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Harlee Gogas
Professor Reilly
EDUC 359
12 September 2016
Language Acquisition Styles
A. The five stages of language acquisition are preproduction, early production, speech
emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency.
1. Preproduction Stage: (0-6 months)
i.
The student may not verbalize anything (also known as the silent period).
ii.
The student often repeats what the teacher is doing.
iii.
The student at this stage often will draw and point to things opposed to verbally
iv.

saying words.
During this stage there is an affective filter, which is an invisible filter that can result

v.

in anxiety and stress while learning a new language.

One effective strategy to use during this stage: The teacher should speak clearly and
use many gestures. For example, the teacher can point to a picture of a butterfly and

tell the student what it is.

2. Early Production Stage: (6 months- 1 year)
i.
The student has limited comprehension.
ii.
The student produces one- to two- word responses.
iii.
The student often mimics the teacher or other students.
iv. An aid or helper often assists the learner during this stage.
v. The student can benefit from an abundance of visual aids at this stage.
vi.
One effective strategy to use during this stage: The teacher can ask the student
questions that prompt them to answer with one to two words.
3. Speech Emergence Stage: (1-3 years)
i.
The student has good comprehension.
ii.
The student can verbally communicate fairly well.
iii.
Students at this stage often make punctuation and grammar errors.
iv. A student at this stage might not fully grasp jokes or slang.
v. One effective strategy to use during this stage: The teacher should use more questions
and instruction that allow for detailed responses opposed to yes and no answers.
4. Intermediate Fluency Stage: (3-5 years)
i.
A student at this stage has excellent comprehension.

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ii.
iii.
iv.
v.

The student might still make a few grammatical errors.

The teacher should encourage students to give their opinions on things in this stage.
Lengthier responses are supported at this stage.
One effective strategy to use during this stage: The teacher can give the student a
question that would require them to use their opinion and a response that is a few

paragraphs long.
5. Advanced Fluency Stage: (5-7 years)
i.
During this stage, the student has potentially advanced to the point of graduating from
ii.
iii.
iv.

the English Language Learners (ELLs) program.

The student might still need help in some areas, such as science or social studies.
The student might surpass students that are native speakers of the language.
One effective strategy to use during this stage: The teacher can ask the students to

retell what they read in a story and then write a paper about it.
B. The four methods of co-teaching are supportive, parallel, complementary, and team-teaching.
1. Supportive Co-Teaching Method:
i.
One teacher will design and deliver a lesson while another teacher circulates the room
ii.

and supports the students.

One effective strategy to use during this method: One teacher will instruct the class,
while the other, an ELL teacher, will give assistance to the students who need extra

help.
2. Parallel Method:
i.
Two teachers deliver the same lesson to different groups of students in the same
ii.

room.
One effective strategy to use during this method: Two teachers split the class into two
sections and one teacher will instruct one half of the class one day and then the
teachers will switch sections the next day. This can be beneficial to ELLs because

they will be exposed to different teaching styles.

3. Complementary Method:
i.
One teacher designs and presents a lesson, while the other does something to enhance
ii.

the instruction.
One effective strategy to use during this method: One teacher might verbally teach a
lesson, while simultaneously another is modeling how to do the assignment. This is

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beneficial for ELLS, especially in the early stages of language acquisition, because
they will be able to hear and see what is expected of them.
4. Team-Teaching Method:
i.
Two or more teachers are responsible for the entire implementation of the lesson to
ii.

the students.
One effective strategy to use during this method: The teachers deliver a lesson while
playing off of what the other teacher is saying. This method requires a lot of planning
beforehand in order for the lesson to flow. ELLS will benefit from this method,
because they will get the input of more than one teacher.

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Works Cited
Ascd. Chapter 2. The Stages of Second Language Acquisition. The Stages of Second Language

Acquisition, http://www.ascd.org/publications/books/108052/chapters/the-stages-ofsecond-language-acquisition.aspx.
Crawford, Catherine. Four Models of Co-Teaching. Prezi.com, 4 Nov. 2014, https://prezi.
com/_zs4iv0s10s1/four-models-of-co-teaching/./.latest_citation_text