TITLE:
Benchmarking Students’ Attainment in Australian Tertiary Chinese Programs Using the New HSK Tests
AUTHORS:
Wenying Jiang
KEYWORDS:
Chinese as a Foreign Language (CFL), Benchmarking, Higher Education, HSK
JOURNAL NAME:
Creative Education,
Vol.11 No.5,
May
8,
2020
ABSTRACT: With the increase of China’s global influence, theChinese as a foreign language(CFL)1programs in higher education institutions have expanded worldwideand reached a stage that benchmarking must be considered to make sure that these CFL programs achieve their expected education quality. After reviewing and comparing a few possible options like the Common European Framework of Reference for languages (CEFR), this study argues that the new HSK, namely the standardized Chinese Proficiency Test developed in China, should be adopted for benchmarking students’ attainment in Australian tertiary CFL programs. Through supporting empirical data, it is proposed that the new HSK level 4 be established as the Chinese BA language proficiency threshold in Australian tertiary CFL programs. Benefits of implementing such outcome-based assessment in tertiary language programs have also been discussed.