Published : 2024-12-11

On December 11, 1981, the TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) was held for the first time in China.

The TOEFL was the first international standardised language test to enter China, the first to use machine-readable answer sheets, and the first to have English listening content included.

The first TOEFL test was held simultaneously in Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, with a total of 732 Chinese students participating.

The choice of these cities was due to the fact that the organiser American Educational Testing Service (ETS) believed that at the time, these cities had relatively good English teaching resources and conditions with also more candidates.

From the arrangement of candidate registration and payment of registration fees, to the mailing of test papers and related confidentiality measures, the entire process took a total of 6 months.

Interestingly, the pencils, erasers, and other stationery used by candidates to answer questions were all shipped from the United States along with the test papers, as the organisers were concerned that the darkness of Chinese pencils might not be sufficient for assuring the accuracy of computer scoring.

Additionally, since this was the first time that listening comprehension was tested in an English exam in China, to prevent distortion of sound, the schools that served as test centres decided to equip each candidate with individual headphones instead of broadcasting the questions over loudspeakers.

10 minutes before the exam began, the candidates started testing their headphones, and if there were any issues, technicians were on hand to replace them.