Korea Ranks at the Bottom in IELTS English Test
As reported in the Korea Times today, Korea ranked second from the bottom worldwide in the General Training Module (GTM) for the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), according to the British Council. The number of Koreans taking IELTS increased to 27,000 last year, up from 23,000 in 2007 and 14,000 in 2006. Last year Korean test takers gained an average score of 5.33 out of 9 on the GTM, up 0.12 from the previous year. This placed it ahead of only the United Arab Emirates, which had an average score of 4.55. Testing experts claim that Korea’s low scores are partly due to the large number of elementary and middle school students who take the test.
IELTS tests are held in over 500 centers around the world and some 12 million people take the test every year.