The Implementation of an Online Collaborative Project: Lessons Learned from Failure

Thai students learn English for 12 years, but the results are not promising. They still face difficulties and have insufficient confidence in using English for communication. One of the main reasons for this could be that English is not used outside of class as a native language; in other words, students lack opportunities to use English in their daily lives (Dhanasophon 2006; Noom-ura 2013; Wiriyachitra 2002). Although Thailand welcomes nearly two million tourists from January to July 2014 (Ministry of Social Development and Humanity Security, 2014) and foreign investment rose to 478,927 million baht in 2013 (Board of Investment, 2014), most English use is by the urban middle class, not Thai society in general, in which rural communities constitute the majority of the population (Baker 2012).