ABSTRACT
Language development is no small undertaking. It takes as long as three to four years to develop a language at the advanced level. Basic communication skills can rapidly develop on a virtually involuntary basis, given the right environment, because the human brain is hardwired for communication. However, advanced language skills, required to perform cognitively demanding and linguistically complex tasks, develop over time with essential academic supports and quality teaching. Early advanced stage ELLs are comfortable in English within familiar realms, which I will refer to as “comfort zones.” When ELLs attempt to function outside their language comfort zones, their proficiency becomes somewhat reduced. The goal, then, for ELLs at this stage is to increase the number of academic areas in which they feel fluent and comfortable using English. This means using many of the previously noted strategies plus inserting strategies that push ELLs to use increasingly complex language in cognitively demanding situations.
