Taiwan saw its English-language skills ranking drop from 48th to 40th out of 88 countries and regions in Education First’s (EF) English-language proficiency index for this year.
Sweden topped the list, followed by the Netherlands and Singapore, the report by the Switzerland-based firm showed.
Taiwan had an average score of 51.88, down from 52.04 a year earlier, placing its English proficiency level in the “low” category; the other four categories being very high, high, moderate and very low.
Taipei performed best among the six special municipalities, followed by New Taipei City and Tainan, the report showed.
In terms of gender and age group, women outperformed men by a slight margin, although both scored below the global average.
The 21-to-25 age group performed the best, with scores that are higher than the global average, followed by the 18-to-20 age group.
English-language proficiency is usually indicative of greater productivity, EF senior director of research and academic partnerships Minh Tran (陳彥銘) said.
Europe ranked highest globally in terms of English proficiency, while Asian countries exhibited something of a bipolar extreme, with English education in certain countries still fixated on rote memorization, Tran said.
EF Taiwan branch chief executive Yang Ai-lin (楊愛麟) said that adopting bilingual education is not a short-term goal, as it requires fostering a friendly environment for such a policy and changing the public mindset.
The annual index is based on the scores of test-takers from each country or region, EF said, adding that the online exam is free of charge and available to all.
Only cities or countries with more than 400 examinees aged 18 or older are included in the index, the company said.
A total of 1.3 million people took part in the examinations, which were conducted last year, in Europe, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, it said.
Compared with last year’s report, which saw 80 countries participating with 1 million examinees, 92 percent of the test takers were younger than 40, of which 60 percent were women and 40 percent men, it said.
Taiwan would benefit from more integrated military strategies and deployments if the US and its allies treat the East China Sea, the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a “single theater of operations,” a Taiwanese military expert said yesterday. Shen Ming-shih (沈明室), a researcher at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, said he made the assessment after two Japanese military experts warned of emerging threats from China based on a drill conducted this month by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) Eastern Theater Command. Japan Institute for National Fundamentals researcher Maki Nakagawa said the drill differed from the
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
A rally held by opposition parties yesterday demonstrates that Taiwan is a democratic country, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, adding that if opposition parties really want to fight dictatorship, they should fight it on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) held a protest with the theme “against green communists and dictatorship,” and was joined by the Taiwan People’s Party. Lai said the opposition parties are against what they called the “green communists,” but do not fight against the “Chinese communists,” adding that if they really want to fight dictatorship, they should go to the right place and face
A 79-year-old woman died today after being struck by a train at a level crossing in Taoyuan, police said. The woman, identified by her surname Wang (王), crossed the tracks even though the barriers were down in Jhongli District’s (中壢) Neili (內壢) area, the Taoyuan Branch of the Railway Police Bureau said. Surveillance footage showed that the railway barriers were lowered when Wang entered the crossing, but why she ventured onto the track remains under investigation, the police said. Police said they received a report of an incident at 6:41am involving local train No. 2133 that was heading from Keelung to Chiayi City. Investigators
RSS