The Comparison Of Reading Comprehension Between HSK (Elementary-intermediate) And TOP (Basic And Intermediate)

Language proficiency test is a guideline for both Second language learners and teachers. HSK (Hanyu Shuiping Kaoshi) has been developed by the Chinese government as a professional language test for the test-takers. Taiwan has also introduced a language skill test TOP (Test of Proficiency-Huayu), for the learners in Taiwan and overseas in 2007. HSK and TOP are both Chinese proficiency tests for non-native test-takers. However, they have many differences in some aspects. For the first time, this research aims to compare the reading comprehension section and related systems between HSK (Elementary-intermediate) and TOP (Basic and Intermediate).The whole paper is divided into seven parts. The first part of the study consists of an introduction to TOP. The second part is the comparison of these two test systems. The third part compares the reading comprehension between HSK (Elementary-intermediate) and TOP (Basic and Intermediate). We downloaded the reading sections of both two mock tests from Hanban and Chinese Proficiency's websites as the comparing contents. The fourth part is the design of experiment and questionnaire. In order to reflect the two sets of reading test differences, we will also investigate the reading test results on intermediate foreign students at Jinan University through SPSS and their questionnaires. The fifth part contains the discussion of reading test's related issue. In the sixth part of this paper, we will provide some suggestions to teaching Chinese reading and introduce new invented HSK. The seventh part is our conclusionsThrough the comparison and analysis, it is hoped that we can give some suggestions to improve and complement these two tests to become more suited to the purpose. Furthermore, we also hope to make some contribution to the development of cross-strait Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language and language proficiency test.