ERLI Achievement Scale

The ERLI program is divided into four levels:

Level 2: High-Beginner level
Level 3: Intermediate level
Level 4: High-Intermediate level
Level 5: Advanced level

Note: In any class at any level, a student must earn a 70% or higher [C, B or A] before they can progress to the next level in that class.

For example: Student A passes level three reading with a C. This student will next go to level four reading.

Interpretation of the ERLI Achievement Scale

Level 2:
Reading – A student completing Level 2 Reading should be able to…	recognize topic and main ideas in readings. find directly stated supporting details in readings. make simple annotations within a reading following teacher guidance. summarize readings orally in 2-3 sentences. share reflections on readings both orally and in writing. skim to identify topic and make meaningful predictions about the text. scan for specific information in a text. make simple logical inferences. understand discourse structures by locating signal words and completing simple graphic organizers. interpret simple charts, graphs and tables. use a bilingual and/or English-English dictionary to understand key words and expand personal vocabulary. infer meaning of vocabulary from context clues. distinguish word forms/parts of speech. define high-frequency vocabulary and topically relevant vocabulary in course readings. read aloud with correct intonation and pausing. read 30,000 words of graded-reading material consisting of 150-600 headwords by the end of the course with an approximate rate between 138 and 200 wpm while maintaining comprehension. recognize sight words.
Writing – A student completing Level 2 Writing should be able to…	write sentences using simple, compound and, to a limited degree, complex grammatical structures as taught in Grammar Two. write sentences without serious errors in spelling and mechanics that interfere with comprehension. demonstrate an ability to write in a variety of paragraph formats, such as persuasive, process, narrative, cause and effect, and comparison/contrast. demonstrate an ability to brainstorm and outline a high-beginner-level paragraph. demonstrate an ability to organize a paragraph that includes a topic sentence, body and conclusion sentence along with appropriate transitions. demonstrate an ability to employ supporting details, such as relevant examples and explanations in a cohesive and coherent manner. demonstrate an ability to correctly use high-beginner-level vocabulary. demonstrate an ability to employ a range of sentence structures as described in 1a. demonstrate an ability to write sentences without serious errors in spelling and mechanics that interfere with comprehension. demonstrate an ability to revise (content) and edit (vocabulary, grammar, spelling, mechanics, and sentence structure). demonstrate an ability to avoid plagiarism.
Grammar – A student completing Level 2 Grammar should be able to…	identify nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, articles, quantifiers and prepositions. use nouns as subjects, subject complements and objects. use count and non-count nouns with their correct quantifiers. demonstrate a beginning understanding and application of subject-verb agreement, and capitalization and punctuation rules. demonstrate an understanding and application of sentence word order in both positive and negative statement, question and imperative forms. demonstrate knowledge of the simple and continuous verb tense formulas in the past, present and future in both positive and negative forms. correctly use the simple past, present and future tenses with the “be” verb in positive and negative statements. correctly use the simple past, present and future tense with the “be” verb in positive and negative yes/no and WH questions. correctly use the past, present and future continuous tenses with the “be” verb in positive and negative statements. correctly use the past, present and future continuous tense with the “be” verb in positive and negative yes/no and WH questions. correctly use the simple past, present and future tense with action verbs in positive and negative statements. correctly use the simple past, present and future tense with action verbs in positive and negative yes/no and WH questions. correctly use the past, present and future continuous tense with action verbs in positive and negative statements. correctly use the past, present and future continuous tense with action verbs in positive and negative yes/no and WH questions. demonstrate and understanding and application of common transitive and intransitive phrasal verbs in the tenses described above. correctly use simple present modals in positive and negative statements. correctly use present continuous modals in positive and negative statements. correctly use simple present modals in positive and negative questions. correctly use present continuous modals in positive and negative questions. correctly use adverb clauses of time, including those with when, before and after. correctly use adverb clauses of reason, including those with because. correctly use adverb clauses of unexpected result, including those with although, even though and though. correctly use adverb clauses of contrast, including those with whereas.
