Stages of Language Acquisition

1.  Preproduction – Sometimes known as the “Silent Period” for ELL’s.  At this stage ELL’s may have up to 500 words in receptive vocabulary, but yet are not speaking.  Often “buddy” pairing is effective, if another student in your class speaks the student’s language fluently. —

2.  Early Production – Typically may last up to six months.  Students have receptive vocabulary of approximately 1,000 words.  Students may speak in chunks or small phrases, and be able to answer yes/no questions —

3.  Speech Emergence – Students develop vocabulary of roughly 3,000 words.  Students are typically able to read or tell short stories at this stage.

4.  Intermediate Fluency – Students have roughly 6,000 words of English vocabulary.  Students are able to produce more in depth stories and use technical vocabulary more frequently.  —

5.  Advanced Fluency – It may take 4-10 years for students to obtain solid cognitive academic language proficiency.  Most ELL’s use technical vocabulary frequently in when writing or verbally producing responses to prompts.  Students at this stage are likely exited from ESL programs when they meet testing and other criteria.