THE PERCEIVED NEEDS OF THE FOURTH YEAR STUDENTS FOR EXRTACURRICULAR ENGLISH-SPEAKING ACTIVITIES IN SUAN SUNANDHA RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY.

Abstract

University students need English speaking skill to be successful in their academic lives. Rajabhat Universities strive to develop students’ skill to meet readiness standards. This study aimed to explore the perceived needs of fourth year students of English and non-English majors on extracurricular English-speaking activities employed in the Faculty of Education in a Rajabhat University. The study tools were questionnaires and interviews to collect both qualitative and quantitative data. The sampling groups were invited to participate in this study on systematic and purposive sampling technique included 217 and 6 of fourth year students in 6 majors in the Faculty of Education, respectively. The questionnaires elicited the overview of perceived needs of the sampling’s speaking activities they experienced in classrooms, interviews asking specific details of the perceived needs of the activities. The findings of this study revealed that groups of activities requiring the students’ hand-on practices were most needed while those that did not require students’ participation to take actions in class perceived to be the least needed.