cross cultural differences between thailand and china

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CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THAILAND AND CHINA – THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHINESE TEACHERS IN

THAILAND

PANNAPAT PRUKSAKIT

A THEMATIC PAPER SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF MANAGEMENT

COLLEGE OF MANAGEMENT MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY

2015

COPYRIGHT OF MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY

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Thematic paper entitled

CROSS CULTURE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THAILAND AND CHINA - THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHINESE TEACHERS IN

THAILAND

was submitted to the College of Management, Mahidol University for the degree of Master of Management

on August 29, 2015

……….….…..………

Asst. Prof. Astrid Kainzbauer Ph.D.

Advisor

……….….…..………

Assoc. Prof. Annop Tanlamai, Ph.D.

Dean

College of Management Mahidol University

……….………….…..………

Miss Pannapat Pruksakit Candidate

……….….…..………

Assoc. Prof. Sooksan Kantabutra, Ph.D.

Chairperson

……….….…..………

Assoc. Prof. Roy Kouwenberg, Ph.D., CFA

Committee member

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank my advisor Dr. Astrid Kainzbauer for her support, suggestions and guidance in completing this Thematic paper. Her encouragement and comments were helpful in contributing to the success of this thematic paper. I would like to thank all interviewees who devoted their time for me and gave me useful information in their interviews. Lastly, I would like to thank my mom who inspired and encouraged me to do this topic, and enabled me to go through all the problems with her support.

Pannapat Pruksakit

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LIST OF TABLES

Table Page

3.1 Respondents’ information 10

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vi

LIST OF FIGURES

Table Page

2.1 The comparing cultural dimension between Thailand and China 6

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CROSS CULTURAL DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THAILAND

AND CHINA - THE PERSPECTIVE OF CHINESE TEACHERS IN THAILAND

PANNAPAT PRUKSAKIT 5649315

M.M. (MARKETING AND MANAGEMENT)

THEMATIC PAPER ADVISORY COMMITTEE: ASST. PROF. ASTRID KAINZBAUER, Ph.D., ASSOC. PROF. SOOKSAN KANTABUTRA, Ph.D., ASSOC. PROF. ROY KOUWENBERG, Ph.D., CFA

ABSTRACT

This paper aims to study the cultural differences between Thai and Chinese people in the education environment. The paper is about the perspectives of Chinese teachers toward Thai students and how Chinese teachers adapt their teaching styles to the Thai context. This information was gathered by in-depth interviews with open- ended questions. The author interviewed Thai and Chinese teachers who work at the Language department of Sriyanusorn School.

This paper identified the aspects of differences between Thai and Chinese students from the perspective of Chinese teachers. These aspects are: low enthusiasm in learning, shyness, a desire to have fun, short term time orientation and kindness.

The author also provides recommendations for Chinese teachers on how to adapt to the Thai cultural context.

KEY WORDS: Cultural differences / Thailand / China / Education / Thai class room

22 pages

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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION

Nowadays, many business segments have undergone internalization. Even education has become more and more internalized (Dimmock & Walker, 2005). There are now more foreigners who come to Thailand to work as teachers. Since Thailand became one of the members of the AEC, the demand for native language teachers has increased rapidly. Besides English, which is the second language that the school provides, they also have a third language course for students; Chinese, Japanese, French etc. is also provided by the school to open more opportunities for students in the future. Parents also see the importance of studying a third language which will help increase their children’s competitive ability. Therefore, they will support their children in studying a third language. Chinese is one of the most popular third languages for Thai students to learn. Moreover, many schools in Thailand also provide the art-Chinese course to students to study as their major subject.

The popularity of learning Chinese goes with the increasing demand for native Chinese teachers in Thailand. The native Chinese teachers who work in Thailand face a different cultural context and difficulty in dealing with Thai students.

In order to achieve the improvement of their students’ Chinese language skills, teachers have to adapt and develop their teaching techniques to fit within the Thai cultural context. In order to succeed in teaching in Thailand, they have to start by learning to understand Thai culture. Teaching without adjusting to the local context will be a major problem in teaching in a different culture.

