English Learners’ Development of Academic
English. The CA ELD Standards center on building ELs’
proficiency in the range of rigorous academic English
language abilities necessary for successful interaction with
grade-level content and full access to the CA CCSS for
ELA/Literacy and other content standards. The CA ELD
Standards emphasize the importance of “positioning English
learners as competent and capable of achieving academic
literacies, providing them with an intellectually challenging
curriculum with appropriate levels of support, apprenticing
them into successfully using disciplinary language, and
making the features of academic language transparent in
order to build proficiency with and critical awareness of the
features of academic language” (CDE 2014).
This requires teachers to think strategically about the types of learning experiences that will
support their ELs at varying English proficiency levels to build up and use the English language
resources and content knowledge necessary for participating in academic tasks. Teachers must
continue to help their ELs to develop the type of English used in social or everyday situations, such
as interacting informally with peers. Importantly, teachers allow students to use everyday English and
even “imperfect” English as they develop English as an additional language, as well as their primary
language where appropriate, while they engage in academic tasks. This does not mean that teachers
should ignore grammatical or vocabulary approximations. This term, as opposed to errors, is used
intentionally to signal that as EL students develop English and demonstrate their understandings
through writing and speaking, they may approximate standard English. These approximations are not
errors but rather a normal part of second language development. As ELs progress in their ELD, their
approximations advance until they are equivalent, or nearly equivalent, to standard English.
The path students take as they develop academic English necessarily requires risk-taking, and
students likely will make approximations with word choice, grammar, and oral discourse practices as
they gain new understandings and abilities, particularly as the texts and tasks they encounter become
increasingly complex. The CA ELD standards are focused on developing this steady advancement of
academic English across the disciplines as students use English purposefully and meaningfully in a
variety of tasks and with an abundance of texts. To support the development of academic English,
teachers observe their EL students’ closely as they use English meaningfully in authentic tasks and
provide strategically chosen, timely, and judicious feedback (rather than attempting to correct every
error students make).
Effective Expression
The development of effective oral and written expression is one
of the hallmarks of the CA CCSS for ELA/Literacy and the CA ELD
Standards. The Writing, Speaking and Listening, and Language
strands of the CCSS include standards that focus on building students’
expressive skills in academic contexts. At the same time, the Reading
strand ensures that students engage with a wide range of high-quality
literary and informational text and that they examine and learn from
the author’s craft.
Effective expression is important in all subject matter throughout
the grades. In the fourth- and fifth-grade span, teachers build on
what students learned in the primary grades to prepare them for
the demands of middle and high school. They provide instruction on
To support the development
of academic English, teachers
observe their EL students’
closely as they use English
meaningfully in authentic
tasks and provide strategically
chosen, timely, and judicious
feedback (rather than
attempting to correct every
error students make).Grades 4 and 5 Chapter 5 | 405