SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION Monday, January 30, 2012
Learning Team A
ELD 506: Understanding Language Acquisition and Cognition
With an influx of immigrant students into public school classrooms, ‌teachers are challenged by educating English Language Learners (ELLs). Since English Language Development (ELD) policies are compulsory and steadfast, students must acquire English as a second language while simultaneously learning academic content.
It is widely understood by most educators‌
‌working with ELLs that language acquisition progresses in stages. As students work towards second language acquisition (SLA), these steps of development evolve within a predicable continuum of language behaviors; however, as each student is unique, he or she will progress through the stages at different rates.
With the emphasis on accountability,‌ BICS
L2: SLA
CALP
‌teachers need to make informed pedagogical decisions regarding communication, language acquisition, & validation of social & academic language. The following information will provide valid & important facts & strategies regarding SLA of minority language learners.
English Language Learners…
acquire second language (L2) at a different rate than native speaking peers. have linguistic & cultural experiences that affect their language learning abilities. benefit from pictures, pair & share, pantomime, experiential activities, & journaling to enhance SLA.
Reminder: Find a word for our Word Wall!
English Language Learners…
perpetually learn new words from their teachers & peers. draw pictures & ask for vocabulary clarification.
increase knowledge of reading, writing, & print.
Piper (2007): “It is necessary, but not sufficient, to surround ELL children with all kinds of oral & printed language” (p. 375).
Second Language Acquisition (SLA)
The SLA process is more rapid for some students than others. The pace at which ELLs progress with SLA depends on home support, the student’s primary language (L1) use, & L2 recognition. Four stages of ELD SLA: Pre-production, Early Production, Speech Emergence, & Fluency.
ELD SLA Stage 1: Pre-Production
minimal receptive vocabularies. comprehending key words in a conversation. relying heavily on context cueing & imitation. focusing on internalizing L2 while adjusting to new culture (Niles, 2011). less than 6 months in Englishspeaking school. possess less than a 500-word English vocabulary. (Portland Public Schools, 2000).
ELD SLA Stage 2: Early Production
very limited receptive L2 comprehension & vocabularies. depends heavily on context to derive meaning. 1 – 2 word sentences. demonstrates L2 reading abilities if illustrations support the content (Niles, 2011). attends to hands-on demonstrations with increased understanding. has attended English-speaking school 6 – 12 months; continues to adjust to the culture. has 1,000-word English receptive vocabulary (Portland Public Schools, 2000).
ELD SLA Stage 3: Speech Emergence can understand ideas about events within the range of personal experience. more adept at hearing smaller elements of speech in L2 (Niles, 2011; Portland Public Schools; 2000; Hurley & Tinajero, 2001). producing whole sentences in writing & speech. Demonstrating comprehension of charts, graphs, diagrams, & lists orally and in writing (Niles, 2011; Hurley & Tinajero, 2001). 1 – 3 years of schooling in L2. 7,000 words of receptive & expressive English vocabulary.
ELD SLA Stage 4: Fluency
participates in everyday conversations without highly contextualized support (Niles, 2011), communicating thoughts more completely.
expresses thoughts & feelings using complex statements with increased level of accuracy.
engages in & produces connected narrative, demonstrating good comprehension (Hurley & Tinajero, 2001).
utilizes an expanded vocabulary while making complex grammatical errors (Niles, 2011).
has attended English-speaking schools for 5 7 years.
possesses receptive & active L2 vocabularies of about 12,000 English words or more.
Extensive research has indicated… …that language proficiency & cognitive development are intertwined. In 5 – 7 years, second language learners (SLLs) ascend 4 stages of ELD SLA towards advanced fluency.
Within 2 years, SLLs acquire social conversational skills & are capable of chatting with peers, performing basic classroom chores, & consuming instructional media.
BICS and CALP
Cummins (1979) termed a student in this stage of development possessing BICS, or basic interpersonal communication skills. The ultimate goal, Cummins postulated, was for a language learning student to become a cognitive academic language proficient (CALP). CALP is the language skills required to perform more advanced school tasks successfully, such as categorizing, comparing, analyzing, & accommodating new knowledge. To reach the CALP level, a SLL requires 5 or more years of exposure to an L2.
The Five Cs In tandem with CALP, ELLs must seize command of what DiazRico & Weed (2006) termed the 5 Cs: Communication Conceptualization Critical thinking Context Culture As ELLs master the 5 Cs, they become what Hymes (1972) called “communicatively competent.”
Beyond simply knowing grammatical rules of L2 to knowing when, where, & how to use a L2 appropriately.
Educating the ELL population‌ ‌and providing them with the resources to successfully complete each stage of SLA is a challenge that teachers are facing across the country. In an attempt to educate the ELLs in our classrooms, school districts are developing & implementing local educational agency plans, or LEAPs, that outline the procedures to assist students & teachers in the SLA process.
During SLA, ELLs must… learn grade level specific content simultaneously. learn & become proficient with social academic language. To meet the needs of all learners in the classroom, teachers must: have the education & resources necessary to modify teaching strategies differentiate instruction based on ELLs stages of SLA.
Educating the ELL population… …and providing them with the resources to successfully
complete each stage of SLA is a challenge. In an attempt to educate ELLs in our classrooms, school districts are developing & implementing plans that outline the procedures to assist students & teachers in the language acquisition process. During SLA, ELLs must learn grade level specific content simultaneously & learn & become proficient with social & academic language.
Fin d CAL P LP’s !
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To meet the needs of all learners…
…in the classroom, teachers must have the education & resources necessary to modify teaching strategies & differentiate instruction based upon each student’s stage of SLA while keeping in mind that there is no timetable for this process.
Resources
Cummins, J. (1979). Working Papers on Bilingualism,19, p. 121-129. Diaz-Rico, L.T., & Weed, K.Z. (2006). The Crosscultural, Language, and Academic Development Handbook. A complete K – 12 reference guide (3rd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. In J. B. Pride & J. Holmes (eds.), Sociolinguistics. Harmondsworth, England: Penguin.
References (cont.) 

Hurley, S.R. & Tinajero, J.V. (2001). Assessing Progress in Second-Language Acquisition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc. Niles, K. (2011). Content strategies and scaffolding: Techniques to promote academic success for English language learners: Stages in English acquisition [PDF document]. Retrieved from Lecture Notes Online Website: http://www.academicesl.com/ PA2011/index.html.
References (cont.)
Piper, T. (2007). Language and learning: The home and school years (4th ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Merrill-Prentice Hall. Portland Public Schools (2000). ESL/Bilingual resource guide for mainstream teachers. Retrieved fromwww.pps.k12.or.us/curriculum/PDFs/ ESL_Modifications.pdf. Robertson, K. & Ford, K. (2008). Language Acquisition: An Overview. Colorin Colorado Retrieved from colorincolorado.org/article/26751.
References (cont.) 
Vance, Noelle (2008). Language development: Second language acquisition. Language Development – Research Starters Education, 1. Retrieved from http://search. ebscohost.com/login.aspx? direct=true&db=e0h&AN=27577653&site=ehostlive.
Image References All clip art was obtained through the Microsoft Office 2010 Clip Art Gallery except for the following:
Dance Steps: www.leroc-in-bristol.co.uk/Resources/Clip_Sources/dancstep.gif Reading Circle: www.indianruminations.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ ClipArt_Reading_Circle-315x254.j