There are all kinds of problems with the methodology of this survey, but it is certainly better than the ranking of countries by TOEIC scores that we have to put up with every year. It also gets a nice quote from someone at Cambridge University on the cover. So, here are some of the results that I thought were most interesting:
No surprises
– North-western European countries dominate the top of the rankings, with Norway, the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden taking the top four spots.
– Argentina and Mexico (in that order) are top out of the Latin American countries.
Surprises
– Norway is top, above the Netherlands and Denmark.
– Finland is only just below Sweden, and the following two countries are Austria and Belgium, which are above Germany.
– Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan are very similar, and above some European countries such as France, Italy and Spain. Taiwan is further behind, only just above China.
– Thailand and Turkey are in 43rd and 44th places, only just above Kazakhstan and below places like Vietnam, Peru and Indonesia.
There are even more problems with the conclusions they draw, such as using Malaysia as an example of how English-language education can bring different communities together, despite massive discord there over maths and science being taught in English! Still, the whole report is short, easy to read and does make you think, so I recommend that you download yourself a copy here.
TEFLtastic 
Spain: Low proficiency. Some things nerver change… I would like to know what’s wrong with us. Really. We spend (or should I say ‘invest’?) a lot of money on learning English and yet the results are always terrible. I see people who’ve been learning English for years but they cannot string a sentence together to save their lives (and they try really hard, but they cannot produce a thing).
By the way: I’ve read/been told about Cambridge’s CPE being way too easy these days (to be honest, I sat the exam last year and was taken aback at how “accessible” it was). Have you writen an article on the issue? If not, what do you think about that? Do you agree that the stantards are becoming rock bottom? It’s always interesting to read about your point of view!
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