By “heritage students ”, we refer to:
- Students who were born in a non-Chinese speaking country, but was raised in a home where Mandarin or another Chinese dialect was spoken, who speaks or merely understands the dialect, and who is to some degree bilingual in English and Chinese.
- Students who were born in a Chinese speaking country whose first language was Chinese.
- Students of non-Chinese origin who have acquired certain level of Chinese language proficiency (especially speaking and listening) by living, studying or working in a Chinese speaking country/region for an extended time.
By “non-heritage students ”, we refer to:
- students of non-Chinese origin, or
- students of Chinese origin who do not speak any Chinese dialect, and whose parents do not speak any Chinese dialect either.