Editing Language immersion (section)

== Stages of language acquisition ==
* Pre-production: also called "the silent period," this period lasts 10 hours to 6 months in language immersion environment. Students may have about 500 receptive words in their mind but cannot speak the language yet. During this mimicking period, students are likely to repeat everything that they heard in class and can respond to pictures and yes-or-no questions by using their gestures like nodding or shaking their head. The class must integrate pictures and physical response methods.<ref name="Cervantes-Soon, C. G. 2014"/>
* Early Production, in which students can master about 1000 receptive and active words, lasts six months after the pre-production stage. Students can answer simple questions, like yes-or-no questions. They also can repeat and use two-word phrases. They might not use patterns correctly, but they can discover the problem.  This is a self-discovery period.<ref name="Housen, A. 2005">Housen, A., & Pierrard, M. (2005). Investigations in Instructed Second Language Acquisition. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.</ref>
* Speech Emergence, in which students will have about 3000 active words, lasts one year after the early production stage. Students can answer simple questions and use three or more words in simple phrase and patterns. Students can understand the general idea of a story with pictures and may not be able to use the patterns correctly, but they can correct some of them by themselves. This is also called a self-correcting period. Teachers focus on conversations in class during this stage.<ref name="Housen, A. 2005"/>
* Intermediate Fluency, in which students have nearly 6000 words in their active vocabulary. This stage lasts one year after speech emergence. Students start to use complex sentences in their speaking and writing and also know how to respond to other people's questions. It is not hard for them to use the target language to learn math and science. Students are beginning to use more complex sentences when they speak and write, and they are willing to express opinions and share their thoughts. They ask questions to clarify what they are learning in class. More culture and literature is taught in this stage.<ref name="Housen, A. 2005"/>
* Advanced Fluency (also called Continued Language Development),<ref>Giacalone Ramat, A. (2003). Typology and Second Language Acquisition. Berlin: De Gruyter Mouton.</ref> which requires students to know most content area vocabulary, lasts from 4 to 10 years. It is an achievement of cognitive academic language proficiency in the target language. Students' second-language ability has arrived to become near the native level.<ref name="Housen, A. 2005"/>