The Test That Changed China

By Zhou Xiaoyan

The Test That Changed China

By Zhou Xiaoyan

TOEFL has served as a three-decade long boost for China’s foreign study boom

FOREIGN STUDY OBESSION: Students line up on a rainy morning in December 2001 to register for TOEFL test at Nanjing University

T he introduction of the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) exam in China in the early 1980s, an event largely overshadowed by the start of China’s reform policies in 1978 but equally important to China’s opening to the outside world, was the flame that sparked Chinese youths’ obsessions to study overseas.

In M ay 1981, China’s M inistry o f Education signed a contract w ith the Educational Testing Service (ETS) of the United States, allow ing the test to be held in China jointly by ETS and the Chinese Government.

Seven months later, the first TOEFL test was given in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, w ith only 161 students sitting the test. To date, more than 3 m illion Chinese students have taken the test, the fi rst steps in their adventures in education overseas.

TOEFL is the prem ise for Chinese students’ foreign study dream. Getting a good TOEFL score has a huge impact on whether they are able to get adm ission to their universities of choice. Also, since more Chinese students choose to study abroad, a whole industry—English training—has risen up with countless companies that try to help students prepare to study overseas or take the test.

Changes ove r the years

Recognized by more than 8,000 institutions in more than 130 countries, TOEFL is one of the most w idely accepted English language assessments in China, available at more than 200 sites across the country.

TOEFL test takers increased by 19 percent year on year in China in 2011, reaching a record high, according to the ETS in February 2012.

Over the past three decades, the social background of students taking the exam has changed.In the 1980s when the test was fi rst launched in China, most students sitting the exam had government support or were visiting scholars. After the 1990s, the number of self-funded overseas students soared alongside the deeper reform and opening up in China.

Now, most TOEFL exam inees are selffunded students w ith an eye on overseas education. Aside from learning an international language, students also have a competitive edge in job hunts in the domestic market thanks to their overseas experiences.

TOEFL has changed over the years. The earliest TOEFL test consisted of three parts:reading, listening and grammar, which required students to w rite their answers on paper. In the late 1980s, due to rising demand in communication, written and spoken English were added as optional choices. In 2005, the TOEFL Internetbased test was created, and was revised in 2006.

Fo reign stud y boom

TOEFL’s rapid expansion in China is to a great extent attributed to the flourishing of foreign study in China, now one of the world’s largest countries sending students abroad.

Ever since the implementation of the reform and opening up policy, there have been 1.9 m illion Chinese students studying overseas and the number for the year 2010 was nearly 300,000. Most students have taken the test before going to English-speaking countries for further study.

“Foreign study boomed in China for many reasons,” said Zhang Xiuqing, Director General of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the M inistry of Education. “One of the most important reasons is the constant support from the Chinese Government. In the future, more students from China, both government-sponsored ones and self-funded ones, w ill study abroad.”

During the past three decades, China’s English education and testing have made substantial progress.

“The introduction of TOEFL has not only propelled the development of China’s English language teaching but also offered a reference for China’s examination reform,” said Jiang Gang, Director General of the National Education Examinations Authority. After the fi rst TOEFL test in 1981, the English test in China’s college entrance exam ination started reform in 1985, adopting many of TOEFL’s experiences. Also, domestic English tests—College English Band 4 and Band 6—have been deeply influenced by TOEFL.”

A brand new industry—English training—emerged in China after the fi rst TOEFL test in 1981. Almost over night, a large number of English training agencies appeared.At present, well-known English training institutions in China include New Oriental, EF Education, Wall Street English, Hiknow and Web International English.

Yu Minhong, Board Chairman and President of New Oriental, the largest provider of private educational services in China, began his groundbreaking career with TOEFL and may be the one who benefited the most from the test.

“TOEFL changed my life, as well as the lives of numerous Chinese students,” said Yu.“I wanted to go abroad for further study so I took the TOEFL test. A lthough I scored well,I couldn’t afford the trip because I couldn’t get scho larship. Then, I founded New Oriental, w ith the original purpose of teaching people how to prepare for the TOEFL test.”

New Oriental was founded in 1993 while Yu was an English-language teacher at Peking University. In 2006, the company was listed on the New York Stock Exchange as the fi rst educational agency listed in the United States.

Since 1993, New Oriental has enrolled more than 15 m illion students. Today, thecompany has a network of 54 schools, 487 learning centers, and 29 bookstores. M ore than 11,700 teachers spread over 47 cities,and its online teaching programs have more than 6.7 million registered learners.

DREAM FULFILLER: Yu M inhong, Board Chairman and President of New Oriental

Room to d eve lop

“Emphasizing communication and application ability is the main concept and orientation of TOEFL,” said Lin Lin, Senior Program Executive of ETS China office. “In the next few years, there won’t be major changes in terms of forms of the test. We w ill keep focusing on testing exam inees’ English language communication and application skills.”

There are four parts in the test: listening,speaking, reading and w riting, each accounting for 30 points of the total 120 points.Domestic English teachers raise some suggestions for the change of the test.

“For students studying abroad, the input process is much more important than output,”said Chen Lei, President of Think Town, the largest training agency for TOEFL test in Zhejiang Province. Chen holds a master’s degree in linguistics from Oxford University and has been teaching English for six years.

“Input means reading and listening and output means w riting and speaking. So far as learning is concerned, it’s more of a process of input than of output. Overseas students rely more on input, which means reading and listening. So I think the proportion of reading and listening of TOEFL should be increased.”

“W e alw ays suggest students grasp all skills, reading, w riting, listening and speaking,” said Wen Qiufang, Director of the National Research Center for Foreign Language Education at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. “But I think, in the future,students should focus on one or two of these skills, because in practice, we find it hard for them to grasp the four skills as natives.”

A new trend emerged as more students app ly for their undergraduate or m idd le school study in foreign countries instead of graduate studies.

“Exam inees of the test are becom ing younger. Most of them are between 18 and 24 years old,” said Yu. “ETS should pay more attention to this trend and develop products accordingly, such as the TOEFL Junior test.”