The Stages of Second Language Acquisition - 2 views
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It is important that you tie instruction for each student to his or her particular stage of language acquisition. Knowing this information about each student allows you to work within his or her zone of proximal development—that gap between what students can do on their own and what they can with the help of more knowledgeable individuals (Vygotsky, 1978).
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Research shows that high levels of student engagement are "a robust predictor of student achievement and behavior in school" (Klem & Connell, 2004, p. 262). One way for mainstream teachers to engage their ELLs more is by asking tiered questions. We recommend that teachers ask frequent questions throughout their lessons, as doing so lets ELLs practice their new language and helps teachers assess how much of the content the ELLs understand. Of course, questions should be tailored to each ELL's level of second language acquisition.
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By knowing the stages of language acquisition and stage-appropriate questions, you can engage students at the correct level of discourse. Asking the tiered questions that accompany the stages of acquisition is one way to help students move to the next stage. To ensure that the student is being challenged and pushed to the next level, it is important to once in a while ask questions from the next level as well.
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Stage Characteristics Approximate Time Frame Teacher Prompts Preproduction The student Has minimal comprehension. Does not verbalize. Nods "Yes" and "No." Draws and points. 0–6 months Show me … Circle the … Where is …? Who has …? Early Production The student Has limited comprehension Produces one- or two-word responses. Uses key words and familiar phrases. Uses present-tense verbs. 6 months–1 year Yes/no questions Either/or questions Who …? What …? How many …? Speech Emergence The student Has good comprehension. Can produce simple sentences. Makes grammar and pronunciation errors. Frequently misunderstands jokes. 1–3 years Why …? How …? Explain … Questions requiring phrase or short-sentence answers Intermediate Fluency The student Has excellent comprehension. Makes few grammatical errors. 3–5 years What would happen if …? Why do you think …? Questions requiring more than a sentence response Advanced Fluency The student has a near-native level of speech. 5–7 years Decide if … Retell …
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For Early Production students, questions that require a one-word response, such as yes/no and either/or questions, are acceptable. You also want to begin asking students at this stage questions that require a phrase or short sentence. Speech Emergence students should be asked to answer questions that require a short-sentence response. It is OK to sometimes ask these students questions requiring a multiple-sentence response, but it is not OK to ask them questions requiring a pointing or one-word response. How about Intermediate and Advanced Fluency students? It is OK to ask them questions that require a lot of verbal output, but it is not OK to ask them questions requiring minimal verbal output.
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Do not mistake an ELL's limited output for an inability to think abstractly. It's easy to keep asking Preproduction students yes/no questions or have them respond by pointing, but the students must do more than simply recall knowledge. We can't have ELLs stuck at the lowest levels of thinking.