If the number of candidates increases suddenly, the average exam score will decrease.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc - Chairman of Smartcom English center chain - said that this is the biggest reason why Vietnam's IELTS score dropped 6 levels compared to 2022.
Mr. Duc estimated that the number of IELTS candidates in Vietnam has increased by at least 35% over the past year.
Meanwhile, the average IELTS score only decreased by 0.1 points. The most common score among Vietnamese candidates is 6.0. Scores of 7.5 and 8.0 also became popular at 9% and 4%.
"This shows that the English proficiency of a large number of Vietnamese people has increased significantly. This is certainly good news for managers and foreign investors who want to invest in Vietnam," said Mr. Duc.
Mr. Duc further analyzed: "Academic IELTS is a difficult English test. Achieving an IELTS score of 6.0 or higher, which is in the middle of level 4 on the 6-level scale of language proficiency (or B2 according to CEFR) is a proud achievement.
With a difficult exam, plus a sudden increase in the number of candidates after a year, the decrease in average score is completely natural.
Chart: Hoang Hong
It's almost like the average performance of athletes would drop dramatically if you put both professional and semi-professional contestants in the same competition."
Another important reason for Vietnam's IELTS ranking drop, according to Mr. Duc, is due to adjustments in the way the test is set. This is also the reason for the decrease in speaking scores.
Mr. Duc said that in recent years, IELTS test takers tend to study according to predicted test sets. Accordingly, candidates will try to memorize as many answers as possible from the available test sets.
"I hear many IELTS examiners complaining about the increasing number of candidates speaking like actors who have memorized their lines without really understanding the meaning of the vocabulary, or their answers are unnatural, or even off-topic from the question.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc - Chairman of Smartcom English Center Chain (Photo: NVCC).
Because of this fact, examiners tend to tailor their questions a little differently than usual.
For example, instead of asking the old question "Describe a person you admire", people ask: "Describe a person who helps others" or "Describe a time when you received help from someone"...
Obviously, this change in the way questions are asked, which is more focused on personal experience, has surprised those who have memorized or only studied old question sets.
And in fact, many of my students who took the IELTS test also reported that the examiners have become stricter and give tighter marks to unnatural speeches that show signs of memorization," Mr. Duc shared.
IELTS rankings don't have much value
From another perspective, Mr. Nguyen Anh Duc said that comparing IELTS rankings between Vietnam and other countries in the region is only for reference and does not have much value.
Mr. Duc cited that Myanmar's average IELTS score is 6.6, significantly higher than Vietnam (6.2) and Thailand (6.1), as well as higher than Asian powerhouses such as Japan, South Korea, and China. However, Myanmar's economy is difficult to compare with the above countries.
"I think the real value of IELTS scores is to reflect the English proficiency of the people, or more precisely, the readiness of each country's workforce to participate in the global supply chain thanks to their ability to communicate fluently in English.
From this perspective, Vietnam should be proud because its IELTS score has reached its level of communication proficiency with the number of proficient people becoming larger and larger," said Mr. Duc.
Sharing the same view, Ms. NTT, an English lecturer in Hanoi, said that parents and students should not panic when Vietnam's average IELTS score drops. "This number does not reflect the quality of English education," Ms. T. affirmed.
According to Ms. T., the more meaningful number is the percentage of candidates achieving scores on the IELTS scale. Accordingly, the number of Vietnamese candidates achieving 6.0 or higher accounts for about 60%.
In addition, people's English proficiency must also be based on many other popular English certificates such as TOEIC, TOEFL...
Chart: Hoang Hong
In recent years, the policy of using IELTS scores for admission to universities and some high schools and junior high schools has caused the number of IELTS learners in Vietnam to increase sharply.
Ms. T. believes that, besides the negative aspect of the younger age of studying and taking the IELTS test, the positive aspect of this race is that the English proficiency of Vietnamese people is being pushed higher.
This is also a favorable factor contributing to the realization of the policy of making English the second language in schools.
Recently, the global IELTS test co-organizers have just announced data on IELTS test scores in 2023-2024.
Accordingly, in the academic test, the average IELTS score of Vietnamese people is 6.2, ranked 29th out of 39 countries and territories surveyed, down 6 places compared to 2022-2023.
Specifically, Vietnamese candidates were the worst in listening and speaking skills. The average scores for these two skills were 5.6 and 5.7 respectively, ranking near the bottom of the table at 38/39 and 37/39 respectively.
The best skill is reading with an average score of 6.4, ranked 20/39. The remaining skill is writing with a score of 6, ranked 22/39.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/viet-nam-tut-hang-ielts-dang-vui-hon-dang-buon-20241015232105687.htm
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