Baguio City ranked first among 19 cities in the Philippines that participa-ted in the 2023 Education First English Proficiency Index-Standard English Test (EF EPI-SET), an online adaptive test of reading and listening skills among different age groups from 18 years old and above.
Baguio City ranked first with 618 score followed by Dumaguete with 617; Davao City with 609; Dasmarinas and San Jose del Monte at fourth spot with 606 scores, and Bacolod with 605.
Among the 17 regions in the country that participated in the EPI Worldwide English Study, the Cordillera ranked first with a score of 616 followed by Davao with 606, Eastern Visayas with 596 while the National Capital Region had 593.
Central Visayas and Mimaropa share the fifth spot with both having a score of 589.
EF English Proficiency Index is the world’s largest ranking of countries and regions by English skills based on test results of 2.2 million adults in 113 countries and regions.
Worldwide, Netherlands ranked first with a very high proficiency score of 647 followed by Singapore with 631; Austria, 616; Denmark, 615; Norway, 614; Sweden, 609; Belgium, 608; Portugal, 607; South Africa, 605; Germany, 604; Croatia, 603; and Greece, 602.
The Philippines garnered a score of 578 and was at rank 20 with a high proficiency rating next to Kenya and Slovakia among other countries.
In Asia, Philippines was at number two since Singapore was at number one among Asian countries and the only country in Asia to make it to the group of countries rated with very high proficiency.
According to the EF website, assessment is a standardized, objectively scored test designed to classify test takers’ language abilities into one of the six levels established by the Common European Framework of Reference.
“Scores have been found to correlate strongly with TOEFL iBT 2020 scores (r=0.81) and IELTS Academic Test 2019 scores (r=0.75). These correlations show that, while these tests have different designs and test taker profiles, they reveal similar trends in national English proficiency,” the EF website stated.
EF Education First (www.ef.com) is an international education company that focuses on language, academics, cultural exchange, and educational travel. Founded in 1965, EF’s mission is “opening the world through education.” Millions of students, companies and organizations have participated in an EF program. – Jessa Mardy P. Samidan
