Thais score lowest in TOEFL
Wannapa Khaopa
The Nation



BANGKOK: -- With TOEFL scores averaging at 450, Thai students' proficiency in the English language appears to be the lowest in the Asean region.

In order to overcome this, academics are urging universities to seriously start strengthening students' English-language skills by making it a working language at their campuses.

"While, Thais' average TOEFL [Test of English as a Foreign Language] score stands at about 450; [students from] Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar have averaged around 500. Malaysia and Singapore were even higher at approximately 550 on average," Sriwika Mekthavatchaikul said at a seminar on improving the capacity and quality of universities ahead of the Asean Economic Community.

She is part of a subcommittee that studies institutions' readiness for the AEC, which kicks off in 2015.

The seminar was held at the National Institute of Development Administration by the Inter-national Institute for Trade and Development and attended by representatives from universities and several educational institutes.

Sriwika advised lecturers |to make English the first language in campuses and start using technical terms more often while lecturing.

Former education minister Prof Wijit Srisa-arn said usually English is included in university curriculum and accounts for at least six credits, and some universities had technical English courses, but that was not enough.

"It is necessary for us to promote the use of English and learn how to use the language with people from other Asean countries," Wijit said.


-- The Nation 2013-02-28

When those teaching english can barely speak the language then it doesn't look bright. Those with kids being taught english by thais at school will know what I mean.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Totally agree with your comment. This doesn't add up.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Exactly what I thought while reading the report ...

When those teaching english can barely speak the language then it doesn't look bright. Those with kids being taught english by thais at school will know what I mean.

The results do not surprise me one iota. Of all 58 countries in Asia,Thailand is 56th in English proficiency.

And when you have the entire population with an average IQ level 10% below the likes of Singapore, Hong Kong and markedly below other ASEAN countries what hope have you got.

It is a simple fact that to teach English effectively the teach should be a native English speaker.

My personal belief (shared by the majority of Caucasians who have been here for any length of time) is that Thais and Thailand are so xenophobic that there is almost a an unwritten policy not to encourage the children to learn English.

The average hooker has a better level of English proficiency than the majority of Thai teachers.

I am not suprised. Tune into the education chanels on True Vissions and select an English lesson. You will find out immediatly that not even the Teacher can speak English.

Teacher standards are pathetic in Thailand.

Concerning Singapore, Malaysia and Singapore are regrouped and it is true that in some Malay areas, Bahasa is the priority and some students are poor in english: this may explain why the Group Malaysia+ singapore drops to 550.

There's NO WAY in Hades Singapore and Malaysia are tied.

I think they're not even close to being in the same ballpark. And the numbers in Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia are probably skewed a bit because there are so few students from those countries actually taking the TOEFL on a yearly basis, especially Laos and Myanmar.

Most of the Myanmar students taking it are probably international school students planning to study abroad, coming from fairly wealthy backgrounds.

Whereas a lot of Thai students have the vague idea of studying abroad, in the US, England/UK, Australia, NZ, Canada (especially for Thais), but there are more students around the world choosing to take the IELTS exam than TOEFL.

For a number of reasons, IELTS is becoming more of the standard and more and more commonly is being accepted in the US in lieu of a qualifying TOEFL score.

Another reason for the low Thai scores (besides digressing into a pointed attack on the Thai education system, the lack of English used outside of the touristy areas, disdain for foreign influence coming from the government) is simply that MOST Thai students don't choose America for studies because of the ease of studying in another countries like Canada or Australia that are more aggressive in pursuing Thai students.

Whereas the US is presently consumed with swallowing up as many Chinese and Indian students as possible because of the rapidly increasing GDP and disposable incomes in the elite class...with those monies now being allocated to international schools, tutors, study abroad/student exchange programs and the hiring of placement agents, etc.

Finally, Thailand and much of Asia doesn't tend to be centered on a reading/literature culture. This is going to be hard to overcome, and it's an issue all across Asia, not just Thailand.

Heh John L, a prop forward has too! This country will never change until it's too late and they find that they are left a mile behind, and from most of the native English speaking teachers I know they get little or no respect except in the big expensive International schools, they get aggro with visas so why do they bother? Mind you, the thought of Thai kids speaking with broad northern accents did leave a smile on my face.

