Chinese Language Teaching: 

Means and Standards

V. Assessment Criteria

V.1. Elementary Level

Listening/speaking

90% and above Listening: Comprehends sentences using familiar vocabulary at natural speed; draws upon cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues; uses a variety of discourse strategies including confirmation checks and clarification requests.
Speaking:  Communicates clearly and appropriately; handles survival situations with ease (asking for time, direction, prices, etc.); briefly introduces self, family, study/work; uses appropriate diction, grammar and register; non-native pronunciation does not impede comprehensibility.
70%-89% Listening: Comprehends “teacherese” (the language used by instructors for pedagogical purposes which is marked by reduced speed, lexical and grammatical simplification, and enunciation) on selected topics; draws upon cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues to some extent; uses some discourse strategies including confirmation checks and clarification requests.
Speaking: Communicates comprehensibly most of the time; gets by in most survival situations; uses acceptable diction, grammar and register; non-native pronunciation does not always impede comprehensibility; employs strategies such as circumlocution, word coinage, code-switching, and approximation.
60%-69% Listening: Comprehends some speech on restricted topics; is aware of cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues; uses limited discourse strategies including confirmation checks and clarification requests; needs significant amount of simplification.
Speaking: Communicates comprehensibly half of the time; uses diction and grammar that may convey meaning but may not be appropriate; speaks minimally; non-native pronunciation often interferes with comprehensibility.
below 60% Listening:  Comprehends very little; hardly able to draw upon cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues.
Speaking: Communicates incomprehensibly most of the time.

Reading/writing:

90% and above Reading: Understands the structure of selected characters and selected sentence grammar with ease; employs a wide range of character reading strategies including pinyin, analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 700-1000 characters; identifies main ideas, intentions and purposes; synthesizes information to conclude and summarize.
Writing: Commands 500-800 characters; writes characters with correct stroke order; uses sentences that vary in length and structure; uses appropriate diction and register.
70%-89% Reading: Understands the basic structure of characters and basic sentence grammar; can read aloud with the help of pinyin; has a basic knowledge of radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 500-700 characters; identifies main ideas, intentions and purposes of selected sentences and short passages.
Writing: Commands 300-500 characters; write most characters with correct stroke order; uses sentences that are expressive but may not consistently be grammatical; uses acceptable diction and register.
60%-69%  Reading: Understands some structure of characters and some sentence grammar; is aware of pinyin radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 300-500 characters.
Writing: Commands 200-300 characters; has some knowledge of stroke order; uses sentences that exhibit limited grammar.
below 60%  Reading: Understands limited structures of some characters and sentence grammar; is aware of pinyin, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes fewer than 300 characters.
Writing: Commands fewer than 200 characters; has difficulty putting characters together; uses sentences that are usually not comprehensible.

Speaking for heritage language learners

90% and above narrates events or presenting arguments clearly, appropriately, relevantly, and extensively; uses appropriate diction, grammar and register; dialectal accent does not impede comprehensibility.
70%-89% narrates events or presenting arguments comprehensibly and relevantly most of the time; uses acceptable diction, grammar and register; dialectal accent does not always impede comprehensibility.
60%-69%  narrates events or presenting arguments comprehensibly half of the time; uses diction and grammar that may convey meaning but may not be appropriate; dialectal accent often interferes with comprehensibility; employs strategies such as circumlocution, word coinage, code-switching, and approximation.
below 60%  narrates events or presenting arguments incomprehensibly most of the time.

Reading/writing for heritage language learners

90% and above Reading: Understands the structure of selected characters and selected sentence grammar with ease; employs a wide range of character reading strategies including pinyin, analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 700-1000 characters; identifies main ideas, intentions and purposes; synthesizes information to conclude and summarize.
Writing: Commands 500-800 characters; writes characters with correct stroke order; uses sentences that vary in length and structure; uses appropriate diction and register.
70%-89% Reading: Understands the basic structure of characters and basic sentence grammar; can read aloud with the help of pinyin; has a basic knowledge of radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 500-700 characters; identifies main ideas, intentions and purposes of selected sentences and short passages.
Writing: Commands 300-500 characters; write most characters with correct stroke order; uses sentences that are expressive but may not consistently be grammatical; uses acceptable diction and register.
60%-69%  Reading: Understands some structure of characters and some sentence grammar; is aware of pinyin radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 300-500 characters.
Writing: Commands 200-300 characters; has some knowledge of stroke order; uses sentences that exhibit limited grammar.
below 60%  Reading: Understands limited structures of some characters and sentence grammar; is aware of pinyin, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes fewer than 300 characters.
Writing: Commands fewer than 200 characters; has difficulty putting characters together; uses sentences that are usually not comprehensible.

