A Comparison of English Proficiency of Korean, Japanese and Chinese High School Students

Abstract

This paper reports on a comparative study of English proficiency of Korean, Japanese and Chinese high school students, as measured by a standardized test called GTEC for Students. The study involved 4,403 Japanese students, 5,133 Korean students, and 4,236 Chinese students from first and second years, that is, 10th and 11th graders. The results show that Korean students performed better than Japanese and Chinese students in reading and listening. However, the overall mean of the Chinese students was the highest because Koreans scored extremely low on the writing test. The standard deviation of the Korean students was the greatest. When the first- and second-year students were compared in each country, Chinese second-year students scored lower than first-year students. Reversed scores were observed in some sub-skill areas in Korea and Japan as well. Korean and Chinese seem to be more fluent (but not necessarily more accurate) writers than Japanese. Chinese seem to have the largest vocabulary as reflected on the writing test. Implications for education are that comparative studies are beneficial to EFL improvement in East Asia.