Courtney Sobotka

EDUC 359 Fall Semester

September 8, 2016
Reflection Questions #2
1. The five stages of language acquisition are pre-production, early production, speech
emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. In the pre-production stage, a
student does not verbalize well. Here, the student has minimal comprehension. There are
two parts of this stage: the silent period and the affective filter. One effective strategy that
can be used for ELL students could be gesturing and pointing to things written on the
board. Early production is when a student produces a couple of word responses. Students
are beginning to form short phrases at this stage that may not be grammatically correct. In
this stage, there are many grammar errors. A teacher should ask yes/no questions and also
point for the ELL students. When asking yes or no, the teacher should nod or shake
his/her head that way the ELL students understand what is being asked. Speech
emergence is when students vocabulary is broadening. They are able to communicate
with short phrases, sentences, and even questions. The words and sentences used are
becoming much longer. An ELL teacher should provide pictures of all vocabulary words,
that way if the ELL students do not understand they can look at the picture to assist them.
In the intermediate fluency stage students comprehension has increased and they make
very little errors. Students are able to communicate through writing. When introducing
students to new vocabulary words, have them written out on the board so it is easier for
ELL students to follow along. Advanced fluency is when students communicate fluently.

Although, ELL students may still have an accent and make some errors. At this stage,
ELL students can be taught proper note taking.
2. The four methods of co-teaching are supportive, parallel, complementary, and team
teaching. Supportive co-teaching is when one teacher takes control as the head teacher,
while the other teacher goes around the classroom making sure no students are struggling.
This would be very beneficial in a classroom with ELL students. There is one teacher
doing the lecturing while the other one can go and help those ELL students. Parallel coteaching is when the two teachers split up the classroom and work with their groups
individually. An effective strategy for ELL students using parallel co-teaching is to put all
ELL students in one group, that way they are all together. Complementary co-teaching is
when one member of the team elaborates onto the ideas of the other teacher. One teacher
is teaching the content, while the other clarifies what was just taught. This will help ELL
students because the teacher that is simplifying the content can help them see it in a
different and easier way. Team teaching is when the teachers of a team teach along side
one another, interchangeably. I do not think there are any effective strategies that will
benefit ELL students in this method of co-teaching. I feel because all of the teachers are
involved, there is no one to see if any students are lost. Out of all four, I think supportive
co-teaching is the most beneficial to not just ELL student, but to all students.