A STUDY OF NEEDS AND OBSTACLES IN LEARNING ENGLISH TO PREPARE FOR THE CEFR EXAM AMONG GRADUATE STUDENTS AT UDON THANI RAJABHAT UNIVERSITY

บทคัดย่อ

The purposes of this study were to investigate and compare the needs and obstacles in learning English for the CEFR exam preparation among graduate students: master’s degree and doctoral degree, classified by fields of study: Education, Arts, Science and Technology, Management Science at Udon Thani Rajabhat University. The sample of this study consisted of 135 second-year graduate students selected by stratified random sampling, and 12 students selected by convenience sampling for interview. The research instruments consisted of a questionnaire and a semi-structured interview. The statistics used for data analysis were percentage, mean, and standard deviation, One-way ANOVA, and the post-hoc Scheffé Test. The results revealed that the overall graduate students’ needs were ranked at the level of the most needs. The overall graduate students’ obstacles were ranked at the level of high obstacle. As analyzed by One-Way ANOVA and Multiple comparisons using the Scheffé Test, the obstacles in learning writing, vocabulary, and obstacles in other factors of Education students were responded significantly different at the 0.05 level for master’s degree students. For doctoral degrees students, the obstacles in learning listening, speaking and vocabulary of Education students were responded significantly different at the 0.05 level. The results from the semi-structured revealed that the major problems across all fields of study and levels of study were related to limited preparation time, insufficient vocabulary knowledge, difficulties in speaking and listening, and anxiety that affects confidence during English use.