In this research, the author focuses on the cultural differences between China and Thailand in the school environment. The specific context of this research are Chinese teachers at Sriyanusorn School. This research takes in relevant literature about the Thai context (Kainzbauer &Hunt, 2014) and the Chinese context culture (Ho, 2004 as cited in Gao 2010) as references for this research. The author also applies the cultural dimensions (Hofstede, 2001) to this study.

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The research question of this study

What are the cultural differences between Thai and Chinese students in the education environment and how do Chinese teachers adapt their teaching techniques to Thai students?

Research scope

This research focuses only on Chinese teachers who have worked in Sriyanusorn School which is located in Chanthaburi, Thailand. This school is a public school providing education from Mathayom 1 to Mathayom 6 levels. The Chinese language program is for students from Mathayom 4 to 6 only. This research focuses on high level education (Matayom 4-6) and on Chinese language teaching only.

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CHAPTER II

LITERATURE REVIEW

Culture is the priority value that expatriates should learn when working abroad in order to understand and adjust themselves to working in an international organization. There are many definitions to define culture. From Dimmock and Walker’s book, they “define culture as the values held by members of a given group.

These include the norms they follow and the material goods they create” (Dimmock &

Walker, 2005, p. 7). That means culture is how humans live their lives in a society or group. In addition, “culture is the collective programming of the mind, distinguishes one group or category of people from another” (Hofstede, 1993, as cited in Dong and Liu, 2010, p. 224). “The type of values and the importance placed on those values varies from culture to culture and is greatly influenced by its current and historical ecological and sociopolitical contexts” (Dong & Liu, 2010, p. 224). This means culture values have an effect on group’s thinking, feeling and acting. These can lead to shared customs and practices of the organization where these groups of people work.

School is one of the organizations that has become international in scale;

there are many foreigners who come to work as teachers in schools. In the education field, culture also affects teaching and learning in each society. “In Thai class room, the role of the learner is to listen. Thai cultural mores proscribe criticism or even questioning of the teacher. In the context of Thailand, this attribute has implications for learning in a wider sense as Thai learners expect their teacher to take responsibility for their learning” (Kainzbauer & Hunt, 2014, p. 12). This research shows that Thailand’s education system has teachers at the center of learning. Thai learners prefer doing what teachers assign rather than doing self-research. Similarly in China, “The Chinese educational culture is often associated with an authoritarian teacher image in the contexts of centralization and collectivism” (Ho, 2004, as cited in Gao, 2010, p. 3).

“ In the Chinese context, where motivation and classroom management are not central issues in the schools, and the uniform goals of high stakes exams and pressure propel students to diligence and hard work, teachers generally command the Confucian

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respect and authority from the students and their parents. The educational practices exist, such as test-oriented teaching, heavy assignments and physical punishments”

(Zhang, 2004, as cited in Gao, 2010, p. 3). This shows that the students are not central in learning. Students have no right to design what they want to learn. They learn what the school course assigns, and study in order to get a high score on the exam.

According to the above comparison of Thai and Chinese education, Thai and Chinese students have low motivation to do self-search and learning because of the cultural context.

As foreign teachers, in addition to teaching students according to school’s standard, teachers need to have the ability to pass on knowledge to students and to understand the subject deeply (www.intime.uni.edu). “Wing (1993) mentioned five aspects of pedagogical content knowledge in reference to the Provisional Program Guidelines for Foreign Language Teacher Education (ACTFL)” (Wing, 1993, as cited in Hanson, 2008, p. 5-6)

1. The foreign language teachers should have good understanding about the value and benefits of learning language.

2. The foreign language teachers should know the way that their students learn a second language and know their needs and abilities.

3. The foreign language teachers should have the ability to organize the curriculum.

4. The foreign language teachers should manage and plan lessons by themselves because the teacher is the one who knows their students’ needs and how to manage the classroom.

