Integrating Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy Concepts in an English Courseto Promote Analytical Thinking Ability and English Proficiency of Maejo University Students

Abstract

                  The purposes of this research were: 1) to design an English for Agriculture course that integrates the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy concepts with Content-Based Instruction; 2) to study the analytical thinking ability focusing on the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy; 3) to study the English proficiency of students taking the course designed by integrating the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy.  The samples were 38 students in English for Agriculture course in the first semester of Academic Year 2016.  Research tools include: 1) lesson plans integrating the concepts of the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy with the course of English for Agriculture; 2) The assessment test of understanding in the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy; 3) an analytical thinking assessment test; 4) English reading and writing proficiency tests.  The basic statistics used for data analysis were means, standard deviations and percentage.  The results were as follows:1) Integrating the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy with the English for Agriculture course was satisfactory achieved. 2)Learners had a better understanding of the Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy and higher analytical thinking scores. Learners could understand the benefits of three pillars and two conditions. 3) Learners had higher reading and writing English scores.