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An accommodation changes how students access and learn the same material as their peers — without lowering the academic expectations. 

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An ESL student may use Bilingual Dictionaries during exams as an accommodation. 

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If you're looking for ways to...

help your English Language Learners access grade-level content

Support ELLs in their mainstream classes

Help a classroom teacher integrate accommodations into their instruction

...read on!
Everyone Uses Accommodations

Accommodations aren't just for English Learners.

All teachers make accommodations for their students to help with content and academic skills.

Even among native speakers, learners proceed at different paces and teachers naturally use all sorts of strategies to level the playing field.

Every child is different and, in order to give every child a chance, we need to meet them where they are.

Whenever a teacher leans down to explain something again to a student who didn't get it the first time, an accommodation has been made for that student.

Whenever a teacher gives a student a little extra time to complete an assignment, that's an accommodation.

Whenever a teacher asks another student to help out a student who is struggling, they've made an accommodation.

Just to be clear, let's make sure we define clearly what it is we're talking about.

Accommodations are not modifications. When we're talking about accommodations, we're not talking about changing the content the students are learning, just finding ways of making the same content more accessible.

Also, accommodations don't mean just giving students answers. It's making it possible for students to show what they know when English is not their first language.

Understanding a child's English proficiency is important, but when we're assessing a child's content knowledge, we need to separate that from testing their English proficiency as much as possible. Otherwise, we are testing for the wrong things and can end up with data that does not accurately reflect what a child does or doesn't know.

When it comes to ELLs, many teachers find that their usual accommodations, the accommodations they often use without really realizing they're even accommodations, don't necessarily work as they expect them to, like they do with native speakers, and they can get flustered or frustrated.

They simply aren't used to the unique accommodations that English learners need...

...Or the unique responses ELLs have to the accommodations.

Those accommodations don't come naturally.

These accommodations can feel a little uncomfortable and teachers worry that they're either:

being unfair to other students

or spoiling those the accommodations are meant to help.

Many teachers don't naturally understand the challenges their ELLs face because they themselves have never moved to a new country where everyone speaks a language different from their own.

Classroom Accommodations for ELLs

Here is a list of classroom accommodations teachers can use to help their English learners access content from the curriculum, to give their ELLs a fair chance at an education.

Build Background Knowledge or Content Knowledge - By looking ahead at what students will be learning, you can provide them with resources to beef up their background knowledge in those areas before the class begins

Bilingual Dictionaries - Word to Word Translation Dictionaries.

Speaking Speed and Clarity - Slow down and pronounce each word succinctly and clearly.

Time - Provide students with some extra time to think before asking for a response or requiring a student to complete an assignment.

Visuals - Find images, videos, realia, anything that will help tie vocabulary, concepts, stories, etc to real things students can visually understand.

Repetition - Repeat things you say to your students and have students repeat what you say back to you as well as answers other students have offered.

Scaffolds - There are a number of scaffolds you can use with your students like graphic organizers or anchor charts, check out this article for more ->

Translation - Oral translation, direct translation, literary translations, all can be helpful tools for assisting your English Language Learners

Translanguaging - Let students use their native languages in natural ways alongside their new language. - Check out this article for more ->

Assign a Friend - Pair students with native speakers or with another student who speaks the same language for help and/or discussion when wrestling with a text or completing an assignment.

Cheat Sheet to Classroom Guidelines, Class Topics, Concepts

Parental Involvement - You can use a tool like Talking Points to help you communicate with parents with whom you do not share a common language.

Testing Accommodations - In many cases, students can use an alternative language edition of an exam or be allowed more testing time. Check out your state's guidelines for what testing accommodations are allowed for your students.

Reasonable Extensions - Giving students a little extra time to complete assignments can make a huge difference.

How to Get Started Implementing Accommodations
You may have arrived at this article for two different reasons:
1. You want to know how to use accommodations for the students you teach.

2. You want to know how to help content teachers better utilize accommodations for the ELLs in their classrooms.

We'll cover both situations below.

I believe there are two steps to helping ourselves as well as content teachers begin to utilize the accommodations necessary to help our English learners succeed.

Helping Ourselves:
1. Understand Your Students Better
Often, we speak of English language proficiency as though it were a single unit of measurement, but it's not.

There are many different facets to language proficiency including:

A student can be much more proficient in speaking than reading, for instance.

We need to get a clear picture of where our students are, what their strengths are, what their weaknesses are. If you need a helpful assessment to assist you with this, check out the Kid-Inspired ESL Assessment & Guide ->

A student's language proficiency is only one piece of the puzzle though. We also need to better understand each student's background and culture.

We need to know what kind of education they received-if any-before they arrived in our classroom. Our students may know more or less than we think they do simply because they are unable to accurately show what they know.

We need to better understand the cultural customs, expectations, hopes, and dreams of our students and their parents.

Afterward, we can provide accommodations that are helpful and specific to each student, accommodations that help move those students towards not needing the accommodations any longer.

When we're busy, it's easy to get in the habit of always providing the same accommodations to all students all the time across the board so that we can make things more manageable, ahem, keep our sanity.

Unfortunately, that can mean some students come to over-rely on those accommodations even after they no longer need them.
2. Master 1 Strategy at a Time
When you're first looking at the list above, it can feel overwhelming.

