Nowadays, English is a lingua franca in communication, is the language that is widely used in many countries around the world in communicating with people. Also, it is continuously involved in our daily life as ASEAN community will be established in 2015. For this reason, it can be said that English will play an important role in communicating among people of ASEAN members, including Thailand, in various aspects: economy, society, politics, education, art, culture, tradition, tourism and others (McNeil, 1992).
According to the action plan of ASEAN Socio-cultural Community blueprint, the ASEAN members are encouraged to use English as an official language in communication in order to improve a better knowledge of language skills and competitive economy. In addition, the charter 34 commandments claim that “The working language of ASEAN shall be English” (Tanatip, 2012, p.19). It will be used for conferences, interaction mails, and preparations of the reports among ASEAN members. Additionally, it is considered a strategic key to develop the country. So,
to prepare for becoming an ASEAN community, improving English skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing, is greatly required, especially listening and speaking skills. Therefore, in order to preparing for becoming one of ASEAN members, it is necessary that people aware of improving themselves to be ready for being a part of the upcoming ASEAN community. People will allow from neighboring countries as well as western countries transfer labor and have freelance. Moreover, Thais would be able to have more opportunities and gain more advantages of working with foreigners for better lives. Therefore, we will need to develop skills in all areas, because it works in a range that is open, competitive, ASEAN will be not just competitive people in the country will have to compete with neighboring countries, which are in the ASEAN community.
With its importance of English in connecting people of ASEAN countries together, it would be interesting to study ways to develop E