Gold&S Releases 2024 South Korea TOEFL Score Analysis by SiwonSchool Lab... Speaking Section Ranks Low

On October 13, Gold&S, a company specializing in English education, announced that its premium test English online lecture brand, SiwonSchool Lab (LAB), found that South Korea's average TOEFL score in 2024 was 86 out of a possible 120, ranking joint 67th among 168 countries. This is based on an analysis of the '2024 Global TOEFL (TOEFL IBT) Score Statistics Data' released by the Educational Testing Service (ETS) in the United States.

According to this analysis, South Korea's average TOEFL score remained at a similar level to the previous year (86 points, 72nd place), placing the country in the mid-range globally.

In particular, poor performance in the Speaking section stood out. The average Speaking score for South Korean test-takers was 20 out of 30, ranking 124th. Although this was a slight improvement from the previous year (20 points, 129th place), it was still lower than North Korea (95th place), reaffirming a chronic weakness in English education in South Korea.

Looking at the scores by country, Austria recorded the highest average score at 102, followed by Slovenia (101), and Germany and Switzerland (100), with European countries dominating the top ranks. In Asia, Singapore maintained a top-tier position, tying for 8th place with a score of 98. North Korea and Taiwan both scored 86, the same as South Korea, while Japan recorded a relatively low score of 72.

A representative from SiwonSchool Lab stated, "This analysis shows that the English speaking ability of South Koreans falls far short of the global average," and emphasized, "There is a need to move away from grammar- and reading-focused education toward teaching methods that foster real communication skills."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.