How can I introduce all of these different accommodations?

I can't even remember them all.

Don't panic.

Don't try to tackle all accommodations at the same time. Start by choosing 1-2 that are going to make the biggest difference with your students. Once those accommodations become a little more natural, you can look at adding a couple more.

Make accommodations a topic of conversation among your students. They are the best ones to decide when those accommodations are needed and when they aren't. The more that they can start taking responsibility for deciding when to use or not use them, the better off they will be in the long run.

Helping Classroom Teachers

Helping Content Teachers Better Utilize Accommodations

If you're here to learn a bit more about the accommodations available to you

I truly believe that most teachers try their best with their ELLs and end up feeling frustrated that their strategies aren't working.

Also, change is hard. Learning new strategies usually means opening yourself up to failure, embarrassment.

Change usually requires persistent practice.

1. Teachers need to understand each other better

Very often we assume more than we should about each other, about others' motivations, objectives, feelings. Find a time to sit down with other teachers and get them talking about their views on education. Ask lots of questions. Listen. Control knee-jerk reactions. Seek to understand. Find common ground. Build on that.

2. Teachers need to understand their students better

There are so many ways we can open the eyes of teachers so that they see more clearly the students they are trying to teach. Only, it doesn't usually happen through preaching at them.
A few ideas to consider:

Giving teachers a test in another language. A teacher on Facebook told the story of how, at a training meeting, she gave some of the content teachers at her school a test in Russian on basic math. The teachers knew the math required for the test, but couldn't show what they knew due to the language barrier which made them feel the test was unfair.

Teaching something to teachers in a language other than their own, first, without any accommodations, and then, afterward, with accommodations. There are a few videos online illustrating this, including this Comprehensible Input Demonstration video, a favorite of mine by Valentina Gonzalez.

Student Background and Culture Projects - Getting your students creating shadow boxes, posters, essays, etc. that help them tell their story really assist in building understanding with the teachers and staff at school. When there is a language barrier, it's simply not as easy for us to relate to someone and feel the same connection as we do with those who speak the same language. When students can tell their stories, there is a much better chance for empathy.

3. Students need to understand each other better

One of the objections teachers have is that either they or their students feel that accommodations for ELLs is unfair.

Why should some students get special help when others do not?

I don't want to treat them any differently than I would treat any other student.

The best response to this that I've discovered came in the form of a TicTok video about bandaids.

You can watch the video below:

The teacher showed the class how every student's needs are different and that fairness does not mean that everyone is treated the exact same way.

4. Focus on 1-2 strategies at a time

I remember when I used to train teachers and I tried to give them all of my best strategies all at once in a training meeting. Then I would be discouraged when I observed classes and saw that none of those strategies was being utilized.

Things improved drastically when, after observing a teacher's classes, I focused in on 1-2 things I thought would make the biggest difference for them and their students.

Even though I had written down tons of notes about all aspects of the classes, I didn't end up using many of those ideas. I just picked a couple, and, furthermore, I tried to find any time in the class where I saw the teacher do something similar to what I was recommending. I first affirmed what they did and commented on how much of a difference it made and how helpful it would be if they did more of it.

People are people. If don't affirm the good you see in people first, you will never get them to listen to those areas you believe they could improve.
So what have I missed? Leave me a note!

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Accommodations for ELLs in the Classroom

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Providing accommodations for ELLs in the classroom does not mean simply giving them the answers. It is so much more effective than that.

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The language used in school for teaching and learning subjects such as math, science, language arts, and history.

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The way students speak with their peers is usually different from their Academic Language. 

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This article helps educators understand the role that academic language plays in their classrooms and in ELL student success.

The article also includes information on social vs. academic language, as well as numerous examples of the different kinds of academic language needed for all students to fully participate in classroom activities and assignments. Additional articles, books, and videos can be found in our Academic Language and ELLs Resource Section.

Academic Language: An Overview

Why is academic language important?

Perhaps you or your colleagues have taught a student, who, like Carlos, gave every sign of being fully "fluent" in English, only to find that the student struggled on more academic kinds of assignments.

Many students, including English language learners (ELLs), have difficulty mastering the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in school, especially if they have never been explicitly taught how to use it. These students include long-term ELLs, students who have attended U.S. schools for much or all of their education but have not yet mastered the language of school.

At the same time, many educators have never learned how to teach academic language since language has traditionally been considered the domain of English as a Second Language (ESL) or English language arts teachers. Yet the use of academic language is more important than ever in preparing students for academic and professional success, particularly in the era of rigorous college- and career-ready standards (such as the Common Core State Standards) that require an increased use of academic language in and across all disciplines.

What is your role?

It may seem daunting at first, but you have an important role to play in supporting your students' academic language development. You do not need an in-depth background in linguistics or ESL methods to do so; rather, you need some guidance and practice in learning how to recognize the role academic language plays in your subject area and classroom, as well as support from colleagues who can guide you in your efforts. Many ESL and bilingual colleagues have extensive experience in identifying students' academic language needs and collaborating with colleagues and will be more than happy to do so if asked!

