The Ministry of Education is drafting a grading system for English-language ability for Chinese nationals, and is preparing an examination to test the takers' English capabilities.

China has about 300 million English learners, who study the language according to various syllabuses, and take a variety of exams. It is believed that the new testing, grading and education system for English will further promote the learning and use of English in China.

At a language testing seminar at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, East China's Zhejiang province, on Saturday, Lin Huiqing, vice-minister of education, said that the ministry has organized more than 100 experts from home and abroad to establish the foreign language ability test system, which will be disclosed next year.

According to Lin, the new grading system will have nine grades. The language ability tested will include reading, speaking, writing, translating and linguistic knowledge, etc. The first and second grades correspond with primary school pupils, and the third and fourth grades are for middle school students, and the fifth and sixth grades are for college students. The seventh grade is English majors in college. And the eighth and ninth grades are for senior-level English language talents.

The ministry hopes this grading system, which will be launched step by step before 2020, will be compatible and mutually recognizable with the other global English language grading systems.