Prompted by UNESCO initiatives on promoting world literacy (UNESCO, 2005, 2014), many countries, including Thailand, have launched language education policies to push literacy development forward. Accordingly, this study seeks to investigate the policies promoting literacy in Thailand and their implementation at the local level. Language education policy ('LEP') documents were analysed together and with regard to the backgrounds of national LEPs. Semi-structured interviews with a superintendent and school teachers were conducted to elicit data concerning the interpretation of policies. In addition, ten Standard Thai lessons were observed to examine how one teacher implemented policy. The data analysis revealed that LEPs in Thailand are top down and positively resulted in raising awareness of the policy practitioners. Despite the fact that they were top-down policies, the findings indicated that the teacher also independently decided on how to teach literacy. These results may imply that an analysis of LEP documents and an investigation of policy implementation may lead to better understanding of how LEPs and classroom practice are intertwined in each context.