Thai university students score 7/100 for English test

[falangjim]

Perhaps the problem isn't the students but the quality of the teaching. What is the point of getting the students to write the pronunciation of English words using Thai script when Thai can't represent many of the sounds used in English? And even if the student gets the "correct" answer, it most certainly doesn't follow that the student can actually pronounce the word - something which is far more important than what is being asked for in the real world.

And rather than ask for a definition in Thai, wouldn't it be far better to ask the student to write a short sentence in English which demonstrates the usage of the word?

Your post is about the quality of testing, not the quality of teaching. Still, it's a decent post.

[Mr Somtam]

This is not just in thailand.

I remember seeing a lot of non-English speaking Asians at graduation day with their new Bachelor of Engineering degree who were the same ones who consistently got 20% or 30% in tests. Unfortunately, nowdays many western universities themselves are happy to pass failing Asian students who pay the big bucks for tuition.

Not in the Netherlands though. Failing is failing. Period.

[Mr Somtam]

Thailand, don't worry about !

Your neighbours are Burma, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. Even if their economies are growing more rapidly than yours, it will still take decades for them to catch up with you, and that's on the GDP per person level !!

No they won't.

[hiller]

Its bad when I am English and i help my son with his homework. Then the next day his Thai - English teacher says no good. This bad... I feel like going to school and teaching the teacher bloody English.

Are they really teaching my son crap...Yes they are. And 2 are English men( 1 thai ) working at the school, I wonder if they can count to 3????

I encountered the same problem with my daughter. I share your feeling of helplessness.

[Mr Somtam]

Its bad when I am English and i help my son with his homework. Then the next day his Thai - English teacher says no good. This bad... I feel like going to school and teaching the teacher bloody English.

Are they really teaching my son crap...Yes they are. And 2 are English men( 1 thai ) working at the school, I wonder if they can count to 3????

I encountered the same problem with my daughter. I share your feeling of helplessness.

Here in the village it is said that I can't speak English (I speak Thai with everybody) because some university graduate doesn't have a clue what I am talking about when I speak English to her. SHE has the diploma so I must suck at it... Whatever...

[Mr Somtam]

Hey you! Me tea chah angkit!

Huh? What?

No sa peek angkit nah?

Huh?

[BFerearnk]

Hey you! Me tea chah angkit!

Huh? What?

No sa peek angkit nah?

Huh?

You want to drink tea. No speek Englich . Is this right what I make out of this unknown language ?

Police checkpoint ... lieutenant " WWWLING LIIICENT CAB" (to hard to write his Answer (with a big smile) " Yes I have something like this" .... OK PAI

[scorecard]

My wifes daughter 13 YO. Wants to be a Doctor???

I have tried to help her to speak a little English even offered to get her private tuition, her response is Why should I learn English? I am Thai, I live in Thailand, NO need to learn English.

I was lost for words, Made me feel like I was just .

Just explain to her unless she can actually read, write & converse in English she won't get past emptying bed pans !!

Many of the textbooks used in Thai medical schools are in English.

The medical students need to quickly gain / improve their English reading & comprehension skills to keep up.

One Thai doctor told me, a few years back, that she had spent so much time on this, upon graduation she quickly enrolled in conversation classes and with her reading & comprehensive skills as a foundation she progressed quickly with conversation skills.

Today she speaks advanced English and she's very relaxed with speaking complex conversational English.

I've also heard Thai engineers say that many of their texts are in English and when they get some mastery of English they strongly prefer to discuss engineering things / problems in English because they can be much more specific.

[lostoday]

I post on a gay site a lot and have written conversations with many Thai people on the site. 99 out of 100 times the lady boys have the best English. No problem being understood or understanding them. If you want a good Thai English speaker talk to a lady boy.

[Mackie]

Someone mentioned the IELTS test and scores here. I'm certain that the majority of native speakers and westerners would struggle to score 8.0. Speaking and listening isn't enough. Many native speakers I encountered in Thailand struggle with the reading comprehension part and general use of English (grammar/vocabulary). Thai kids are just a reflection of their Thai teachers. Thai teachers cheat during the English examination. What do you expect from kids?

Edited May 21, 2015 by Mackie

[The manic]

To study at British and European universities Asian Students need IELTS band 7 or CEFR B2.

