World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology 48 2008

Globalization and Business Communication:

English Communication Skills for Thai Automotive Engineers

Pornpimon Hart-Rawung and Lynne Li

 this study, the Royal Thai government has identified six

Abstract — This paper outlines the role of the English language in targeted industries to compete on the international stage, one
the arena of international business communication, in particular,
how this role is reflected in the English language communication by of which is the automotive engineering sector. The purpose of
Thai automotive engineers. The study was designed with an this is for Thailand to promote its automotive industry as “the
interdisciplinary approach which integrates Global English and Detroit of Asia” (Thachaloensak, et al., 2004; The Federation
Business Communication research frameworks. It was conducted
through interviews with the executive staff from an automotive of Thai Industries, 2006); to improve the English language
manufacturer in Thailand and the foreign professionals who co-work proficiency of the personnel in its automotive industry has
with this transnational organization, and data collected thereof were been designated as one of the crucial national targets for the
analyzed through content analysis. The finding of the study suggests
that professionally adequate proficiency in English communication economic development of the Thai government.
has not only become a global passport for the engineers but also a
source of power to function competitively in international business. This demands new work practices, that is, a more flexible
The capacity to communicate orally in English was found to be the
greatest challenge for Thai engineers in balancing their daily work labour force. This means workers must turn their hands
commitments and their professional advancement. And the results of quickly to a wider variety of activities. In a wider variety of
this study also show that the attempts of English language learning jobs, people are required to communicate with each other
practices in the workplace in Thailand’s engineering workplace have
posed more questions than answers in responding to this global directly. In the trans-national activities of world trade there is
challenge. less likelihood that they share the same language, thus English
is utilised as the dominant language in doing business.
Keywords — Business communication, ESP, Global Engineers,
Global English Success or failure in business relies, to a large extent, on how
well its business personnel can communicate with high levels
of English proficiency. In the area of engineering business,
I. BACKGROUND English communication penetrates into almost all aspects of
the profession: from marketing to manufacturing, from quality
TO participate successfully and effectively in this ever assurance to post-sale maintenance (e.g. Nickerson, 1998;
changing and competitive world, nations as well as Grin, 2001).
organizations have to reconsider their own roles and
reposition themselves so as to operate securely and
productively in this global trading place. Widespread However, proficiency in English, particularly in oral
educational reforms, including in English language education, communication, is necessary requirement for global engineers
are taking place in many countries all over the world as a and yet it is the biggest difficulty of non-English-speaking
result of this essential and urgent requirement to operate engineers (Yin, 1988; Gordon, 2002; Orsi & Orsi, 2002;
successfully in globalised commerce. Educational Riemer, 2002; Cowling, 2007). Being entrenched as the
reformations in the area of language education, the English dominant global language in the internationalization of
language in particular, are being witnessed in almost all non-
business and for multi-national corporations, the English
English-speaking nations at all levels of education: primary,
secondary and tertiary (e.g. Crystal, 2003; Biggs, 2006; language has brought and continues to bring co-partners and
Graddol, 2006; Roberts & Tuleja, 2008). co-workers together so they can share a common vision,
exchange ideas and drive collective agendas. Proficiency in
As part of the professional development of its human the English language, apart from being a challenge, has also
resources, an individual nation needs to include enhancing the become an opportunity — a key competitive differentiator for
English language proficiency as a key to building generic individual workers, corporations and entire economic systems
skills, particularly in the Asian region where English is not (Cameron, 2002; Crystal, 2001, 2003; Graddol, 1997, 2006).
spoken as the first language, such as in China, Viet Nam or
Thailand. In the context of Thailand, as the research venue for

