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The performance of Koreans who take the IELTS English proficiency test to prepare for study abroad lags behind that of their counterparts in Japan and Nepal, to say nothing of candidates from Malaysia and Hong Kong.
The average score of the 20 countries that took the IELTS last year was 6.06 out of 9, with Korea ranking a poor 14th with 5.77, according to the British Council, which jointly administered the test. The prize pupil was Germany with 7.23, followed by Malaysia (6.64) and the Philippines (6.54). Hong Kong (6.42), India (6.07), Nepal (5.99) and Japan (5.78) were all ahead of Korea, ranking at fifth, ninth, 10th and 12th respectively. Among East Asian countries, only China was behind Korea. IELTS -- the International English Testing System -- is prepared and administered jointly by the British Council, IDP Education Australia and Cambridge University. Last year, 700,000 people from around 120 nations took the test, among them 10,000 Koreans.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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