SOUTH Korea ranked second from the bottom in the General Training Module(GTM) and 28th in the Academic Module(AM) for the International English Language Testing System(IELTS), out of 40 nations that participated in the test, British Council South Korea has announced. The number of South Koreans taking the IELTS test increased to 27,000 last year from 23,000 in 2007 and 14,000 in 2006. They got an average score of 5.33 in the GTM and 5.74 in the AM. Experts claimed that a large number of elementary and secondary school students took the test last year, bringing down the average scores.
Malaysia to deliberate on English certificate
马来西亚:教育部就教育文凭英语考试征集民意
MALAYSIAN Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin asked the Education Ministry to get public feedback on the possibility of making English a “must pass” subject for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia(SPM), or Malaysian Certificate of Education. This is the equivalent to the British GCSE. Several academic groups suggested educators address the quality of English teaching first, before making the subject compulsory. Former Education Minister Tan Sri Musa Mohammad said the proposal could be implemented provided there were sufficient qualified English teachers.
Ireland's language schools losing attraction
爱尔兰:学习英语留学生人数减少
THERE has been a 30 percent fall in the number of overseas students coming to Ireland to learn English, according to Marketing English in Ireland(MEI), the organization representing Ireland’s English language schools. David O’Grady, chief executive of MEI, said some schools’ international bookings had fallen by as much as 50 percent. The fall in the value of the pound and the difficulties non-EU students faced in obtaining visas to Ireland were cited as the main causes. Concerns have also been expressed about the lack of regulation of the English language teaching sector in Ireland.
