Students become more
fluent writers and can spell many
words automatically
Teacher makes sure
that vocabulary
growth is
happening.
Requires a higher
degree of abstract
thinking.
Students begin to learn the
meanings behind the spelling
patterns, thus being able to use
more complex words in their
writing.
Can begin writing some
high-frequency words if
consistently working with them
during all aspects of literacy.
When teaching ELL's in the transitional
stage, teachers need to know something
about the student's native language to
guide comparisons and understand the
student's difficulties to aide in their writing.
Students are able to write
with ease and at greater
speed.
Students have more time to
work on ideas and written
expression.
Background knowledge
creates opportunities for
complex story lines or
informational pieces.
Students in the
transitional stage are
using but confusing vowel
patterns.
Intermediate
Students produce more
confident, fluent writing,
and can work on longer
pieces.
Student's own reading becomes
the source of new vocabulary that
they can begin using in their
writing. Teachers still need to
teach specific vocabulary for
content writing.
While learning compound
words, students are learning
to combine in different ways,
syllables, and the spellings of
many high-frequency,
high-utility words enriching
their writing.
Students in this stage can spell most
single-syllable and high-frequency words,
allowing them to focus attention on the
meaning they are trying to convey instead of
spelling words.
ELL's in the intermediate stage will need
extra support on vocabulary
development for many words before
being able to use them in their writing.
Audience awareness is developing
in this stage, and you can hear
"voice" in their writing.
Students can be expected to
revise and edit their written
pieces.
Students in the intermediate stage are using
but confusing some complex patterns,
accented and unaccented syllables, and
affixes