5. The foreign language teachers must understand the context behind language, especially the culture that influences the language that they are teaching.

To teach successfully in a different culture, these are the aspects that teachers should follow in order to work effectively and succeed in teaching. Besides understanding the context culture of the language that they are teaching, foreign teachers also have to learn and understand the culture of the country that they work in order to adapt their teaching style to fit with their students.

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Foreign language teachers who work in different countries and cultures may face many challenges in their work. The 4 challenges that teachers may face in their work are:

The Language barrier

This is teachers’ barrier in communicating with their students because sometimes students speak only their mother language or they have low skill in a second language to communicate with the teachers. The language barrier prevents teachers from being understood well by the native students. Sometimes teachers have problems understanding what students say to them or comprehending conversations among the students. The language barrier also prevents teachers from using humor as a tool for establishing a classroom climate conducive to learning (Xu, 2012, p. 13-14).

Lack of Motivation

In learning a second language, motivation is one important thing that students should have in order to achieve success in language learning. Some students don’t feel motivated to study because they don’t see the point in learning another different language. Therefore, they have lack of interest and desire to practice (Pande, 2013).

Class environment

This means the size of the class. Sometimes, teachers have to faced with large class sizes. The ratio of students in relation to teachers is not proportional. That creates the problem of the teacher being unable to thoroughly take care of all the students in the class (Pande, 2013).

Mismatch in teaching and learning style

Culture has influence on education. Foreign teachers who teach in other cultures should learn the culture of the people who they work with. The culture shapes the way of learning and teaching. If teachers are not aware of this, it would create a problem in the teaching process. The teaching style that works in one culture may not be suitable with other cultures (Xiao, 2006).

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This study focuses on the culture differences between Thailand and China by using one of most famous cross-culture theories, Hofstede’s theory of cultural dimension, to compare the differences of these two countries.

Figure 2.1 the comparing cultural dimension between Thailand and China (Resource: http://geert-hofstede.com/thailand.html)

Power distance is inequality in the society which people accept as the difference in power. Inequality can happen in the organization, for example, the relationship between the boss and the subordinate where the boss has more power to make decisions and give commands (Hofstede, 2001). As the graph above shows, Thailand scores 64 in this dimension which is a little bit lower than the average score of Asian countries (71). Although Thailand scored lower than average, they are considered to be a nation where people accept inequality. This similar to China where the score is 80 which means people believe in inequalities and it is acceptable. In the organization, there is a big gap between the boss and the subordinate relationship of the countries that have high power distance. Subordinates tend to have low power to defend against higher level people in the organization.

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Individualism and collectivism are the degrees that individuals involve themselves to be part of the group which affects how they live together. Individualists are people who tend to look after themselves and their direct family only. Collectivists are people who want to be part of the group and follow members of their group. The relationship among collectivists is stronger than individualists’ relationship. They support and help the members in the group or family more than people outside the group (Hofstede, 2001). From the graph, China and Thailand have the same score of individualism at 20. The result shows that both Thai and Chinese societies are collectivist. In both Thailand and China, personal relationships are the keys to doing business. To make them open up their minds to accept other people to become members of the group and build relationships takes time and patience.

Masculinity and Femininity are dimensions that separate the society based on the fundamental fact of gender. In a masculine society people admire competition and success. On the other hand, in feminine society, people focus less on competition and success. They focus more on quality of life and caring for others (Hofstede, 2001). From the Hodfstede’s graph, China and Thailand have different scores in this dimension. Thailand scores 34, which is the lowest average among the Asian countries. That means Thailand is a feminine society. China’s score of 66 means their society is masculine. They give importance to achieving success. Working hard for success can indicate the life goals of people in this society.

Uncertainty Avoidance is how a society deals with unknown situations.

Societies that have high uncertainty avoidance prefer to control everything in order to avoid unexpected events. Societies that have low uncertainty avoidance realize that the future is uncontrollable. Therefore, laws and rules may be flexible to suit the current situation (Hofstede, 2001). From the graph, Thailand’s score of 64 means Thais slightly prefer uncertainty avoidance. In contrast, China score of 30 in this dimension means Chinese have low uncertainty avoidance.

