Teacher Perceptions of and Confidence in Teaching Cultural Content in English Courses: A Study of Islamic Private Schools in Five Southern Border Provinces of Thailand

Abstract

This study examines teacher perceptions of and confidence in teaching cultural content in English courses in Islamic private schools in five southern border provinces of Thailand, namely Yala, Pattani, Narathiwas, Songkhla, and Satun. Three sources of culture—Source Culture including Thai and Thai Melayu Culture, Target Culture, and International Culture, along with three cultural dimensions—products, practices, and perspectives, were analyzed. Teacher perceptions of and confidence in teaching cultural content were investigated by means of questionnaire administration and semi-structured interviews. The participants of the questionnaire administration were 314 teachers of English in 155 Islamic private schools. Among 314 teachers, 33 from 16 schools participated in the semi-structured interviews. The results of this study show that the teachers perceived that they should teach, and they were confident to teach all sources of culture and in every dimension. There was a weak positive relationship between teacher perceptions of and confidence in teaching cultural content in English courses in Islamic private schools in five southern border provinces of Thailand at the significant level of 0.01. However, Thai Melayu cultural content seems to have the strongest relationship among all cultural sources.