Conversational language proficiency is fundamentally different from academic language proficiency.
ELLs must have access to comprehensible input that is slightly beyond their concurrent level of competence and also opportunities to use language for meaningful purposes.
Active participation in social interaction fosters the development of conversational and academic English.
ELLs with strong home language (L1) skills are more likely to catch up academically than those with weak L1 skills.
ELLs will learn more effectively in a safe, welcoming classroom environment that does not generate anxiety about performing in English (L2).
Explicit attention to linguistic form and function is essential to L2 learning.