Language Learners and Stages of Language Acquisition

Next unit, I will be teaching a unit on literature and creative writing in fourth grade. We will be reading poetry, learning about poetic forms, performing poetry and writing our own poems.

This class has a variety of levels of acquisition.

Student 1:

Stage II: Early Production

This student is a new immigrant and new to the class and school. He has some English. The student is beginning to speak in short phrases. He asks regularly, "I write?" or "I do?" And points to writing prompts, or the daily bulletin projected on the screen in the morning. He can copy words and sentences but he cannot produce much writing or comprehend what he's copying. 

Some of the strategies for working with this student (Haynes):

• Ask yes/no questions.
• Allow the student to give one or two word answers.
• Allow the student the chance to participate in whole class conversations.
• Use pictures to support student learning.

Student 2:

Stage III Speech Emergence

This student is a native Arabic speaker and is still learning English. He is newer to the school than some of the children. He is also of a more middle class background and is raised directly by his parents. He doesn't have a nanny or a driver and thus at home the language is solely Arabic. He is speaking in short phrases now and can complete some writing work with teacher support. He is also now checking out simple reading books from the library.

Some of the strategies for working with this student (Haynes):

• Read shorter modified texts
• Complete graphic organizers with word banks.
• Understand and answer questions about charts and graphs.
• Match vocabulary words to definitions.
• Study flashcards with content area vocabulary.
• Write in dialogue journals.
• Compose brief stories based on personal experience.
• Understand teacher explanations and two-step directions.
• Write and illustrate riddles.

Student 3:

Stage IV Intermediate fluency

This student is a Native Arabic speaker with behavioral problems and a learning disability that have delayed his progress in language acquisition somewhat. However, in the last year he's made substantial progress and is now beginning to use complex sentences in his writing and speaking. He readily shares his opinions with class. He also is now using questions to make his learning clear.

Some of the strategies for working with this student (Haynes):

• Focus on making inferences in writing and reading
• Work on developing student grammar
• Move student's away from translating from their native language towards composing in second

Student 4:

Stage V: Advanced fluency

This student is writing at grade level and reading chapter books independently. He is able to read, write, and express himself without much difficulty. He still needs some support in English and humanities.

Some of the strategies for working with this student (Haynes):

• Provide extra support in writing and reading skills

Works Cited

Haynes, J. (n.d.). Stages of Second Language Acquisition Pre ... Retrieved October 21, 2016, from https://www.vsra.org/HANDOUTS2010/ELL 1/02 HAYNES L2 ACQUISITION.pdf