Finnearn, Bethany

EDUG 506
15 September 2016
ELD standards discussion
1. What settings do the ELD standards apply to? P.3
The ELD standards apply to:

Newcomer programs
Structured English immersion programs
Mainstream programs where ELs may receive specialized ELD instruction
Separate ELD classes
bilingual/duallanguage programs

2. What does PLD stand for and what are the 3 PLDs? p. 5
PLD stands for the proficiency level descriptors. They provide an overview of stages of
English language development that English learners are expected to progress through as they
gain increasing proficiency in English as a new language. The 3 PLDs are emerging, expanding,
and bridging.
3. What is the difference between the 3 PLDs? p. 6

Emerging: Students at this level typically progress very quickly, learning to use English
for immediate needs as well as beginning to understand and use academic vocabulary and

other features of academic language.

Expanding: Students at this level are challenged to increase their English skills in more
contexts, and learn a greater variety of vocabulary and linguistic structures, applying their
growing language skills in more sophisticated ways appropriate to their age and grade

level.
Bridging: Students at this level continue to learn and apply a range of highlevel English
language skills in a wide variety of contexts, including comprehension and production of

highly technical texts. The bridge alluded to is the transition to full engagement in
gradelevel academic tasks and activities in a variety of content areas without the need for
specialized ELD instruction. However, ELs at all levels of English language proficiency
fully participate in grade level tasks in all content areas with varying degrees of
scaffolding in order to develop both content knowledge and English.
4. What are the levels of support within each PLD? P. 6
The extent of support needed varies depending on the familiarity and complexity of the task
and topic, as well as on the students English language proficiency level. Within the PLDs, three
general levels of support are identified: Substantial, Moderate, and Light.
5. What is the difference between CA ELD standards and Common Core ELA
standards? P. 14
ELD standards describe the key knowledge, skills, and abilities in core areas of English
language development that students learning English as a new language need in order to access,
engage with, and achieve within the Common Core standards.
Common Core standards provide guidelines for teachers to create grade-level academic
content, with particular alignment to the key knowledge, skills, and abilities for achieving
college and career readiness.
6. What are the 3 parts of the ELD standards? PP. 15
Part I: Interacting in Meaningful Ways
Part II: Learning About How English Works
Part III: Using Foundational Literacy Skills
7. What is the difference between Collaborative, Interpretive and Productive in Part
1? P. 16

Collaborative is engagement in dialogue with others, Interpretive is comprehension and

analysis of written and spoken texts, and Productive is creation of oral presentations and written
texts.
8. What is the difference between Structuring Cohesive Texts, Expanding and
Enriching Ideas, and Connecting and Condensing Ideas? P. 17
Structuring cohesive texts is understanding the English language using text structure and
organization based on purpose, text, type, and discipline, as well as understanding cohesion and
how language resources across a text contribute to the way a text unfolds and flows.
Expanding and enriching ideas is using the English language through verbs and verb phrases
to create precision and clarity in different text types, nouns and noun phrases to expand ideas and
provide more detail, as well as modifying to add details to provide more information and create
precision.
Connecting and condensing ideas involves connecting ideas within sentences by combining
clauses and condensing ideas within sentences using a variety of language resources.