ABSTRACT
Differentiating instruction takes place in every classroom; however, in a classroom where there are ELLs, two kinds of differentiation must take place: for complexity of content and for complexity of language. For instance, a child in the preproduction phase of English language development may have an immense amount of literacy background in his or her native language that affects how that child interacts with and produces texts. During preproduction ELLs might not produce very much speech in English and could be in their silent period, in which they simply listen and absorb the language. Approaches to assessment similar to those in preproduction can be used with the addition of more text and more sophisticated oral interactions. An ELL in the speech emergence stage might be able to speak in phrases and is increasingly able to communicate. Assessment is similar to the speech emergence stage but grows in sophistication.
