Arizona’s English Language Proficiency Standards for Kindergarten students
Introduction
Arizona’s English Language Proficiency Standards are applicable to both chartered and public schools in the state. The standards were established by the Arizona Department of Education to comply with federal educational rules. It was meant for students who had low proficiency in English.
ELL Stage 1-Kindergarten
Language Strand
Standard one in this sphere is concerned about using Standard English in every aspect, such as conversation and life. In this standard, one performance indicator is that:
The learner will demonstrate skills and knowledge of parts of speech through…
They can now use the three proficiency levels to determine the learner’s advancement in this standard, which determines the use of adjectives, nouns, verbs, prepositions, among others. For instance, here are an example sets of performance indicators meant for verbs.
Pre-Emergent
Emergent
Basic
PE-1. They will repeat simple verbs that involve present tenses through assistance.
E-1. They will select simple verbs. The verb will be in the present tense, and the students will be supported.
B-1. The students will use simple verbs that have a subject-verb agreement. The verbs will be in present tense and students will receive support from teachers.
PE-2. The students will repeat different types of verbs in the present tense.
E-2. The students will learn about conjugating forms of verbs in the present tense and through support by teachers.
B-2. Here, students will learn about conjugating types of verbs in the present tense.
Kindergarten: ELL Stage I
Reading
For students at Pre-Emergent level, there cannot understand text that is independently read in English. Here, learners can comprehend that environmental print like graphics, signs, labels deliver meaning. For emergent students, they have limited abilities to understand texts read in English independently. Here, learners are developing phonemic understanding and the relationship between symbols and sounds. They can also take part in chorally read out text which is very predictable and uses repetitive syntax and redundancy in the English language (Mahoney, Thompson & MacSwan, 2005). For basic students, they have a limited capacity to understand and decode English text. Students are developing phonemic understanding and also the connection between symbols and sounds. At this level, learners can demonstrate a one-on-one relationship between spoken and printed words. Also, they can take part in reading texts aloud, which is very predictable, can use repetitive syntax and can even recognize important information prompted by the teacher.
Kindergarten: ELL Stage I
Writing
For Pre-Emergent students at this stage, they cannot write in English but can swirl, draw or scribble to represent meaning. For Emergent students at this level, they have limited capacity to write in English. Also, the students can relay messages through drawings or dictating to adults. They can also write self-selected sentences or words. Students at this stage can also write alphabets or letters and first name through the teacher’s support. For basic students at this level, they have limited capacity to write in English. They can also convey messages through the use of drawings (Florez, 2010). They can write alphabet letters and their first name through support by their instructors. They can also organize their writing from top to bottom, left to right with help from their instructors.
Kindergarten: ELL Stage I
Listening and speaking
At the pre-emergent level, students at this age have no capacity to communicate in English. For emergent students at this level, they can respond by using isolated words, few verbs and nouns and through functional phrases (Mahoney et al., 2005). They can do through support from teachers. For basic level students, they can respond by using proper grammatical words and sentences in academic and social environments.
Stages of L1 Acquisition
The first stage is the pre-talking stage (0-6 months). This is where the vowel-like sound definitely responds to human sounds. At this stage, the child finds difficulties in pronouncing vowel sounds except when screaming. Consonant sounds like [m], [b], cannot be produced at this time. The second stage is the babbling stage, usually at 6-8 months. This is sounds produced by the infant as a combination of consonant and vowels (Brabham & Lynch-Brown, 2002). They are all in the same language of a word like [da-da-da] or [na-na-na]. The next stage is the holophrastic stage. This is a stage between 9-18 months. This is the first single words that represent a sentence. In this phase, children use one phrase or word to prompt a particular emotional state. The next step is the two-word that occurs between the ages of 18-24 months (Bear, Templeton, Helman & Baren, 2003). Here, children begin to produce actual words. The relationship between the two words shows a semantic and syntactic connection. Also, the two words intonation form extends all over the utterances instead of a pose. The fifth stage is the telegraphic stage. Here, the child does not leave out non-content words. The pronouncements are in the form of a sentence. It occurs between the ages of 24-30 months. The other stage is the last multiword. During this stage, there is increased vocabulary and no babbling (Aukrust, 2007). There is communicative intent in the utterances.
In conclusion, language teaching is a complicated process that requires various approaches and techniques. Finding their optimal combination and effective use will ensure success for ELLs.