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II. SCHOLARLY LITERATURE role in society, politics and the economy across countries
The importance of the English language and its impact on the (Pennycook, 1998, p.18).
professional development of company personnel has become a
critical research area of Global English and business To portray a picture from a more business and technological
communication. Numerous studies have investigated how and perspective, Bollag (2000) outlines the following four crucial
why the English language has become the predominant factors that have activated and accelerated English as the most
language in international communication in today’s world. common international language, especially in global education
They have generally revealed two main sources that have and science: 1) the growing integration of the world economy;
promoted English as the most powerful world language that it 2) the role of the United States as the only one superpower
is today: a historical view point which highlights the impact of and the world’s economic leader; 3) the spread of information
the British and American colonies, and a social-cultural technology with English as the main writing language, and 4)
perspective pointing to the outcomes as of the globalization the explosive growth of the internet.
process. Those studies have attempted to make a connection
between the claim that the growth of English as the unrivalled With the complex of business ownership through joint
lingua franca of the world is more of historical and socio- ventures, the integration of international ownership of major
cultural importance (e.g. Crystal, 2001, 2003; Graddol, 1997, enterprises has become more and more complicated. Many of
2006), and the view that it is more a result of political and the world’s largest corporations have become Trans-National
imperialist expansion (e.g. Phillipson, 1992; Pennycook, Companies (TNCs). The globalization process has generated
1998), as well as of a result of business and technological another sort of globalize service, namely, outsourcing services
advancement (e.g. Bollag, 2000; Kameda, 2005). to countries with cheaper labour costs. Graddol (2006) claims
that the ideal concept of outsourcing services is that products
Both Crystal (2001, 2003) and Graddol (1997, 2006) assert can be manufactured in those countries where labour costs are
that the geographical-historical reason is rooted in the low, and then sold in markets where people are rich.
pioneering voyages of British sailors and explorers to the
Americas, Asia and Australasia during the eighteenth century With the intense connections between local and multi-national
and from the continuing expansion of British political companies through new technology, a large number of
imperialism during the nineteenth century in Africa, Asia and research studies have contributed to the exploration of the role
the South Pacific. According to Crystal and Graddol, the of English in the business world, including the engineering
socio-cultural aspect was generated not only by the large industry (Marschan et al., 1997; Kameda, 2005).
United States population where nearly 70 per cent of all
English mother-tongue speakers in the world reside but also In the area of elevator production, Marschan and his
by the dominance of the US as the leading economic power of colleagues (Marschan et al., 1997) studied the effects of
the twentieth century, together with its current political and English on Kone Elevators, a Finnish multinational company.
economic dominance which has consolidated the role of In Kone Elevators, English is used as “company language”
English as a world language. and Finnish the “language of parent’s country” in this cross-
cultural communication context. This study highlights three
Some studies regard this spread of English as a major outcome hidden influences of language used in multinationals on
of the British and American Empire and its extensive function communication flows, power and corporate connection among
as the controlled means in communication and administration headquarters and its own subsidiaries. In order to facilitate
by the colonizers (Phillipson, 1992; Pennycook, 1998). horizontal communication among the multinationals, the
Phillipson and Pennycook emphasize that English has authors highlight serious policies need to be developed to deal
confirmed its role as a dominant means of communication with language limitations so language training could be an
since the British colonization period, as a controlling language effective practice in this organization.
in the social, political and organizational governance of
native-English imperialism, until post-colonization times. In In the case of Japanese corporations, Kameda (2005)
the current contemporary world, it remains the most powerful postulates a research paradigm for international business
communication research based on problems of Japanese
language in international communication. As the dominant
corporations. According to Kameda, the obstacles of Japanese
world language, English acts as “a gatekeeper”, performing its corporations engaged in international business are: 1) failure
of Japanese managers to get their essential work done in a real

