VOA标准英语2016--How Well is English Spoken Worldwide?

How Well is English Spoken Worldwide?

Adults in the Netherlands are the best non-native English speakers, a new report released Tuesday says.

The report also says that Iraq has fallen to last place.

The private education company Education First (EF) released the 2016 English Proficiency¹ Index report.

The English Proficiency Index is based on the online test scores of 950,000 adults from 72 countries.

The results do not show the English ability of a country’s entire population. They are based on people who took an online test, the EF Standard English Test (EFSET), during 2015. You can take the test online for free.

The study is the sixth produced by EF. It is a yearly report that examines the English knowledge level of adults from 72 countries. It has found most areas in the world are continuing to improve their English language ability.

The report also says that English language remains² an important part for a country’s economic power.

According to EF Director of Research Min Tran, one quality the highest-ranking countries share is a strong education system. However, he says that may not be enough.

“However, another very important factor is whether your country has an English speaking environment. If you go to Singapore today, you hear English on the streets. You hear Singaporean youngsters mixing Chinese, Malay, and English. Singaporeans are watching TV, watching films, listening to music in English...”

Tran also said the report has found a gender³ difference in English ability.

“You look at the genders⁴, women are better than men. And we’ve seen that in nearly every country, every age group, every industry even when you look at business English. Women are just consistently outperforming men.”

Europe

Similar to the previous six years, Europe leads the rankings with its overall strength in English. Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, and Finland were the top five countries in Europe and in the world. These countries have been in the top five almost every year the report has been released. The only difference is that the Netherlands has moved from second place to first this year.

The report says there are several reasons these countries perform well. They have strong education systems, and primary and secondary schools in those countries require English language studies.

There are also many chances for people to use English in their day-to-day lives. The report says one very helpful quality is that English is used often in the media of these Northern European countries.

One important change took place in France. It moved from the “Low Proficiency” category last year to “Moderate Proficiency” for 2016. France placed 24 out of 28 European countries included in the report.

“English is a sensitive issue in France because the country is very proud of French and the position of French, the French language in the world. Universities do not teach in English, whereas other universities in Europe do have programs, even entirely⁵ in English. So we’ve seen France go down in the past five years, and this year was the first year that they came back up...”

The lowest performing countries in what the report considers Europe were Azerbaijan and Turkey. Those countries made small improvements from last year, but their scores were lower than the rest of Europe.

The report says these countries tend to have weaker teaching methods that depend on rote⁶ memorization rather than communication.

Asia

In Asia, Singapore was the highest ranked country, moving to sixth place in the index. Singapore was considered to have a “Very High Proficiency” level for the first time. Tran says this improvement is because Singapore has a very strong education system.

“Well, Singapore’s education system is often seen as one of the best in the world. If you look at other English tests like IELTS and TOEFL, Singapore is consistently at the top -- not just in Asia, but throughout the world. It just has a very, very strong education system that focuses on quality of instruction and has extremely high standards for their students...”

Along with Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines were the next highest-ranked countries. The report says countries with a historical link to the British Empire usually have stronger English levels than other countries in the area.

However, the report says Thailand and Cambodia still have low levels of English proficiency, although they have a growing tourism industry.

China also increased its rank by moving from 47th to 39th place. However, it is behind many other countries in Asia. Tran says this might be the result of its large population.

Latin America

Adult English proficiency in Latin America remains less strong, the study says. Most countries had a lower rank this year than last year. Argentina is the only country to rank as “High Proficiency.” The Dominican Republic follows closely behind.

One reason for Argentina’s high ranking, according to the report, is that English teachers there are “highly qualified⁷.” They have to complete a five-year training program to teach English in public schools.

Latin America’s largest countries, Brazil and Mexico, have lower rankings this year. This is the case although there are efforts to send students to English-speaking countries for university studies.

Tran says one reason these countries do not have higher rankings is the large size of their populations. In large countries, it takes more time for enough citizens to learn English to raise the average English level.