V.2. Intermediate Level

Listening/speaking

90% and above Listening: Comprehends natural speech on general topics; draws upon cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues; uses a variety of discourse strategies including confirmation checks and clarification requests.
Speaking:

Communicates clearly, appropriately, relevantly, and extensively; uses appropriate diction, grammar and register; non-native pronunciation does not impede comprehensibility.
70%-89% Listening: Comprehends “teacherese” (the language used by instructors for pedagogical purposes which is marked by reduced speed, lexical and grammatical simplification, and enunciation) on general topics; draws upon cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues to some extent; uses some discourse strategies including confirmation checks and clarification requests.
Speaking: Communicates comprehensibly and relevantly most of the time; uses acceptable diction, grammar and register; non-native pronunciation does not always impede comprehensibility; employs strategies such as circumlocution, word coinage, code-switching, and approximation.
60%-69%  Listening: Comprehends some speech on selected topics; is aware of cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues; uses limited discourse strategies including confirmation checks and clarification requests; needs significant amount of simplification.
Speaking: Communicates comprehensibly half of the time; uses diction and grammar that may convey meaning but may not be appropriate; leaves out propositional elements due to lack of linguistic resources; non-native pronunciation often interferes with comprehensibility.
below 60%  Listening: Comprehends limited speech on selected topics; hardly able to draw upon cultural, situational and linguistic (phonetic, prosodic, lexical, syntactic) clues.
Speaking: Communicates incomprehensibly most of the time.

Reading/writing

90% and above Reading: Understands the structure of characters and sentence grammar with ease; employs a wide range of character decoding strategies including analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 1500-2000 characters; identifies main ideas, genres, and topics; synthesizes information to compare, contrast, conclude and summarize. 
Writing: Commands 1000-1500 characters; uses sentences that vary in length and structure; uses appropriate diction and register.
70%-89% Reading: Understands the structure of characters and sentence grammar; employs some character decoding strategies including analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 1000-1500 characters; identifies main ideas, genres, and topics; synthesizes information to conclude and summarize.
Writing: Commands 700-1000 characters; uses sentences that exhibit correct grammar; uses acceptable diction and register.
60%-69%  Reading: Understands the basic structure of characters and sentence grammar; is familiar with character decoding strategies including analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 700-1000 characters; able to conjecture main ideas, genres, and topics.
Writing: Commands 500-700 characters; uses sentences that are expressive but may not always be grammatical.
below 60%  Reading: Understands some structure of characters and sentence grammar; has some knowledge of radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes fewer than 700 characters; has difficulty understanding main ideas, genres, and topics.
Writing: Commands fewer than 500 characters; uses sentences that are not always comprehensible.

V.3. Advanced Level

Reading/writing

90% and above Reading: recognizes 2500-3000 characters; has a firm grasp of themes, genres, and topics; synthesizes information to compare, contrast, conclude and summarize.
Writing: Commands 2000- 2500 characters; uses sentences that vary in length and structure; uses appropriate diction and register; writes in appropriate genres and styles.
70%-89% Reading: Understands the structure of characters and sentence grammar; employs character decoding strategies including analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 2000-2500 characters; identifies main ideas, genres, and topics; synthesizes information to conclude and summarize.
Writing: Commands 1500-2000 characters; uses sentences that exhibit correct grammar; uses acceptable diction and register; exhibits acceptable textual organization.
60%-69%  Reading: Understands the basic structure of characters and sentence grammar; is familiar with character decoding strategies including analogy to known words, radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes 1500-2000 characters; able to conjecture main ideas, genres, and topics.
Writing: Commands 1000-1500 characters; uses sentences that are expressive but may not always be grammatical; shows emerging orientation to textual organization.
below 60%  Reading: Understands some structure of characters and sentence grammar; has some knowledge of radicals, meaning components and sound components in characters; recognizes fewer than 1500 characters; has difficulty understanding main ideas, genres, and topics.
Writing: Commands fewer than 1000 characters; uses sentences that are not always grammatical; uses unacceptable vocabulary; demonstrates little awareness of textual organization.