Gaokao Reform Removes English
China Daily, December 9, 2013 Adjust font size:
An English teacher in Tianjin No 14 Middle School gives a lecture in September. [Xinhua]
The Ministry of Education has released a draft reform plan for gaokao, the national college entrance examination, which will be open for public opinion soon, making it clear that English will not be included in gaokao in the future.
The plan, which was released by the ministry on Friday, said English will not be a gaokao test subject in the future. Instead, students can take English tests more than once each year, and only the highest score will be counted.
The change has been welcomed by many people.
Tang Shengchang, an expert with the national education and examination steering committee, said the reform will offer students more chances, and exclude accidental factors in examinations.
"A one-time examination usually can't reflect a student's real level, and it's a kind of unfairness to students," he said. "But after several tests, I think, the English level of students can be tested in a more accurate way."
Liu Jiao, an eighth-grader in Xi'an, Shaanxi Province, said the reform is good news for students, and she has been looking forward to such a change.
"In the past, we had only one chance, and if something unexpected happened during the test, we did not have a chance to make up for it.
