Читать книгу EL Excellence Every Day - Tonya Ward Singer - Страница 15

English proficiency is what we call the continuum of how well a student understands and communicates in English. Imagine a color spectrum from light blue to medium blue to dark blue with every subtle shade of blue in between. Language proficiency is a similar concept, only instead of color it is a continuum of many subtle shades from no comprehension or use of the language to full academic proficiency to communicate effectively listening, speaking, reading, and writing in any context.

How we measure or label English proficiency varies by school district, region, and country. For ease of communication in this book, I’ll refer to stages of English proficiency as three general levels:

 Emerging

 Expanding

 Bridging

If these terms are different from the ones you use, don’t worry, as the general concept of chunking proficiency into broad stages is the same. Figure 1.1 is a quick guide to help you connect terms for proficiency levels in this book to ones you might use.

Figure 1.1 English Proficiency Levels

Note: ELD = English Language Development, ELPA21 = English Language Proficiency Assessment for the 21st Century, ELPS = Texas English Language Proficiency Standards, and TELPAS = Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System. WIDA is the name of the organization formerly known as World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment.

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