In this article

To get you started, this article shares three things you need to know about academic language:

The difference between social and academic language

The importance of looking beyond vocabulary

How academic language will be used in your classroom

The article will also share recommended resources for further review. For specific instructional strategies on increasing the use of academic language in your classroom, see these ideas from ELL expert Kristina Robertson, as well as the resources at the end of the article, and check in with your ESL/bilingual colleagues for additional suggestions!

The difference between social and academic language

As the example of Carlos above suggests, teachers may be most familiar with the level of students' social language - the language they hear students using with their friends in the hallways or on the playground. Students typically achieve proficiency in social language long before they have mastered a grade-appropriate level of academic language. As a result, a student's ability to use language in social settings is not necessarily an accurate indicator of their mastery of academic language.

What is academic language?

Academic language is the language of school and it is used in textbooks, essays, assignments, class presentations, and assessments. Academic language is used at all grade levels, although its frequency increases as students get older.

It is also the language of the workplace - for example, the language used to write a business letter as opposed to a casual e-mail to a co-worker.

Examples

One strategy that academic language expert Dr. Robin Scarcella uses to help her college students understand the difference between social and academic language is to provide them with similar sentences or passages that convey the same meaning but that are written in different styles, such as the following:

I like this book more.

This story is more exciting than the first one we read.

Because they were brave.

The soldiers received the medal because of their courage.

If you were to compare other kinds of passages or documents, some examples might include:

A business letter vs. a personal e-mail (noted above)

A newspaper's summary of a research report vs. the actual abstract of the report

A customer review of a book vs. the publisher's description of the book

As your students become more familiar with the differences between social and academic language, it will be easier to identify which is which and what is most appropriate for a certain setting. Kristina Roberston notes in her video clip on our academic language playlist that her students call this "sounding smart" - and they know it when they hear it. When they hear themselves "sounding smart," it is a source of excitement and motivation in the classroom.

Additional resources

To learn more about the distinctions between social and academic language, take a look at the following resources from Colorín Colorado:
Discussion questions:

Have you had any students who were proficient in social language but struggled with academic language?

If so, how did their social and academic language use differ?

Did anything in their language abilities surprise you?

What are some examples that could be used to compare social and academic language in your classroom?

Beyond vocabulary

Many people think of vocabulary first when it comes to academic language. While content-area vocabulary words and terms are certainly an important component, academic language also refers to the words and phrases used to connect these key words and to communicate concepts. Here are two different ways to understand a broader interpretation of academic language.

"Bricks and mortar"

Dr. Cindy Lundgren explains the idea of " bricks and mortar" in our academic language video playlist, where "bricks" are the key vocabulary words and concepts in a sentence, and "mortar" is the language (such as signal words and phrases) holding the bricks together. Here is the example she explains in the video:

Even though bats have wings, they are not birds.

In this sentence, the bricks are the key vocabulary words in bold:

Yet to fully understand the sentence, students must understand the meaning of "even though." Here is a sample definition:

"Even though" means that two items are similar, but they are not the same. In this case, bats and birds both share a similar feature (having wings), but they are not the same animal.

Understanding signal words and phrases is a key step in a student's ability to "unlock" the academic language they encounter, as well as to start using it correctly themselves.

Video: Bricks and mortar in language instruction

Dr. Cindy Lundgren discusses the concept of "bricks and mortar" when thinking about effective vocabulary instruction for ELLs.

TWIPs

Debbie Zacarian and Judie Haynes (2010) also look beyond discrete vocabulary words in their academic language definition, including a range of structures they call TWIPs ( Terms, Words, Idioms, and P hrases). Here are some examples:

Note that, in the second example, the "Declaration" is a single word standing in for the official name of a specific document (the Declaration of Independence). Many textbooks used abbreviated terms in the interest of space, which requires students not only to track the references back to the original term but to build on existing background knowledge about the subject being discussesd. ELLs may need some extra preparation to draw upon or build background knowledge in order to fully understand the academic language being used.

Same Word, Different Meaning

Keep in mind that some key words or terms may have different meanings across disciplines and may be used as different parts of speech in different contexts (i.e., noun vs. verbs):

Lunch table (Social language)
Periodic Table of Elements (Science)
Table of Contents (ELA)
Multiplication tables (Math)
To table (delay) the discussion (Social Studies)

Plot of a story (ELA)
Plot of land (Geography)
Plot ordered pairs on a graph (Math)
To plot a government coup (History)

Branch of government (Social Studies)
Branch of a river (Geography)
To branch out (Idiom)

Your foot (Health)
One foot in length (Math)
Foot in your mouth (Idiom)
Foot of the mountain (Geography)
To foot the bill (Idiom)

As you identify the academic language you will be focusing on in a particular lesson, take a moment to think about whether any of the words or phrases may have another definition so that you can anticipate any possible confusion. You may wish to share your list with your ESL colleagues for input as well.

Cognates

Finally, there is a great tool you can use to bolster academic language for students who speak a language related to English. This is the use of cognates - words that have a similar spelling and meaning in both languages. More than a one third of words in English have a Spanish-language cognate! These often include technical or content-specific words that can help students make a connection between both languages, such as the following:

You can see many more in our list of Spanish-English cognates, and your ESL or bilingual colleagues may be able to think of other related examples as well. Once students know how that a connection exists, they will start noticing more words that are related and they will be able to apply their own existing background knowledge about those words to the vocabulary they encounter. They may need some guidance initially, and we provide some tips on how to use cognates in this Colorín Colorado article to help you get started.

