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Language Testing 2008 25 (1) 127143

Issues and trends in language testing

and assessment in Thailand
Kanchana Prapphal Chulalongkorn University, Thailand

This paper aims to present an overview of language testing in Thailand.

Language testing practices in the past are also reviewed. Attention is paid to
the washback effects of language tests, the use of language tests in school
admissions, questions of test validity, the emergence of standardized tests,
the influence of societal values on testing practices, the use of computers and
technology in language testing, and the success or failure of policy implementation. Also reviewed are the following new trends of language testing
and assessment in Thailand: human resources development and professional
certification, the integration of IT and English teaching and testing, quality
assurance and English assessment, learner autonomy and self-assessment,
and advanced technology and innovations in language assessment.

I Language testing in the past

There are three major educational systems in Thailand, i.e. formal
education, non-formal education, and informal education. Formal
education services are arranged systematically from pre-primary
level to lower and upper secondary education, providing students
with opportunities to pursue their studies in higher education. Nonformal education is for those who have missed formal education and
who want to participate in educational programs and vocational
skills training. Informal education services concentrate on helping
people in local communities to broaden their knowledge and skills.
In formal education the Department of Curriculum and Instruction
Development of the Ministry of Education assesses the achievement
of students at primary level (Grade 6), lower secondary level (Grade 9)
and upper secondary level (Grade 12) (ONEC, 2003).

Address for correspondence: Kanchana Prapphal, Language Institute, Chulalongkorn University,

Phyathai Road, Bankok 10330, Thailand; email: kanchana.p@chula.ac.th

2008 SAGE Publications (Los Angeles, London, New Delhi and Singapore)

DOI:10.1177/0265532207083748

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The relationship between language teaching and testing is reflected

throughout the history of English teaching in the Thai context.
Before the change in the English syllabus for secondary schools in
1960, rote memorization and grammar translation with the aural-oral
method dominated the teaching methodology. As a result, the associated
achievement tests focused mainly on translation, pattern drills and structures. With the advent of the communicative approach, the national
syllabus was changed. The four skills were then emphasized in order to
help students to communicate in English. Unfortunately, language testing methods did not keep pace. Discrete-point tests in multiple-choice
format were still the most common approach, especially in high-stakes
entrance examinations, which induce the largest amount of washback
on teaching practices. The national syllabus was modified again in
1996 when English was made compulsory for all primary students.
The syllabus was of the functional-communicative type (Wongsothorn
et al., 2002). However, most of the tests still aimed to test the structure
of the language and its functions. The mismatch between efforts to
modify the national syllabus and the testing practices in Thai institutions is a familiar problem in many Asian contexts. Teaching practices
tend to follow testing practices, so policies to legislate a communicative syllabus are undermined whenever tests are not concurrently redesigned to assess communicative outcomes.
The major reform in the English language curriculum was introduced in 1999 after Thailands new constitution was adopted in 1997.
According to the new curriculum, English became a compulsory foreign language subject from the first grade. The aim at the primary level
is to build language knowledge, skills and positive attitudes towards
English (Wiriyachitra, 2004). The curriculum reform may however
have missed the opportunity to reform testing practices in Thailand.
Although tasks have been introduced in for classroom assessment, as the
stakes get higher there has been a strong tendency to maintain objective formats like multiple choice.

II Issues concerning language tests in Thailand

Several issues are considered problematic in language testing: the
washback effects of language tests employing inadequate methods,
the use of language tests in school admissions, issues of validity, the
use of standardized tests, the reflection of societal values in language
tests, the use of computer and technology in language testing, and
the analyses of the success or failure of curriculum reform efforts.

