IN MOST TRADITIONAL university classes, students are expected to take notes and
study independently. Lectures are the basis for instruction, and group work is not frequently
utilized. Most instructors provide a lecture for the lesson. Homework, exercises
and reports are assigned to the students individually. Students are isolated from one another
and forbidden to interact (Johnson, Johnson, Holubec, & Roy, 1984).
The idea of student-centred pedagogies, however, has recently been promoted by the
Ministry of Education in Thai educational context, and Thammasat University responds to
those teaching methods. With this kind of methodology, students are more likely to acquire
critical thinking skills and metacognitive learning strategies in small group cooperative settings
as opposed to listening to lectures (McKeachie, 1986). Such point of view will provide an
essential part of student learning in terms of their social development and preparation for
life beyond university (Burdett, 2003). This approach, which nowadays is being adapted
worldwide, will change the students from passive learners into learners who are actively
involved in the learning process.
Such approaches, nevertheless, are mainly derived from Western educational systems. It
is not clear that they will always be effective or appropriate in a non-Western context. Allard
and Wilson (1995) explained in their book Gender Dimensions that some cultures do not
see benefits of cooperative learning groups because they think that real learning comes only
from the teacher. There are differences in preferred learning styles; however, the skills developed
through cooperative learning will be useful, regardless of different cultural backgrounds.
The Thai education system faces a particular set of cultural issues. Supap (cited from
Charatdao, 2010) stated that in Thai culture, most people are generally shy and do not speak