Summary:

China’s Ministry of Education announced that it is drafting a national English proficiency testing and rating system, based on standards that tie to global practices. 

Lin Huiqing, Vice-minister of Education, recently said at the 2nd International Symposium on Language Assessment and Evaluation that the main draft of the Language Proficiency Scale of China‘s Standards of English (CSE) has been completed and is expected to be officially released in 2017. A detailed implementation plan will be gradually introduced before 2020.

The CSE covers teaching, learning and assessment across all levels of education. It will cover listening, speaking, reading and writing as well as “application capability of languages”, aiming to promote the learners' practical language use, cultural awareness and intercultural communication.

The scale also includes the standards for written translation and interpretation. Based on this new rating scale, the National English Proficiency Test will envision assessment of English proficiency from a low to high level, with nine grades.

China already has a number of different English tests for students at different levels, but there is no unified standard to compare learners’ scores on different tests or test their performance against unified benchmarks. The new system is intended to help solve the problem by connecting it with global evaluation systems and more mature English teaching methods. According to Lin’s comments, the Ministry of Education is hoping for higher international recognition of the standard compared with existing English proficiency examinations in China.

According to the 2016 English Proficiency Index released by Education First (EF), China rose eight places to 39th among 72 countries and regions. The report is based on the EF Standard English Test results of 950,000 adults from 72 countries and regions across the world and out of the whole country, residents of Shanghai, Hong Kong and Beijing were found to be the most proficient in English.

* Major English testing systems in China

• Public English Test System: A five-level system used by the National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) for people with various educational backgrounds working in a wide range of industries in different positions.

• Gaokao: English is one of the compulsory subjects assessed in China’s university entrance examination. 26 provinces and equivalent-level regions currently use the national English testing paper, while five set their own tests.                                                                                                                          
• College English Test (CET): An English test used by the Ministry of Education's higher education department for all Chinese students at colleges and universities. The test has two levels: CET 4 and CET 6.

• Test for English Majors (TEM): The test used by the English Language Teaching Advisory Board under the directory of Ministry of Education for undergraduates in English majors. It has two levels: TEM 4 and TEM 8.

• Business English Certificate: A test conducted the National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) and Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) to evaluate English language skills for business and daily use, with three levels: Preliminary, Vantage and Higher-level.

• English exam for promotion (public administration): The test used for professional and technical personnel by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security for job promotion. The test has three categories: a comprehensive exam; another for those with science and engineering backgrounds; and one for those with healthcare education.

Analysis by Kevin Prest and Xiaoxiao Liu:

If the test is successful in meeting its goals, the system will make it easier for institutions to judge students’ English levels. UK institutions, especially those operating local programmes, may wish to keep an eye on future developments in this area.

Source:

1. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-11/14/content_27364436.htm

2. http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-11/15/content_27382819.htm

3. http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2016-11/16/content_27389723.htm

4. http://learning.sohu.com/20161126/n474223771.shtml