Currently, more and more students are expressing strong interest to learn Mandarin Chinese in the San Francisco area. In an effort to prepare students for the global challenges of today’s interconnected world, U.S. educational institutions are embracing Mandarin Chinese courses, as well as Mandarin Chinese language immersion programs. This demand has also created an immediate need for an appropriate standardized Mandarin Chinese language proficiency assessment system to evaluate non-native students’ learning performance. Thus, the TOCFL was created and has become a major language assessment solution.

Since 2008, the Education Division of TECO, San Francisco has been committed to reaching out to local U.S. schools and universities, offering academic programs for Mandarin Chinese language learning and East Asian studies. Judging from the rise in student interest, their efforts have been successful.

The TOCFL exam has been widely recognized by local educators as a useful measurement of language proficiency for many community members, as well. Given the growing regional community interest, the TOCFL has been scheduled to be administered at Brigham Young University, Utah for October 2013. Currently, more than 90 participants are registered for this exam session.