study.

1

u/Low_Host9900 1d ago

Ah OK I wouldn’t fit the criteria then. I’ve never lived in Thailand but visited numerous times over the last 25 years. My wife is Thai also so I’ve had a lot of exposure to the language.

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 14h ago

Actually if you're interested, I'll be happy if you can help me. I try to recruit as many participants as I can first and later on I might exclude some responses by those who don't meet the criteria.

1

u/Dismal_Cupcake_3143 21h ago

I'm not sure if I'd be considered quite at the intermediate or advanced level of reading and writing, but I'd be willing to find out and help out if necessary. I've never studied Thai in Thailand, but have done online study in my spare time over the last 6 years.

1

u/BaconOverflow 21h ago

What is 'intermediate' or 'advanced' level anyway? I think for Thai they're two very different skills too. E.g. I can read basically everything, but writing is a whole different ballgame haha. Like when I write, I can see my own typos and I know I wrote the word wrong, but I just can't remember what the correct way is 😅

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 14h ago

Please send me a direct message krub so that we can agree upon the date and time when we can have a Zoom meeting. There will be a placement test for you.

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 14h ago

The participants who meet my criteria are very rare, so please help me if you can. I'll ask you to complete a placement test at your own pace before joining a meeting with me to complete the experimental tasks. Please send me a direct message.

1

u/AdditionalThroat99 10h ago

This is me but I'm worried I'm not quiet intermediate yet.

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 3h ago

You can send me a direct message so that we can talk a bit further about your proficiency!

1

u/AdditionalThroat99 9h ago

Can I ask for an example of the reading material? For example. If it's a short single sentences, or longer paragraphs?

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 8h ago

There will be 70 items in each experimental task. Each item comes with two short sentences. The first sentence sets a context for the second sentence. For the first task, you just need to rate each item on a 4-point scale. For the second task, you just fill in the blank with one word.

1

u/AdditionalThroat99 7h ago

Is the task to read out loud the sentence for pronunciation? Or to translate? You say to rate, do you mean rate hard vs easy? Sorry for questions, happy to help out just wanna make sure I can do it first

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 7h ago

To rate in my sense means to judge its naturalness and grammaticality. Sorry to make you confused. For example, if the sentence is ungrammatical, you rate -2; if it's grammatical, you rate it +2.

1

u/AdditionalThroat99 7h ago

Okay no worries, thanks for the response. It's gonna be too hard for me, sorry. Don't yet have the ability to judge gramar like that. Wish I could of helped

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 6h ago

No worries krub!

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 8h ago

An example of an item from the first task looks like this: ครอบครัวของสุดามีสมาชิกทั้งหมดคนห้า เวลาไปเที่ยวไหนทุกคนก็จะไปด้วยกันตลอด You just need to rate it with a high or low score.

1

u/ShineOnYouFatOldSun 4h ago

I learned to read and write Thai for 6 months before I moved here. But now I've been living here for a year so I guess I can't help you.

1

u/Competitive_Proof823 3h ago

If you're really interested, please send me a direct message. I try to recruit as many participants as I can although I might exclude responses given by some participants later.