Note: There is such a thing as a false cognate, the most famous one being that embarazada in Spanish is not "embarrassed" - it means "pregnant"! It is not a 100% foolproof strategy - but it is generally a very useful tool.
Discussion questions:

What are examples of key vocabulary words, terms, idioms, and phrases that are useful to know in your subject area?

Can you think of some phrases or signal words that are not content specific but are commonly used in your area (such as "In comparison...")?

Looking at the list of cognates from Colorín Colorado, find 10 words related to your subject area.

Planning for purpose and products

Now that you have some more background on what academic language is, it's time to think about how it is used in your subject area. Academic language is used for a variety of purposes across disciplines:

Students may write a lab report in science class.

Students may orally explain their reasoning in math class.

Students may listen to and compare two famous speeches in history class.

Students may compare a scene from a novel and a movie in an English language arts class.

Domains of language

As you can see in these examples, academic language is used in all four domains of language (reading, writing, speaking, and listening), and all four domains are needed to achieve the above tasks. While the uses of academic language may be more obvious for reading and writing, academic language is also necessary for listening to class discussion, lectures, and debates, as well as delivering speeches, presentations, and oral arguments. Students may need just as much help using academic language in their speaking as in their writing, and they may be at different levels across different domains. Carlos, for example, has strong academic listening and speaking skills, but weaker writing skills.

Students may also need help moving from the word level to the sentence, paragraph, or essay/project level in these sophisticated assignments. The most important thing you can do is to provide examples and model the kinds of language you expect students to use on a regular basis. By doing so, you will help familiarize students with the kinds of academic language needed to succeed in your classroom, as well as the purpose of the language they are using. Our Academic Language booklist and webcast include a number of subject-specific strategies for helping students master the kinds of language needed in different content areas.

This is also another area where ESL/bilingual colleagues can help you; they may have tried and true strategies, graphic organizers, and suggestions for modeling academic language and for helping students transition into more sophisticated assignments. One great example is the process that high school ESL teacher Michelle Lawrence uses to help her students transition from sentences and paragraphs to essays. (See Playlist: Writing Process 2.)

Note: Another helpful tool for communicating expectations about academic language is the use of language objectives , which you can learn more about from Colorín Colorado.
Discussion Questions:

As you consider how academic language is used in your discipline, what kinds of assignments are students expected to produce in your classroom and in higher grades?

What are some examples of academic language that are needed for each of these activities?

How are different language domains used at different steps of the process? (For example, a lab may require spoken language to be used in discussions between partners, and then writing to be used for the final written lab report.)

Based on what you now know about academic language, what kinds of support do you think Carlos needs in his chemistry class?

Do you have any ideas on how Mrs. Wilson can support his written academic language?

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Academic Language and ELLs: What Teachers Need to Know

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This article helps educators understand the role that academic language plays in their classrooms and in ELL student success. The article also includes information on social vs. academic language, as well as numerous examples of the different kinds of academic language needed for all students to fully participate in classroom activities and assignments.

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Krashen Definition: A natural process that occurs when the target language is used in meaningful interactions with native speakers.

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Acquistion is the focus of communication no matter how formal or informal. 

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McREL - The Five Stages of Second Language Acquisition

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Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)

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Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)

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Linguistic skills needed in everyday, social face-to-face interactions. 

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Unlike Academic Language, this is the language students use with their peers, in a more casual way. 

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The acronyms BICS and CALP refer to the length of time required by immigrant children to develop conversational skills in the target language and grade appropriate academic proficiency in that language. Understanding the difference between social language and academic language acquisition is an important concept for teachers working with non-native students. Learn more in our academic language resource section.
BICS = social language
Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) refer to linguistic skills needed in everyday, social face-to-face interactions. For instance, the language used in the playground, on the phone, or to interact socially with other people is part of BICS. The language used in these social interactions is context embedded. That is, it is meaningful, cognitively undemanding, and non-specialized. It takes the learner from six months to two years to develop BICS.
CALP = academic language
Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) focuses on proficiency in academic language or language used in the classroom in the various content areas. Academic language is characterized by being abstract, context reduced, and specialized. In addition to acquiring the language, learners need to develop skills such as comparing, classifying, synthesizing, evaluating, and inferring when developing academic competence. It takes learners at least five years to develop CALP. Research from Collier and Thomas (1995) has shown that it may take children with no prior instruction or no support in native language development at least seven years to develop CALP.

The distinction between BICS and CALP was made by Professor Jim Cummins.

Learn more in Explaining BICS and CALP from EverythingESL.

Video: BICS and CALP

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The acronyms BICS and CALP refer to the length of time required by immigrant children to develop conversational skills in the target language and grade appropriate academic proficiency in that language. Understanding the difference between social language and academic language acquisition is an important concept for teachers working with non-native students.

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(of a person) speaking two languages fluently

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My sister is bilingual. She can speak English and Spanish fluently. 

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Why being bilingual is good for your brain | BBC Ideas

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The development and maintenance proficiency in their home language

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While students are learning English, it is recommended for the students to still use their home language because this can be the only way the communicate at home with their family. 

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Jack C. Richards on Communicative Competence - Part 1 of 2

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Words that look and sound similar and have highly similar meanings in two languages. 

