ABSTRACT
The Public English Test System (PETS; ⎡全国公共英语等级考试⎦) was established by the National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) in the People’s Republic of China to provide assessment and certifi cation of the communicative English language skills of the general public at a variety of levels of competence. This chapter describes the background, objectives and development principles, level criteria, formats, weighting, administration and assessment criteria of the PETS tests, and then discusses the reliability and validity of the test system. The chapter concludes with an exploration of the problems and challenges facing the PETS tests.
