According to the latest annual EPI (English Proficiency Index) report released by international education company EF (Education First) on Nov. 3, Sweden scored 70.94, ranking it first again, while Chinese mainland scored 49.41, almost the same compared with the previous three years. The local scores for Shanghai and Beijing are 53.93 and 53.56 respectively, which are the highest among the provinces and municipalities of the mainland and higher than Hong kong.

It is noteworthy that last year, China issued a reform plan on the college entrance examination, which has confirmed that the English component will not be cancelled nor will its weight be lowered: the total points available are still 150 and the examination will be held twice a year. The document put an end to the argument as to whether to cancel English as a subject in the college entrance examination.

The report shows that although China continues to increase investment in English training, its rank is only 47th among the 70 countries that the report covers. China is still a country with low English proficiency. Nationwide, levels of English vary among different regions, with the eastern coastal areas and big cities faring much higher than central and western regions.

Wang Guanglin, Director of School of Foreign Languages of Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, said that currently, the main problem of Chinese English learners are small reading quantity and lack of oral communication.