สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 Udom Warotamasikkhadit and Kirk Person 33 these events while others joined in via live radio and internet broadcasts. Proceedings in English and Thai were published for many of these events. In the following sections we will return to the question of çDoes Thailand need a language policy?é highlighting the findings and specific policy recommendations of the CDNLP subcommittees. 3.1 Subcommittee on Thai for Thai Students and Thai Nationals 3.1.1 Scope Of the six subcommittees, this is the one most in connected to the traditional activities of the Royal Institute. Its role was to survey the current state of the Thai language and make recommendations. 3.1.2 Findings This subcommittee emphasized the status of Thai as the national language, a source of national unity. As such, it should be learned well by all Thai citizens. The subcommittee also reflected the concerns of many in the Royal Institute, the Ministry of Education, and elsewhere that the Thai language be maintained and developed in the faceof globalization. This would include defending the Thai lexicon and Thai grammar from unnecessary influence from English. There are also concerns that the many middle and upper-class Thai children attending international and bilingual schools are not receiving an adequate foundation in the Thai language (The Nation, 2007). Thai language exam scores for students throughout the nation are unacceptably low. This is due to multiple factors, including the following: a) Many Thai language teachers cannot logically answer their studentsû questions. For example, why is ™— ¬¿Ÿ ¡‘ pronounced [chaiyaphuum] while ™— ¬π“∑ is pronounced [chaina ˆat] b) Many Thai language experts cling to traditional theories of language that are not informed by recent research or new theories. c) The Standard Dictionary of the Thai language of the Royal Institute of Thailand is full of words with multiple pronunciation rarely found in other dictionaries. Thai language teachers often complain that Thai people do not pronounce the words as prescribed by the Royal Institute. For example, Thai people often pronounce Õ“™≠“°√√¡ [ atchayaakam], not [ atyaakam] like in Pali and Sanskrit. 29-44_mac9 4/26/12, 8:30 PM 33