Thais rank low again at English

Thais rank low again at English

Thailand is ranked 53rd among 80 non-native English speaking countries and territories in the EF English Proficiency Index 2017.

This year's ranking, conducted by Switzerland-based Education First, a global language school operator which has branches worldwide, is based on test data from more than one million adults who took the EF Standard English Test (EF SET) last year.

In the latest ranking, Thailand has a score of 49.78, which is classified as low proficiency.

In 2016, Thailand was at 56th (47.21) out of 72 countries with a very low proficiency.

Netherlands tops the ranking with 71.45, followed by Sweden (70.40), Denmark (69.93), Norway (67.77), Singapore (66.03), Finland (65.83), Luxembourg (64.57), South Africa (63.37) and Germany (62.35).

Laos is ranked at the bottom with a score of 37.56 behind Iraq (38.12), Libya (38.61), Cambodia (40.86) and Algeria (42.11).

Among Asian countries, Singapore was top, followed by Malaysia in 13th place, the Philippines in 15th, India in 27th, Hong Kong in 29th, South Korea in 30th, Vietnam in 34th, China in 36th, Japan in 37th and Indonesia in 39th.

According to Education First, low-performing education systems such as those in Cambodia, Laos, Mongolia and Thailand have major deficits and should first focus on increasing access to resources and improving teacher qualifications.

Singapore's place as the only Asian country among the top 10 nations may have been influenced by former premier Goh Chok Tong's launch of the Speak Good English Movement in 2000. This campaign encourages Singaporeans to speak and write using Standard English rather than local "Singlish".

In Malaysia, the state Professional Upskilling of English Language Teachers project was launched in 2012, and has trained over 15,000 teachers. The training itself consists either of weekly six-hour sessions throughout the year, or an intensive four-week course.

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