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The word telephone in English cognates in Spanish to telefono. 

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Adapted from: Calderón, M., August, D., Durán, D., Madden, N., R. Slavin & M. Gil (2003 and in press). Spanish to English Transitional Reading: Teacher's Manual. Baltimore, MD: The Success for All Foundation.

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Cognates are words in two languages that share a similar meaning, spelling, and pronunciation. For Spanish-speaking ELLs, cognates are an obvious bridge to the English language.

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CBI helps multilingual learners understand and learn academic content while acquiring English.

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ESL students may learn about numbers in class. Focusing on the pattern of numbers rather than how to say the numbers in English.

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Content Based Instruction  Definition & Example   Video & Lesson Transcript   Study com

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The ideas, customs, and social behavior of a particular people or society:

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In Mexican culture, fresh and delicious foods such as tortillas and tamales are shared.

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Using realia to build background knowledge

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A teaching approach that tailor's instruction to meet the diverse learning needs of all students. 

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Small group learning can aid a student's needs and focus on developing skills.

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Differentiated Instruction: Why, How, and Examples

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

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Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)

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It is a federal law that emphasizes equal opportunity for all students and provides funding for primary and secondary education. ESEA has undergone various iterations, including "No Child Left Behind" and the "Every Student Succeeds Act

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ESEA wanted equal opportunities for all students. 

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Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) | Texas Education Agency

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The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) is the federal K–12 education law. Parents can learn more about the nation’s landmark education law by reading Understanding the Every Student Succeeds Act. ESSA was signed into law in 2015, replaced No Child Left Behind, and reauthorized the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). ESEA was signed into law in 1965 by President Lyndon Baines Johnson.

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Instruction designed specifically for English language learners to develop their listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills in English.

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A synonym for English Second Language (ESL). 

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Colorín Colorado is a national multimedia project that offers a wealth of bilingual, research-based information, activities, and advice for educators and families of English language learners (ELLs). Colorín Colorado is an educational service of WETA, the flagship public broadcasting station in the…

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the use or study of the English language by non-native speakers in an English-speaking environment 

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A new student came to a Texas School from Asia. This new student will be considered an ESL student. 

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ESL students will make grammatical errors in English. This is normal but should not be criticized when these errors occur due to the stages of learning a new language.

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An ESL student may say something like " I goed to the store." Even though goed is not the right term to use in this sentence, it is common when students are learning English and should not be automatically corrected. It may insensitive and the student is attempting a new language. 

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1. Blog

2. Error correction

At school, I wasn't very keen on English.

Of course, as everyone else, I attended the lessons, did my homework, learnt the words by heart and kept a notebook with word | transcription | translation.

But English lessons never were my cup of tea.

There were many reasons for that, but among them there was one very unpleasant thing.

It was quite a challenging task for me, as it was easier to retell the text with my own words (and I think that would show my speaking skills better), but that wasn't the task.

During this 'reproduction' the teacher would listen to students, follow the text and correct every mistake a student made.

You probably understand how frustrating it was, because at that time my brain was focused on how not to forget the words, and I automatically repeated after the teacher, but if someone had asked me to voice my mistakes after the text again, I wouldn't have remembered a thing.

Do you think it was an efficient way to correct mistakes? Well, not really.

That would allow me to focus on the mistakes I made (I'm still judging the task by the way, but that way of correction at least would've been logical), and who knows, maybe I could've corrected the mistakes myself, which in turn would help me remember them and avoid them in the future.

We all learn better by making mistakes, but when it comes to language learning, we also need to reflect on our mistakes to avoid making them in the future.

To get a better understanding of how to deal with mistakes, let's take a look at what kind of mistakes students usually make in class.

I will refer to some, especially in spoken English.

Grammar mistakes (incorrect word order, wrong tense, verb-noun agreement, etc.)

Vocabulary mistakes (wrong word in a collocation, for example, 'do a mistake', poor choice of words connected with L1 interference, when it sounds okay in L1, but might be considered rude in English, etc.)

Pronunciation mistakes (wrong stress, wrong sounds, for example, 'sheep' and 'ship', incorrect assumptions, for example, 'able' in words 'table' and 'comfortable' is pronounced in different ways, but students might assume it's pronounced the same because there's the same letter sequence, etc.)

These are the most frequent, but of course, there are more.

When it comes to higher levels, you can also work with rhythm and intonation.

For example, tag questions have different intonations depending on whether you want to confirm the information or request it.

Do you think there's a point in correcting elementary level students' wrong usage of present perfect if they haven't learnt it yet?

Is it a good idea to pay attention to the wrong use of articles if you teach Present Continuous?

Will you spend time drilling the correct pronunciation of a word that is not your target language for the lesson?

If your answer to these 3 questions is 'No', then you're on the right track.

Keep in mind that we can't teach everything in one lesson and the best thing a teacher can do with error correction is be consistent with the context of the lesson, its aims and the target language.

