The CCCC test at the INALCO venue

The Education Division of the Taipei Representative Office in France (BRTF) works consistently to popularize and support the learning of the Chinese language in France and the French Chinese-language learners and students are always enthusiastic about the Chinese language.

The Education Division has been holding the TOCFL—Test of Chinese as a Foreign Language—and the CCCC—Children’s Chinese Competency Certification—language proficiency tests since 2007. Testing had to be suspended in 2020 and in 2021 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but resumed this year. A total of 260 people in France sat for the TOCFL or the CCCC on 19 March 2022 at one of nine test venues. This number of candidates is slightly more than the 256 in 2019, in the pre-pandemic period.

The tests in Paris were held at the National Institute for Oriental Languages and Civilizations (INALCO) and at Gustave Eiffel University. The Education Division administered the tests at both venues, taking charge of the delivery of examination paper, the deployment of invigilators, and the registration of candidates.

The tests outside Paris were conducted at Strasbourg University, Aix-Marseille University, Lille University, Jean Moulin Lyon 3 University, and Sainte Marie high school in Caen and administered by the Chinese teachers at each of these educational institutions.
In Paris, Strasbourg, and Caen, the TOCFL Listening and Reading tests were carried out online using the CAT—Computerized Adaptive-Testing—version. The TOCFL tests held in the other cities and all the CCCC tests were paper-based. 

In response to the impact of the pandemic, the Steering Committee for the Test of Proficiency–Huayu (SC-TOP) has designed a cloud-based online testing option – TOCFL Home Edition – to meet the needs of overseas test takers. TOCFL Home Edition testing is conducted using remote monitoring. For more information about taking TOCFL Home Edition in France, please contact the Education Division of BRTF (france@mail.moe.gov.tw).