EnglishProficiencyLevelsDescriptions

Language Domains Levels

LISTENING
9 Haszerotoverylimitedabilityin understandingspokenEnglish 9 Reliesonnonverbalcuessuch asgesturesandfacial expressions,andrequires frequentrepetition/rephrasing tounderstandspokenlanguage 9 Mayunderstandsomeisolated words,somesocialconventions, andsimpledirections, commandsandquestions 9 Understandssimple,short statementsandquestionsona wellknowntopicwithina familiarcontext 9 Canfollowsimplemultistep directions 9 Canidentifythemainideaand somedetailsofshort conversationsorsimpleorally deliveredtextonafamiliartopic 9 Maystillneedrepetitionand rephrasing 9 Showsunderstandingsimple questionsandstatementson familiartopics 9 Oftenrequiresrestatementsin graphictermsoratalowerrate 9 Canfollowmanysimple directions 9 Showsappropriateresponses whenreadortoldastory (examplelaughsathumor) 9 HasDifficultycomprehending academicrelated 9 Understandsconversationsin mostschool/socialsettings 9 Understandsmainideasand significantrelevantdetailsof extendeddiscussionsor presentationsonfamiliarand relevantacademictopics 9 Mayaskforclarificationonoral informationrelatedtoacademic content 9 Understandsmultiplemeanings ofwordsandcanusecontext cluestounderstandmessages

SPEAKING
9 Haszerotoverylimitedabilityin speakingEnglish 9 Maysayorrepeatcommon phrases,wordsandformulaic language 9 Maybeabletoprovidesome basicinformationinresponseto requestsandquestions 9 Canaskoneortwoword questionswithoutregardto structureandintonation 9 Predominantlyusesformulaic pattersandmemorizedphrases 9 UsesLanguagethatisoften markedbythelackoftense, numberandagreement 9 Usesschoolsocialvocabulary thatislimitedtokeywordsand haslittleornoacademic vocabulary 9 Respondstoquestionsusually withoneortwoword answers 9 Cancommunicateideasand feelingsinEnglish,butwithsome difficulty 9 Speakscoherently,butwith hesitationsandwithgrammatical andsyntacticerrors 9 Canretellasimplestory,but detailmaybelacking 9 Canrespondappropriatelyto manyquestions,butwitherrors ingrammarandvocabulary 9 Speaksincoherent,fluent sentences,butwithoccasional errorsinvocabularyandsyntax 9 Haslittledifficulty communicatingpersonalideas andfeelinginEnglish 9 Canrespondappropriatelyto manyquestionsinclassroom settings,butmakesomeerrorsin morecomplexgrammatical structures 9 Canoftenuselanguageto connect,tellandexpandona topic;andcanbegintouseitto reason 9 SpeaksEnglishfluentlyinsocial andgradelevelacademic settings 9 Producesspeechthatincludesa varietyofadverbsand transitionalsignals 9 Participatesinclassroom discussionswithoutdifficulty 9 Demonstratescontrolofage appropriatesyntaxand vocabularywhenspeaking 9 Canuselanguageeffectivelyto connect,tellexpandandreason

READING
9 Haszerotoverylimitedability inreadingEnglish 9 Maydemonstratesomebasic conceptsofprint(fronttoback, toptobottom,lefttoright) 9 Maydistinguishlettersfrom othersymbolicrepresentations 9 Mayfollowonestepdirections depictedgraphically

WRITING
9 Haszerotoverylimitedability inwritingEnglish 9 Canparticipateinwriting activitiesbydrawingpictures 9 Maybeabletocopylettersor formthemfrommemory 9 Maybeabletocopysome words 9 Mayattempttoapplysome writingconventions,butoften doessoinappropriately 9 Produceswritingthatismarked bythelackoftense,number andagreement 9 Makesfrequenterrorsin mechanicssuchaspunctuation andcapitalization 9 Writesmosteffectivelywhen supportedbyavisual,ashared experience,orscaffolding 9 Canbegintoreviseoreditown writingwithteachersupport 9 Composesshortparagraphs thataremostlyintelligible 9 Beginstoeditforsentencelevel structure,spellingand mechanicsandrevisesfor content,organizationand vocabulary,usuallywiththe supportoftheteacher 9 Writeswithlessdependencyon visualsupports,shared experiencesandscaffolding 9 Writessimplesocial correspondencewithsome errorsinspellingand punctuation 9 Mayhavesomedifficultyin producingcomplexsentences 9 Produceswritingthatgenerally addressesgiventopic 9 Produceswritingthatis generallyintelligiblebutlacking gradelevelquality 9 Produceswritingthatgenerally expressescompletethoughts 9 Writesshortpapersandclearly expressesstatementsof position,pointsofviewand arguments 9 Showsgoodcontrolofsentence structure,spellingand vocabulary 9 Produceswritingwithwide rangeofvocabulary 9 Editsforsentencelevel structure,spellingand mechanicsandrevisefor content,organizationand vocabulary

LEVEL1
PreFunctional

LEVEL2
Beginning

LEVEL3
Intermediate

LEVEL4
Advanced

LEVEL5
Proficient

9 Showsunderstandingof academictopicalconversations withoutdifficulty 9 Canfollowcomplexand multileveldirectionswithout difficulty 9 Showsunderstandingoforal informationprovidedvia electronicmedia

9 Beginstoidentifythenamesof bothupperandlowercase lettersofthealphabet 9 Canidentifywherewordsbegin andend 9 Canfollowmultistepdirections depictedgraphically 9 Duringreadaloud,gets meaningprimarilyfrom picturesandtheteacherstone ofvoiceandgestures 9 Readssimpleprintedmaterial withinafamiliarcontext 9 Understandsshortdiscourseon familiartopics 9 Hasasmallrepertoireofhigh frequencywords 9 Partiallyusesdetailstoextract meaning 9 Partiallyperceivesthefeeling andtoneinapoemorstory 9 Hassomeweaknessesin predictingfromdetails 9 Canreadfamiliartextwithlittle teacherorvisualsupport;still needsthosesupportswhen readingtocomprehend unfamiliartext 9 Hasoralfluencyandusesself monitoringandselfcorrection strategieswhennecessary 9 Canidentifymainideaofmany readingpassages 9 Abletoidentifymostspecific factswithinatext 9 Mayhavesomedifficultyusing detailstomakepredictions 9 Readsandunderstandsfactual informationinnontechnical proseaswellasdiscussionon concretetopicsrelatedto specialevents 9 Comprehendsstandard newspaperitemsaddressedto thegeneralreader, correspondencereportsand technicalmaterials 9 Showsunderstandingofthe mainidea 9 Understandsfigurative languageinapoem

Sources:NorthCarolinaDepartmentofEducation,1999;IowaDepartmentofEducation,2000;IDEAReadingandWritingProficiencyTests,ExaminersManual,1993,BallardandTighe;TheState
CollaborativeonAssessmentandStudentStandards(SCASS)forAssessingLimitedEnglishProficientStudentsandAmericanInstitutesforResearch(AIR),EnglishLanguageDevelopment AssessmentK2TestAdministrationManual,206