English examinations in China

First of all, there is a flaw of the target of learning English, which is to pass the examination. Unlike TOEFL and IELTS, examinations designed by our educational department lay too much emphasis on vocabulary, grammar and reading but not speaking. There are lots of alternative questions in English examinations, which mostly test our knowledge of vocabulary and grammar. So passing examinations doesn’t necessarily mean that you know how to apply what you learn in communicating. We spent a lot of time memorizing words, phrases, structure of sentences but less time in practicing oral English. Beyond the question, vocabulary and grammar are essential in mastering a language, however, without speaking out, we easily forget these difficulty concepts. You may feel confused and ask me why the english examination in China are designed in such an unbalanced pattern.
It is because testing students’ ability of speaking is not easy. People, who attend TOEFL or ISLTS, need to pay more than 250 dollars to get the qualification to take these exams. I have taken TOEFL last year. I was required to speak English and my voice was recorded. Part of this money will be given to people who listen to our voice then give it a score. According to the statistic, there are nearly 10 million high school graduates attending The National College Entrance Examination every year, which is the vital examination we need to take to enter Universities. The enormous number of students have made this examination a really colossal project, which need lots of people and money. Nowadays, China is only a developing country, so it’s impossible for us to adapt the way of TOEFL or IELTS to evaluate students’ speaking ability.