Developing Professional English of Thai Employees in Japanese Companies
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Abstract
This study aimed to (1) examine the professional English communication skill needs of Thai employees working in Japanese companies in Thailand, and (2) compare these needs based on personal and work-related factors. A mixed-methods research design was employed, involving two groups of participants: 400 Thai employees and 25 executives from Japanese companies located in ten provinces with the highest levels of Japanese investment. The research instruments consisted of a questionnaire and semi-structured interviews.
The findings from the first objective revealed that the overall need for professional English communication skills among Thai employees was at a high level ( = 4.09, S.D. = 0.69). Listening skills were rated the highest (
= 4.40), followed by speaking (
= 4.25), writing (
= 3.95), and reading (
= 3.75). Interview results indicated that Thai employees still lacked confidence, particularly in speaking and writing, suggesting that they should be trained in business English areas such as email writing, report writing, meetings, and intercultural communication. Regarding the second objective, the analysis revealed statistically significant differences in English communication skill needs according to age and educational level (p < .05), while gender showed no significant difference. For work-related factors, both job position and work experience exhibited statistically significant differences (p < .05 and p < .01, respectively).
These findings suggest that developing Thai employees’ professional English communication skills should emphasize listening, speaking, and business writing, together with enhancing intercultural communicative competence to improve workplace communication effectiveness. Strengthening these competencies will help increase the global competitiveness of Thai labor and promote successful communication in multicultural Japanese business contexts.
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