Shanghai English proficiency ranked No.1 in China, again

Shanghai again topped other regions of China in English proficiency in a report released yesterday by EF Education First, an English training company.

In the online listening and reading test, taken by more than one million people from 80 non-native English speaking countries and regions, Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark came out on top.

China climbed three places from last year, now sitting at number 36.

This still places China in the low-proficiency tier, though, but it is hoped that the country will enter the moderate band next year, general manager and chief representative of EF, Melissa Lam, said.

She pointed out that improvements over the past few years were made possible due to the Chinese government’s active attitude to international exchange and changes in the country's English education towards a more communication-oriented approach.

China as a whole scored 52.45 points in this year’s ranking, with regional scores varying from Shanghai’s 56.76 points to Yunnan Province’s 46.27 points.

More than 80 percent of the Chinese cities and provinces performed better than last year, with Shanghai beating out Hong Kong for the fourth time since the ranking began in 2011.

Shanghai snatches the crown, yet again

Experts say English education has been developing fast in Shanghai, where students begin learning English from the very beginning of primary school, while local colleges have also introduced a lot of foreign teachers and original English teaching materials.

Meanwhile, Shanghai also hosts a large number of foreign ventures, which have been attracting talent with good English proficiency.

China’s “One Belt One Road” initiative and Shanghai’s dedication to building itself into a global center of economy, finance, shopping, trade and scientific innovation has also made the city more international.

International education activities are also much more popular in Shanghai than in other regions of China. With higher disposable income, Shanghai families who send their children abroad for long-term academic study and short-term study tours both outnumber those in other regions.