[nojoma]

8 pages of posts without a moderator's comment or warning......perhaps a tv record?......some excellent posts like jumpers and some very valid points......bottom line for me as a volunteer teacher in a small village in central Thailand is what one poster has quoted......better to light a single candle than curse the darkness.....

[brewsterbudgen]

Someone mentioned the IELTS test and scores here. I'm certain that the majority of native speakers and westerners would struggle to score 8.0. Speaking and listening isn't enough. Many native speakers I encountered in Thailand struggle with the reading comprehension part and general use of English (grammar/vocabulary). Thai kids are just a reflection of their Thai teachers. Thai teachers cheat during the English examination. What do you expect from kids?

The Academic IELTS module is not just a test of English, it's a test of academic skills. Students need to be able to discuss academic topics and give a short presentation in the Speaking, listen to an academic lecture and conversations and then answer questions in the Listening , read lengthy academic passages and answer questions in the Reading, and write an academic essay and describe a statistical diagram in the Writing. There is no doubt that many native speakers would struggle to do well!

To study at British and European universities Asian Students need IELTS band 7 or CEFR B2.

That's not true. Most British universities will accept IELTS band 6/6.5 although for band 6, they might also require the student to take, and pass, a Pre-sessional English course. The "top" universities will insist on band 7, and Oxford/Cambridge and a couple of others require 7.5.

[Lukecan]

I post on a gay site a lot and have written conversations with many Thai people on the site. 99 out of 100 times the lady boys have the best English. No problem being understood or understanding them. If you want a good Thai English speaker talk to a lady boy.

Yeah fags have very good language skills, all the people I know that speak good level of English are either gay or trans

[Robby nz]

My wifes daughter 13 YO. Wants to be a Doctor???

I have tried to help her to speak a little English even offered to get her private tuition, her response is Why should I learn English? I am Thai, I live in Thailand, NO need to learn English.

I was lost for words, Made me feel like I was just .

There is a topic ongoing in the higher education section of the education page on medical schools and entrance requirements that may be of interest to you.

[Jaggg88]

I was told by an employer in Singapore that Thai Uni Degrees are not recognised outside of Thailand.

[grin]

I attended a pretty well known high ranking university in the US and as a semi-active alumnus I am somewhat familiar with our International Student Office. This is not a large university and it is fairly difficult to get into especially as an undergrad. We have over 4000 undergrads and just under 7000 grad students. I'm not sure if it was this academic year or last year but we had 20 Thai undergrads and 45 Thai grad students. Our undergrad acceptance rate is about 8 percent.

There is no way anyone gets accepted without excellent English skills or without near perfect SAT scores.

By the way several of my Thai classmates are now CEOs of large companies here in Thailand.

Just the facts, ma'am, just the facts. Take them or leave them.

Grin

[Mr Somtam]

8 pages of posts without a moderator's comment or warning......perhaps a tv record?......some excellent posts like jumpers and some very valid points......bottom line for me as a volunteer teacher in a small village in central Thailand is what one poster has quoted......better to light a single candle than curse the darkness.....

Of course. The sad thing is the powers that be just don't want the masses to get smart. They might revolt!

[lostoday]

8 pages of posts without a moderator's comment or warning......perhaps a tv record?......some excellent posts like jumpers and some very valid points......bottom line for me as a volunteer teacher in a small village in central Thailand is what one poster has quoted......better to light a single candle than curse the darkness.....

Of course. The sad thing is the powers that be just don't want the masses to get smart. They might revolt!

Were your parents educated? Mine weren't. I remember talking to them after my first couple of years of college and we got in big arguments all the time.

I think it might be the same with Thai people. They figure they didn't need an education to succeed so why do the kids. The parents believe in all sorts of funny stuff that any even half baked education would call into question.

And look at that test? Not the brightest star in the sky wrote that thing.

I don't think Thais are capable of managing an education system. Need people from outside. UK or Singapore or something like that to run the school system.

They had the same problem in Washington DC. They put a Korean lady in charge of a rotten school district and she didn't last. The dumb teachers tried to dumb her down and it didn't work out and she left.

Edited May 21, 2015 by lostoday

[JGV]

Just a quick point about Thais not needing to use English

I remember having to learn many subjects to pass exams to progress to Sixth form, then University and I haven't used much of the knowledge acquired since. However it equipped me with the ability to acquire knowledge for my betterment. Hence teaching here in a foreign country.