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These issues, while not unique to the Thai context, require careful
consideration and critique.
1 The washback effects of language tests
Scholars in language testing and assessment define washback effects
variously. Shohamy (1992) and Cheng and Watanabe (2002), inter
alia, contend that washback refers to the impact that tests have on
teaching and learning practices, while Bachman and Palmer (1996)
and Bachman (2004) point out that washback can also be viewed as a
subset of a tests impact on society, and on educational systems.
Alderson and Wall (1993) and Bailey (1999) conclude that tests that
have important consequences are more likely to have stronger degrees
of washback.
In the Thai context, the washback effects of university entrance
exams are clearly observable. Due to the large-scale of these exams,
the multiple-choice format is mainly used to obtain reliability and
practicality in scoring. This format has an impact at both micro and
macro levels. The teaching and learning process in the last semester of
the last academic year of the upper secondary level (Grade 12) in many
schools focuses on reviewing the content and format of the university
entrance exams. In addition, there are many coaching or cram schools
set up for this purpose (Report on University Admissions, 2003), usually long before the last year of high school. The influence of cram
schools in many Asian contexts raises issues of fairness in testing. To
the extent that success on high stakes examinations such as those for
university admissions depends on test preparation, the quality and
quantity of test preparation can be expected to affect test outcomes.
Given the reality that access to extracurricular test preparation is correlated with learners socio-economic status, equality of access to
higher education is a serious issue to be considered in Thailand.
The Ministry of Education changed university admissions procedures in 2006. Prior to the change in admission policies, the system
consisted of the following components:
1) The academic record from the upper secondary level or equivalent
(GPAX  5% and Percentile Rank  5%).
2) Results of the entrance exam papers. The weights given to core
and specialized subjects vary depending on each institution. The
total weight given is 90%.
3) Results of an interview and physical examination. There is no
weight for this component which is simply a hurdle requirement
(Prapphal, 2004).

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It is likely that in the future more weight will be given to high school
grade-point averages and less will be given to the exam scores,
though the extent of the shift to school-based assessments is still under
consideration. In addition, students have to take the Ordinary National
Educational Test (O-Net) and the Advanced National Educational
Test (A-Net). Proponents of these tests claim that students should
pay more attention to what they learn in class rather than focus their
efforts on private tutorial classes after school. The effort to introduce
school-based assessment has met with opposition (see Qian, this
issue). There is, for instance, a lack of confidence in the equivalence
of grades assigned by the secondary schools (Bangkok Post, 2005).
Given the reality that the highest weighting for admissions is the
objective norm-referenced examination, it is anticipated that afterhours tutorials and cram schools will continue to flourish. In an effort
to alleviate the problem of unequal access to coaching, two additional
innovations have recently been started. In addition to the main admissions system to Thai universities, a quota system and special admissions have been introduced. In the quota system, each university sets
up a quota to give opportunities to students from the provinces to be
able to study in higher educational institutions. The special admissions
systems are administered by individual universities and aim to provide
a chance for special groups such as the Chula-Rural Project or the
Admission of Sports Talented Persons of Srinakharinwirot University.
2 The use of language tests in school admissions
Apart from the university entrance exams, language tests, particularly
English tests, play a major role in school admissions at other levels in
Thai education and vocational training. As mentioned above, English
has become a compulsory subject from primary school. To be admitted to the lower and higher secondary level, students have to take
Thai, English, Maths, Science, Social Studies, Work-Oriented Education, Physical Education and Management. English is a subject that
every student must take for university admission, and once matriculated Thai university students are expected to complete at least six
credits of English. At the graduate level some graduate schools like
the Graduate School of Chulalongkorn University established a policy that every applicant has to demonstrate his/her English ability.
A TOEFL score of 500 or an equivalent score on another test is
required for the students who apply for doctoral programs. This policy provides an incentive for the students in that they continue to
study English to be ready for higher education.

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3 Issues of language test validity

The impetus for Thai language curriculum reform has come from a
recognized need to base language pedagogy and assessment practice
on a firm theoretical framework. Central in this rationale is test validity. Bachman (1990) proposed two approaches in language testing:
the Ability Approach and the Real-Life Approach. These two
approaches have different construct definitions. For the Ability
Approach, Bachman and Palmer (1996) propose that test design be
based a model of language ability that consists of organizational
competence, pragmatic competence and strategic competence. Although the model has met with criticism (Skehan, 1998; McNamara,
1996) in that it lacks details regarding the role of strategic competence, incapacity of the components of the model to predict realworld performance, and a lack of attention to underlying processing
factors, the Real-Life Approach takes into account the extent to
which test performance replicates some specified non-test language
performance (Bachman, 1990). A focus on Real-Life Approaches
may provide a way forward in the Thai context (see Section III.2
below).

