Natural Stages of Language Development:

1
Natural Stages of Language Development

• Teaching Learners through Principles of Language
  Acquisition

TLPI Spring 2007 Prepared by Virginia Shannon
2
Some Maxims

• A students literacy in their first language
  dramatically impacts their ability to acquire
  subsequent languages (Krashen).
• A students ability to produce language will vary
  from context to context.
• ELL does not equal low I.Q.

3
Assessment and Placement

• Home Language Survey (HLS)
• Student Oral Language Observation Matrix (SOLOM)
• California English Language Development Test
  (CELDT)
• Primary language tests
• Teacher observation and recommendation

4
Level 1 Pre-production Stage

• Minimal comprehension
• No verbal production

• Strategies to use
• listen
• move
• mime
• point
• match
• draw
• select
• circle
• act

5
Level 2 Early Production Stage

• Limited comprehension
• Verbal responses limited to one or two words

• Strategies to use
• name
• label
• group
• answer
• list
• categorize
• say or tell

6
Level 3 Speech Emergence Stage

• Increased comprehension
• Simple sentences
• Simple errors in speech

• Strategies to use
• recall
• compare
• restate
• define
• describe
• explain
• role play

7
Level 4 Intermediate Fluency Stage

• Very good comprehension
• More complex sentences
• Complex errors in speech

• Strategies to use
• analyze
• create
• defend
• complete
• evaluate
• justify
• support
• describe in detail

8
Level 5 Fluency Stage

• Learners in this stage have acquired basic
  interpersonal communication skills (BICS)
• Their ability to acquire cognitive academic
  language proficiency (CALP) enhances their
  ability to learn challenging content in an
  acquired language (Cummins)