The Problem with Chinese Language Writing Skill among Thai Students

Abstract

Today, Chinese has become another important language next to English; therefore, Thai parents are trying to encourage their children to study Chinese more than ever. In past ten years, high schools in Thailand start to teach Chinese as second language, but students still do not have enough basic skills in Listening, speaking, reading, and especially writing because the different in the language structure between Thai and Chinese. The style of writing in Thai language focuses on using spaces to divide a paragraph to separate the sentence and not using the punctuation because the language is self-explanatory by itself. In contrast, Chinese language emphasize on punctuation mark. The using of punctuation in Chinese language may cause the confusion among Thai students. This is the main reason why Thai students cannot write Chinese effectively, and this article intends to explain the root cause and way to improve the teaching in Chinese writing to become more effective in the future.