4 The emergence of standardized tests

The standardized tests which are popular in Thailand are TOEFL,
IELTS and TOEIC. Prapphal and Opanon-Amata (2002) reported
that Thai graduates, alongside those from neighboring Laos, had the
lowest levels of English proficiency in Southeast Asia. Thailands
TOEFL average was below 500. This average is based on four years
of score data from 1995 to 1998, during which period over 180 000
Thais took the TOEFL. The survey showed that Singapore and the
Philippines, with averages of over 550, ranked at the top. The other
five countries in the region (Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar,
and Cambodia) averaged between 500 and 550 (The Nation, 2002).
IELTS has recently become popular in Thailand as an alternative
to TOEFL. At present there are increasing numbers of testing centers
in Bangkok and in the other parts of the country. Also increasingly
popular is the TOEIC. Many companies use this test as a criterion in
recruiting personnel or promoting them to higher positions. Perhaps
because of the objective format of the test, more than three million
TOEIC tests are administered annually all over the world. According
to the TOEIC report on test-takers worldwide between 1997 and
1998, 27330 of these examinees were from Thailand.

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A reason for the increasing popularity of standardized tests is the

expansion of international programs in Thailand. There are at least
465 international programs using English as the medium of instruction both at the undergraduate and graduate levels (153 undergraduate programs, 203 masters degree programs and 109 doctoral degree
programs). These programs in general aim to prepare Thai students
for international study and business. Table 1 indicates the number of
international schools and programs in Thailand in 1999 and 2002.
Concurrent with the boom in international programs is the increased
demand for standardized English tests. Despite the Ministry of Educations recent policy to increase the weight of school-based assessments, and to encourage alternative admissions practices, the rapid
expansion of the international programs may well increase new and
unforeseen sources of washback. Since many of the standardized tests
may require special preparation, Thai students and workers have to
invest in test preparation. To the extent that test formats differ from the
idealized performance objectives, the larger their adverse impact is
expected to be.
5 Language tests as a reflection of social
expectations and values
Shohamy (2001) has pointed out that tests are frequently used as
instruments of educational policy and as such can be very powerful.
Awareness of the powerful role and status of language tests in the
Table 1 International schools and programs in Thailand
1999

2002

International schools
Bangkok
Other provinces

26
20

45
22

Total

46

67

International programs
Undergraduate
Masters degree
Doctoral

122
76
58

153
203
109

Total

256

465

Source: International Schools Association of Thailand,

Ministry of University Affairs (now the Commission for
Higher Education), and Office of the Private Education
Commission

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Thai context is growing due to a number of factors. First, there is a

call for desirable skills, competencies, and qualifications from stakeholders, academics, and specialists in human resource development.
Wongboonsin et al. (2003) proposed that Thai learners should have
English proficiency, computer literacy, analytical ability, innovation,
and critical thinking if Thailand wants to compete with other countries economically. As a result of this need, the English syllabus in
Thai tertiary institutions has been revised. In line with the Policy on
English Instruction of Liberal Education (2000), the number of credits
required for students at higher institutions has now been increased
from 6 credits to 12.
In parallel with the trend for primary level English language education in other Asian countries (see Choi, this issue), Thai educational
policy makers have also engaged in strategic language planning. An
indicator of the growing awareness of the importance of high performance on English language tests is the increasing number of bilingual schools at the primary level. In 1995 there were three private
schools which had bilingual programs using English as the medium of
instruction, but in 2004 the number increased to 102 schools (Ministry
of Education, 2004). The issue of equal access to the new bilingual
schools is one that may attract critical interest in Thai society. There
remains a danger that the drive to increase the national profile in
English proficiency may come at a cost to social equity and harmony
if access to such schools is limited to the children of the elite.
At the university level, there were 256 international programs in
1998 compared 465 in 2002 (see Table 1). The rapid increase of international programs illustrates the demand for English in Thai society
driven by economic competition. Concern about the role of tests to
achieve these economic goals has to date not been a feature of much
public debate, though there is emerging interest in how testing interacts with curricular reforms. A further indication of the growing public awareness about the role of tests is the recent emphasis on
educational accountability (Brindley, 2001). The National Standardized
Test designed to ensure quality of English language teaching was
administered by the National Institute for Educational Testing in 2006.
Students in grades 3, 6, 9, and 12 were assessed for their knowledge,
skills, and competencies in core subjects, including English. Likewise,
to ensure that graduating students meet the expectations demanded by
stakeholders, students are now given tests before graduation. The exit
standards are decided by the council of each university based on its
goals. These exit criteria again bring to the fore the issue of test fairness, since Thai graduates future employment opportunities depend