Long- versus short- term orientation is a society’s perspective on time.

In long-term orientation, people focus on the future. They plan and work for future rewards. In short-term orientation, people focus on the past and present. They prefer do the things that get quick results (Hofstede, 2001). Thailand and China have a big

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difference in this dimension. Thailand is a short term orientation society with a score of 32. China is a long-term orientation society with a score of 87.

The graph above shows the differences of Hofstede’s scores. Although, Thailand and China are in the same region and Thailand is home to the largest overseas Chinese community in the world with a population of approximately nine million people, there are both similarities and differences between Thai and Chinese people. The big differences between Thais and Chinese are long-term orientation, uncertainty avoidance and masculinity which can create problems in the team and organization. Studying the cultural differences will help expatriates understand the cultural context and use it to apply and adjust themselves in getting along with local culture.

From the literature review, the following research proposition has been derived: Cultural dimensions such as time orientation and femininity / masculinity are likely to influence Thai and Chinese students to show different behavior in studying.

In order to identify the aspects that show differences between Thai and Chinese students, the author used in-depth interviews with teachers who have teaching experience in both China and in Thailand.

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CHAPTER III

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Research objective and approach

In this research, we focus on the teachers’ perception of cross cultural differences between Chinese and Thai students and how the cultural differences affect their work and the way they teach. We would like to find out the cultural differences between Thai and Chinese students from the Chinese teachers’ perspective. This research also conducts interviews with Thai teachers who act as partners and consultants for the Chinese teachers. This allows us to compare the common problems that Chinese teachers face while they work in this school. In order to gather in-depth information, the in-depth interview will be applied. These consist of one on one interviews using open-ended questions which are suitable for getting proper insight and information regarding the cross cultural differences of Thai and Chinese teachers who work in the same organization.

The interview is a qualitative method which is “real interaction between the researcher and the respondent” (Ghauri & Gronhaug, 2002, p. 100). Using in-depth interviews, the interviewer can have a clearer picture when interviewing the respondent because the interviewer can see the behaviour and expression of the respondent during the interview. This can help insure that the gathering of information is more accurate. Moreover, in-depth interviews opens the chance for the interviewer to adapt the question to the situation, clarify questions to respondents in order to insure they understand them and allow the interviewer to ask further questions if the respondents’ answers are unclear. The open-ended questions make it possible for respondents to answer the questions freely according to their own thinking (Ghauri &

Gronhaug, 2002, p. 100-103).

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3.2 Target Sample

This research collected the data from 6 teachers who currently work at Sriyanusorn School in the language department. The Interview was divided into 3 different sections.

The first section consisted of interviewing 3 native Chinese teachers who have more than one year experience teaching in Thailand and have experience teaching in China.

The second section interviewed 2 Thai teachers who have more than 2 years experience in teaching Chinese language.

The third section consisted of interviewing the head teacher of the language department who has the responsibility to take care of both Thai and foreign teachers.

Table 3.1 Respondent’s information

Respondent Nationality

Respondent A Thai

Respondent B Thai

Respondent C Thai

Respondent D Chinese

Respondent E Chinese

Respondent F Chinese

Questions for interview

- Do Chinese teachers have any problems when teaching Thai students?

- Do you see the differences between Thai and Chinese students?

- How do you manage Thai students’ class?

- Do you have any teaching techniques that you have to adjust when you teach Thai students?

- What would you recommend to other Chinese teachers when they come to teach in Thailand?

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CHAPTER IV RESEARCH FINDING

After conducting the in-depth interview with 6 respondents, there are five aspects that show the differences between Thai and Chinese students as perceived by Chinese language teachers. These differences characterize Thai students as: low enthusiasm in learning, shyness, a desire to have fun (sanuk), short term time orientation and kindness (jaidee).