Listening/Speaking – A student completing Level 2 Listening/Speaking should be able to…	Listening: demonstrate an ability to use short-hand techniques, such as some abbreviations, symbols and acronyms at a high-beginning-level. demonstrate an ability to organize notes from a high-beginner-level lecture by identifying and writing down main ideas and supporting details, employing the use of some key words from a beginner-level lecture. demonstrate an ability to pass quizzes/tests based on notes from a high-beginner-level lecture. demonstrate an ability to recognize topics of high-beginning-level listening passages. demonstrate an ability to identify facts directly expressed in beginning-level listening passages. demonstrate an ability to identify opinions directly expressed in high-beginning-level listening passages. demonstrate an ability to make predictions about specific content they will hear in high-beginning-level listening passages. For example, using pictures to predict content. demonstrate an ability to make inferences about specific content they hear in high-beginning-level listening passages. be able to identify syllables at the word level. Speaking: demonstrate an ability to use high-beginning-level-appropriate language in the context of organized presentations that include presentation techniques and can include technological aids. demonstrate an ability to use high-beginning-level-appropriate language in the context of formal classroom discussions but mostly in informal classroom conversations. demonstrate an ability to utilize correct grammar and pronunciation in spoken communication at a high-beginning-level. demonstrate an ability to utilize idiomatic language in high-beginning level speaking activities.
Level 3:
Reading – A student completing Level 3 Reading should be able to…	identify stated main idea in a reading. distinguish between major and minor supporting details explicitly stated in the passage. paraphrase the explicit main idea. make simple annotations within a reading. share reaction to a reading orally or in writing. skim and scan to make predictions and verify predictions during reading. identify organizational patterns, such as examples, definitions, compare and contrast, and cause and effect. distinguish fact from opinion. make inferences based on the information in the text and their general knowledge of the world. interpret simple charts, graphs and tables, and apply the information to answer questions. use information from the text to support an opinion. apply vocabulary recognition strategies, such as context clues, roots, prefixes and suffixes. demonstrate knowledge of word families. define vocabulary in course readings. develop knowledge of synonyms and antonyms. read 40,000 words of graded-reading material consisting of 600-1800 head words by the end of the course with an approximate rate between 138 and 200 wpm while maintaining comprehension. read informational texts with 1100 headwords with reading rate of up to 250 wpm while maintaining general comprehension. recognize sight words in prose.
Writing – A student completing Level 3 Writing should be able to…	demonstrate an ability to brainstorm and outline an intermediate-level academic composition. demonstrate an ability to organize a multi-paragraph essay that includes an introduction with a thesis, body and conclusion along with appropriate transitions. Include modes such as persuasive, cause/effect, narrative, analysis, and comparison/contrast. produce a response to a text or listening that’s at or a little below their lexile level. analyze and report on data from different types of sources such as graphs, charts, tables that’s at or little below their reading level. demonstrate an ability to employ supporting details such as relevant examples and explanations. demonstrate an ability to correctly use intermediate-level vocabulary demonstrate an ability to employ a range of sentence structures using simple, compound and complex grammatical structures as taught in grammar three. demonstrate an ability to revise (content) and edit (vocabulary, grammar, spelling, mechanics, and sentence structure). demonstrate an ability to avoid plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to paraphrase non-authentic texts written at an intermediate-level and use these skills to avoid plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to use synonyms appropriately in context in a meaningful way while paraphrasing. demonstrate an ability to use a variety of intermediate-level grammatical forms in paraphrasing. demonstrate an ability to summarize non-authentic texts written at an intermediate-level while avoiding plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to identify the main idea and major and minor supporting details in non-authentic texts written at an intermediate-level. demonstrate an ability to organize a main idea and relevant supporting detail into a summary.
