FTCE Professional Education Practice Exam

What are the four stages in Willig and Lee's model of ESOL development?

1. Pre-production, early production, speech emergence, and advanced fluency

2. Beginning, developing, proficient, and advanced

3. Pre-production, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency

4. Pre-production, production, fluency, and mastery

The correct answer is: Pre-production, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency

Willig and Lee's model of ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) development outlines how learners progress through different stages of language acquisition. In this model, the correct identification of stages is crucial for educators to appropriately support and assess their students' language learning journey. The stages include pre-production, where students are largely silent, focusing on listening and comprehension without verbal output; early production, where they begin to form simple sentences; speech emergence, characterized by more complex structures and a growing vocabulary; and intermediate fluency, where learners can express themselves more fluently and with increasing complexity. This model emphasizes not only the linguistic development but also the cognitive and social aspects of language learning, acknowledging that students may have varying levels of proficiency throughout their learning process. Understanding these stages allows educators to tailor their instruction to meet the varying needs of their students, facilitating a supportive environment where each learner can advance through the stages effectively.