During the interview, the respondents explained their opinion and feeling based on their experience of working with Thai students. Chinese teachers also pick some points of differences and give examples of studying in China as compared with Thailand.

Low enthusiasm in learning

From the interviews, Thai students are less stressed in studying than Chinese students. Most of interviewees said that Thai students have less determination in learning. Thai students do not participate in the class and talk with friends during the class. According to interviewee D, “There are differences between Thai and Chinese students, especially the Mathayom 6 students who have to prepare for the Admissions exam. Chinese students will have lot of textbooks on their desk which they will read when they have free time, but Thai students do not”. From the Chinese teachers’ perspective, the last year in high school is very stressful for Chinese students as they will spend much time studying in order to be accepted at prestigious universities. Thai students look relaxed and less stressed. In their free time, such as during the break, they spend time playing rather than studying for exam.

Furthermore, interviewee A (a Thai teacher) said that “Some Chinese teachers expect a lot. There were teachers who came to consult me about how to manage the class because students did not pay attention to what they teach at all”.

Chinese teachers do not get used to the behaviour of Thai students. They expect that

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Thai students will be similar to Chinese students who are quiet and pay attention in the class.

In addition, interviewee E said about Thai students “When they don‟t understand they just let it go, they don‟t have the passion to find the answer, they are not like Chinese students who if they don‟t understand, they will try every way to find the answer”. There are few Thai students who come to ask the teacher personally when they don’t understand. This is different from Chinese students, where the high competition in China makes them be more active in learning than Thai students.

Shyness

Thai students do not dare to ask the teacher questions or say “I don’t understand”. Many interviewees said that “when I ask them if they understand or not, they say “Yes”, even when they actually do not understand.” Thai people are scared of “losing face”. This is one main problem that Chinese teachers face when they come to teaching Chinese language. Sometimes teachers don’t know that students don’t understand until the exam results show that their students cannot do it. Interviewee F told about her experience, “I think Thai Students are scared of making mistake when I teach them to pronounce; they speak in a soft voice like they are not confident”.

Sometimes Thai students are afraid of making mistakes too much. This is the problem that prevents them from improving their language skill. To study a foreign language, the learners have to use it and learning from mistakes is one effective way to study.

One teacher gave the solution that “To check the students understanding, I will give them the exercise to do after the lesson. If they cannot do it, I will explain again”.

A desire to have fun (Sanuk)

All interviewees agreed that Thai students like to have fun when studying.

For example, students will pay more attention when teachers let them do activities or play games that involve the lesson they learn. The interviewee E said that “Teaching in China is more boring than teaching in Thailand because we focus more on studying in the textbook only. Teaching in Thailand is more fun because we have to prepare games and movies to make students interested”. Chinese teachers who come to

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Thailand have to change their teaching techniques in order to suit Thai students. In China, teachers do not need to prepare games or activities for students to attract their attention.

Interviewee D expressed her opinion that “Chinese students mostly spend time studying, they have less time to do activities like Thai students. I think Thai students are more creative; when I let them draw and sing they do it well. Chinese teachers have to learn how to balance between fun activities and teaching the content.

They cannot teach Thai students in the same way as they teach Chinese students because it will make them bored and lose interest. If teachers put too much emphasis on fun, students may be less challenged in learning and will not use their full potential to improve their skills.

Short term time orientation

All Chinese teachers see that Thai students look more relaxed and enjoy their lives more than Chinese students. Thai people tend to focus more on the present rather than the future. They live their lives to enjoy happiness present time which is different from Chinese. Thais, who focus more on the present, are classified as short term time orientation. On the other hand, Chinese focus on the future, so they will work hard and expect to get good results in the future, which is the mark of people who are of long term time orientation. The interviewee D explained the society in China in this manner, “The big population in China makes the students have to compete with others to go to the best universities. So they have to be very diligent. For this reason Chinese students spend less time playing and doing other activities than Thai students.

