Abstract: Language testing has an important impact on teachers, students, teaching and learning activities, parents, and even the society. The practical needs and important role of the Putonghua Shuiping Ceshi (PSC) was studied based on the follow-up survey of students’ PSC results fromdifferent majors at local universities. The current Standard Spoken Chinese Language ability of college students was analyzed, and the washback of the language test was explored. The positive washback is dominant, while the negative impact is less. Therefore, the path of maximizing the positive utility and effectively reducing the negative utility is proposed to help improve the Standard Spoken Chinese Language ability.

Key words: PSC, washback, Standard Spoken Chinese Language, path of improving, university