Q Should we be worried about the performance of teachers in the English benchmark tests?
English teachers need a high standard of language proficiency. I believe, however, that the benchmark tests are flawed and need overhauling.
If the pass rates for listening were 72 per cent in June 2003 and 37 per cent in June 2004, the only logical conclusion I can draw is that the latter test was much more difficult - this seems unfair.
The low pass rates for the writing test seem to support the critique of Philip Glenwright (June 5) about the lack of clarity in this part of the test. Normally, one would expect a higher degree of correlation between reading and writing ability.
David Carless, Sha Tin
When the benchmark language test results were released a few days ago, the standard of our English and Putonghua, especially English, teachers was criticised.