Development of Thai Pronunciation Skills Exercises to Enhance the Ability to Read Words with Regular Final Consonants for First-Grade Elementary School Students

Abstract

The objectives of this research are 1) to develop a Thai pronunciation skill practice for first-grade students with effectiveness based on the 75/75 criteria, and 2) to compare the ability to pronounce words with final consonants according to Thai spelling rules before and after learning activities using the Thai pronunciation skill practice. This is development-oriented research. The target group is 10 first-grade students from Ban Pang Hang School under the Chiang Mai Primary Education Service Area Office selected through purposive sampling. The research tools include a skill practice for pronouncing words with final consonants according to Thai spelling rules, a pronunciation ability test, and a learning plan designed based on the Active Learning approach. The effectiveness of the learning plan, skill practice, and test was evaluated by experts, and the Item-Objective Congruence (IOC) index was analyzed, yielding a value of no less than 0.50. This ensures alignment with the learning standards and objectives, as well as the appropriateness of the content, activities, and evaluation methods. The skill practice was evaluated using the E1/E2 formula, with the set criteria of 75/75. The results showed that the developed skill practice had an effectiveness of E1/E2 equal to 76.79/ 75.33, which exceeds the set criteria and falls within an acceptable difference range (±2.50). The research was conducted in five steps: pre-test, learning activity, interim evaluation, post-test, and data analysis. The research results found that the ability to pronounce words with final consonants significantly improved after the learning process, with an average score increase of 13.82%. The evaluation results were excellent. The research findings indicate that the developed skill practice is highly effective and can be appropriately used to improve the pronunciation skills of first-grade students.