Medium of Instruction in Thai Science Learning

The goal of this study is to compare classroom discourse in Thai 9th grade science lessons with English or Thai as a medium of instruction. This is a cross-sectional study of video recordings from five lessons in an English-medium instruction class and five lessons in a Thai- medium instruction class from a Thai secondary school. The study involved two teachers and two groups of students. The findings show the use of both English and Thai in English-medium lessons. Students tend to be more responsive to teacher questions in Thai than in English. The findings suggest the use of students' native language during English-medium lessons to help facilitate learning in certain situations. Additionally, the study provides implications for research, practice and policy for using English as a medium of instruction.