Concerning Singapore, Malaysia and Singapore are regrouped and it is true that in some Malay areas, Bahasa is the priority and some students are poor in english: this may explain why the Group Malaysia+ singapore drops to 550.

This was probably done intentionally, the grouping thing.

1) To make it seem that if more efforts were made in Thailand, they could be on close to even par with Malaysia or even Singapore, which is just nonsense.

2) To also embarrass local teachers/universities/high schools into feeling that the education they provide is somehow worse than Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar, when that's just WAY off the mark too. If they want to make comparisons, it should be with IELTS and comparing Thailand to similar countries such as Vietnam, the Philippines (that won't work from a language comparison standpoint, more economic development) and Indonesia, as well as Malaysia (IF the Singapore numbers are isolated from the whole sampling).

Many factors involved. Standard of teachers and low average IQ have already been mentioned.

Teaching methodology putting no emphasis on critical thinking and often actually discouraging it.

A monolingual culture.

The vast difference between Thai with its small vocabulary and lack of conjugation and great focus on the interpersonal relationship compared to the reverse in English.

A culture that does not strive for excellence rather accepts the bare minimum to get by.

And more.....

Thai is more like Chinese. But, Chinese language study is not going so well either. Schools are dealing with the same teaching and learning ineffectiveness issues that are in English programs.

You have to wonder about the common denominators here...

I would have thought Thai students were WORSE than this. The stupid systems the Government has for people who ACTAULLY speak english is terrible. You have to LEAVE thailand to get a visa for a few months to come back and TEACH THais english. Then the money you earn you use agaoin to leave the country to get another Vidsa to come back. this is the case for most people I speak to or they teach ILLEGALLY on retirement visas. getting a proper work visa is hard because the incentive to be paid a low wage is not really there.

The government if it wants PROPER ENGLISH TEACHERS needs to change its visa policy otherwise thais will be going back to living under banana palms and climbing cocoumt trees... or chasing faranbngs dfor income as they are proficient at.

I have travelled EXTENSIVELY and Thailand with SO MANY TOURISTS lags behind the world in Elglish

I am not suprised. Tune into the education chanels on True Vissions and select an English lesson. You will find out immediatly that not even the Teacher can speak English.

Teacher standards are pathetic in Thailand.

Thailand can attract quality English teachers from around the world if they are willing to invest in the future. You will not attract a good quality teacher if you are only offering 30K baht per month. By the time they pay for thier travel, visa, work permit and accomadation they are virtually working for nothing. All they are attracting at the moment are the backpackers who are working thier way across Asia as part of thier adventure.

How much did they spend on the tablet scheme? The amount of money spent on this could have hired a great number of quality english teachers.

Heh John L, a prop forward has too! This country will never change until it's too late and they find that they are left a mile behind, and from most of the native English speaking teachers I know they get little or no respect except in the big expensive International schools, they get aggro with visas so why do they bother? Mind you, the thought of Thai kids speaking with broad northern accents did leave a smile on my face.

The best answer is for the government to support or subsidize (will never happen) the private language and training centers as well as universities (particularly students in their freshman and sophomore years who might be able to transfer or are looking for study abroad opportunities).

Unless the quality and salaries for language training/ESL schools are raised by at least 50% (let's say from $1000 to $1500-2000 range or more), then nothing will happen.

Creating a government program in Thailand...that will never work, and will be corrupted before it even gets off the ground.

And the language schools will argue there's not enough demand/student numbers to justify the higher salaries for foreign teachers (that are more highly qualified).

Many language schools simply hire attractive or interesting backpackers in their 20's and 30's, and those teachers might be popular with the students and have well-attended classes, but that's not the same thing as hiring highly experienced and qualified IELTS and TOEFL teachers.

If Thai universities are barely able to pay over $1000 per month, the English education provided in that system won't increase dramatically, either. The system works now because Thailand is an exotic and desirable enough location that language schools can thrive on low cost/lower quality labor...and the students/parents are happy enough to have exposure to native speakers without paying the huge fees that legitimate international schools pay (let's say $2500-4000 USD per month for a salary in Thailand, perhaps a bit higher in Bangkok but not by much).

As an approved TOEFL testing center i am confused i thought the test was out of 120 a score of 30 can be achieved on all 4 elements , I believe TOEIC scores like this but i could be wrong

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

I totally agree. English is an official language of Singapore and all the classes are in English. But having lived in Cambodia I'm willing to be the scores are also a little higher there as well (certainly higher than Thailand).

