Congratulations to all Shanghai-based English language learners - according to a survey released last week, residents in this city are more proficient in English than any other city China.
But, according to the study from language school EF English First, this doesn’t reflect a national trend – China fell 10 places to 47th in their ranking of 70 countries on English proficiency, placing below Taiwan, Vietnam, Japan, Indonesia and South Korea.
The study found that Shanghai beat Beijing, Tianjin and Chongqing in terms of proficiency. Shanghai's levels of English were also rated as better than those in Hong Kong, which has traditionally scored highly. Reasons for the Special Administrative Region's decline have been attributed to the government's 'mother-tongue teaching policy', adopted since the handover in 1997, which introduced the teaching of Mandarin in schools, and allowed less time for English teaching.
Other countries, especially in Latin America, have held national pushes to improve language proficiency in recent years, contributing to China's fall in the rankings. '[Many] Latin American countries have kicked off ambitious national initiatives focused on English-language training, including Brazil’s "English Without Borders" programme and Mexico’s Project 100,000,' a statement released by EF reads. 'The Chinese government, on the other hand, has questioned how much emphasis should be placed on English training in the public education system.'
Some regional governments in China have also reportedly decided to cut the time spent teaching and testing English in Chinese public high schools, lowering the importance of English in tough university entrance exam, thegaokao.
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