Teaching and Learning Development of English for Social Administration
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Abstract
To redesign English for Social Administration, a branch of ESP aiming to prepare pre-service social work students for their future profession, the present study investigated the opinions of 248 Thai pre-service social work students who had experienced the course and a field internship. Data collected from the survey questionnaire and focus group discussions revealed what was needed, and the key necessity is the ability to use a specialized language register aligned with social work practice in Thailand. In terms of the students’ wants, the findings revealed their learning preferences specifically for tasks that are in line with what professional social workers do in different areas or stages of social work practice in Thailand. Additionally, they highlighted a lack of knowledge of the language used in the target situation. The study suggested that the syllabus should be redesigned based on the stages of social work practice in Thailand and its subfields, such as medical or correctional social work, in order to provide more specific vocabulary or grammatical structures and engaging tasks that stimulate professional social workers’ tasks. More importantly, it is suggested that other stakeholders, including in-service social workers, are encouraged to work collaboratively in designing the course and materials to ensure that the content is completely valid in the social work community and meets their professional needs.
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