Instant and Delayed error correction

In 'Learning Teaching' Scrivener suggests to think about 5 decisions teachers need to make when working with oral errors:

1. What kind of error has been made? (grammatical? pronunciation? etc).

2. Whether to deal with it. (is it useful to correct it?).

3. When to deal with it? (now? end of activity? later?).

4. Who will correct? (teacher? student self-correction? other students?).

5. Which technique to use to indicate that an error has occurred or to enable correction.

J.Scrivener (2011) , 'Learning Teaching: The Essential Guide to English Language Teaching' 3rd edition, Macmillan Education, p. 285

I strongly recommend reading the source if you want to dive deeper into error correction.

I find these questions very useful and logical, so let's discuss them further.

The first two questions are already answered above, so let's move to question 3, as it's a very interesting one.

And here it's time to talk about accuracy vs fluency, because they do play an important role in making this decision.

Remember the situation I started this blog post with?

The teacher clearly wanted my language to become more accurate.

But did she help me with that? I really doubt it.

If we're aiming for efficient error correction, we must think about the aims of activities.

SITUATION 1

Let's say, your students do a pre-text discussion and the aim of that is to provide them with the context of the text and brainstorm some ideas.

What do you think we practise here - accuracy or fluency?

Definitely, fluency, because there's no target language for the students to use.

If we practise fluency, do you think it's a good idea to interrupt your students' discussion with immediate error correction as soon as they make a mistake? Probably not.

SITUATION 2

Suppose, you have a different situation.

It's a controlled practice stage and you check the first grammar exercise with your students.

One of the students reads a sentence with a mistake.

Would you write it down and wait till the end of activity or would you immediately correct your student?

On-the-spot correction is essential here, otherwise, this student will have no idea if he understood the topic right.

If you correct the mistake instantly, it might help bridge that gap the student has as it focuses on accuracy and it makes the rest of practice tasks easier for the student.

SITUATION 3

One more situation. It's a freer practice stage, students work in groups on the task that aims to apply the target language to a speaking activity.

It seems that accuracy is important here, it's target language practice.

But it's a speaking task, so fluency is practised here as well.

That's why it is important to know exactly what your students practice at every stage of the lesson.

Here I will refer to questions 4 and 5 from the previous paragraph.

When we hear 'error correction', we usually picture that one option when a teacher corrects a student directly.

You might be surprised, but there are way more options in fact.

It's also a good idea to refer your students to course books where they can find vocabulary/grammar they made a mistake in, ask them to read that one more time and then elicit the correct answer.

Students might even do self-correction.

But in any case, it's important to indicate that this error happened.

Below I will share some options on how I usually do that.

Then I correct the mistake so that it's visible for my students.

2) I use the same method working with pronunciation.

If there's a word (or words) my students commonly mispronounce, I would write it down and at the end of activity I usually show it to my students and ask them to read it.

Then we deal with the stress or incorrect sounds, and after that we drill the correct pronunciation.

For example, students make a mistake in the word 'hotel' placing the stress on the first syllable.

At this point they remember that the stress should go on the second syllable and read the word correctly.

Then we drill the word.

With your face you can show surprise, indicate that there's something wrong, raise your eyebrows or frown etc.

You can use your hands to indicate the correct intonation (up or down).

I also use a gesture when I point behind my back to show past tense.

Prepositions of place also go very well with gestures.

4) Another way of using body language for error correction is using fingers on your hands.

For example, you teach 'to be' in present tense, and the word order in questions is different from the word order in affirmative sentences.

I usually assign one word for one finger and when a student makes a mistake in word order, I show how to change places of words.

For example:

Student: She is Argentinian?

Teacher: Let's make a question. She (holds middle finger) is (holds index finger, then swipes them).

Student: Is she Argentinian?

Teacher: Yes! Good job!

5) You can use your intonation to indicate something is wrong in the sentence.

For example, beginner and elementary level students often confuse possessive adjectives, and I use surprised intonation to indicate there's something wrong.
For example:

Student: My wife went on a business trip. I drink coffee from your cup when she's away.
Teacher(with surprised intonation): From MY cup?
Student: No, from HER cup. My wife's cup.

6) One more obvious way is to ask questions.

I usually use this to correct tenses.

For example, I asked my students at the lesson on Monday 'What did you do at the weekend?'.
Here's an example of a conversation:

Student: I go shopping.
Teacher: Was it yesterday?
Student: Yes.
Teacher: Put 'go' in the past.
Student: I went shopping yesterday.

This is obviously not the complete list of the ways you can use to gently correct your students' mistakes.

I strongly recommend reading the chapter on error correction in Jim Scrivener's 'Learning Teaching' (p. 285 'Errors and correction).

You can find way more techniques there, try them out and choose your favourites.

Article authors & editors

Kateryna Kuchynska

Author

Teacher of General English

© Grade University 2025, by Teacher Training Department of Grade Education Centre

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Learn how to correct mistakes in ESL classrooms with effective strategies that enhance student learning and improve language accuracy.

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the ability to speak or write a foreign language easily and accurately

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Activities that help to develop fluency focus on communication, for example discussions, speaking games, presentations, task work such as projects and e-mailing.

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Fluency is the ability to read words accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their attention on the text's meaning. In this way, fluency acts as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension, and this relationship is reciprocal. That is, when a student understands the meaning of the text he/she is reading, it is much easier to read that text with expression.