Grammar – A student completing Level 3 Grammar should be able to…	demonstrate knowledge of the simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous verb tense formulas in the past, present and future in both positive and negative forms. correctly use all 12 active past, present and future tense in positive and negative statements in sentences and longer contexts. correctly use all 12 active past, present and future tense in positive and negative yes/no and WH questions in sentences and longer contexts. correctly use gerunds and infinitives as subjects with the appropriate subject-verb agreement and parallelism. correctly use gerunds and infinitives as direct objects. correctly use infinitives after an adjective. correctly use simple present modals in positive and negative statements and questions. correctly use present continuous modals in positive and negative statements and questions. correctly use simple past modals in positive and negative statements and questions. correctly use past continuous modals in positive and negative statements and questions. correctly use adverb clauses of reason, including those with because, since and as. correctly use adverb clauses of time, including those with when, while and as; before, by the time and until; after and once; and since. correctly use adverb clauses of contrast, including those with while and whereas. correctly use adverb clauses of unexpected result, including those with although, even though and though. correctly use adverb clauses of condition, including if, unless, whether and in case. (These serve as a lead-in to conditionals). correctly distinguish between and use common prepositional forms of the adverb subordinators described above. correctly use past real conditionals in their full active forms. correctly use present real conditionals in their full active forms. correctly use future real conditionals in their full active forms. correctly use subject-subject adjective clauses in their full active form. correctly use object-subject adjective clauses in their full active form.
Listening/Speaking – A student completing Level 3 Listening/Speaking should be able to…	Listening: demonstrate a basic understanding of the topic and main idea in intermediate-level non-authentic academic and non-academic discourse from a variety of listening sources . demonstrate an ability to listen for specific details and explain their link to the overall purpose of an intermediate-level oral text. demonstrate an ability to predict and make cohesive and basic elaborative inferences. demonstrate an ability to distinguish reported speech and cited information from the speaker’s own words. demonstrate a basic skill in taking notes on topic, key words, and specific details and organizing notes into sections recognize word stress in 2-3 syllable nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs as well as long/short vowel sounds. Speaking: demonstrate appropriate use of supra-segmental and segmental pronunciation features* in mono-logic and conversational speech. demonstrate an ability to communicate relevant and structured content in monologic and conversational speech at an intermediate level with or without visual aids. demonstrate an ability to orally articulate content with appropriate vocabulary and grammar in intermediate-level speaking tasks. demonstrate an ability to sustain, advance and complete an interaction in paired or group speaking situations. **Level 3 formal speaking tasks include individual (4-6 mins)/group presentation, formal discussion, performance reading. Students at this level will prepare in advance for academic speaking topics; non-academic speaking topics are impromptu. In conversational speech students provide some support from class or teacher provided materials
Level 4:
Reading – A student completing Level 4 Reading should be able to…	identify and understand stated and implied main ideas and paraphrase them. distinguish between major and minor supporting details for summary purposes. annotate text independently while reading. respond to a reading by explaining an opinion and using support from texts. skim for main idea and scan for details. analyze the organizational structure of a reading. compare ideas across two texts. make inferences based on the information in the text. distinguish fact from inference. understand literary devices, such as figurative language, idioms and metaphors. use vocabulary recognition strategies, such as context clues, roots, prefixes and suffixes. demonstrate knowledge of word families. define vocabulary in course readings and other relevant academic vocabulary. develop knowledge of synonyms and antonyms. use vocabulary from class readings appropriately in context in a meaningful way. read 60,000 words of graded-reading material consisting of 1000-2500 head words by the end of the course with an approximate rate between 138 and 200 wpm while maintaining comprehension. read informational texts with 1500 headwords with reading rate up to 250 wpm while maintaining general comprehension. recognize sight words in prose.
Writing – A student completing Level 4 Writing should be able to…	demonstrate an ability to brainstorm and outline a high-intermediate-level academic composition. demonstrate an ability to organize a multi-paragraph essay that includes an introduction with a thesis, body and conclusion along with appropriate transitions. Include modes such as persuasive, cause/effect, argumentative, narrative, analysis, and comparison/contrast. produce a response to a text or listening that’s at or a little below their lexile level. analyze and report on data from different types of sources such as graphs, charts, table that’s at or a little below their reading level. demonstrate an ability to employ supporting details such as relevant examples and explanations. demonstrate an ability to incorporate credible support paraphrased from authentic and non-authentic high-intermediate-level texts. demonstrate an ability to use synonyms appropriately in context in a meaningful way while paraphrasing. demonstrate an ability to use a variety of high-intermediate-level grammatical forms in paraphrasing. demonstrate an ability to correctly use high-intermediate-level vocabulary. demonstrate an ability to employ a range of sentence structures using simple, compound and complex grammatical structures as taught in EGM 4. demonstrate an ability to revise (content) and edit (vocabulary, grammar, spelling, mechanics, and sentence structure). demonstrate an ability to avoid plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources. demonstrate an ability to summarize authentic and non-authentic texts written at a high-intermediate-level while avoiding plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to identify the main idea and major and minor supporting details in authentic and non-authentic texts written at a high-intermediate-level. demonstrate an ability to organize a main idea and relevant supporting detail into a summary.