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on the results of standardized tests which can be enhanced by extracurricular cramming. The long-term consequences of the new emphasis
on educational accountability will need careful evaluation in the
future.
6 The use of computers and technology in language
testing and assessment
As mentioned previously, one desirable competency expected by stakeholders in Thailand is computer skills. The abilities to use English and
computer skills are also mentioned in the wider vocational context.
Competencies like the ability to exchange knowledge, interactive networking, mobility of teachers and students, and international research
projects were identified as crucial for economic development at the
World Conference on Higher Education (Wang and Kim, 2000).
In Thailand, computers and technology have been used mainly for
teaching and learning purposes, especially for self-assessment and
independent learning in many institutions. There has to date been little
development of computerized testing. Individual institutions have integrated computers into language pedagogy and informal language assessment. For example, at the Chulalongkorn University Language
Institute, students select supplementary learning materials from the
Self-Access Learning Center. The learning materials include computer
programs for learning English. Prapphal (2003) found that the ability
to use e-mail was significantly related to the English for Academic
Purposes scores and grades. Though there is not much research evidence to assess the impact of computer assisted learning and testing in
Thailand, recent surveys suggest an affective benefit. For instance, at
King Mongkuts University of Technology Thonburi, Maneekhao
(2001) found that students increased their confidence in using three
information resources: a library, a self-access center and the Internet.
Similarly, activities on the web to practice English skills have been
implemented at Mahidol University (Vattanapath et al., 2002). The
influence of distance learning using the Internet (Morgan, 1999) is
unknown since it is still in its infancy in Thailand, though there is considerable potential for growth in the future.
7 Success and failure of policy implementation
Although language tests can serve many purposes at every stage of the
teaching and learning process (admissions, placement, diagnosis,
achievement), they have certain limitations. The paradigm shift in language teaching from teacher-focused to learner-focused instruction

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will definitely result in a greater emphasis on alternative forms of

assessment. According to the National Education Act, independent
and learner-centered approaches are to be promoted and expanded in
all levels of Thai education. Learner autonomy and learner-centered
approaches are likely to lead to much more emphasis on novel methods
of assessment such as self-assessment and peer-assessment. Use of
such methods may however create problems with comparability and
benchmarking considering the variation among educational institutions
in Thailand. Table 2 illustrates the number of educational institutions
in 2003.
The data in this table show that there are 87 104 public and 5835 private institutions at various levels in Thailand. A challenge facing language testing in Thailand is in how to establish valid and fair methods
of assessment. This challenge is compounded by the reality that the
delivery of English instruction across all these institutions is constrained
by the quality and quantity of language teachers. Biyaem (1997) reports
that the teachers and learners face the following difficulties:

heavy teaching loads;

too many students in a class (4560);
insufficient English language skills and native speaker cultural
knowledge;

inadequately equipped classrooms and educational technology;

university entrance examinations which demand a tutorial teaching and learning style.
As for the students, they have the following difficulties in using
English:

lack of opportunity to use English in their daily lives;

unchallenging English lessons;
Table 2

Number of public and private institutions

Institutions

Total

Public

Private

Whole Kingdom
Pre-primary
Primary
Lower secondary
Upper secondary (General)
Upper secondary (Vocational)
Below bachelors degree
Bachelors degree
Postgraduate degree

92939
44760
33043
10490
2837
889
646
208
66

87104
42075
31426
9903
2666
540
324
131
39

5835
2685
1617
587
171
349
322
77
27

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being passive learners;

lack of responsibility for their own learning.
It seems that unless these problems are solved, the educational
reform, which calls for more complexity in the assessment systems
already now in place is unlikely to be successful. A possible solution
is to enhance the language assessment knowledge of Thai teachers.
Most language teachers lack knowledge about language testing, assessment and evaluation. Although there are some training programs,
these are accessible to only a small portion of language teachers. The
long-term success of the National Education Act may well depend on
the ability of teachers to change the way they conduct language testing. As in many contexts, when plans to modify curricula are made
on a national scale without concurrent changes to the assessment
focus and procedures, the intended reforms tend to fail.
Another problematic policy is related to standards setting and the
concept of the exit exam. It has been proposed that before students
graduate from university, they have to take an English exit exam to
assure future employers that they are qualified and ready to work using
English. This proposed policy has been challenged on fairness grounds
by content educators in other academic fields. Some graduating students are able to demonstrate their knowledge in their domain of major
study, but they cannot pass the exit English tests. As in other Asian
nations (see Choi, this issue), the economic incentives to push language education towards benchmarked outcomes and value for money
outcomes has been increasing in recent years. The long-term consequences of these policies have yet to be assessed, though there is considerable unease that higher education will be degraded to vocational
training when teachers and learners have to spend extra time on
preparing for exit examinations.