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international management situation, and 2) all issues that Sopon: Male, 54 years of age, B.A. Engineering, General
obstruct negotiation of external business transactions. Eighty Manager in the Department of Manufacturing.
per cent of these managerial problems have arisen from the
insufficient English competence of Japanese managers. 2) Five foreign professionals who were conducting
collaborative work with Thai engineers of this
As well, abundant evidence is pointing at the inefficient
English proficiency of national labour forces, especially in selected automotive company, as follows:
non-English speaking countries such as Thailand, China, and
South Korea. It has been reported that the overall level of Helmut: a German advisor in the area of die-making, from
English proficiency of the employees in those countries has Mercedes Benz, Germany, with 0.5-year of experience in
not met the requirements of the internationalized workplace international collaborative work;
(Boyle, 2000; Marginson, 2002; Zhang, 2003; Egan & Farley,
2004; Law, 2004). Furthermore, it has been reported as a Wylie: a Chinese-Australian working in the area of quality
necessary requirement for global engineers and as the biggest assurance, from PBR International Ltd, Australia, with 1-year
difficulty of non-English speaking engineers (Yin, 1988; of experience in international collaborative work;
Riemer, 2002; Garcia, 2002; Gordon, 2002; Orsi & Orsi,
2002; Cowling, 2007). Jeff: an Australian manager working in the area of human
sources, quality assurance (QA) and logistics from PBR
However, few studies have been conducted to examine the International Ltd, Australia, with 3-year international
role of English on the needs of communication in the collaborative experience;
automotive engineering sector. The study proposed here will
have an automotive engineering manufacturer in Thailand as Owen: an Australian, being a vice president for PBR
the locus of this research. It aims at exploring, within the International Ltd, Australia, with 26-years of international
theoretical paradigms of Global English and business cooperation;
communication, the role of English as an international
language in Thailand’s automotive industry, and its impact on John: an American, being the manager in industrial
the needs and ESP program design for Thai automotive automation at DE-STA-CO (Asia) Co., Ltd, the U.S.A., with
engineers. The results of this study are expected to highlight 6-year international collaborative practices.
the possible options available to Thai engineers, as well as to
global engineers, to achieve English communication skills in
order to best tackle the global challenges they are facing. All the five executive staff was managers with tertiary
educational backgrounds in engineering, except Sarapi who
III. RESEARCH METHOD was the only female with a Bachelor’s degree in Business
The automotive manufacturer selected for this research is part Administration. All were aged between 44 and 54, and at the
of “Thai Group”, established in 1990, with about 2000 mid-point of their engineering careers. They had been with
employees. It owns about 10 manufacturing plants both in this company for an average of 15 years, ranging from 10 to
Thailand and overseas. The research participants recruited for 22 years; and all had had collaborative work experience with
the research were: foreign professionals for an average of 23 years, ranging from
1) Five executive staff selected from three of its plants, 17 to 31 years.
one in Chonburi Province and the other two in the
Samuthprakarn Province of Thailand; as listed In addition to the executive staff from the workplace, five
below: foreign professionals were selected to participate in the
interviews to examine their work experience with Thai
Sarapi: Female, 44 years of age, B.A. in Business, Manager engineers in terms of English language communication. All
of Training in the Department of Human Resources; the five foreign professionals who were interviewed had been
working cooperatively with Thai engineering practitioners in
Supan: Male, 45 years of age, B.A. in Engineering, General
the automotive company, with all being male. Their
Manager in the Department of Manufacturing;
nationalities were: German, Chinese-Australian, two
Samart: Male, 49 years of age, M.A. in Engineering, General Australians and an American. The length of their collaborative
Manager in the Department of Manufacturing; work with Thai engineers varied as short as six months, but as
long as 26 years. All of them communicated with the Thai
Siroj: Male, 51 years of age, Cert in Engineering, engineers through email, telephone and face-to-face
Maintenance Manager in the Department of Manufacturing;
communication, such as at meetings.

