Helping English Language Learners Orientation for Teachers
Language Development Stages
When working with students who are learning English as a second language, it is important to realize that many students often
progress through a series of natural language acquisition stages. The duration of each stage may vary greatly from student to
student. As teachers we can facilitate development within each stage and progression from one stage to the next by being aware
of which stage or stages our students are in and by engaging students in activities appropriate for their level of development.
Stage 1:Pre-production:
Teachers can facilitate language development
during this stage by doing the following:
Do not force production (speech). Students will
begin to use English when they are ready.
Provide materials in the native language.
Use visuals such as pictures, objects, or gestures to aid
in comprehension.
Modify your speech: speak more slowly, emphasize key
words, simplify grammar and vocabulary, do not talk out
of context, and do not speak more loudly.
Involve students in activities that require them to listen
and do. Such activities might include making art
projects, drawing pictures, following simple classroom
directions.
Stage 2: Early Production:
As the name of this stage suggests, students
begin using a limited number of words and
phrases in English. At this stage, you can
encourage language production in the following ways:
Use questioning techniques including: yes/no questions
such as, Is this your coat?; choice questions such as, Is
this your coat or Maria's?; questions which can be
answered with a single word such as, What is in your
hand?; open sentence with a pause for a response such
as, Lin is wearing blue pants, but Lou is wearing ____
pants.
Do not overtly correct student errors as this may inhibit
students from using language. Subtle forms of modeling
may be used as indicated by the following interaction:
Student: I goed to the store last night.
Teacher: Oh, you went to the store. What did you buy?
Expand student responses when possible.
Continue to use activities indicated for the
Comprehension stage, but encourage students to use their
language to give commands and describe pictures.
Have students keep dialogue journals.
Use shared reading.
Stage 3: Speech Emergence:
During this stage, speech production will usually
improve in both quantity and quality. Vocabulary will
expand, and grammatical errors will decrease if students are
involved in a language-rich environment. At this stage, students
need to be encouraged to use oral and written language. There
are many activities which foster development during this stage.
Some suggestions are:
Involve students in activities that encourage them to
compare/contrast, sequence, and problem solve with charts,
graphs, tables, maps, and other visuals.
Use skits and role play to contextualize situations for students.
Play games.
Use the Language Experience Approach to encourage reading
and writing.
Use semantic mapping to develop vocabulary.
Stage 4: Intermediate Fluency:
At this stage, students are orally quite fluent in English.
They will continue to make some grammatical errors, and
their vocabulary is expanding to include words beyond the
concrete, immediate environment. Though their oral skills may be
very well developed, oftentimes, academic skills and reading and
writing skills in English may lag behind. Students need to be
included in content-area activities at all stages, but at this stage in
particular, activities that encourage both content-area development
and language development need to be included.
It is also important to realize the different demands placed upon
ELL students depending on whether they are using language for
social purposes (often referred to as “Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills” or BICS) or for academic purposes (often
referred to as “Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency” or
CALP). Language which is social in nature is usually less complex
and is often heavily contextualized, making it easier to learn and
less cognitively demanding. Students often acquire this type of
language rather quickly, within one to two years.
Academic language, on the other hand, makes use of more complex
grammatical and rhetorical patterns – in both its written and oral
forms – as well as specialized and technical vocabulary. Also, this
type of language is not inherently contextual.
Because academic language is more cognitively demanding than
social language, it is more difficult for ELL students to acquire.
Many students require anywhere from 5-7 years to learn this type of
language. Much current research, however, has shown that this
amount of time can be reduced if students have a firm foundation in
their native language. Thus, native language instruction in the
content areas and in reading and writing should be provided
whenever possible. Below is a chart that provides a framework from
which to understand the various language demands placed upon
ELL students, in terms of both the amount of extra-linguistic
context and the degree of cognitive complexity.
Students observe and internalize the new
language. They use gestures, pointing,
and nodding to communicate.
Students continue to acquire English and they
use language patterns, yes/no responses and
single words to communicate.
Students begin to use simple sentences. At this
stage they may begin to initiate discussion.
Students are fairly comfortable in social
language situations. They state opinions and
ask for clarification.
Teachers
Teachers