Interviewee F said that “Chinese students, they care about their score very much because if they do not get the good score, they will get pressure from their family and school. In China, parents believe that if their children are good in studying, they will get a good job and have a good life in the future. When compared with Thai students they do not care much about their score”. Chinese students also get pressure from both their families and their schools, so they have to study hard to get good grades. In contrast, Thai students think that grades are not the priority for them to

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focus on; there are other things that are more important. This makes the atmosphere of studying in China more stressful than Thailand.

According to the interview we can conclude that Chinese students are of long term time orientation. They focus on the future by studying hard in the present in the hope that they will get good opportunities later on. In contrast, Thai students focus on happiness in the present which is short term time orientation. They are more relaxed and less worried about the future, so they are not serious about studying like Chinese students.

Kindness (Jaidee)

The interviewees all said that Thai students’ characteristics are cheerfulness, friendliness, and generosity. When teachers ask them for help, Thai students will try their best to help teachers. Interviewee E said about her students that

“They are kind, when I try to learn Thai language, my students are glad to teach me.

Sometimes if I look tired, students will show they care about me by asking „are you fine?‟ and by telling me „you should get rest‟”. Thai students show their good will to teachers by teaching teachers Thai language and expressing their caring to the teachers. This helps to build a good relationship between students and teachers.

When Thai students give good will to their teachers, they also expect the good will from teachers in return. Thai students like teachers that have “Kind heart”.

That means teachers that they can easily access, and who are friendly and kind. For social collectivism , the interpersonal relationship is important. Interviewee B (a Thai teacher) said that “You can make students open their hearts to you and dare to approach you by being kind and friendly. For example, doing the activities with students can help a lot, they will feel you are part of their group. It also depends on the situation too. Sometimes you can treat them like friends, but sometimes you should have the gap between you and students. If you treat them like friends all the time, they will not respect and listen to you”.

From the interviews, the author indicates five aspects of differences between Thai and Chinese students. The interviews asked Chinese teachers about their perspectives toward Thai students. All Chinese teachers were surprised the first time they taught Thai students. Thai students have a low enthusiasm for learning. Chinese

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teachers face the problem of some students not paying attention in the class .This is similar to information from Thai teachers. They also face the problem of some students not paying attention in the class as well. From this, we can conclude that low enthusiasm in learning is one of the behaviour traits of Thai students. Moreover Thai and Chinese students gave the same opinion about the kindness of Thai students.

Chinese teachers received good will from students. The Thai teachers also mentioned this point which makes it obvious that Thai students like kind and friendly teachers.

Therefore, they give good will to teachers and expect good will in return. From the interviews, the head teacher said that “there were many Chinese teachers who used to work in this school including the Chinese teachers who are working at the present time. The problems they all faced were not much different, but the way they dealt with the problems is different. Some teachers adapt themselves to a new culture quickly while some teachers take more time to adapt”.

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CHAPTER V

RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

Although China and Thailand are in Asia, There are differences between Thai and Chinese students. The contexts in each country help to create the different behavior between Thai and Chinese students. Therefore, Chinese who work as teachers in Thailand should understand Thai values and culture in order to get along with Thai people and help to achieve success while working in Thailand.

The first aspect is short term time orientation. Thai students focus more on happiness at the present rather than the future. This is related to the cultural dimension of the Hofstede’s theory. Thailand is classified as short term time orientation which focuses more on the present and prefers a quick result (Hofstede, 2001). Two more aspects related to short term time orientation are low enthusiasm in learning and a desire to have fun. Thai students have a low enthusiasm in learning meaning they have less determination to learn. Their attitude focuses less on the future, so they are less active than Chinese students. Kainzbauer & Hunt’s research found that “Sanuk (Thai for “fun”) is a key attribute of Thai culture and involves a light-hearted approach to life” (Kainzbauer & Hunt, 2014, p. 15). From the interviews, the author has also found a desire to have fun among Thai students which is why they prefer a fun learning environment. The aspects of shyness and kindness are related to collectivism and the femininity dimension. Thai students are sensitive to lose face in front of their group.

