Needs Analysis and Development of English-Language Tourist Guide Signs at That Noi Temple in Nakhon Si Thammarat Province

Abstract

The objectives of this study are to (1) learn about the needs and opinions of visitors toward That Noi Temple’s English-language tourist guide signs, (2) translate tourist guide signs from Thai into English using correct grammar in order to provide tourists with better understanding of how to behave themselves and give them valuable information about That Noi Temple, and (3) determine whether tourists are satisfied with the English-language tourist guide signs at That Noi Temple. The research instruments consisted of a questionnaire and an interview form. The sample size was calculated by Yamane’s formula and the convenience sampling method was used to recruit 107 questionnaire informants, including 100 tourists, 4 central office employees, and 3 monks, and 10 of the informants also participated in the interview. Statistics applied in the study were percentages, means, and standard deviations. The study indicated  that demand for tourist signs in English was at the highest level in That Noi Temple, Nakhon Si Thammarat Province ( = 4.52, S.D.= 0.62).  It was found that the central office employees, monks, and tourists demanded the strongest and most durable tourist signs in English for long-term use ( = 4.64, S.D. = 0.60) and expressed the highest level of satisfaction with the tourist signs in English ( = 4.80, S.D. = 0.41). Considering each item individually, the central office employees, monks, and tourists were most satisfied with the strongest and most enduring English tourism signs in the long term ( = 4.83, S.D. = 0.40).