STAGES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Stages
Stage 1.  can last from 10 hours to six months
The Silent /  students often have up to 500 “receptive words” and can
Receptive or understand new words made comprehensible to them
Preproduction  often involves a “silent” period
Stage  Students can respond using variety of strategies
including: pointing to objects, pictures, or person;
performing an act; gesturing or nodding; responding
with simple yes / no
Stage 2.  can last an Additional six months after the initial stage
The Early  students have usually developed close to 1000 receptive
Production / active words
Stage  students can usually speak in one- or two-word phrases,
and can demonstrate comprehension of new material by
giving short answers to simple yes/no and
who/what/where question
Stage 3.  can last up to another year
The Speech  students have developed approximately 3000 words and
Emergence can use short phrases and sentences to communicate
Stage  students begin to use dialogue and can ask simple
questions
Stage 4.  may take up another year
The  students have typically developed close to 6000 words
Intermediate and are beginning to make complex statements, state
Language opinions, ask for clarification, share their thoughts, and
Proficiency speak at a greater length
Stage
Stage 5.  can typically take from 5 to 7 years
The  students have developed some specialized content-area
Advanced vocabulary and can participate fully in grade-level
Language classroom activities if given occasional extra support.
Proficiency  Students can speak English using grammar and
Stage vocabulary comparable to that of same-age NS
Comprehensible Input Hypothesis (Stephen Krashen, 1981)
 This suggests that learners acquire language by “intaking” and
understanding language that is “little beyond” their current level
competence
 Providing consistent, comprehensible input requires constant
familiarity with the ability level of students in order to provide a level
of input that is just beyond their current level.

Comprehensible Output (Swain and Lapkin, 1995)

 Providing learners with opportunities to use the language and skills
they have acquired at a level in which they are competent, is almost
as important as giving students the appropriate level of input

Affective Filter Hypothesis (Krashen, 1981)

 This suggests that an individual’s emotions can directly interfere or
assist in the learning of a new language

Two Types of language Proficiency (Jim Cummins)

1. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)

o Refers to daily conversational face to face interactions where
meaning is supported by contextual clues or meaningful
social context
o Paralinguistic cues (physical gestures, facial expressions and
intonation) are used ion conversational situations.
o Within this setting, language is context-embedded

2. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

o The language of academic subjects that involve more abstract
(as opposed to concrete) vocabulary and concepts. At this
level of language proficiency, the students demonstrate the
ability to draw complex meanings in oral and/or written
language, without paralinguistic cues
o The information is context-reduced
Later, Cummins expanded this concept to include two distinct types of
communication, depending on the context in which it occurs:
Context-embedded communication
 provides several communicative supports to the listener or
reader,such as objects,gestures,or vocal inflections,which help make
the information comprehensible.
Context-reduced communication
 provides fewer communicative clues to support understanding.

Similarly, Cummins distinguished between the different cognitive

demands that communication can place on the learner:
Cognitively undemanding communication
 requires minimal amount of abstract or critical thinking.
Cognitively demanding communication
 requires a learner to analyze and synthesize information quickly and
contains bstract or specialized concepts.

G E N E R A L P R I N C I P L E S F O R T E AC H I N G ELLSTU
DENTS

Language acquisition theories have highlighted four key principles that

can be directly applied to the mainstream classroom (Jameson,1998).

1. Increase Comprehensibility:
 this principle involves the ways in which teachers can make content
more understandable to their students.
 With early to intermediate language learners, these include providing
many nonverbal clues such as pictures, objects, demonstrations,
gestures, and intonation cues. As competency develops,other
strategies include building from language that is already understood,
using graphic organizers, hands-on learning opportunities, and
cooperative or peer tutoring techniques.

2. Increase Interaction:
 a number of strategies have been developed that increase students’
opportunities to use their language skills in direct communication and
 for the purpose of “negotiating meaning ”in real-life situations. These
include cooperative learning, study buddies, project-based learning,
and one-to-one teacher/student interactions.
3. Increase Thinking/Study Skills:
 these strategies suggest ways to develop more advanced, higher
order thinking skills as a student ’s competency increases.
 Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA) (Chamot
and O ’Malley, 1994)
 These include asking students higher order thinking questions (e.g.,
what would happen if …?),modeling “thinking language ”by thinking
loud, explicitly teaching and reinforcing study skills and test-taking
skills,and holding high expectations for ll students.
4. Use a student ’s native language to increase
comprehensibility
 this principle also draws on a wealth of current research that has
shown the advantage of incorporating student ’s native language into
their instruction (Berman, Minicucci, McLaughlin,
Nelson,&Woodworth, 1995; Lucas andKatz,1994; Pease Alvarez,
Garcia &Espinosa, 1991; Thomas & Collier 1997).