China will implement an Internet-based TOEFL(Test of English as a Foreign Language) test in May 2006, according to an agreement between China's National Education Examinations Authority (NEEA) and the US Educational Testing Service(ETS).

Under the agreement signed on Monday, the NEEA will carry out Internet-based TOEFL exams throughout the Chinese mainland (excluding Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao) starting May next year and the paper-based test will be canceled.

The TOEFL test, or TOEFL iBT, will be delivered over the Internet simultaneously in all time zones and answers to the test will be recorded and sent to a network of human graders.

The TOEFL iBT will assess listening, speaking, reading and writing skills for communication and the test will provide information about test takers' performance and diagnostic feedback that helps identify learning needs.

"The TOEFL iBT could assess comprehensive language abilities of the test takers," said Liang Yumin, vice-president of the NEEA. "It will promote the reform of China's English teaching and testing."

"The new TOEFL test will reduce the risk of student's preknowledge," said Paul Ramsey, senior vice-president in charge of the ETS' global business, adding that the grading system will be more reliable.

China is the only country in which a local partner will fully share administrative responsibilities for carrying out the test, said Ramsey.

The TOEFL test was introduced into China in 1981. Some 70,000 persons have taken the TOEFL test annually in recent years, one tenth of the world's total.