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From http://languagemagazine.com/?page_id=124487

Teacher trainer and researcher Virginia “Jenny” Williams writes, “Academic language is a necessity to convey mastery of academic content for all students, but it is especially important that students with language differences in English be allowed to “practice” their language skills in the context of the classroom. For students who are English language learners (ELLs), learning English has many levels, and academic language is one that emerges quite late. ELLs will often learn the social contexts of English long before they master the elements that they need for learning and conveying their knowledge of academic content. Academic language can take five to seven years to acquire at levels that are needed for a typical classroom in the U.S. Alfred and Nino (2011) write in their text Leading Academic Achievement for English Language Learners, that “it is important for faculty members to understand that linguistic differences are another dimension of student diversity,” and that diversity can call for differentiated assessment and instruction. They suggest that ELLs require scaffold instruction to gain confidence and skills in academic language.

“This is no easy task. What is it that teachers need to do to scaffolded instruction for students who are learning English? To answer this question, we first need to think about the various levels of English learners.
1. Preproduction (also known as the silent period)
2. Early Production
3. Speech Emergence
4. Intermediate Fluency
5. Advanced Fluency

“Each of these stages has distinct skill characteristics and therefore call for different instructional strategies. Interim assessments such as NWEA’s Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) and progress-monitoring tools such as Skills Navigator can help teachers identify the stage of student functioning, and the strategies that students need for support and chart their growth over time.”

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