The Middle East and North Africa

The Middle East and North African area had the greatest changes in scores from last year. Morocco and Qatar made the most improvements of all countries in the area, but Iraq and Oman’s scores dropped the most.

Only Morocco and the United Arab Emirates are in the “Low Proficiency” level. All other countries fell into the “Very Low Proficiency” level.

Tran says some issues causing the low performance in the Middle East and North Africa, or MENA, area are outside of the classroom.

“They are countries that have experienced quote a lot of turmoil⁸. When you have such turmoil in your country for such a long time, then it’s difficult for the education system to really make a difference.”

The report says that factors affecting these countries are poor education systems and not enough jobs for students after they finish school. This can cause students to not try as hard to succeed in their studies.

The survey did not include sub-Saharan African countries.

Steps to Success

Tran suggests three things for countries trying to improve their English level.

First is to make quality English teaching available to all citizens. Next, a country should invest in teacher training, and then invest in its English-speaking environment.

“I think the number one priority would be to make sure that everybody has access to quality English instruction, and to do that I think to then is to leverage⁹ teacher training, right? And making sure that you have a teacher supply that is ready to deliver the quality instruction that you need in your entire school system.

“Then it’s about creating that English environment in your country. It’s having bilingual signs, bilingual venues¹⁰, having programs in English that are not dubbed¹¹, and creating excuses for your students to speak in English, right?”

The report shows that it is not easy to improve English-speaking ability country-wide, and it also is costly¹². But, it is clear that the economic and social benefits make it worth the investment.

Words in This Story

benefit – n. a good or helpful result or effect

bilingual – adj. able to speak and understand two languages

gender – n. the state of being male or female

leverage – n. influence or power used to achieve a desired result

proficiency - n. good at doing something

rank – n. a position in a society, organization, group, etc.

rote memorization – n. a memorization technique based on repetition

turmoil – n. a state of confusion or disorder¹³

sensitive – adj. easily upset by the things that people think or say about you

1 proficiency   

n.精通，熟练，精练

参考例句：

• He plied his trade and gained proficiency in it.他勤习手艺，技术渐渐达到了十分娴熟的地步。
• How do you think of your proficiency in written and spoken English?你认为你的书面英语和口语熟练程度如何？

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 genders   

n.性某些语言的（阳性、阴性和中性，不同的性有不同的词尾等）( gender的名词复数 )；性别；某些语言的（名词、代词和形容词）性的区分

参考例句：

• There are three genders in German: masculine, feminine and neuter. 德语中有叁性：阳性、阴性和中性。 来自辞典例句
• Japan was fourth among the genders of foreign students. 日本在二十个留美学生输送地中列第四位。 来自互联网

5 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

6 rote   

n.死记硬背，生搬硬套

参考例句：

• Learning by rote is discouraged in this school.这所学校不鼓励死记硬背的学习方式。
• He recited the poem by rote.他强记背诵了这首诗。

7 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

8 turmoil   

n.骚乱，混乱，动乱

参考例句：

• His mind was in such a turmoil that he couldn't get to sleep.内心的纷扰使他无法入睡。
• The robbery put the village in a turmoil.抢劫使全村陷入混乱。

9 leverage   

n.力量，影响；杠杆作用，杠杆的力量

参考例句：

• We'll have to use leverage to move this huge rock.我们不得不借助杠杆之力来移动这块巨石。
• He failed in the project because he could gain no leverage. 因为他没有影响力，他的计划失败了。

10 venues   

n.聚集地点( venue的名词复数 )；会场；（尤指）体育比赛场所；犯罪地点

参考例句：

• The band will be playing at 20 different venues on their UK tour. 这个乐队在英国巡回演出期间将在20个不同的地点演出。
• Farmers market corner, 800 meters long, 60 meters wide livestock trading venues. 农牧市场东北角，有长800米，宽60米的牲畜交易场地。 来自互联网

11 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》

12 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

13 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。