Preparing for the CU-TEP Examination: Methods Used by Thai Students
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Volume one, Issue one
March 2011
Preparing for the CU-TEP Examination: Methods Used by Thai Students JANE M. SCRYMGEOUR Thailand Bio Data: Jane Scrymgeour, from New Zealand, is currently teaching English part-time at private language schools in Bangkok. She has been an ESL teacher for 5 years: Thailand, Cambodia, Cuba, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and previously a librarian and a primary school teacher in New Zealand. Abstract This paper discusses how a group of students from Chulalongkorn University prepared for the CU-Tep examination. In order to gather the information, a questionnaire was given to 16 students from the Education Department of Chulalongkorn University. The findings indicated three things. First, was the general lack of preparation by approximately half of the candidates. Second, was that all of the students found the examination difficult, even those who said they did some preparation. Third, was the relatively poor scores received by Thai students as noted in the research cited. Some recommendations for the students: listen to and follow the advice of those who have previously taken the exam, do lots of preparation by taking practice tests and seek help from others. Introduction According to Dr Kanchana Prapphal (2002) the average scores for the TOEFL equivalent of the CU-Tep exam have shown that Thai science students received 450 points, social and humanities 444 points, international programme students 489. This meant that Thai students have an average below 500, along with Laos, and are therefore rated about eighth when compared with the ten other South East Asian countries. Compared to Singapore and the Philippines who have scored more than 550, and Malaysia, Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia who have all
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Language Testing in Asia
Volume one, Issue one
March 2011
averaged above 500, Thai students have not being doing very well and certainly not as well as had been expected with regards to learning the English language. Arunee Wiriyachitra in her abstract (2002) noted that the Minister from the Ministry of University Affairs had also said that the average TOEFL scores of Thais were the same as the Mongolians but were higher than North Koreans and Japanese. The Bangkok Post reported in August 2005 that Thailand continued to be ranked very low, remaining at eighth place. Dr Prapphal (2002) also mentioned that the “majority of students could not meet the required standards in order to study at graduate level at Chulalongkorn University.” It has also been noted that universities in western countries usually require a score of 550 points to study at university. What is CU-Tep? CU-Tep is the acronym for Chulalongkorn University Test of English Proficiency which was modeled on the TOEFL test. CU-Tep was established, and is run by the Chulalongkorn University Language Institute. The test is aimed at Chulalongkorn University staff and students, government and private sector personnel and the general public. It is required for admission to the master and doctorate programmes. The
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