The Portuguese were the very first Europeans to set foot in the Kingdom of Siam (now Thailand) in 1511, followed by the French in 1662; Portuguese and French were popular among royalty at that time as languages of trade, religion, and politics. More importantly, Pali, the language of Theravada Buddhism, which originated in India, was for centuries the most important additional language in Thailand. As the language of religious scripts and rituals, ―Pali has been highly regarded and is still being taught in Buddhist educational institutions and universities‖ (Wongsothorn, 2000, p. 307). However, the way Thai people acquired Pali has never been acknowledged as an appropriate mode of foreign language teaching and learning. Instead, it has been assumed that the grammar translation and rote-memorization methods commonly used in teaching Pali have nothing to do with English language teaching methods. In grammar-translation classrooms, it is believed that a native language is equivalent for all target languages, and [first and second language] can facilitate one another (LarsenFreeman, 2000). This is likely to be a major reason why a majority of applied linguistics from the West has always decried grammar translation in English education. These scholars, instead, support the notion that appropriate teaching techniques should not rely on the first language, or students‘ mother tongues should not be allowed in learning English (Cook, 1999). English is assumed to have its own unique ways of being taught, and only methods from English-speaking Western theorists are to be adopted and used in classrooms. This has a great impact on English education in Thailand as Thais have tended to reject the traditional grammar translation but embrace the communicative approach as the most appropriate methods (extensively promoted by the Western theorists). This pattern of ignoring and discrediting the existing linguistic knowledge is further discussed below.