This has in fact become a hotly debated issue on the Internet (Joe, 2014; Mitchell, 2013). Kongkerd (2013) accepts that
current pedagogical approaches to English teaching in Thailand are not able to help learners become competent
English users. According to the National Survey of the Ministry of Education, based on the results of tests
carried out in 1997 and 1998, Thai learners’ English proficiency was unsatisfactory in the four main skills:
writing, reading, listening and speaking (Wiriyachitra, as cited in Khamkhien, 2010).