A reaction mechanism of methane partial oxidation, which consists of thermal and plasma chemistry reaction pathways, has been investigated using with an arc-jet reactor. The reaction zone of the arc-jet reactor is spatially separated into thermal and non-thermal plasma zone. Methane conversion rates, selectivity of $H_2$ and $C_2$ chemicals in each zone are obtained, which reveals clearly different characteristics of reaction pathways depending on the temperature conditions. The conversion rates obtained in thermal plasma zone is higher than those in non-thermal plasma zone. The selectivity, however, obtained in non-thermal plasma zone is significantly higher than those in thermal plasma zone. Further parametric study on $O_2/C$ ratio, arc length and SED shows that the present process is mainly governed by thermal chemistry pathways.