XuetangX and Confucius Institute Are Using MOOCs for Chinese Language Test

Both institutions have launched a platform for students around the world who want to study Chinese and pass their HSK proficiency tests.

This way they can do it more easily and with the conveniences which characterize the MOOC courses.

The courses are available on the website www.chinesetest.cn .Beginners in the Chinese language can register and access the course called “HSK Tsinghua Chinese: Start Talking with 1.3 Billion People”

The most attractive part of this course is the fact that it is closely connected with the HSK tests. There are exercises for HSK tests at the end of each unit. After completing this course, the students who get more than 60% correct answers from the HSK exercises will receive an HSK (level I and II) Score Report issued by Chinese Testing International (CTI).

HSK is China’s only standardized test of the Chinese language proficiency for non-native speakers such as foreign students and overseas Chinese. It consists of six levels. The new HSK test was launched by Hanban in an effort to better serve Chinese language learners. The test is the result of coordinated efforts by domestic and foreign experts from different disciplines including Chinese language teaching, linguistics, psychology and educational measurement.

As China’s economy and exchanges with the world have seen rapid growth, there has also been a sharp increase in the world’s demands for Chinese learning. China began its own exploration through establishing non-profit public institutions which aim to promote Chinese language and culture in foreign countries. In 2004, these were given the name the Confucius Institute.

According to the President of XuetangX, Li Chao “For months our company and the Confucius Institute have been working together with the University of Tsinghua to enable the study of Mandarin in a simple and modern format. Research shows that students listen to lectures more attentively if they have been given a problem or task to solve before the lecture. In this regard the structure that most MOOCs have – short video lectures alternating with assignments and quizzes is perfect.”

XuetangX is a world’s leading platform for lifelong learning. It is devoted to bringing together quality education resources from schools, enterprises, and providing a low-cost, efficient access to knowledge, certificates, credits and even degrees. At present, there are more than 9 million registered users and more than 1300 MOOC courses”