In the age of globalisation, English has played an increasingly important role as the
medium of communication among people from different non-English speaking countries
and Thailand is no exception. English is no longer a mere subject to be learnt in the
classroom but also a medium for social and practical use (Foley, 2005). In order to serve
the purpose of English language teaching and learning in terms of improving students’
communicative competence, the communicative approach has been adopted in language
teaching nationwide. At the tertiary level in Thailand, most students are required to take
at least four English courses, i.e. two foundation courses and two English for academic
purposes (EAP) or English for specific purposes (ESP) courses (Ministry of Education,
2002). The main goal of the English courses on offer is to develop students’
communicative competence in both academic and non-academic English. In doing so,
language learners are expected to be able to efficiently express themselves in the target
language and successfully communicate in real-life situations (Lightbown & Spada,
1999).