Fluid Language

Social English

Social English is a variety of English used first by children during the Fluid Stage of language development. Social English is considered to be informal in which short and simple sentence structures are predominantly used. As a result, Social English requires a smaller vocabulary than Academic English (Cummins, 1991). Some educators refer to Social English as “conversational” English (Shefelbine, 1999).

Children use Social English most frequently during interactions with peers and adults in relaxed, playful, informal situations. Some English Learners may begin to use Social English earlier than other English Learners. Some teachers may worry about the child who takes longer to participate through spoken language at school. However, it is important to remember from research that children achieve developmental milestones, including those in first and second language development, at different rates.

Academic English

Academic English, in contrast to Social English, takes much longer to learn. Studies have shown that is takes school-age children five to seven years to master Academic English (Collier & Thomas, 2000). Academic English is more formal than Social English and requires the use of longer, more complex sentence structures. As a result, the children needs to have a larger vocabulary (Cummins, 1991).

Because of the more formal and complex nature of Academic English and the time it takes to master it, the use of a English Learner’s home language can help with the learning of important concepts. Teachers who are not proficient in a child’s home language can provide academic support in the home language by planning activities that can be implemented by family or community members who do speak the language. There are also cognitive and social second strategies for second language acquisition that can be utilized to help children learn concepts.