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Data were collected from two interview schedules designed Sarapi emphasized that English competence is essential for a
for the company executives (Appendix I) and for the foreign local company to grow and to enter into the international
engineering professionals (Appendix II). The collected data marketplace,
were recorded, transcribed and translated into English where As we are a 100% pure Thai supplier in the Thailand
transcripts were in languages other than English. automotive industry and as we’re significantly expanding
as an investor and a joint-partner into the international
automobile industry, the English competence of our
IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION personnel is crucial…
The data collected from the interviews with the company
executives and the foreign professionals were consolidated For those companies which have already expanded into
and re-structured under the following themes: 1) English international markets, English is equally critical. Siroj made
communication skills have emerged as one of the top the following comment:
recruitment criteria, 2) English oral communication skills have As we have invested in various countries, the role of
been found as the biggest challenge for Thai engineers, and 3) English language is very crucial for the employees in
English language training strategies implemented in the doing industrial business.
engineering workplaces are not meeting the expectations of
the engineers nor of the company managers. Sopon, a plant manager, supported this view:
… there are three plants now operating in India. We send
our team to support the production process there. And
A. English communication skills Topping Recruitment
Criteria there, only English is used in work cooperation.

The research subjects for this study present an overwhelming Sopon also admitted that to run a global business where strong
perspective that the English language has become a global and fierce competition was inevitable, customer commitment
passport and a source of power in today’s business world for and customer satisfaction were the top-priority issues. To
not only the engineers, but also for the companies and their achieve these goals, Sopon revealed that the production
countries, particularly when English is found to be one of the process has been modified and innovated to strengthen the
top criteria in the process of recruiting new staff. manufacturing capability and again the English competence of
the engineers was crucial in learning new knowledge, training
In the context of Thailand’s car manufacturing industry, in new technology and incorporating the modern technology
organizations which have aspired to compete internationally into the production process.
have to maintain worldwide standards for their products. In
order to achieve this, first and foremost, they have to recruit a From what is happening outside Thailand, Supan realized the
professional body of qualified engineers with high level importance and urgency of having high-level English
multilingual skills. There is abundant evidence from the communication skills in order to work with multinational
interviews of this study that raising the English engineering teams and to win neighboring markets. He
communication skills in the workplace has been the focus of explained,
attention in doing business. … because we’re now progressively investing more in
international business, manufacturing plants in
Samart, the general manager in one of the automotive neighboring countries such as Malaysia, India and
manufacturing plants, reported that the nature of work within Indonesia… urgently need engineering personnel with
joint-venture partnerships is the consequence of the good English, good engineering education and flexibility
globalization process and English is the “major means in in working in multicultural work teams.
communication”. Likewise, the other interviewed executives,
Sarapi, Siroj, Sopon and Supan, all agreed that good English These responses highlight the essential nature and value for a
proficiency of the employed engineers was crucial for the local Thai organization to have employees with good English
organization due to its rapid international growth. proficiency in order to enter the global market. The same is
true with companies which have already expanded to
international markets, and also to those who have neighboring
competitors.

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… Because we here … in Australia, nobody can speak

