The Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language (TOCFL) has been included in the approved assessments of the New York State Seal of Biliteracy, the Ministry of Education said yesterday.
The Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency-Huayu was launched in 2005 with the support of the ministry to develop and promote an effective Chinese assessment system — the TOCFL, the ministry said in a statement yesterday.
To deepen cooperation under the US-Taiwan Education Initiative launched in 2020 and push forward the 2025 Chinese Education Program, the ministry and the committee had been seeking Seal of Biliteracy approvals from each state since last year, it said.
Photo: screen grab from the TOCFL Facebook page
The seal, which has been adopted by 49 states, aims to encourage high-school students in the US to study multiple languages, it added.
Acquiring the seal would be beneficial for students when they apply for universities or seek jobs, the statement said.
To earn the seal in New York, for instance, students must demonstrate proficiency in English and another language by completing coursework with high scores or earning a set score on an approved assessment.
The New York State Education Department last month officially included the TOCFL in its approved assessments for students to earn the seal, the statement said.
It is a milestone for the test’s recognition in the US and a “great affirmation of the professionalism and discrimination of the test,” it said.
In addition to New York, the TOCFL is also officially recognized in Vancouver, Hungary and Vietnam, it said.
The test organizes language proficiency into four bands and eight levels according to the listening, reading, speaking and writing skills of students, it added.
The test has been developed and adjusted to comply with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages, the statement said.
In related news, the ministry said it had sent 627 elementary and junior-high schoolteachers abroad for a short-term training program to cultivate international educational talent.
The teachers spent three weeks in one of eight designated schools in the US, Canada, New Zealand or Australia during the summer vacation to improve their professional knowledge and hone their teaching skills, it said.
The program included training in teaching skills and language abilities, exchanges with foreign teachers, school visits and teaching observation, which provided opportunities for the teachers to learn about the latest educational trends, and effective teaching strategies and techniques, it added.
The participants said that through the program they enhanced their language skills and learned about advanced teaching methods and technological applications, the ministry said.
They also observed how foreign teachers organized learning activities according to teaching objectives and facilitated discussions through group activities, it said.
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