Which of the following is NOT one of Willig & Lee's four developmental stages?

• A. Pre-production
• B. Early production
• C. The speech emergence stage
• D. Beginner fluency stage

Answer: (D)

Willig & Lee describe four stages of language development for ESOL learners: pre-production, early production, speech emergence, and intermediate fluency. In pre-production, learners mostly understand and may rely on gestures; in early production they begin using short phrases and single words; in speech emergence they form longer sentences and participate in conversation with growing vocabulary, though accuracy is still developing; in intermediate fluency they communicate with greater complexity and confidence, with fewer but still present errors. The option that is not one of these stages is beginner fluency, because the final stage is called intermediate fluency, not beginner.