Grammar – A student completing Level 4 Grammar should be able to…	demonstrate knowledge of the simple, continuous, perfect and perfect continuous passive verb tense formulas in the past, present and future in both positive and negative forms. correctly use all 12 passive past, present and future tense in positive and negative statements in sentences and longer contexts. correctly use subject-object and object-object adjective clauses in their full active form. correctly use relative pronoun deletion with subject-object and object-object adjective clauses. correctly use subject-object and object-object adjective clauses in their passive, reduced and fronted forms. correctly use subject-subject and object-subject adjective clauses with “be” in their full, reduced and fronted forms. [“be” + a preposition & appositives]. correctly use subject-subject and object-subject adjective clauses with action verbs in their full, reduced and fronted forms. correctly use adverb clauses of reason, time, contrast, unexpected result and condition in their full active forms. [Refer to EGM 003 for a complete list of subordinators]. correctly use adverb clauses of time, contrast, unexpected result and condition in their active reduced form. correctly use adverb clauses of reason, time, contrast, unexpected result and condition in their full passive form. correctly use adverb clauses of time, contrast, unexpected result and condition in their passive reduced form. correctly use past, present and future real conditionals in their full active forms. correctly use past, present and future real conditionals in their active fronted/inverted forms. correctly use past, present and future real conditionals in their full passive forms. correctly use past, present and future real conditionals in their passive fronted/inverted forms. correctly use present and past unreal conditionals in their full active forms. correctly use present and past unreal conditionals in their simple and continuous active fronted/inverted forms. correctly use present and past unreal conditionals in their full passive forms. correctly use present and past unreal conditionals in their simple and continuous passive fronted/inverted forms. demonstrate an understanding of noun clause subordinators and their meanings. correctly use noun clauses as direct objects in both their active and passive forms. correctly use noun clauses as subjects in both their active and passive forms. correctly use noun clauses as subject complements in both their active and passive forms.
Listening/Speaking – A student completing Level 4 Listening/Speaking should be able to…	Listening: demonstrate an ability to take and organize notes that contain important/relevant information to perform written and oral tasks, with and without time delay. demonstrate an ability to predict, infer, and recognize the difference between facts, estimates, and opinions in an oral text. demonstrate a synthesized understanding of the general topic and the main points of different sections of an oral text. demonstrate a synthesized understanding of the specific details and their links to the main points of an oral text. Oral texts are based on short-to-medium length TED talks, simulated academic lectures (1000–1300 words, 7–10 minutes long) that approximate university-level oral texts, and other oral texts encountered in an academic context. demonstrate an understanding of content words and expressions by eliciting association between vocabulary items and their definitions. Speaking: demonstrate appropriate use of supra-segmental and segmental pronunciation features* in monologic speech. demonstrate an ability to sustain, advance, and complete dialogues with pragmatically appropriate use of supra-segmental pronunciation features (e.g., utterance-level stress and intonation). Level 4 features: rate of speech with awareness of thought groups; pauses for emphasis; word stress in suffixes and ≥ three syllable words; short/long vowel sounds. demonstrate an ability to use attributive language and appropriate reporting verbs with source materials. demonstrate an ability to create and deliver cohesive and effective presentations with an accurate reference page. demonstrate an ability to orally articulate relevant and well-structured content with detailed elaboration . *Level 4 formal speaking tasks: summary, synthesis, individual presentation (with and without visual aids), group presentation, debate, formal discussion. Individual presentation length: 6-8 minutes. demonstrate an ability to orally articulate content with appropriate vocabulary and grammar in speaking tasks demonstrate an ability to use content words and expressions when responding to short answers to questions containing content vocabulary.
