China is losing ground to other emerging markets, including Brazil and Pakistan, in the drive to learn English, according to the Financial Times citing a recent study ranking worldwide proficiency in the international language of commerce.

The study shows that the Chinese mainland fell 10 places to 47th in a ranking of 70 countries compiled by EF Education First, which based its rankings on test data from more than 900,000 adults taking online tests.

In Asia, it ranked at 11th, while Singapore ranked first.

The education group said the country had initially scaled the top ranks by devoting plenty of class time to English instruction, whereas continued improvement would require "more sophisticated approaches focused on communicative mastery rather than testing abilities".

Let's take a look at some of the economies with high English proficiency in Asia.

No 10 Pakistan

Pakistani children from slums study at a makeshift school set up at a park in Islamabad, Sept 8, 2015. [Photo / IC]