The femininity social dimension is less assertive, so Thai students have more shyness than Chinese students. The last aspect is kindness. In the femininity social dimension, people focus more on caring for others. This enables Thai students to build good relationships with their teachers.

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Recommendation

1. Learning Thai language and culture

The Interviewee B also mentioned that the Chinese teachers should learn the Thai language before coming to work in Thailand because learning the local language is not only useful in helping to make living their life on a day by day basis easier, but also helps when they are teaching Thai students. Although students study in the Chinese class, they always speak with their friends in Thai because there are different levels of Chinese skill among students in one class. Thus, students who have low skill in speaking Chinese will speak in Thai. If teachers can understand the Thai language, it will help the teachers to understand the students’ thoughts and they use it to adjust their teaching plans.

Language is a part of culture, so in learning Thai language teachers can also learn Thai culture. The Chinese teachers who come to work in Thailand understand deeply the context behind the language that they teach. They should learn Thai culture in order to relate or blend the two cultures to motivate students to study.

Teaching a foreign language without including the local context is less effective because students will not feel motivation and relevance in learning. For example, one of the aspects Thai culture is “A desire to have fun” which means Thai people like to do the things that involve fun. Therefore, teachers should adapt their teaching techniques to create a fun environment in the classroom which can increase student attention in the class.

2. Teacher Training

Teaching in China and Thailand are different, so implementing the lesson and managing the class effectively requires a different way. The new Chinese teachers in the school will face the problem of handling Thai students and managing the class.

The schools should train teachers first before the teachers begin teaching. First of all, the school should tell the teachers about the classroom atmosphere and students’

behavior. Secondly, the school should inform about the students’ Chinese language skill in each class and help the Chinese teachers with their teaching plans in order to match with the students’ skill. Thirdly, Thai teachers should share their experiences about teaching to be the guideline for Chinese teachers on how to manage the class.

For example, they should explain how to attract students’ attention and make them

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stop talking during the class. The first couple of weeks, Thai teachers should attend the class with Chinese teachers to help them during the class and show them how to manage the class. This will help Chinese teachers become familiar with the class.

3. Adjust expectation

Chinese teachers who have just come to teach in Thailand should decrease their expectations Thai students a bit. This means they should understand that the way of studying of Thai students is different from that of Chinese students. Thai students are not as serious about studying as much as Chinese students, so they may lose interest and not pay attention or talk when teachers are teaching. Teachers are disappointed because they prepare a plan to teach well, but students don’t show interest. The expectations can create a strain. Therefore, teachers should adjust their attitude first.

Limitations and further research

The limitations of this research are firstly the limitation of sampling in this research. The sampling comes from one school, so the information that we get from the interviews comes from the perspective of teachers who teach in Sriyanusorn school only. This cannot represent the majority perspectives of Chinese teachers in Thailand.

The second is the amount of time for doing the research is short, so the researcher had limited time to find the information.

The recommendation for further research would be to study about the perspectives of learners towards the teaching style of Chinese teachers compared with Thai teachers and how learners respond to each teaching style. Both Thai and Chinese teachers have different teaching techniques and there are both effective and less effective teaching styles for the learners. It would be interesting to find the effective teaching techniques from the learners’ point of view.

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Conclusion

This research identifies the cultural differences between China and Thailand from the perspectives of Chinese teachers who have experience teaching in Thailand. These aspects are low enthusiasm in learning, shyness, a desire to have fun, short term time orientation and kindness. The interviews let the respondents show their opinions about their teaching experiences both in Thailand and China and compared the differences. They also show how they have adjusted themselves to the Thai context.

The recommendations are for both schools and Chinese teachers. Chinese teachers should prepare themselves before coming to teach in Thailand by learning Thai language and culture which can help in living and teaching in Thailand.

Moreover, they should adjust their attitude toward Thai students by adjusting expectations, so teachers can reduce their stress from working. The school also has to help and support teachers by providing a training course to new teachers. This will prepare them to be ready for teaching in a different culture and reduce their culture shock.

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