III Economic development and language testing in Thailand

Language education has in many contexts been considered a strategic tool in economic development. As international competition
increases, the pressure on language educators to deliver tangible outcomes has grown accordingly. Language testing is seen in many quarters as the way desired outcomes can be ascertained. Before this can
happen, stakeholders need to know what the goals are. According to
the Thai government policy based on the National Education Act, the

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following goals have been mandated:

1)
2)
3)
4)

human resources development and professional certification

the integration of IT and English teaching and testing
quality assurance and English assessment
learner autonomy and self-assessment.

1 Human resources development and professional certification

Language tests, of English proficiency in particular, are used in professional certification in the business and industrial sectors like the
tourist industry and E-commerce. The importance of English was
reported at the 2001 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
meeting in Thailand. APEC contends that English should be emphasized more than in the past. Students who learn individually can take
tests and certification exams at their own level of performance. This
pronouncement echoes the National Education Act with its call for
greater learner autonomy.
One industry marked for an increased share of the Thai economy
is tourism. To prepare people for the tourism business and hospitality service, the Thai government has launched the One product for
one Tambol (province) and the Internet Tambol project. Thai workers
at all levels, whether they are white-collar workers or skilled workers,
need training and certification to ensure their abilities in working in
the global context. The increased pressure on language testing developers to design reliable and valid indictors of work-place competence in English has thus grown considerably. One by-product of the
increased need for language tests has been an agreement across Thai
institutions to share resources in assessment. Test banks are to be
established so that both employers and employees can make use of
the test databases. The employers can ascertain that employees reach
the standard required at each skill level for in-service training and
promotion. Employers can hire the candidates meeting the certification requirements. English is one qualification required in almost
every sector, but especially in tourism because there is a great
demand for personnel who are fluent in English.
The investment in upgrading English language proficiency in
Thailand has come from the public sector. The Thai Cabinet, for
example, has approved funding of 315.3 million baht (8.08 million
US dollars) to upgrade English language instruction. The Office of
Basic Education Commission has created 175 English resource and

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instruction centers to develop teachers and instructional media. The

office will provide English language teacher training to 500 teachers in
each of the 30 key tourism provinces. Tuition will be provided in the
form of intensive courses, distance learning, exhibitions and continuing
training (Xinhua, 2004). The government policy to promote tourism in
the provinces is intended to lead to a boost in English language learning. As a result, language testers will eventually have to assess the
success of the training programs. Part of the long-term evaluation of the
language education policy for economic development may have to
include the impact of vocational English on Thai society.
2 The integration of IT and English teaching and testing
Apart from English, another essential skill required in a global environment is knowledge of information technology. According to the
National Educational Act, various teaching methodologies and media
are to be encouraged. The Internet has become a powerful tool to reach
all domains of content learning at all levels. As a result, the nature of
teaching and testing has been greatly changed. The Real-Life Approach as characterized by Bachman (1990; 2004) will become more
widely used in the future. Authenticity, interactiveness, and direct
performance-based proficiency testing are increasingly expected by
Thai stakeholders. Conventional assessment using objective formats
like multiple-choice items are expected to be changed to authentic assessment procedures where learning outcomes will be assessed in novel
formats. New assessment methods like email and electronic portfolios
to evaluate writing ability have already been introduced in some Thai
institutions. With this innovation, new questions have arisen about
long-term consequences. The introduction of technology for language education and testing brings with it concerns for equal access.
The influence of the digital divide on access to preparation for
entrance examinations, job training and certification has to date not
been examined in the Thai context. Future research will need to explore
how the use of IT technology brings both desired and unwanted consequences for Thai language education.
3 Quality assurance and English assessment
During the new millennium there will be more cooperation between
the business and industrial sectors, and higher education institutes.
The private sectors increasingly expect universities to be solely
responsible for producing a professional workforce (Kirtikara, 2001).

