The New York State Department of Education officially approved Taiwan's "Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language" (TOCFL) as one of the recognized assessments under the New York State Seal of Biliteracy (NYSSB) on September 14th this year. This marks a significant milestone, as it allows the TOCFL to be used as a valuable credential for academic and employment purposes within the United States. Inclusion of the TOCFL in the New York State Seal of Biliteracy is a substantial affirmation of the professionalism and discrimination of Taiwan's Chinese language proficiency assessment.
Since 2005, the Ministry of Education has been actively supporting the development and promotion of the Chinese language proficiency assessment through the Steering Committee for the Test Of Proficiency-Huayu (SC-TOP). The TOCFL is structured into eight levels, ranging from preparatory to fluency, and includes four major components: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. It has been aligned with the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages Proficiency Guidelines; (ACTFL) through multiple standard-setting studies.
Aiming for deepening the cooperation within the Taiwan-U. S. Education Initiative and toimplement the 2025 Plan for Chinese Language Educationt; the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the SC-TOP, has actively promoted the inclusion of the Chinese language proficiency assessment in the framework of the Seal of Biliteracy (SOB) across various U.S. states since 2022. The purpose of the Seal of Biliteracy is to encourage American high school students to learn various languages, becoming proficient in listening, speaking, reading, and writing languages other than English. Currently, the SOB has been adopted by education departments in 49 U.S. states. Graduates who meet the requirements can receive the Seal of Biliteracy, which greatly benefits their future prospects for higher education and employment opportunities.
Apart from the New York State Department of Education, the TOCFL has also gained official
recognition from education authorities in British Columbia, Canada, the Office of Public
Education in Hungary, and the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam. The Ministry of
Education envisions the future of the TOCFL to be closely tied to "recognition through various state-level Seal of Biliteracy programs," providing testing services to Chinese language learners in the United States and creating the certificate value of the TOCFL for students.