Prosody is a term that is frequently heard in discussions of fluency. Prosody refers to the appropriate use of intonation and phrasing in reading. Prosodic reading involves paying attention to punctuation signs like commas and periods, assigning appropriate stress to individual words within a sentence, and raising or lowering voice intonation to match the meaning of the text (e.g., raising the voice at the end of a question). Paying attention to the elements of prosody allows us to quantify and measure what we refer to as "reading with expression."

How fluency relates to ELLs

Instruction in fluency can be particularly beneficial for English language learners because activities designed to enhance fluency in reading can also contribute to oral language development in English. As students practice reading English text accurately, automatically, and prosodically, they are gaining valuable information about the sounds and cadences of spoken English, and they are also developing vocabulary skills that can contribute to oral language fluency, as well as reading and listening comprehension.

Assessing reading fluency

As with any type of instruction, fluency instruction depends upon ongoing assessment to identify individual students' strengths and needs. Effective fluency assessment must include measures of all three components of fluency: reading accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. It is important to note that the accuracy percentages and the reading rate ranges described in this article are based on research conducted in English and should not be applied to reading in other languages. Even languages that use the same alphabet differ in such characteristics as phonetic regularity, syntactical complexity, and even average word length, all of which can affect reading accuracy and rate. Additional research is needed to determine appropriate accuracy and rate ranges for other languages.

Assessing reading accuracy

Accuracy refers to the percentage of words a reader can read correctly in a given text. Measuring accuracy allows teachers to choose texts at an appropriate difficulty level for each student. In order to improve their reading, students need texts that are difficult enough to require them to practice using the reading strategies they are learning without being so difficult that the student is overwhelmed.

In talking about text difficulty, reading teachers often refer to three functional reading levels, which represent the amount of difficulty that a particular level of text presents for a student. Text that is at a student's independent reading level is text that he/she can read with 98-100% accuracy. That is, the student misses no more than two words out of every 100 words of text. At this level, the student can read independently with no support from the teacher. Text that is at a student's instructional reading level is text that the student can read and comprehend, but only with some assistance from the teacher. The accuracy range for instructional-level text is 90-97% for Primer-level text and above and 85-97% for Preprimer-level text. Text that is at a student's frustrational reading level is text that he/she can read with less than 90% accuracy (less than 85% at Preprimer level). At this level, the student would have difficulty reading and comprehending the text, even with the support of the teacher.

Teachers should target a student's instructional reading level for classroom reading instruction. When students read text that they can read with 90-97% accuracy, they encounter enough challenges to require them to practice the strategies they are learning, but the text is not so difficult that students are overwhelmed. Independent-level text can be used for independent reading and for practicing reading speed and prosody, and frustration-level text is great for comprehension instruction during teacher read-alouds.

Here is a quick way to measure reading accuracy:

Find a short reading passage, and ask the student to read it aloud to you.

Make note of any errors the student makes while reading. Errors include: substitutions (substituting an incorrect word or a nonsense word for a word in the text), reversals (reversing the order of two words in the text), omissions (leaving out a word), or words you have to provide to the student. If the student self-corrects after making a mistake, count the word correct.

Divide the number of words the student read correctly by the total number of words in the passage. This number will be a percentage.

Example: The student read a 200-word passage and missed 14 words.
200 - 14 = 186 words read correctly
186 Â Ã· 200 = .93
The student read the passage with 93% accuracy, which is within his/her instructional reading range.

Assessing automaticity

Automaticity is usually measured as reading rate, or the number of words a student reads per minute (WPM). You can measure rate at the same time that you assess a student's reading accuracy. Here's what you do (you'll need a stopwatch):

Select a short reading passage, and have the student read it aloud. Begin timing as soon as the student reads the first word of the passage, and stop the stopwatch as soon as he/she reads the last word. (To measure silent reading rate, let the student know that you will begin timing as soon as he/she looks down at the passage, and you will stop when he/she looks up at the end. Students should not be expected to read silently until they are reading at second-grade level).

Convert the time on the stopwatch to seconds by multiplying the total number of minutes the student read by 60 and adding the number of additional seconds.

Multiply the total number of words in the passage by 60, and divide by the student's reading time in seconds:

Example: The student read a 200-word passage in 2 minutes and 32 seconds (2:32 on stopwatch).
2 minutes x 60 seconds each = 120 seconds
120 + the remaining 32 seconds = 152 seconds
(200 x 60) Ã· 152 seconds = 79 words per minute (wpm)

Many different researchers have suggested guidelines for how many words per minute students should be reading at particular stages of their reading development. Although there is no one accepted scale, the following ranges, developed by Dr. Darrell Morris at Appalachian State University, can be used as guidelines:

Average End-of-Year Reading Rate Ranges (Grades 1-8)

Grade

Oral rates (wpm)

Silent rates (wpm)

Source: Morris, D. (2008). Diagnosis and correction of reading problems. New York: Guilford.

Note: Reading rate is not assessed until students are reading in Primer-level text and above. Students reading below primer level are still reading word-by-word, focusing all of their attention on decoding the text.

Assessing prosody

Teachers often use rubrics to assess whether students are reading with appropriate pitch variation, intonation, phrasing, and expression. One such rubric is the Oral Reading Fluency Scale created for the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). To use this rubric, simply have a student read a short passage of text, and assign a score of 1-4, based on the descriptions below.

NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Scale

Level 3

Reads primarily in three- or four-word phrase groups. Some small groupings may be present. However, the majority of phrasing seems appropriate and preserves the syntax of the author. Little or no expressive interpretation is present.

Level 1

Reads primarily word-by-word. Occasional two-word or three-word phrases may occur - but these are infrequent and/or they do not preserve meaningful syntax.

SOURCE: U.D. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2002 Oral Reading Study.

Comprehension caveat

Even though fluency instruction is important, teachers must remember that many ELLs can be deceptively fast and accurate while reading in English without fully comprehending the meaning of the text they are reading. That is because reading comprehension depends upon a variety of complex skills that are not as important to word reading. These include deep vocabulary knowledge, syntactical knowledge, and background knowledge of the subject discussed in the text. For this reason, it is always important to pair fluency instruction with good instruction in comprehension.

For some great ideas on both fluency and comprehension instruction with ELLs, see Reading 101 for English Language Learners.

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Fluency is the ability to read words accurately and automatically with expression. Because fluent readers do not have to slow down in order to concentrate on decoding the individual words in a text, they can focus their attention on the text's meaning.

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The first step required by law to provide educational assistance. This survey is sent home to parents to find out whether a language other than English is spoken in the home. 

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This survey can be sent in the students home language. This survey allows parents to advocate for their child's needs at school.

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Adopted Revisions to 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 89, Subchapter BB | Texas Education Agency

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The purpose of this letter is to provide an overview of the adopted revisions to 19 Texas Administrative Code (TAC) Chapter 89, Adaptations for Special Populations, Subchapter BB, and to outline required actions on the part of local educational agencies (LEAs). Note the adopted revisions are effective on August 9, 2023, and are not retroactive for actions taken by school systems prior to that date. The adopted revisions to the rule include alignment of language to the Texas Education Code (TEC) Subchapter B, Bilingual Education and Special Language Programs; changes to the Home Language Survey (HLS) itself and how it is administered; and changes to the criteria used by Language Proficiency Assessment Committees (LPACs) when making reclassification determinations for students identified as emergent bilingual (EB). Below is a brief description of the revisions:

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Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC)

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Language Proficiency Assessment Committee (LPAC)

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t is a committee that is responsible for identifying, program placement, assessing, and reclassifying English learners (ELs)/Emergent Bilingual students. 

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LPAC determines if a student is an EL. They overlook the students needs and accommodations. 

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A term used in federal legislation and other official documents meaning those who have English proficiency at the beginning to intermediate levels.  

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This term is usually replaced with EL, ESL, dual language speakers. 

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Information that is available online in a multitude of different languages, along with tools to provide translations. It requires readers to interpret additional auditory, visual, and verbal cues.

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With the rise of technology, AI can be used as a multimodal tool for ESL students. 

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What Is Multimodal Learning? (+ 12 Ideas and Strategies to Use in Your Class) - Kotobee Blog

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What is multimodal learning, and why has it grown in popularity over the years? We’ll tell you all about it and more in this article.

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Each language in the world uses a finite set of sounds that makes a difference for meaning. 

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/k/ in words such as cat, kit, scat, skit

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Video 15: Phonemes Linked to Letters (REL Southeast)

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 Information and skills a learner have already accumulated before entering a new educational endeavor. 

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Also known as Background Knowledge. Asking students what do they already know about a topic before starting a lesson can help discussions and engagement.

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a method in which the teacher supports a student to work just beyond the level he could achieve on his own. 

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Models to support the student to help them gain independence. 

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Scaffolding is a method in which the teacher supports a student to work just beyond the level he could achieve on his own. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky called this area the "zone of proximal development." As the student becomes more competent, the support is gradually removed until the student is able to perform the task without assistance.

The benefits of using scaffolding are numerous. Scaffolds help students build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. The goal of the educator when using the scaffolding teaching strategy is for the student to become an independent and self-regulating learner and problem solver.

In addition to facilitating learning, the scaffolds:

Motivate the child's interest related to the task.

Simplify the task to make it more manageable and achievable for a child.

Help the child focus on achieving the goal.

Clearly indicate differences between the child's work and the standard or desired solution.

Reduce frustration and risk.

Model and clearly define the expectations of the activity to be performed.

For a discussion of scaffolding research and strategies, see the Scaffolding as a Teaching Strategy document from Condor's Scaffolding Website.

For a variety of instructional activities using scaffolding strategies, visit EDTech Projects.

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What is "scaffolding" and how does it help ELLs?

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Scaffolding is a method in which the teacher supports a student to work just beyond the level he could achieve on his own. Psychologist Lev Vygotsky called this area the "zone of proximal development." As the student becomes more competent, the support is gradually removed until the student is able to perform the task without assistance.

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Instruction in English with sheltering support for academic content learning goal: English Proficiency for academic use.

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Using guided practices and scaffolding can help ESL students.

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Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

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Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL)

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Focused on teaching English to non-native speakers. TESOL encompasses various teaching methods, strategies, and practices to help learners acquire English language skills for academic, professional, or everyday communication purposes.

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TESOL is to teach ESL students. Teachers who teach ESL students are creative and inclusive.

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An approach to language teaching that pairs actions with words that convey meaning.

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The purpose is support word learning through action and providing additional word meaning cues.

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Teacher Toolkit: Total Physical Response