Along this line, the process of recruiting new engineering staff Thai…if they cannot speak English we will not want to
responds to this high demand via setting hurdles for the newly deal with them ... we cannot afford to deal with someone
employed; exhibiting good command of English has become who cannot speak English.
one of the most important criteria in the recruitment process.
In this regard, Samart and Supan highlighted a new practice “English is the essential means in communication”,
their organization was following, that is, measuring the Wylie was brief and clear.
English proficiency of the new candidates as one of the top-
three priority qualifications – good English proficiency, good “English is the main language, but I also try to speak a
engineering education and flexibility in working in a little Thai”, was the comment of Helmut from the
multinational engineering team – in recruiting new engineers. standpoint of a non-native English speaker.
The candidates were required to pass an English proficiency
test and to exhibit the ability to email in English. Samart To operate successfully in business communication, Owen
described in more detail, highlighted clarity and clarification of an issue in tandem with
To recruit new engineers … tests on English, engineering the ability to question and answer questions to attain the
and computer skills as well as emailing in English are correct understanding as the best means of tackling
established. The candidates are expected to pass the engineering issues and technical problems. He narrated,
criteria of each particular skill. The clarity and diction of spoken English will be
enormously important I think ...the way of speaking with
Supan even took the view that English communication skill correct pronunciation ... is far more important for people
tops all other selection criteria during the recruitment process, in Thailand. If only they could speak slowly and more
and he noted: correctly … …
English proficiency of the candidates is the top priority,
then professional competency and ability to work in Due to the geographical distance – Melbourne, Australia and
teams… because we’re now progressively investing more Samuthprakan, Thailand – Owen highlighted “time” as
in international business …we urgently need engineering another major factor in running transnational business. Again
personnel with good English, good professional he stressed that the competence to express precise and
education and flexibility in working in multinational work comprehensible messages in English was a necessity in
teams. communication beyond the frontiers. Owen explained,
… because of time frame, so people will either be leaving
Supan claimed that a good competent English user was what messages by voicemail or they’re having a phone
they really needed. He believed that with this competence, the conference or meet up around the world... diction
engineers could efficiently work together with foreign becomes incredibly involved… clarity and diction in
customers. Proficiency in English of the employees becomes a speech…
valued asset for the companies to enter the global market.
Thus, without adequate English qualifications, the new Owen, an Australian engineering professional, highlighted the
candidates cannot obtain a work position in the organization. importance of English proficiency in oral communication by
claiming that the competence to effectively encode and
The importance of English in international business has been decode the messages of engineers was an issue about
reiterated by the foreign professionals as well. They leadership. Global engineers had to collaborate with their
emphasized that English was a common means of peers on a daily basis on the production lines via face-to-face
communication in international business dealings, and communication or via international calls while they were in
proficiency to communicate in English was the core issue in different countries. Their ability to communicate on any
initiating business with international suppliers and in working occasion demonstrates the leadership skills they have in
with multinational/multicultural engineers. Although the managing international business, as Owen commented:
suppliers were very good in the engineering profession, with I think in the way of dealing internationally in the global
inadequate English competence, they could not do business economy, engineers will be involved with other
with them. Jeff was very blunt on this, engineering groups around the world so they are getting
on the phone so as to speak in the room to be clearly

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understood. Persons who can do that will employ the Sarapi responded in support,
leadership skills in the role of that meeting just because …most of our staff urgently needs English
they can speak there and in the other surroundings. improvement……though our engineering people can
converse on technical issues; their English are not
In other words, Owen emphasized that efficiency in smooth enough. …still requiring special language
communicating orally was not only essential for the engineers support…
to fulfill their day-to-day job, but could also foster the quality
of leadership of a global engineer. The same problem was confirmed by the foreign
professionals. They spoke about their difficulties while
To fulfill the work requirements in today’s competitive world, working with Thai engineers because of Thais’ limitation in
engineers require a high level of English competence in the oral communication skills. John, an American professional
four skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Good from De-Sta-Co, disclosed that he usually experienced
skills to communicate orally is more crucial for them in English difficulty in discussing technical issues with Thais. In
collaborating with foreign engineers as workplace locations order to make sure that his work was successfully done, he
are dispersed around the globe and “time” becomes a very used his interpreters. He claimed:
extreme concern in doing transnational business. The … as of today a 100% understanding is rarely achieved.
engineers require sufficient English in conveying the In order to secure understanding an interpreter is
messages in face-to-face conversations and through necessary. If an issue is not properly understood, the
international calls with international engineering colleagues. result can be devastating.
The ability to speak clearly and understandably, together with
the ability to question and answer have proved to be a source Wylie, a Chinese-Australian engineer from Australia, also
of power to complete the work, to fix work problems and to indicated his difficulty while co-working with Thais through
promote leadership capability. international phone calls. He recommended that Thai
engineers develop the English skills in conversation so the
work could be done more easily and more efficiently:
B. Oral English communication skills as the biggest
challenge Being frank… I do have some difficulties in
communicating in English with Thai engineers. Not all of
Efficient English communication skills being in great demand the guys from Thailand can speak very fluent English.
requires Thai engineers to be more flexible in connecting with Some are very good; unfortunately some have very little
the foreign teams through either written or oral interactions. English. I think it’s better to improve their English ability
The results of this study show not all Thai engineers can reach so we can work more effectively.
that level of flexibility; rather they are facing difficulties and
frustrations while cooperating with the foreign work teams. Jeff, another Australian foreign professional, mentioned his
The foreign professionals who collaborated with the Thai frustration while communicating with Thais. He indicated that
engineers were as well frustrated during business Thai engineers were fine when working through the written
communication, particularly when conducting oral mode but he found they had limited oral communication
conversations. skills. He remarked:
They have got some difficulties to understand our
Sarapi and Samart reported that the engineers of TGP1 English. They can understand our writing in emails or
urgently need support in verbal communication. Engineers messages but the written communication takes a long
had good technical knowledge but lacked good and adequate time compared to communication directly person to
English to discuss and negotiate the work by fully making use person... we need to be quick to do our job.
of their engineering knowledge and experience in business
communication. As Samart pointed out: Jeff also disclosed his dissatisfaction resulted from the
We urgently need to develop English competence of our limitations of the conversational skills of a Thai engineer. He
engineers in oral communication so they can work said that he would discuss this problem with the company
effectively with their multinational engineering peers and administration and would ask to work with another engineer
customers … with good English conversational skills. He explained,

