In Thailand, the teaching of English speaking skills has been deemed by many to be rather ineffective. 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). Conducting her study on
the general English proficiency of ASEAN students by using the TOEFL-equated Chulalongkorn University Test
of English Proficiency (CU-TEP) scores, Prapphal (2001) found out that the average English proficiency of Thai
students was higher than that of Laotians but still lower than that of students of other ASEAN countries