ESL Developmental Continuum

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Secondary Years 7-10 - Speaking and Listening Stage SL

Indicators of progress – Stage SL: Texts and responses to texts

At the end of Stage SL, students can routinely use spoken English to do the following things:

Receptive

  • identify basic single pieces of information from a short spoken text, e.g. colours, numbers, names of animals etc.
  • comprehend some familiar questions spoken at normal rate (concerning self, family etc.) in a two-way conversation when the conversation partner uses slow and deliberate speech, and simple phrasing, repetition and paraphrasing (even on familiar topics)
  • show understanding of some frequently-occurring English words, phrases, greetings, simple sentences, simple instructions
  • attend for short periods to simple oral tasks and classroom activities with visual support, e.g. pictures
  • show personal non-verbal response to oral narratives and recounts, e.g. smile, nod

Productive

  • answer simple questions about self and school
  • use formulaic phrases to communicate, e.g. ‘My name is _____’.
  • participate in familiar situations and learning activities, e.g. make simple statements about what they are doing and ask and answer simple questions about the activity
  • use word stress, rhythm and intonation to deliver information about familiar topics
  • communicate most routine social and school needs
  • link people/objects/places/actions to spoken vocabulary.

Indicators of progress – Stage SL: Cultural conventions of language use

At the end of Stage SL, students’ understanding of the contexts and purposes of spoken texts is shown when they:

Receptive

  • distinguish spoken English from other languages and attempt to respond in English
  • listen to and take note of teacher’s use of English social courtesies
  • show listening behaviour, e.g. attend, concentrate, look at speaker, watch others

Productive

  • engage in routine interactions using language appropriate for the context and the participants
  • use simple polite expressions appropriately, e.g. please, thank you
  • greet and respond to greetings using familiar formulaic expressions to do so, e.g. How are you today? Good thanks
  • ask questions to clarify notions such as colour, place or time
  • communicate appropriately, i.e. recognise that certain words, gestures and intonation patterns are suitable for classroom contexts
  • use appropriate classroom language behaviour, e.g. take turns, use appropriate voice volume, raise hand in a group.

Indicators of progress – Stage SL: Linguistic structures and features

At the end of Stage SL, students’ understanding of the linguistic structures and features of spoken English is shown when they:

Receptive

  • interpret non-verbal aspects of communication such as gesture and facial cues

Productive

  • use simple vocabulary and structures presented and practised in class
  • use stress or intonation appropriately in simple utterances, e.g. use rising intonation when asking simple questions, stress key words in short utterances
  • repeat modelled utterances of very short phrases with understanding
  • produce short, simple utterances including non-standard forms, e.g. ‘He sick today’, ‘Students go zoo’, ‘I no like maths’, ‘It lay the egg on the leaf’
  • use simple conjunctions, e.g. ‘and’, ‘but’, to link ideas in short utterances, e.g. ‘I finish number 1 but not number 2’.
  • use common prepositions, e.g. ‘in’, ‘on’, ‘at’, in familiar contexts
  • use some simple question forms, e.g. through intonation: 'Sit here?', ‘wh’ questions without inversion: ‘Where you are going?’
  • generally use ‘I’, ‘me’, ‘you’, ‘we’, ‘my’, ‘your’ correctly but other personal pronouns and possessive adjectives are used with less accuracy.

Indicators of progress – Stage SL: Maintaining and negotiating communication

At the end of Stage SL, students may use the following strategies to maintain and negotiate spoken communication:

Receptive

  • ask for repetition or rephrasing of English, such as instructions, explanations, questions
  • look for patterns in the language presented in lessons
  • imitate speech of others and memorise formulaic expressions

Productive

  • talk around a topic (use circumlocution) when vocabulary is not known, e.g. ‘a car for fly’ instead of ‘a plane’
  • use non-verbal strategies such as gestures, mime or eye contact to elicit support from the listener
  • use formulaic expressions to negotiate meaning, seek attention, e.g. ‘Excuse me, Miss’
  • transfer some simple language structures to other contexts, e.g. I like bananas. I like soccer.
  • use existing English in different situations to perform different functions, e.g. ‘Go home’, to mean ‘Can I go home?’ or ‘He’s gone home’
  • use sentence patterns from first language to communicate ideas, e.g. ‘the house white’, ‘I very like swimming’
  • use pair work or group work activities in order to gain assistance for completing a language task.