October 30th to 31st, 2014, the Launching Conference of the Construction of the National Foreign Language Proficiency Assessment System and of the Demonstration of the CSE Working Manual was held in Beijing. The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Education (MoE), Lin Huiqing, representatives from the Higher Education Division of the MoE, the Basic Education Division of the MoE, the National Center for School Curriculum and Textbook Development, the National Assessment Center of Education Quality, the Foreign Language Teaching Advisory Board as well as professors and teachers specializing in foreign language teaching and assessment from more than 20 universities and colleges attended the conference.

　　The Vice Minister of the MoE, Lin Huiqing, pointed out that The Implementation Opinions of the State Council on Deepening the Reform of the Examination and Enrollment System states that the “construction of the assessment system of foreign language proficiency” should be enforced. For the first time, China’s requirements for foreign language teaching and assessment have been made clear on a national level. The creation of a system to assess foreign language proficiency is pertinent in China and it will facilitate:

　　a)   the reformation of foreign language teaching;

　　b)   education equality, i.e. a fairer and more accurate way of identifying talents and reforming foreign language teaching;

　　c)   greater accuracy in recognition of students’ different learning outcomes, and life-long learning.

　　Project Leader, Prof. Liu Jianda, introduced the goal and working scheme of developing China’s Standards of English, and clarified the foremost aspects of the CSE Working Manual. An in-depth discussion on the creation, the working methods and working procedures of the CSE followed. Based on the CSE Working Manual, the 8 sub-project groups – Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Translation, Interpretation, Organizational Knowledge, and Pragmatic Knowledge – are each going to develop a sub-project working manual.