Vietnam ranked 63 out of 116 countries and regions, and eighth in Asia in the latest edition of the EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI) 2024.
The international survey of English skills by countries, capital cities, and regions is released annually since 2011 by EF Education First, a global provider of culturally immersive education.
For the sixth consecutive year, the Netherlands managed to retain the top spot, with Norway coming in second (from fifth in 2023), followed by Singapore, which moved from second to third.
Vietnam’s ranking in 2024 dropped by five spots compared to the previous year, falling from 58th to 63rd, giving its position to Guatemala, a Spanish-speaking country in Central America.
The Asian region ranks Vietnam eighth in the English proficiency scale with a score of 498, behind Singapore with 609, the Philippines with 570, Malaysia with 566, Hong Kong with 549, South Korea 523, Nepal 512 and Bangladesh 500.
The index, based on the test results of 2.1 million non-native English speakers aged 18 and above in 116 countries and regions, reports that there is an ongoing softening of worldwide English proficiency whereby men are still more proficient than women while young professionals score higher than students and adults over 40 years old.
"That global landscape of English proficiency is constantly evolving", said author Kate Bell of EF EPI.
"While the Middle East and Africa have improved this year, overall we see a slow but persistent decline in the level of English among adults elsewhere. This trend supports the impression that in 2024, the expectation in many countries is that everyone speaks English, regardless of the reality, which leads to losing their focus on improving the proficiency of English throughout the education system and the private sector", Bell said.
For a fourth successive year, global English proficiency declined. And this time it is alarming as 60 percent of countries in the index have scored somewhat lower this year than last year.
At present, large language models bring a multiple benefit to English learners by offering limitless practice, explanation, and correction without causing any social discomfort. Emerging tools will even go further, tailoring models to specific needs like speaking assessment to generate role-playing activities and present feedback in user-friendly ways.
However, superior performance of AI services based on English may further increase the value of proficiency in English over time, rather than decrease the need to learn it, because speakers of English will benefit from far more powerful, reliable, and varied AI assistance than others.
"We hope that this year's EF English Proficiency Index might provide an objective perspective to guide strategic planning in English education and skill development for students and young professionals, especially in the context of the ongoing globalisation in Vietnam", Mr Mark Do, country manager of EF Education First in Vietnam.
