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Language Supports by Proficiency Level Descriptor

Vote with Your Feet

Pre-Production

Provide pictures, icons, or gestures to represent answer choices. Allow students to respond by moving to a choice, pointing, or using thumbs up/down to show agreement. Pair students with a supportive peer for clarification.

 

Beginning

Provide a list of key words or simple sentence stems students can use to explain their choice (e.g., “I choose ___ because ___.”). Allow students to discuss their response with a partner before sharing with the group.

 

Intermediate

Encourage deeper reasoning with prompts such as “How does your choice connect to a real-life situation?” or “What might happen if ___ was removed?” Encourage full-sentence explanations with justification.

 

High Intermediate

Ask students to defend their choice using evidence and explain why they did not choose another option. Encourage students to compare perspectives and respond to peers’ ideas.

 

Advanced

Challenge students to evaluate multiple perspectives, justify their stance with evidence, and extend the discussion using academic vocabulary and detailed explanations.