Background: The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) developed by Council of Europe has been gaining popularity since its publication in 2001, and reshaping the practice in language teaching, learning and assessment not only across the European continent but also in many other places such as Japan (CEFR-J project). Some pioneering work was done in China over the last ten years, leading finally to a call for a Chinese framework of reference. Currently, ESL teachers and researchers in China are working on a national English ability scale, China Standards of English (CSE), which hopefully will guide or even regulate the English language teaching and assessment practice in China. Methods: The listening construct is defined herein in a use-oriented approach consisting of cognitive ability, listening strategy, linguistic knowledge and performance in typical listening activities. Descriptors are collected from both teachers' description of students' listening ability (with a sample of 159 teachers and 475 students at different educational stages and 119 professionals) and existing documents, both in English and Chinese, such as proficiency scales, teaching syllabuses, curriculum requirements, test specifications and rating scales. Results and discussion: In the descriptor collecting process, a total of 1403 descriptors for listening ability are collected, with 1240 from documentation and 1263 from the sampling approach, plus 113 listening activities in the Chinese context with sufficient details, and nine levels (1-9) are identified in line with the educational stages in China. Descriptor analyses have been done, and scaling and validation are being done. We have encountered some problems so far in the development of the listening ability scale. For one thing, the cognitive view of English ability is regarded as a distinguishing feature of the language ability framework for CSE, especially for comprehension abilities, but it is hard to operationalize it in the description stage and a more feasible approach should be worked out. For another, listening strategy has turned out to be an unfamiliar concept for many teachers and students when sampling descriptors, which calls for rigorous training and detailed illustration. Conclusions: The CEFR, though not directly applicable in the Chinese context, serves as a good example in the development of CSE. In CSE, language ability is put into the big picture of cognitive ability, thus more attention is given to the language processing stage, although it has proved to be difficult to operationalize. In the descriptor collecting and scaling process, we have taken full advantage of research resources and managed to ensure the coverage and representativeness of the data. The outcome of the project may probably be far from flawless, follow-up research and revision should continue as the scales are put into use.