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An interesting article on The Star Online in Malaysia. The most interesting one is Malaysia proficiency is above Singapore, in a survey done by a Singapore-base institution.

The survey result can be viewed by the link below

http://www.ef.sg/epi/

Study: Malaysia has best English language speakers in Asia

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia apparently has the best English language speakers in Asia, beating out Singapore, India, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, China and Kazakhstan - according to a Singapore-based English Language school.

The school, Education First, which released the findings of their English Proficiency Index on their website Wednesday, ranked Malaysia as having the highest level of English proficiency out of 13 countries in Asia.

On the global scale, Malaysia was ranked 11th out of 60 countries, with four of the top five slots going to Scandinavian countries, with Sweden and Norway taking the top two spots and Malaysia outperforming Singapore, Belgium, Germany, Latvia and Switzerland - countries which took the 12th, 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th spots respectively.
...
http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/20...study.aspx

Yes, it is correct. Because those Malaysians are living in Australia right now. Hahaha.

Maybe it is selection bias. When they take out the non-English speakers from the sample size, the average English proficiency shoot up.

Extracts fromthe website on how the test is conducted:

"The EF English Proficiency Index calculates a country’s average adult English skill level using data from two different EF English tests completed by hundreds of thousands of adults every year. One test is open to any internet user for free. The second is an online placement test used by EF during the enrollment process before students start an English course. Both include grammar, vocabulary, reading, and listening sections.

The open online test is a 30-question adaptive exam, so each test-taker’s questions are adjusted in difficulty according to his or her previous correct and incorrect answers. The non-adaptive test is 70 questions in length. All scores have been validated against EF’s course levels. The test administration is identical for both tests, with test takers completing the exam on computers.

There is no incentive for test takers to inflate their scores artificially on these low-stakes tests by cheating or cramming, as the results do not lead to certification or admission to a program."

I suppose those good in English need not apply?

(11-11-2013, 04:53 PM)NTL Wrote: [ -> ]Extracts fromthe website on how the test is conducted:

"The EF English Proficiency Index calculates a country’s average adult English skill level using data from two different EF English tests completed by hundreds of thousands of adults every year. One test is open to any internet user for free. The second is an online placement test used by EF during the enrollment process before students start an English course. Both include grammar, vocabulary, reading, and listening sections.

The open online test is a 30-question adaptive exam, so each test-taker’s questions are adjusted in difficulty according to his or her previous correct and incorrect answers. The non-adaptive test is 70 questions in length. All scores have been validated against EF’s course levels. The test administration is identical for both tests, with test takers completing the exam on computers.

There is no incentive for test takers to inflate their scores artificially on these low-stakes tests by cheating or cramming, as the results do not lead to certification or admission to a program."

I suppose those good in English need not apply?

It seems that the case. Those looking for higher English proficiency, will go for British Council Singapore.

I am inherently skeptical about statistics, and I always want to know the methodology involved, inlcuding CPI or labour numbers

By extention that also applies to investing by numbers. Obviously I am not a big fan of Quant.