English instruction in Thailand aims to improve students’ language proficiency
(Wongsothorn, 2003) and equip students with useful learning processes and
strategies to enhance the use of English for social and academic purposes (Ministry
of Education, 2004). To reach these goals, Thailand has adopted a learner-centered
approach and focused on communicative language teaching as key approaches to
facilitate the language learning process and improve communicative competence in
order to prepare Thai students for regional and international workplaces. Even though
curricular and lesson plans have been designed to implement these key approaches
in language instruction, one of the most critical problems encountered by teachers
especially at the university level is students’ lack of adequate language background to
complete tasks required in studying English (Chayanuvat, 2007). Therefore, it seems
inevitable for many university teachers that they have to review basic knowledge
such as grammar usage over and over again before they can proceed to English for
daily routines and academic purposes.
In reality, however, studying English does not necessarily focus on syntactic accuracy
or competency in grammar usage. Instead, giving opportunities to students to use