The Chinese Proficiency Standards for Vocational Education (hereinafter referred to as the Standards) is a group standard developed by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation of the Ministry of Education, drawing on the successful experience of the Chinese Proficiency Grading Standards for International Chinese Language Education and the results of the research on the determination of vocational skill levels in vocational education. The Standards is designed to meet the needs of various industries in using Chinese to communicate, promote the standardization of vocational Chinese education and improve the quality of vocational Chinese teaching.

The Standards, proposed by the Center for Language Education and Cooperation and attributed to the International Society for Chinese Language Teaching, is published and implemented on August 12, 2023.

The Standards is mainly designed for jobs in skill-based and service-oriented fields and integrates the development requirements of language competence on the basis of the Occupational Competence Standards, which can enhance learners’ language competence and vocational skills simultaneously, accelerate the cultivation of “Chinese + vocational skills” compound talents, and improve the Chinese language proficiency and vocational qualities of local employees.

The Standards categorizes vocational competence into five levels: introductory, elementary, intermediate, advanced and proficient, and describe the Chinese language competence that learners at each level should possess in terms of the definition of the level, description of the overall competence, and description of the sub-competencies (listening, speaking, reading and writing). In addition, the Standards also describes in detail the vocational communication strategies and cultural awareness (including verbal communication strategies, non-verbal communication strategies, affective strategies, cultural awareness and professionalism) that learners at each level should possess.

The Center for Language Education and Cooperation (CLEC) is a non-profit professional educational institution for international Chinese language education, affiliated with the Chinese Ministry of Education (MOE). CLEC is committed to providing quality services for people from all over the world to learn Chinese and understand China. It also intends to build a platform for friendly collaboration on language education and cross-cultural learning.  

1. The Standards is a group standard in the field of vocational Chinese language education, and is an important reference for the overall design, the teaching material compilation, and teaching and testing of vocational Chinese language teaching;

2. The Standards is the fundamental basis for the innovative assessment of vocational Chinese language teaching and learning in skill-based and service-oriented fields;

3. The Standards is an important basis for exploring new teaching modes and constructing new teaching platforms in the context of the era of “Chinese + skills”;

4. The Standards is an important reference for promoting linguistic and technological consensus between China and the rest of the world.

This book is suitable for institutions offering vocational Chinese language education, teachers and researchers engaged in vocational Chinese language education and vocational Chinese language learners.