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...we have issues with a Thai engineer… from email they have not understood the issues discussed. As a result,
correspondence… he’s a very good operator but when without sufficient oral English communication skills, Thai
picking up the phone and having a conversation, he engineers will not be able to communicate with confidence
cannot understand us and we cannot understand him so with foreign professionals; their engineering knowledge and
then I’ll talk to a Thai project coordinator for someone skills that has been accumulated along the years could not be
else who can speak English… well paid back. Instead, it was left with repeated frustrations
which were experienced by both sides of the collaborative
This again confirms that the ability in oral conversation is now business.
the top-priority for Thai engineers who work with foreign
professionals. No matter how excellent their engineering
C. English language training practices in the engineering
knowledge and experience was, without sufficient English workplace
skills to communicate orally, their knowledge and experiences
would get them nowhere. The Thai Group recognizes that competence to communicate
in English for the engineers is a crucial factor in operating a
The foreign professionals who worked with Thai engineers on business internationally, and it also realizes that their
a daily basis through face-to-face conversation disclosed engineers lack substantial ability to communicate orally. The
confusion with some Thais when they demonstrated their engineers require effective and productive support in fostering
understanding through nodding the head and saying “yes”. them as proficient English communicators. To empower the
Helmut, John and Owen reported the same confusion and engineers, the Thai Group had put three major practices into
frustration while working with some Thai engineers. They action. They were: 1) providing a workplace English training
indicated that Thais sometimes said “yes” and “nod the head” program for all engineering practitioners, 2) providing an
even though they did not understand the message intensive English program for groups of engineers who are
communicated. Instead of requesting for more clarification or assigned to work overseas, and 3) encouraging emailing in the
more explanation, Thais showed reluctance and kept quiet. English language within the organization. The executive staff
disclosed that three workplace English training courses were
As Helmut described: being practiced at three levels: beginning, lower-intermediate
In my opinion the main problem is that I thought they did and pre-intermediate, for the engineering practitioners to
understand, but they did not, even if they say yes. achieve English proficiency up to an intermediate level. For
the automotive engineers who were assigned to work in
John tended to explain this through the Thai reluctance to lose overseas plants, the organization had organized a 20-30 hour
face, English intensive course particularly for them to be better
One thing worth mentioning is whether the equipped with English communication skills.
person/persons actually understand what you are
explaining. The "lose face" situation is sometimes an Sarapi spoke of the practice of employing the English
obstacle. It’s easier just to say “OK, I understand” than language in all email communication across the organization
"Can you please explain that again?” and with their customers. She stated,
…to promote emailing in English both inside and outside
Owen took this more as a cultural difference and showed his the organization with customers…it may take some time
dismay, for those colleagues who are not familiar with English
Cultural aspect has a big role in understanding and emailing but we hope this activity will be fruitful in the
misunderstanding…in dealing with Thais …I found with long run.
some Thai people it was the nod with an absolutely ‘not
understand’ at all. This is completely mysterious to the Regarding the engineers who were not included in the English
Westerners. program, Samart reported that those engineers recognized how
essential English was for their work; they, then, kept
Thus the lack of English oral proficiency can be a challenge improving their English proficiency through their own
for both Thai engineers and foreign professionals. As being endeavors:
afraid of “losing face”, some Thais have tried to survive by As all of our staff is aware of how important English is in
keeping quiet, or nodding the head or even saying “yes” while their career, they keep developing their English and hope