Strange, if the following is true then this article seems to be erroneous. Look at page 10.

http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/TOEFL-SUM-2010.pdf

Heh John L, a prop forward has too! This country will never change until it's too late and they find that they are left a mile behind, and from most of the native English speaking teachers I know they get little or no respect except in the big expensive International schools, they get aggro with visas so why do they bother? Mind you, the thought of Thai kids speaking with broad northern accents did leave a smile on my face.

The best answer is for the government to support or subsidize (will never happen) the private language and training centers as well as universities (particularly students in their freshman and sophomore years who might be able to transfer or are looking for study abroad opportunities).

Unless the quality and salaries for language training/ESL schools are raised by at least 50% (let's say from $1000 to $1500-2000 range or more), then nothing will happen.

Creating a government program in Thailand...that will never work, and will be corrupted before it even gets off the ground.

And the language schools will argue there's not enough demand/student numbers to justify the higher salaries for foreign teachers (that are more highly qualified).

Many language schools simply hire attractive or interesting backpackers in their 20's and 30's, and those teachers might be popular with the students and have well-attended classes, but that's not the same thing as hiring highly experienced and qualified IELTS and TOEFL teachers.

If Thai universities are barely able to pay over $1000 per month, the English education provided in that system won't increase dramatically, either. The system works now because Thailand is an exotic and desirable enough location that language schools can thrive on low cost/lower quality labor...and the students/parents are happy enough to have exposure to native speakers without paying the huge fees that legitimate international schools pay (let's say $2500-4000 USD per month for a salary in Thailand, perhaps a bit higher in Bangkok but not by much).

Actually there is another approach - copy how language is developed in the Philippines:

- Parents teach Tagalog to infants and also teach abc etc (alphabet used for both languages)

- In kindergarten kids are deliberately immersed into spoke English and English development (all skills) is a priority until the end of Primary3 by which time 99% of the population speaks fair to advanced English. From that point other subjects are given more time but are taught, in the majority of schools (incl. govt., schools) in English.

Thailand could have adopted this appraoch 30 years ago but too stubborn.

It can of course still be adopted but wil need some hard work to get it all up and running, but it can do done if the will is there.

Strange, if the following is true then this article seems to be erroneous. Look at page 10.

http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/TOEFL-SUM-2010.pdf

88 Malay

88 Tagalog/Philippines (of course, there's the fact than English is a 2nd language for many there)

78 Indonesian

77 China

75 Thai

74 Burmese (65% of Myanmar speaks this language, officially language)

68 Laos

63 Khymer (Cambodia)

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Exactly what I thought while reading the report ...

Native English speakers don't always score that highly on TOEFL - it is geared towards American English and the use of a lot of American expressions. The purpose of TOEFL is to test the English ability in order to study in America, as is IELTS for the UK & Aus. TOEIC (Test Of English In Commerce) would be a better gauge of adult English ability for non-native speakers.

I agree with some of the comments made in regards to the quality of teachers. I know of so many non native speakers that are teaching English its worrying.

I think the core of all this and it also relates to other parts of their culture is like many things they don't take the issue seriously and don't want to invest in the future of English proficiency. Hence you end up with a system where you either have Thai teachers trying to teach English or non native people accepting lower wages to do it instead of setting up a system of high quality qualified native speakers.

Heh John L, a prop forward has too! This country will never change until it's too late and they find that they are left a mile behind, and from most of the native English speaking teachers I know they get little or no respect except in the big expensive International schools, they get aggro with visas so why do they bother? Mind you, the thought of Thai kids speaking with broad northern accents did leave a smile on my face.

The best answer is for the government to support or subsidize (will never happen) the private language and training centers as well as universities (particularly students in their freshman and sophomore years who might be able to transfer or are looking for study abroad opportunities).

Unless the quality and salaries for language training/ESL schools are raised by at least 50% (let's say from $1000 to $1500-2000 range or more), then nothing will happen.

Creating a government program in Thailand...that will never work, and will be corrupted before it even gets off the ground.

And the language schools will argue there's not enough demand/student numbers to justify the higher salaries for foreign teachers (that are more highly qualified).

