Semiotic educationscapes in Thailand: affective stance versus affective regime

Purpose Since little research has examined the interpretation of signage on campus, the purpose of this research is to examine international university students’ affective stances toward the semiotic educationscapes on campuses of both government universities (GUs) and private universities (PUs) in Thailand. Design/methodology/approach Three GU campuses and three PU campuses in Thailand were purposively chosen for this research. In total, 85 international university student participants were involved in this research. The participants were arranged in groups. Each group had a walk on campus to express their individual views regarding different signage. The APPRAISAL system and conversation analysis were used to code the affective stances. Findings The findings revealed that the architecture and plants on GU campuses triggered the participants’ positive affective stances, symbolizing campuses’ environmental sustainability. However, GUs had insufficient well-designed bilingual and multilingual signage, leading to a lack of internationalization. By contrast, the PU participants had positive affective stances toward the English language on signage, well-known campus landmarks and interesting signs, resulting in the internationalization, inclusivity and conviviality of the signage. However, PUs should have more posters and announcements to meet the students’ needs regarding campus life. Originality/value This research entailed an interdisciplinary study of semiotic educationscapes and sociolinguistics from the semiotic perspective. The findings of this research contribute to filling the gap concerning social actors’ interpretations of the signage on campuses and the affect derived from the affective regime and its effect on affective stances, thus providing an innovation in the field of SEs.