2026/2027
What is the Texas English Language Proficiency Assessment System (TELPAS)? - Answers A
federally required assessment program designed to measure the annual progress that ELLs
make in learning academic English
What are the English Language Proficiency Standards (ELPS)? - Answers Federally required
instructional standards designed to ensure that ELLs are taught the academic English they need
for school purposes. These can be considered the "TEKS" of language development.
ELPS PLDS - Answers PROFICIENCY LEVEL DESCRIPTORS.
The proficiency level descriptors show the progression of second language acquisition from
one proficiency level to the next and serve as a road map to help content area teachers instruct
ELLs commensurate with students' linguistic needs. Teachers of ELLs are required to use them
for formative assessment.
Beginning Proficiency Level - Answers Little or no English ability
Intermediate Proficiency Level - Answers Limited ability, simple language structures,
high-frequency vocabulary, routine contexts
Advanced Proficiency Level - Answers Grade appropriate, with second language acquisition
support
Advanced High Proficiency Level - Answers Grade appropriate, with minimal second language
acquisition support
WHAT IS AN LPAC? - Answers As an advocate for the ELL, the LPAC becomes the voice that
initiates, articulates, deliberates, and determines the best instructional program for the student.
It functions as a link between the home and the school in making appropriate decisions
regarding placement, instructional practices, assessment, and special programs that impact the
student.
BICS - Answers Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
-social language
CALP - Answers Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency
-academic language
The Lau Remedies of 1974 - Answers made the identification of students whose primary
language is not English and the evaluation of their English-language proficiency mandatory in all
, school districts.
Transitional Bilingual - Answers uses the native language in core academic subjects. The goal is
to phase into English only as quickly as possible.
Developmental Bilingual - Answers uses the native language in core academic subjects
throughout elementary school. Sometimes the program extends into middle and high school
even after the student has been classified proficient in English.
Two-Way Immersion - Answers the students are from similar backgrounds with about half the
class speaking the native language and the other half speaking both. Instruction is about evenly
split between English and the native language.
Basic interpersonal communication skills encompass two different and distinct styles of
communication: - Answers 1. Context-embedded communication
2. Context-reduced communication
Context-reduced communication - Answers doesn't have visual cues so the student must rely on
competency and fluency to understand.
Context-embedded communication - Answers uses visual and vocal props to help the student
understand what is being said.
The three methods most commonly used to teach English as a Second Language (ESL) are... -
Answers grammar-based, communication-based and content-based.
Grammar-based - Answers teaches students the rules: Structure, function and vocabulary.
Emphasis is on the why and how.
Communication-based - Answers teaches how to use English in every day, realistic situations. It
emphasizes practical conversational usage.
Content-based - Answers teaches grammar and vocabulary and uses written assignments to
practice these skills. It emphasizes an integrated approach to learning English.
The Continuum of Learning theory - Answers outlines predictable steps when learning a new
language. No matter the age and intelligence of the person, teachers encounter these general
levels of mastery.
The Continuum of Learning theory stages... - Answers 1. Silent/Receptive or Preproduction
stage
2. Early Production stage
3. Speech Emergence stage