English Language Learners: Language Development and Instruction
What the questions test
Expect items on BICS vs. CALP (Cummins): everyday conversational proficiency typically develops in about one to three years, while cognitive academic language proficiency takes roughly five to seven years. Know the stages of second-language acquisition - a preproduction/silent period, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate/advanced fluency - and the idea that a silent newcomer is participating, not refusing. Also know comprehensible input, scaffolding, sheltered instruction (e.g., SIOP), academic language functions, cognates, total physical response, extended wait time, cooperative grouping, and assessment accommodations. Understand program models: English as a Second Language, bilingual/dual language, and sheltered content instruction, plus translanguaging as a legitimate resource. Recognize L1-to-L2 transfer: skills in the home language support English.
Traps
- A student who chats fluently at lunch but fails content-area reading is showing a CALP gap, not a disability. Referring to special education before sufficient language support is a classic wrong answer.
- Conversely, a true disability shows up in both languages and persists despite quality support.
- The silent period is normal; forcing speech is not the answer.
- Over-correcting every error or watering down content lowers rigor; scaffold the language, keep the content.
- Using a sibling as an interpreter for school communication is inappropriate.
Rule of thumb
Shelter the language, not the content. Ask: is the barrier the concept or the English? Then scaffold accordingly.
Worked example
A fourth grader with two years in U.S. schools speaks smoothly with friends but scores below grade level on science text. Correct response: pre-teach vocabulary, provide visuals and sentence frames, allow native-language clarification, and monitor progress - not an immediate special education referral.