STUDENT TEACHERS' PERCEPTIONS TOWARD LEARNING A NEW INTERNATIONALIZATION COURSE: ENVIRONMENT FOR HEALTH IN THAI UNDERGRADUATE CONTEXT

The main purpose of this study was to determine Thai student teachers' perceptions concerning a new internationalization course, Environment for Health. Specifically, their perceptions in regard to the internationalization content, teaching content through the English language method, and the evaluation process. A total of 27 undergraduate students studying in Health and Physical Education participated in the study. A questionnaire including open-ended items was used for data collection after the participants completed a three unit course (10 weeks). The finding showed that the students believed course content should maintain an international perspective, that they recognized the need improve English and preferred to have Thai-English bilingual instruction in order to reduce their anxiety of using English. The learning process and evaluation guided the instructor to focusing on relating to experiential learning styles and group working activities. Although carried with a small sample size, this study is expected to establish a firm basis for future studies to develop new international courses for undergraduate student teachers in Health and Physical Education Division, Faculty of Education in Thai context. The ASEAN unification policy among community members has affected educational planning in Thailand so as to prepare learners to use English as the ASEAN official language as well as to provide international courses for all ASEAN exchange students).