EF.jpg (Photo : Reuters)
Three cities in mainland China have surpassed Hong Kong for the first time in an English proficiency ranking by global language training company English First (EF).
In EF's English proficiency index (EPI) for this year, Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin got scores of 53.75, 52.86 and 52.71, respectively, beating Hong Kong's 52.50, according to China Daily.
Hong Kong, which consistently led Chinese cities in the ranking, dropped to the 31st place this year from last year's 22nd place in EF's ranking of 63 non-English speaking countries that were part of the survey.
The ranking, published last week, was based on the results of exams taken by 750,000 individuals last year and is trustworthy, according to Christopher McCormick, senior vice president for Academic Affairs of Education First.
"These tests can help a student enter into a program within the EF framework. This is a measure of the general adult populations and these are people who are interested in their language proficiency," McCormick told Xinhua.
The executive added that China has performed excellenty in EF's surveys for the past seven years, with results improving every year.
Assessing the results, McCormick points to the fact that the Chinese workforce in Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin are becoming more global and that more Chinese companies are expanding overseas.
McCormick also aknowledges mainland citizens' growing fascination with international travel.
"Compared to Hong Kong, there is more acceleration in the general English proficiency of China's mainland," he said.
Wang Zimeng, who works with a government-owned investment company in Tianjin, said that he was not expecting Hong Kong to be beaten in the ranking by the three cities.
"I had a period of work experience in Hong Kong, where I felt a great difference in English proficiency with Tianjin. In Hong Kong, English is used as true work language," Wang said.
Sophie Wang, a Chinese teacher in the English Schools Foundation in Hong Kong, expressed even greater disbelief in the results.
"I don't really feel mainland cities' EPI has surpassed Hong Kong's," she said.
McCormick addressed this, saying that while Hong Kong showed better academic scores in IELTS than mainland China, the general scores are no different from Shanghai's.
