This report shares the results of a research collaboration between the UK and China to align UK English language exams with the China Standards for English (CSE). The project focused on developing a methodology to link two widely used English proficiency tests - Aptis and IELTS - to the CSE framework.

The research was initiated following an agreement signed on 6 December 2016, when China's Minister of Education, Mr Cheng Baosheng, and the UK's Secretary of State for Education, Ms Justine Greening, signed Action Plan under the UK-China Partners in Education Framework. As part of this initiative, the National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA), Ministry of Education, China and the British Council were tasked with implementing this joint program.

The collaborative research is a join project to strengthen UK-China cooperation, and support a golden era in UK-China relations. Aptis and IELTS were selected as pilot projects to establish a model of best practice for investigating the relationship between the CSE and language examinations.

The report outlines the background and goals of the project, the methodology used to conduct the linking studies, and the key findings. Detailed information on the CSE can be found in Section 4, the research methodology is covered in Section 5, and the main results and recommendations are presented in Section 7.

Citation

Dunlea, J., Spiby, R., Wu, S., Zhang, J., & Cheng, M. (2019). China’s Standards of English language ability (CSE): linking UK exams to the CSE. British Council. https://doi.org/10.57884/E102-K344