Using Ethnography of Communication, Conversational Analysis, and surveys, Thai students' participation in group work was studied to determine how they interact with native English-speaking students. Issues discussed are: (1) behaviors Thai students display during group work; including comparisons and contrasts to native students' behaviors, (2) prejudices native students have about including Thai students in group work, (3) Thais' strengths and weaknesses in group work, and (4) perceptions native and Thai students and their professors have regarding group work and its importance to successful course completion. The study concludes by recommending ways that both Thai students and their professors can enhance the learning outcomes of courses that heavily emphasize group work.

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Writing effectively in an academic setting is a challenge for many students, especially at the graduate level. Graduate students often struggle with the demands of writing a thesis, which is a specific genre of writing with its own set of standards, norms and conventions. The difficulties described above deepen for students who have to write in their second language. Since language and writing are culture specific, each language has its own unique rhetorical conventions. By comparing three different theses, this study aims to identify the differences between Thai and English discourse. Understanding these differences will provide some guidance to Thai students who are writing their theses in English.

The growing Thai community in Eastern Massachusetts has an unofficial ethnic enclave that surrounds the neighborhood of Allston/Brighton. Studies of Thai communities in the United States indicate that Thai-Americans have limited access to quality health care in the United States due to factors that contribute to health disparities such as language barriers and cultural beliefs. As a result, Thai people have different approaches to how they treat illnesses through traditional Thai medicine (TTM), Western medicine (also called biomedicine), or a mixture of both medical systems. This study examines healthways Thai/Thai Americans in Eastern Massachusetts draw on in response to different illnesses. In-depth stories of how this community engages in illness prevention and responses to the experiences of illness illuminated by Thai people’s approaches to different medical systems helps us understand how they present their values when seeking medical care. I argue that responses to various illness episodes experienced by members of the Thai community in Eastern Massachusetts influence perceived health and health-seeking behaviors. Factors that contribute to Thai-American health practices include: religion, sociocultural elements (cultural identity, generational differences, cross-cultural differences, structural violence), and Thai constructs of illness and well-being.

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京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(地域研究) / 甲第24016号 / 地博第295号 / 新制||地||114(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院アジア・アフリカ地域研究研究科東南アジア地域研究専攻 / (主査)教授 玉田 芳史, 教授 片岡 樹, 准教授 TANGSEEFA Decha / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Area Studies / Kyoto University / DFAM

The major purposes of this study were to determine the relationships among resilience, risk-taking behavior and personal characteristics of Thai adolescents living in Bangkok and to examine the differences in risk-taking behavior by school grades or gender. To accomplish these, a cross-sectional correlational research design was conducted. Resilience was measured by using the State-Trait Resilience Inventory developed by Hiew, Mori, Shirnizu and Torninaga.Risk-taking behavior was measured by the Risk-taking Behavior Questionnaire for Thai Adolescents which is a modified version of the 2003 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS) originally developed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In order to make it more applicable to the Thai setting, the author modified the 2003 YRBS. The modified instrument was then translated and back translated; equivalence testing was performed; a pilot study was conducted; and test-retest reliability was measured. Overall, these procedures indicated that the modified version of YRBS had evidence of equivalence (semantic, content, and conceptual), feasibility and acceptability as well as good reliability for use among Thai adolescents to measure risk behavior. Risk-taking behavior in this study includes six categories of behavior: (1) behavior that contributes to unintentional injuries and violence; (2) tobacco use; (3) alcohol and other drug use; (4) sexual behavior contributing to unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV infection; (5) unhealthy dietary behavior; and (6) inadequate physical activity.In all, 1409 students, grades 7 to 12 from six secondary schools in Bangkok, Thailand, participated in the study. Their mean age was 14.9 ± 1.8 years, and 54% were female. Data sets were analyzed using the SPSS for Windows, version 14.0 statistical software program. Resilience scores ranged from 72 to 161 with a mean of 125.55 and standard deviation of 11.44. There were significant positive and negative relationships between resilience and various risk-taking behavior (p Overall findings from this study provided more understanding of risk-taking behavior and its relationship with resilience among Thai adolescents. The recommendations for implementation and further studies were discussed.

This study attempts to further our understanding of linguistic politeness by focusing on both a Western and a non-Western language. It is based on two sets of data (one spontaneous and the other elicited) and provides a comparative analysis of three expressive speech acts produced by native speakers of British English and Thai. At face value, compliments, apologies and thanks may seem to have little referential meaning, yet these speech acts can be crucially important in originating, maintaining or even terminating social relationships. The data reveal a tendency for the two groups of speakers to use the three politeness devices in a different manner, reflecting cross-cultural differences in social norms and value systems. This project follows earlier studies of similar nature, in particular those carried out on different varieties of English. The findings are interpreted within pragmatic and sociolinguistic theoretical frameworks, and are discussed in the following format: linguistic structures of the speech acts, their functions, the topics of compliments, apologies and thanks, interpersonal and contextual factors influencing the production of these expressives, and the responses given to them. The analysis has implications for language specialists and lay people alike, in that it brings together a number of important insights with regard to these speech features that may result in miscommunication if and when British and Thai speakers converse in intercultural situations.

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The puzzle that drives this study is why Thailand pursued a proactive foreign policy towards greater powers during the Second World War. The main literature on Thai foreign policy-making generally suggests that Thailand is traditionally passive vis-à-vis greater powers. Oftentimes, it is believed that the fate of Thailand is subjected to the dictate of great powers. The empirical cases of Thailand during the Second World War suggest otherwise. How could a conventional understanding of Thai foreign policy make sense of Thailand’s war against France in 1940-41? Similarly, how could one understand Thailand’s defiant behaviours vis-à-vis Japan in 1941-44 despite the latter’s greater military capabilities and influence? This thesis employs the approaches of ontological security and status concern to interpret Thai proactive behaviours during the wartime period. It argues that concerns for status and recognition from the great powers were the primary motivations of Thailand’s proactive behaviours. In order to discern material and ideational motives of the Thai foreign policy-makers, this research heavily relies on archival research and utilises documents which were formerly considered to be classified. This methodological quest is to establish and enhance the credibility of the argument presented in the study.