Level 5:
Reading – A student completing Level 5 Reading should be able to…	identify stated and implied main ideas in a range of text types. identify major and minor supporting details and evaluate relevance of information. paraphrase the explicit and implied main idea in a range of adapted academic texts. summarize information from various text types for various purposes with attributive devices. make meaningful predictions and check on predictions during reading. outline the organizational structure of the reading. evaluate text for author’s purpose, bias, tone and point of view. make inferences based on the information in the text, charts, graphs and tables. compare ideas across multiple texts. identify literary devices, such as figurative language, idioms and metaphors. Use vocabulary recognition strategies, such as context clues, roots, prefixes and suffixes. demonstrate knowledge of word families. demonstrate knowledge of synonyms and antonyms. demonstrate receptive knowledge of vocabulary from class readings and from the AWL. use vocabulary appropriately in context in a meaningful way. read 80,000 words of graded-reading material consisting of 1800-3000 head words by the end of the course with an approximate rate between 138 and 200 wpm while maintaining comprehension. read informational texts with 2000 headwords with reading rate up to 250 wpm and adapted academic texts with reading rate between 150-190 wpm while maintaining general comprehension.
Writing – A student completing Level 5 Writing should be able to…	demonstrate an ability to brainstorm and outline an advanced-level academic composition. demonstrate an ability to select and incorporate relevant support paraphrased from credible authentic, advanced-level sources. analyze and report on data from different types of sources such as graphs, charts, tables that’s at their reading level. demonstrate an ability to employ supporting details such as relevant examples and explanations. demonstrate an ability to avoid plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to correctly use advanced-level academic vocabulary appropriately in context in a meaningful way. demonstrate an ability to employ a range of sentence structures using simple, compound and complex grammatical structures as taught in EGM 4. demonstrate an ability to revise (content) and edit (vocabulary, grammar, spelling, mechanics, and sentence structure). demonstrate an ability to incorporate support paraphrased from authentic advanced-level academic and literary texts. demonstrate an ability to select and then paraphrase relevant information from a text to support an opinion, main idea or thesis. demonstrate an ability to paraphrase authentic texts written at an advanced-level and use these skills to avoid plagiarism. demonstrate an ability to use academic synonyms appropriately in context in a meaningful way while paraphrasing. demonstrate an understanding of APA document formatting and rules. demonstrate an ability to cite sources in APA format including the use of in-text citations with attributive language and a references page. demonstrate an ability to differentiate between reliable and unreliable sources.
Listening/Speaking – A student completing Level 5 Listening/Speaking should be able to…	Listening: demonstrate a synthesized understanding of the general topic and main points in minimally adapted and authentic academic oral texts. demonstrate an understanding of supporting points and their relevance to the main points. demonstrate an ability to make cohesive, predictive, and elaborative inferences, and recognize facts, estimates [statistics], and opinion. demonstrate an ability to take detailed notes that enhance content understanding from variety of university level oral texts and use notes to perform written and oral tasks. Speaking: demonstrate an ability to employ appropriate supra-segmental and segmental features* in all speaking tasks. Level 5 features: use pauses for emphasis, correct intonation, stress, pausing. Refine features from lower levels as needed. demonstrate an ability to use attributive language and appropriate reporting verbs with source materials in all responses demonstrate an ability to create and deliver cohesive and effective presentations with accurate reference page and use oral citations while presenting Level 5 formal speaking tasks: summary, synthesis, individual/group presentation, debate, formal discussion Individual presentation length: 8-10 mins demonstrate an ability to use relevant and well-structured content with detailed elaboration and support in monologic* and conversational speech*. demonstrate an ability to orally articulate content with appropriate grammar and vocabulary in monologic and conversational speech Students at this level are expected to provide fully developed, supported statements on non-academic and academic topics. Support comes from sources and personal knowledge.