Learning is a process of being able to acquire skills and use information beneficial for entering the work force and showing self-discipline and task completion. OK Thais may not use English directly day to day but have to show they are capable of task completion and skill acquisition to benefit the country.

My view is that qualified native teachers and more accountability by management (read no corruption) would have a considerable impact on results in English acquisition,

JGV

[Nick167]

And thailand is going to be the hub for the AEC and also the world with its English Competency. .

[Nick167]

Actually I noticed that all the girls and boys who work in the a go go bars for a long time, have quite a good competency of the English Language....maybe make it complusory for all of them to do an internship there before passing them!

[atyclb]

The test in the photo is ridiculous.

It is IMPOSSIBLE to write the correct pronunciation in Thai script because there is no equivalent sound (Thai being a phonetic script) to /ʃ/ which is used in "inspiration" and "tuition".

Similarly, there is no way to represent /v/ using Thai script. This is one of the most problematic sounds for Thai learners to pronounce (partly because it doesn't exist in Thai) and the exam writer has seen fit to include 4 words with this sound!

There is also no Thai equivalent to the first vowel sound in "island" (/aɪ/), or the first vowel sound in "vacant" ( /eɪ/).

7/100 is still incredibly poor, but needs to be considered in the context that it is impossible to write the correct pronunciation for more than half of the words in the example.

And the corollary is therefore true (cannot correctly write thai sounds using english or many other languages) but it is still widely done. the correct way is to master the native alphabet first.

IMO the "island" (/aɪ/) can be written in thai and i wont use thai characters cause of posting rules but you'd write "sara eye maimalaiy"vowel followed by "au ang" can also use "sara eye maimuan" vowel

Vacant does have a thai equivalent "sara A" what doesn't exist is the V consonant sound but the W wau wen consonant is closest and used.

[26vinny]

A lot of western teachers here are blamed for the poor results and made scapegoats, the saving face thing again as is the no fail, saving face, too deeply ingrained in Buddhism. western English teachers are leaving Thailand or the occupation because of this, they get a class for 1 hour a week the Thai English teachers get them for the rest of the week,who are about on the same level as a 5 year old in the west,then the blame goes on the western teacher,Thailand will always be short of teachers because of this and i have met many that are teaching in other countries because of this, they have only themselves to blame.

My wife corrects my English every week, she tells me i am wrong it`s not sunny it`s summer. LOL and will not back down from it. oh no saving face again.

Welcome to the Circus.

[Petchou]

There are two players in the education equation, students and teachers.

What about hordes of incompetent westerners who cannot get a job back home and now teaching in Thailand. Most have no required skills, no knowledge or training of pedagogical methods for teaching. This is big part of the problem.

[krdowney]

There are two players in the education equation, students and teachers.

What about hordes of incompetent westerners who cannot get a job back home and now teaching in Thailand. Most have no required skills, no knowledge or training of pedagogical methods for teaching. This is big part of the problem.

Yes, except the incompetent Westerners aren't allowed to teach grammar. They are limited to conversational training and typically meet with a class once, at most twice, a week. To some extent, they resemble dancing bears. It's not fair to pin this on them.

[BKKdreaming]

tell all the students to put google translate on their iPhone

you can type in an English word and it will speak the word in American English ( not sure if it has British etc)

it will also translate so input : house and translates to Ban , with accent over the "a"

one other problem is using past - present - future tense......

and how do they get to "my mother me"

English is a hard language to learn , I am glad my parents grew up this side of the border !

[davehowden]

7%, they must have cheated?

[Baerboxer]

No it's not correct.

When my wife completed her Masters Degree half the class failed the mandatory English module. They were allowed to continue the course but warned they would not be allowed to graduate until they had passed that module in a re-take a couple of months later.

The fact that your wife's experience, or that of a PhD program you know, may have been different doesn't translate into those experiences somehow being the common ones in higher education here.

I'm afraid for most (the typical) university students here, their experience and circumstance is exactly what's being portrayed in the OP.

I know of many other examples that contradict your statement.

So, I can only go on what I know. What studies and evidence or experience are you basing your logic on?

[yooyoo]

A Thai university graduate can do three things -

Speak Thai language

Write Thai language

Read Thai language

Correct... and so do the rest of Thais... most insular society on the planet...