THE FOUR STAGES OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

STAGE I

PRE-PRODUCTION

·        MINIMAL COMPREHENSION

·        NO VERBAL PRODUCTION

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:

LISTEN                DRAW

POINT                 SELECT

MOVE                  CHOOSE

MIME                   ACT/ACT OUT

MATCH                CIRCLE

STAGE II

EARLY PRODUCTION

·        LIMITED COMPREHENSION

·        ONE/TWO WORD RESPONSES

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:

NAME                    LIST

LABEL                   CATEGORIZE

GROUP                  TELL/SAY

RESPOND             ANSWER

DISCRIMINATE

STAGE III

SPEECH EMERGENCE

·        INCREASED COMPREHENSION

·        SIMPLE SENTENCES

·        SOME BASIC ERRORS IN SPEECH

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:

RECALL              SUMMARIZE

RETELL              DESCRIBE

DEFINE              ROLE-PLAY

EXPLAIN            RESTATE

COMPARE          CONTRAST

STAGE IV

INTERMEDIATE FLUENCY

·        VERY GOOD COMPREHENSION

·        MORE COMPLEX SENTENCES

·        FEWER ERRORS IN SPEECH

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES:

ANALYZE           LIST

CREATE             CATEGORIZE

DEFEND            TELL/SAY

DEBATE             ANSWER

PREDICT            HYPOTHESIZE