ABSTRACT
As a direct response to the Chinese governmental initiative to bring about comprehensive reform in the foreign language education system, the CSE—China’s Standards of English Language Ability—was officially released in 2018. Upon its release, the CSE generated heated discussions concerning appropriate applications and impacts of the standards. One issue that is under-explored is whether the CSE can be used as a self-assessment tool for school teachers.
This chapter reports on an initial investigation into the applicability of the CSE in self-assessment. The research was conducted in two phases. First, a qualitative case study was carried out to investigate whether the CSE can be used as a self-assessment tool for pre-service and in-service teachers. In the second phase, a follow-up questionnaire survey was conducted to further explore the English language proficiency of school teachers.
Preliminary findings show that the CSE can be used as a self-assessment tool for school teachers, but also unsurprisingly that the English language proficiency of the teachers needs further development. In addition, the findings reveal some key issues of English language teaching in China and suggest that revisions of some CSE descriptors in the self-assessment scales may be needed.
