By Chyung Eun-ju, Park Si-soo

South Korea has impressed the world with its people's tenacious zeal for English education and lavish spending on it. But recent data has sparked questions about the investment's effectiveness.

According to "2016 Report on Test Takers Worldwide," South Korea ranked 19th with an average score of 679 in the mean performance by native country for the Test of English for International Communication (TOEIC).

Korea ranked below such less-developed, non-English-speaking countries as the Czech Republic and Argentina.

Canada was top with a mean of 833, Germany was second and Switzerland third. Asia was the continent with the lowest mean score after North America.

The outcome was depressing for South Korea, considering that nearly 41 percent of private education spending was on English.

In Korea, English has been mandatory from elementary school since 1997. English is not so heavily enforced or emphasized in the Czech Republic or Argentina.