Many language schools simply hire attractive or interesting backpackers in their 20's and 30's, and those teachers might be popular with the students and have well-attended classes, but that's not the same thing as hiring highly experienced and qualified IELTS and TOEFL teachers.

If Thai universities are barely able to pay over $1000 per month, the English education provided in that system won't increase dramatically, either. The system works now because Thailand is an exotic and desirable enough location that language schools can thrive on low cost/lower quality labor...and the students/parents are happy enough to have exposure to native speakers without paying the huge fees that legitimate international schools pay (let's say $2500-4000 USD per month for a salary in Thailand, perhaps a bit higher in Bangkok but not by much).

Actually there is another approach - copy how language is developed in the Philippines:

- Parents teach Tagalog to infants and also teach abc etc (alphabet used for both languages)

- In kindergarten kids are deliberately immersed into spoke English and English development (all skills) is a priority until the end of Primary3 by which time 99% of the population speaks fair to advanced English. From that point other subjects are given more time but are taught, in the majority of schools (incl. govt., schools) in English.

Thailand could have adopted this appraoch 30 years ago but too stubborn.

It can of course still be adopted but wil need some hard work to get it all up and running, but it can do done if the will is there.

The Philippines, one key difference, had and still enjoys a very close relationship with the United States.

There are MANY more Philippines OFW's who communicate in English as their 2nd language.

Most (well, let's say many) highly educated Pinoys have a desire to work outside of the Phils (mostly, to earn more money), whereas the same group of Thais that go to schools like Thammasat or Chula almost always prefer to stay in country.

The Philippines is highly influenced by American culture, movies, music and t.v., to a higher degree than Thailand.

The international language of the Catholic Church (95% of the Phils still) is English, whereas many Buddhists aren't as interested in communicating about their faith in English...since the Asian religions are steeped in the languages of those areas of Asia, such as Thai, Hindi, etc.

Most Pinoys I know, even with Master's degrees or PHD's in language/linguistics, still have a terrible time with grammar and never lose their pronunciation/inflection/intonation unless they move abroad for a long period of time.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Well I think it is the other way round. Singaporeans might have averaged 550 - but Thais averaging 450 ? Well unbelievable. There cannot be just a 100 points gap. I think the Average Thai score might be around 250-300.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Exactly what I thought while reading the report ...

Native English speakers don't always score that highly on TOEFL - it is geared towards American English and the use of a lot of American expressions. The purpose of TOEFL is to test the English ability in order to study in America, as is IELTS for the UK & Aus. TOEIC (Test Of English In Commerce) would be a better gauge of adult English ability for non-native speakers.

This is true in South Korea. Almost all of the students and young adults there take TOEIC, as it's a much easier test and it's also used for job placement/applications/promotions...as an assessment for English ability, rightly or wrongly.

Sorry but I just don't believe the numbers quoted:

- Thai students - 450 - believable.

- Singapore students - 550 - not believable because teachers actually teach 99%

of all classes in English in singapore, students totally immersed in English from

day 1 at Kindergarten. The averageTOEFL score for Singapore students must be

a lot higher than 550 / the gap cannot be just 100, impossible.

Well I think it is the other way round. Singaporeans might have averaged 550 - but Thais averaging 450 ? Well unbelievable. There cannot be just a 100 points gap. I think the Average Thai score might be around 250-300.

Yeah the numbers dont add up. Ive been to Singapore a few times and I think they may even regard it as an insult to suggest there is such a small difference. When i go to Singapore i barely change the way I speak and the speed because they are that good. There is a massive difference between Singapore and here with English.

So we buy the kids a toy to surf the web with. When a reader like a Kindle could have been purchased for less money and the kids might have learned something. Or they could have sold it like they have the tablets at their parents instruction..

Strange, if the following is true then this article seems to be erroneous. Look at page 10.

http://www.ets.org/Media/Research/pdf/TOEFL-SUM-2010.pdf

You could check page 18 which gives figures similar to those in the article.

Maybe, just maybe, Thailand should stop threatening to imprison people who would tutor independently. It's impossible to get a work permit to do this, even for free. Why? Thailand should check qualifications and issue visas to certified teachers who are willing to come here on their own dime and share their knowledge at a fraction of the cost of what they would be paid in their own countries.

No. Sadly, "using knowledge" is a crime in Thailand, because it would rob some Thai business person of his cut. Thailand is full of people who could help with the terrible state of English, but the government won't let us.