Thesis (Ed. D.)--University of Hawaii at Manoa, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-186) / Microfiche. / xi, 186 leaves, bound 29 cm

This research was conducted in the English Department of a provincial Thai university. It seeks to address the tension between the priority accorded to English by the Thai government and the relatively low levels of English of most Thai people. The study investigates the potential of the Internet to support students’ English language development, in particular the capacity of the Internet to support students’ English reading development. The research was located in Central Thailand at Nakhon Pathom Rajabhat University (NPRU), my own work place. Here I investigated students’ Internet practices and the potential offered by one English language program that incorporated use of the Internet. My focus on this one program enabled me to address questions about my own teaching practices, and about the implications of incorporating the Internet for program design and teaching. The research itself was conducted in two stages. Stage One was an ethnographic investigation of students’ current Internet practices, both in and out of University. Outcomes from Stage One then informed the development of an English language program that incorporated extensive use of the Internet. This program was implemented and evaluated in Stage Two of the research. Outcomes from Stage One of the research revealed that the University students had low overall levels of Internet use, low levels of computer and Internet skills, but generally high levels of interest and enthusiasm, and a belief that the Internet could play a positive role in supporting English language learning. Outcomes from Stage Two confirmed that the Internet was potentially a powerful resource for teaching English. However, they also showed that if the Internet was incorporated fully into a program, rather than simply tacked onto a traditional program, then a major rethinking of program design and pedagogical practices was necessary. The implications of such changes in program design and teaching are addressed in the thesis.

Doctor of Philosophy(PhD) / In 1997 Thailand faced an economic crisis, primarily due to a foreign exchange induced recession. At this time of economic crisis, Thailand approached the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for financial assistance. Assistance would be provided only if the Thai Government agreed to reduce public spending, downsize the civil service, change the regulations designed to restrict foreign investment and ownership, and privatise some public enterprises. These requirements had a great impact upon all aspects of Thai society. This study investigates the impact of the imposed changes upon one part of the higher education sector, that of the Rajabhat Institutes. The National Education Act introduced in 1999 was aimed at transforming all sectors of Thai education, provide all Thai people with increased opportunities for access to higher education, and transform Thailand into a learning society. In 2004 the Rajabhat University Act changed the former Rajabhat Institutes into Rajabhat Universities, providing them with greater autonomy, but with greater responsibility for their own futures. This study investigates how these Acts changed policies, processes and practices in the six Rajabhat Universities in Bangkok. The six case studies investigate how these universities have coped with and managed change to meet the challenges of the present and the future. The focus is on policies and practices which have occurred since 2004 and how the Rajabhat Universities planned to meet the challenges of higher educational reform in Thailand, from the viewpoint of the President and Vice Presidents of each university. Analyses reveal that the six Rajabhat Universities were influenced by globalisation, economic, political legal and technologies, which impacted upon their organisational culture and management style. Each of the universities can be considered as a Complex Adaptive System (CAS) in which change occurred in complex and unpredictable ways. The use of dissimilar leadership dimensions and the desire to differentiate their university from the others was found to be a recurring theme.

Mass culture in Thailand creates idealizations about female beauty which cause many women to engage in destructive behavior such as starvation dieting and forced vomiting. In this dissertation I describe efforts to develop awareness among a group of predominately female students at a rural Thai university about the ideological purposes of these idealizations. Using a CD-based multimedia research template, the students reported the “common sense” beliefs which help create the beauty ideal and the effects of these beliefs on their own lives and the lives of other women. The major finding of their research was that mass culture creates beauty ideologies to maintain social stratification, in that those women who are made to feel “ugly” because they do not resemble the white-skinned underweight ideal tend not to be members of the elite social class which has the resources and time to achieve these ideals. The significance of this dissertation lies in the emancipatory effects that it produced; although a Critical Discourse Analysis showed that the students continued to assimilate some of the values and interests which they had identified as “oppressive”, they also demonstrated to varying degrees that they had ceased to think and behave in ways which had caused them mental and physical damage in the past.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 2007. / The entire dissertation/thesis text is included in the research.pdf file; the official abstract appears in the short.pdf file (which also appears in the research.pdf); a non-technical general description, or public abstract, appears in the public.pdf file. Title from title screen of research.pdf file (viewed on February 29, 2008) Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Proefschrift Universiteit van Amsterdam. / Met samenvattingen in het Nederlands en Thai.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Tufts University, 2004. / Adviser: W. Scott Thompson. Submitted to the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 299-323). Access restricted to members of the Tufts University community. Also available via the World Wide Web;

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of New South Wales, 2003. / Also available online.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Cornell University, 1988. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 295-309). Also issued in print.

Thesis (M.A.)--Sinlapakorn University, 1986. / In Thai; abstract also in English. Added t.p.: The employment of foreigners in the Ministry of Agriculture during 1892-1932 A.D. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 303-331). Also issued in print.