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that when their chance to work overseas comes, they The engineers found this limitation because the teacher
wouldn’t miss it because of English insufficiency. didn’t explicitly teach grammar. The number of learners
started declining…
However, after the three workplace English training courses
had been conducted for a period of time, some limitations Some engineers held the view that if they were trained in
started to emerge. Supan remarked that although the engineers grammatical rules explicitly and meaningfully, these rules
gained more self-confidence to interact in the English could assist them to generate English sentences themselves by
language, there were two major obstacles existing from this using their acquired vocabulary and terminology.
practice. These were the consequences of the busy nature of
the engineers’ work and the limited content of the general As a result of the difficulties emerging from the English
English courses. courses, Supan disclosed two successful practices in order to
help his engineers cope with their busy life while learning the
Due to the hectic day-to-day work commitment of the English language. They were: 1) a “peer-tutoring” technique
engineers, English classes often have to be bypassed, as Supan and 2) assigning the engineers to co-work with foreign
commented, engineers without an English helper, as is seen from his
…since the English classes are conducted in our following remarks,
workplace, once there’s any urgent work coming up, they To solve this, an informal English class is conducted here
have to cancel the class… many complained that they during lunch time by our engineers with good English
couldn’t concentrate well on their English learning… experience from overseas…

The limited nature of the general English courses could not Very often, I send them to deal with their foreign
appropriately support the engineers in the job-related partners. In this case I know they do struggle but finally
communication as Supan stated: the work has been completely done.
…the teachers can help us in general English but not in
engineering English. … the teachers were keen in general Foreign professionals who worked with Thai engineers also
English …they couldn’t help us much on our current suggested how to encourage Thais to speak out. Helmut, a
working situation. German professional, who worked with Thai engineers on
the production lines suggested, from his English learning
Apart from the work commitment and lack of job-related experience, some practical ways to enhance oral English
communication in the general English courses, Supan competence of Thai engineers. He remarked that Thai
pinpointed another issue vis-à-vis the mismatch between the engineers already had the terminology, so what Thais needed
English course offered and the genuine needs of the to do was to speak out and keep practicing. He encouraged
engineers as: Thai engineers to speak out without being afraid of making
…The teachers focused their study on a book and mistakes. Speaking out was better than being quiet. He
followed the book’s activities in four skills. …. this way of emphasized,
teaching is too ‘SLOW’ to fulfill their real needs… … They should practise in general English and I really mean
once the teacher finished the reading or listening practise!!!!
passages, he started asking questions related to the
passage learnt… They did understand the questions asked Helmut added that Thai engineers had already acquired
but didn’t know how to organize their vocabulary into a engineering terminology in English and what Thais lacked
correct sentence… was daring to speak out. He went on,
Because most of the technical words are not known in
Supan, furthermore, highlighted that the engineers asked for Thai and so they know the English word for it. Also they
teaching them “theory”, or “rules” that could help them to must be trained in using English, again: practice.
build their own correct English sentences from their linguistic
resources of general and technical terminology. Through this He also highlighted practicing as the real solution, as seen
process, the engineers believed they could apply the theory from his following suggestion,
they had learnt to communicate in any circumstances. He Also tell them that nobody is perfect. But when you speak
reported, you get used to it and get better and better. Tell them:

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when you speak 100 English words and 35% are not communication skills of the engineers have become a global
correctly pronounced, still 65% were correct and that is a passport for them to participate in and compete on the stage of
lot more than not speaking the language. international business. English is also a source of power for
the organizations and their engineers as well to operate in the
Regarding the content of English courses, Sopon international arena during co-working with their overseas
recommended that what the engineers in the automotive engineering colleagues, and even with their work teams within
manufacturing plants need most was Business English for the same organization.
marketing engineers and Technical English for the process
engineers, production engineers and quality assurance (Q.A.) Thus, the competence to communicate in English has become
engineers, a classifier and a significant grader in the process of
According to the nature of work nowadays, marketing recruitment in large and reputable companies. For current and
engineers and production engineers work together in the future engineers, as well as the organization which aspires to
quotation negotiation. The marketing engineer also works do global business, English communication skills have
with the process engineers in estimating the whole become both valuable and assessable assets and a global
production cost….two types of English courses are passport for them all. English is not only playing its role as a
needed…Business English for marketing engineers and door opener for university engineering graduates to enter the
Technical English for engineers in production process, job market, but also for Thailand as a whole country and its
i.e., process, production and Q.A. engineers… companies and organizations to step into the world.

The English courses implemented in the workplace have not The attempts of the company in enhancing the English
been found in this study to have considered the factor of language skills of the Thai engineers in the workplace were
varying the learning content according to the different roles evident. However, they have been questioned in its scope,
performed by the engineers. Thai engineers require English learning content, and mode of delivery. The question still
language knowledge and skills that are specific and directly remain as to how the company leaders should work together
connected to their day-to-day tasks, particularly in oral with their engineers, or perhaps with English educational
interaction. As well, due to the frenetic daily routine, practitioners, in order to promote an engineering workforce to
classroom instruction seems to be impractical. The engineers be highly effective global engineers as well as English
are apparently expecting certain co-ordinated actions and communicators.
teaching strategies that could help make the learning happen
on all possible occasions, no matter where they are, and when
that could be.

V. CONCLUSION
English has been utilised as the most commonly shared
language for the Thai Group by its engineers to work
cooperatively with their international engineering
counterparts. In the meantime, English is playing a double-
sided role: as a valuable asset for those who have it and a
barrier for those who have not. As transnational companies
emerge and expand across the world, Thai automotive
engineers have to do business and join hands with
international engineering work teams, utilizing English as the
most popular working medium while experiencing both the
advantages of having this asset and the disadvantages of not
possessing the language skills.

It is becoming more and more essential for a local Thai

organization to have employees with good English proficiency
in order to be successful in the global market. English

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AUTHORS’ BIO NOTE

Pornpimon Hart-Rawung has been a university lecturer for years at
Rajamangala University of Technology (RMUT) in Thailand, and is
currently a PhD research candidate at RMIT University in
Melbourne, Australia. Her doctoral thesis title is: Internationalizing
English Language Education in Thailand: English Language Program
for Thai Engineers. Pornpimon has obtained a Master’s Degree in
Applied Linguistics specialized in English for Science and
Technology at King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology in Thailand
and a Graduate Diploma in TESOL at Australian Catholic
University, Melbourne, specialized in syllabus design.
Her email contact is: [email protected]

Lynne LI (PhD) is a lecturer and senior research student supervisor

in the language studies program at RMIT University, Melbourne,
Australia. Her research interest is in second language acquisition,
English/Chinese teaching methodology, Global English, business
communication, Chinese/LOTE teaching methodology, cross-
cultural communication and multilingual knowledge economy.
Her email contact is: [email protected]

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