NYSTCE Cantonese (120) flashcards

32 cards. Read the term and the definition here. The deck at the top of this page is optional.

Lau v. Nichols (1974)

U.S. Supreme Court ruling that providing English-only instruction without support to students with limited English proficiency denies meaningful access and can violate Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.

Castañeda three-part test

Program adequacy standard requiring that an ELL program be based on sound educational theory, implemented effectively with adequate resources, and evaluated to show results.

Additive vs. subtractive bilingualism

Additive bilingualism adds English while maintaining Cantonese; subtractive bilingualism replaces Cantonese with English, often at the cost of home-language loss and academic risk.

Dual-language immersion

A program model that integrates home-language speakers and English speakers, teaching content in both languages with the goal of bilingualism and biliteracy for all students.

Cantonese six tones

Cantonese has six lexical tones numbered 1 to 6 in Jyutping: high level, mid rising, mid level, low falling, low rising, and low level; tone distinguishes word meaning.

Cantonese aspect markers

Verbal particles marking aspect: 咗 (zo2) perfective, 緊 (gan2) progressive, 過 (gwo3) experiential, and 住 (zyu6) continuous, conveying meanings English tense does not.

Sentence-final particles

Cantonese particles such as 呀, 啦, 喎, 噃, 咩, and 啩 that appear at the end of sentences to signal mood, stance, or question type, with no exact English equivalents.

Classifiers in Cantonese

Cantonese requires a classifier between a numeral or demonstrative and a noun, as in 一本書 (jat1 bun2 syu1), 'one book'; classifiers vary by noun category.

Standard Written Chinese vs. Written Cantonese

Standard Written Chinese follows Mandarin-based grammar and is used in academic texts; Written Cantonese (粵語白話文) reflects spoken Cantonese grammar and vocabulary in informal writing.

BICS and CALP

Cummins's distinction: BICS is conversational fluency, usually acquired in one to two years; CALP is academic language proficiency, typically taking five to seven years.

Comprehensible input (i+1)

Krashen's hypothesis that language acquisition occurs when learners receive input slightly beyond their current level, provided it is understandable and anxiety is low.

Language transfer

The application of knowledge and skills from Cantonese, such as phonological awareness and academic concepts, to English learning, which can support or interfere with acquisition.

Stages of second-language development

Commonly described sequence: pre-production (silent period), early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency, each with different instructional supports.

Formative vs. summative assessment

Formative assessment monitors learning during instruction to guide teaching; summative assessment evaluates achievement at the end of a unit or year.

Reliability vs. validity

Reliability is consistency of scores across occasions or raters; validity is whether a test measures the intended construct, such as content knowledge rather than English proficiency.

Assessment accommodations for ELLs

Supports such as extended time, bilingual glossaries, translated directions, and separate setting that reduce language barriers without changing the construct being measured.

Portfolio assessment

A collection of student work samples over time, such as writing drafts and oral recordings, used to document biliteracy growth more fully than a single test.

Funds of knowledge

The skills, knowledge, and resources held by students' households and communities, which teachers can incorporate into instruction to connect school learning to students' lives.

Deficit vs. asset framing

Deficit framing describes bilingual students by perceived gaps; asset framing highlights bilingualism, bicultural competence, and prior knowledge as strengths that support learning.

Family engagement in home language

Communication with families in Cantonese through translated materials and interpreters, treating families as partners in academic decisions rather than passive recipients of information.

SIOP components

Sheltered instruction framework including content and language objectives, comprehensible input, interaction, practice, lesson delivery, and review and assessment.

Language objectives

Lesson objectives that specify the language function, vocabulary, or form students will use, such as explaining a process using sequence words in Cantonese.

Preview-view-review

A bilingual instructional sequence in which key concepts are previewed in Cantonese, taught in English, and reviewed in Cantonese to reinforce comprehension.

Planned translanguaging

Purposeful use of both languages within a lesson, such as reading a text in Cantonese and discussing it in English, to deepen understanding rather than to compensate for gaps.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act

Federal law prohibiting discrimination based on national origin, including language, which requires schools to provide meaningful access to instruction for ELLs.

FERPA

Federal law protecting the privacy of student education records, limiting disclosure of grades, ELL status, and other records to authorized parties.

Commissioner's Regulations Part 154

New York State regulations governing identification, placement, and services for English language learners, including required bilingual and ESL program units.

Character recognition instruction

Teaching Cantonese reading through radicals, stroke order, phonetic components, and compound words, addressing both the form and meaning of Chinese characters.

Oral language foundation

The principle that listening and speaking in Cantonese, built through classroom talk and storytelling, provide the vocabulary and structures that support later reading and writing.

Contrastive analysis for Cantonese speakers

Comparing Cantonese and English features to predict learner difficulty, such as missing articles, plural -s, tense endings, and consonant clusters in English.

Pronunciation targets for Cantonese speakers

English features requiring explicit practice: /r/ versus /l/, final consonant clusters, voiced final consonants, and word stress, which differ from Cantonese phonology.

Heritage-language maintenance

Sustained academic and social opportunities to use Cantonese in school, which help students retain the home language and support a positive bilingual identity.