Assessing Cantonese

This chapter covers four aspects of the topic: first, a sociocultural account of Cantonese and how this regional dialect in southern China gained its L1 position for formal education in Hong Kong, which has been an effective biliteral and trilingual society from the 1970s to the present. Second, linguistic representation of Cantonese in terms of the tone system, including tonal structure, intonation, and phonetic system, with particular reference to the notion of tone change; and written representation of Cantonese in nonstandardized Chinese characters widely used for newspapers, play scripts, and advertisements. Third, Cantonese in education, covering the issue of medium of instruction, the role of Cantonese in training of skills, and Cantonese in public examinations: the aptitude test while moving from primary to secondary; the Chinese language proficiency test on language skills and attainment test on Chinese literature at the end of secondary education; and the exit test for university students in which Chinese writing is one of the major components. These language tests are evaluated in terms of test validity, reliability, norm reference, criterion reference, and level of proficiency. Fourth, the challenges to the status of L1 Cantonese in Hong Kong from two aspects: the promotion of Putonghua as the medium of instruction for Chinese subjects at all levels, and the uses of English for wider communication in the trend of globalization.