Meeting the Global Standards: Teacher Education Students English Language Proficiency

The rise of globalization and the reality of English as a lingua franca in international business and academic imply the need for a practical proficiency test in favor of effective international communication in varied workplaces. Hence, the extensive use of the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC). This study which is entirely descriptive attempted to determine the Teacher Education students level of English proficiency specifically in listening and reading in a Philippine State University using TOEIC and compare scores to the minimum standard scores in different countries. The results showed that about half the number of test takers have basic to advanced working proficiency while the other half have elementary to intermediate level of proficiency. The scores in listening and reading tests are complementary. Overall, the individual scores of the test takers are comparable to the Philippine Education benchmark scores and that of the ASEAN countries specifically Thailand and Vietnam. The scores also surpassed the minimum scores required by the UK Border Agency for middle school students and skilled workers but not that of the professional level. The study concludes that there is a pressing need to continually increase the English proficiency of the test takers who obtained scores lower than the US Common Core.