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Based on the National Education Act, a national agency on education

quality assurance has been established. Its main mission is to set
national education standards and undertake systematic implementation of quality assurance to ensure improvement of educational
quality and standards at all levels. In addition, the higher education
system will be more internationalized and bring the Thai educational
system up to international standards. This policy assumes that investments in language education should result in tangible levels of skill
among Thai learners, and follows an education as skills-building
model. Thai language testing will need to provide accurate indicators
of quality assurance if this aspect of the National Education Act is to
be successful.
In the globalized economy international collaboration among qualified workers is needed. Again, English is perceived by the Thai government as an essential tool for cooperation, networking and sharing
research information. This requirement sets a daunting task for Thai
institutions of higher learning. To date, each institution has set its own
standard for English proficiency resulting in a lack of comparable
standards across institutions. As a remedy to this, the National Institute
for Educational Testing will develop standards at different EFL proficiency levels. The risk associated with the establishment of benchmarks is the increased need to rely on as few indicators of proficiency
as possible. As Cheng (this issue) notes, a single standardized measure
of proficiency can exert a large washback effect on institutions ranked
on their capacity to meet standards. An increasingly common consequence of such policies is the tendency for abandonment of the four
skills syllabus in favor of test cramming.
4 Learner autonomy and self-assessment
The National Education Act redirects the mission of higher education towards student-centered learning and lifelong learning, as well
as for greater learner autonomy. The resulting shift of the teaching
paradigm from focusing on the teacher to the learner and the emphasis
on students being responsible for their own learning presents new
challenges to Thai higher education. Some students may not be
mature enough to self-assess their own learning, especially at the lower
levels. In addition, the validity and reliability of self-assessments
may be questionable due to learners tendency to self-flattery, social
desirability, halo effects, acquiescence bias and/or learners tendency
to over- or under-estimate their proficiency (Oscarson, 1989).
Although multiple measures could be used to obtain valid and reliable

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information about English proficiency, language teachers may not be

equipped to carry out the necessary validation procedures or to ensure
that their assessments are reliable and practical.
With the application of information technology, education will take
place in borderless classrooms. Distance learning like web-based
learning is an example of what policy makers envisage as the new
paradigm of teaching. Learners are expected to be more flexible and
responsible for their own progress. In terms of assessment, new
means of assessing the learners competencies are required to make
assessment parallel with the use of autonomous self-assessed learning. Paper and pencil tests will be replaced by computer-based tests
or web-based tests depending on the nature of assessment, whether
high-stakes or low-stakes. To meet the standards as mentioned in the
previous section, validation research is required to illustrate the comparability of self-assessment and assessment by professional organizations. The validity research agenda presents a formidable task for
language testers in Thailand.

IV Conclusion
It is essential to have educational quality and standards at various
stages of the teaching and assessment processes. To achieve the set
goals in the National Education Act, teachers, learners, administrators and stakeholders need to understand the purposes, nature, benefits and drawbacks of each testing and assessment method when
evaluating learning outcomes. Models of standards or benchmarks
like TESOL ESL standards for pre-K-12 students (TESOL, 1997),
the Canadian language benchmarks for English as a second language
(Centre for Canadian Language Benchmarks, 2000), and the South
Australian curriculum, standards and accountability framework (South
Australian Curriculum and Standards Authority, 2007) are examples
which can assist Thai language assessors in setting up assessment
frameworks. While established models are helpful, Thai language
assessment professionals need to examine the needs of their own
local contexts. The national curriculum descriptors should be generated by local education authorities and schools taking into consideration international standards. To implement the standards,
teachers are the key actors because they can provide sample progress
indicators for their students based on their observations of students progress towards the achievement of the standards. Research
studies using both quantitative and qualitative approaches are needed

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before national standards, band scales and progress indicators at

each educational level can be formulated.
In order to meet the challenges of globalization and to create international cooperation and collaboration, performance indicators used for
benchmarking purposes across countries are needed at the regional and
international levels so that the employers can place their employees in
appropriate positions. A Southeast Asian regional assessing organization could be set up to establish common and comparable competencies
and skills. Standards, descriptors and assessment activities of EFL or
English as an Additional Language (EAL) suggested by Scott and
Erduran (2004) should be specified by such a body. If educational professionals in the region can achieve these common goals, we can prepare our students to be participants in the global economy. Thai
language testers and assessors now need to find new ways to assess language users competencies at school and in the work place.

V References
Alderson, J.C., and Wall, D. 1993: Does washback exist? Applied Linguistics
14(2): 11529.
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