Piyawan Kullamai
Ph.D., Composition and EFL
English Studies, Department of English
Member, Thai Student Association,
Illinois State University
Email: pkullam@ilstu.edu
Office: STV 301G

I am from Bangkok, Thailand. I earned my Bachelor’s degree in Math/English Education from Chulalongkorn University. Then I decided to continue my study in TESOL at University of Pennsylvania. In 1991, I went home and started teaching in a small state university. I become a faculty of Western languages department, Humanities of Srinakarinwirot University. I teach English for First year students, Reading for Academic purposes, Analytical Reading, Introduction to Translation, Basic Writing, and Composition I. I became very interested in writing processes as I have learned that processes I take in my writing and the process I ask my students to go through are very different. My colleagues and I set up a small group discussion on composition. We discussed our assignments, student’s works, our own writing processes, evaluation, etc. I still feel frustrated sometimes, in particular, on evaluation. In 2001, I decided to take a time off from my teaching and came to ISU to explore thoughts and ideas on composition studies and writing assessment. I am a firm believer in process writing and portfolio assessments. I see that writing gives us time to consider what we really need to say and it is to our advantage to utilize this quality of writing processes. It also makes more senses to evaluate the work in progress than to evaluate timed-test writing, which is not natural. I enjoy Teaching Eng 101: Composition and Critical Inquiry as it is such a learning experience.