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Reasons why Singapore has higher English proficiency than Thailand

According to the EF English proficiency index, the accomplishment of being

the only ASEAN country in the spectrum of a very high English proficiency

goes to Singapore. With 63.52 percent, Singapore ranks number one among

ASEAN countries, while Thailand gets only 47.21 percent, resulting in a near

bottom nation with a very low English level. This statistic shows such a huge

gap in national English skills of these two ASEAN countries. The reasons for

this are Singapores western colonization, more emphasis on English, and wider

usage of English in daily life. This essay will examine the causes of why

Singapore is more successful in English proficiency than other grounds and

compare between two states, namely Singapore and Thailand.

Firstly, the fact that Singapore used to be colonized by Britain made its

English language skills far better than Thailands. In the early nineteenth

century, Singapore was well-known as one of the wealthy British colony known

as the Straits Settlements. It was developed as a trading port for an East India

company by a British administrator, Stamford Raffles. The island became the

center for westerners to trade with Asian countries (M.J., 2015). This required

English language to be a tool for communication and a main language.

Consequently, Singaporeans were influenced to learn English for almost two


centuries. Even after the country gained its independence, the governments

named English to be one of the four official languages of the nation. Whilst

Thailand has never been ruled under western powers, making its necessity in

using English less important than Singapores in the past. Thus, the country has

shorter progress of English language education compared to Singapore as a

result of its historical dominance. The history of both countries is a significant

factor in affecting their English language importance.

The second reason is the nations emphasis on English language that

differentiates the level of English proficiency. Singapore has emphasized the

significance of English since the time the new government was formed after the

countrys independence from Britain in 1951. The newly formed legislative

council have set the national language policy to use four languages Mandarin,

Malay, Tamil, and English as means for communication among different

ethnic population groups (Jackson, 2013). Furthermore, there is a bilingual

education policy stating that every English-medium school needs to offer a

choice of other national languages. Also, non-English medium schools must

offer English to be taught as a second language in the curriculum (Hice, 2015).

This indicates Singaporeans view upon the importance of English. On the other

hand, Thailands education policy requires almost every school to offer English

subject, but not as a medium of instruction. The Thai language is used as a

formal language in governments and schools, so English is not significantly

highlighted as a major communication method.


The third reason is wider usage of English in modern-day Singapore that

enhances national English proficiency compared to which in Thailand. As

mentioned above about Singapores history in which it was a center of people

from Europe to Asia, the country is multicultural with many different ethnic

groups living together including the majority of Chinese (74.3%), Malays

(13.4%), Indians (9.1%), and some Eurasian (Department of Statistics

Singapore, 2016). The difference of ethnicity brings different religions, beliefs,

cultures, and languages to this small island, demanding means to be used

commonly among citizens, in this case, English language. For this reason,

English is widely used among Singaporeans, which requires people to use

English language in everyday-life with everything, for example, in schools, in

activities involving governments or public affairs. As a result, the level of

Singapores English proficiency is the best among Asian countries as people

have a chance to apply English skills in practice. In contrary, Thai society is not

an English-using environment. People use Thai language all the time including

in in schools and governments. The majority of the population in Thailand is

Thai. Although there are many ethnic groups residing in the country, most of

them can speak Thai, so there is no need for means to communicate between

different ethnic groups. With small need to practice English in daily life,

Thailands national English proficiency ranks very low as people do not use this

skill in everyday routine unlike Singaporeans.


In summary, factors which contribute to national English language

proficiency between Singapore and Thailand are the countries historical

colonization, emphasis on the significance of English language, and English

usage in every-day society. These causes create a huge gap between these two

countries English abilities, exemplifying English education developments in

ASEAN countries which becomes a big concern in this globalized world. I

believe that by learning Singapores strategy in improving citizens English

skills, other non-English countries could have emphasized more on this lingua

franca language in order to industrialize the nation to the same level as other

powerful western countries.

References
Andrew Linford, C. F. (2013, october). Singapores Education An Insiders Look. Retrieved january 11, 2016,
from uesf.org: http://www.uesf.org/singapore/
Citrinot, L. (2016, december 18). English Proficiency in ASEAN: Mekong Sub-region Lines Up the Worst
Performances. Retrieved january 11, 2016, from Asean Travel: http://asean.travel/2016/12/18/english-
proficiency-in-asean/
Department of Statistics Singapore. (2016, 09 N/A). Department of Statistics Singapore. Retrieved 03 01, 2017,
from singstat.gov.sg: http://www.singstat.gov.sg/docs/default-source/default-document-
library/publications/publications_and_papers/population_and_population_structure/population2016.pdf
EF Education First. (n/a, n/a n/a). The world's largest ranking of countries by English skills. Retrieved 03 01,
2017, from ef.co.th: http://www.ef.co.th/epi/
Hice, C. (2015). English Education In Thailand and Singapore: Differences in English Education, Use and
Identity. University Honors Thesis, 1-250.
Jackson, A. (2013, february 23). Singapore: Bilingual Language Policy and its Educational Success. Retrieved
January 11, 2016, from education week:
http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/global_learning/2013/02/singapore_bilingual_language_policy_and_it
s_educational_success.html
M.J. (2015, may 2). How Singapore gained its independence. Retrieved january 11, 2017, from the economist:
http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2015/03/economist-explains-22
Ming, C. (2016, 11 14). Singapore's English skills continue to improve, as Shanghai beats Hong Kong.
Retrieved 03 01, 2017, from cnbc.com: http://www.cnbc.com/2016/11/14/singapores-english-skills-
continue-to-improve-as-shanghai-beats-hong-kong.html
Wikipedia. (2017, 02 27). Retrieved 03 01, 2017, from Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Singapore

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