Discourse Level	Sentence Level	Word/Phrase Level
	Linguistic Complexity	Language Forms and Conventions	Vocabulary Usage
Level 6 — Reaching: Language that meets all criteria through Level 5, Bridiging
Level 5 Bridging	Multiple, complex sentences Organized, cohesive, and coherent expression of ideas	A variety of grammatical structures matched to purpose A broad range of sentence patterns characteristic of particular content areas	Technical and abstract content-area language, including content-specific collocations Words and expressions with shades of meaning across content areas
Level 4 Expanding	Short, expanded, and some complex sentences Organized expression of ideas with emerging cohesion	A variety of grammatical structures Sentence patterns characteristi of particular content areas	Specific and some technical content-area language Words and expressions with expressive meaning through use of collocations and idioms across content areas
Level 3 Developing	Short and some expanded sentences with emerging complexity Expanded expresion of one idea or emerging expression of multiple related ideas	Repetitive grammatical structures with occasional variation Sentence patterns across content areas	Specific content language, including cognates and expressions Words or expressions with multiple meanings used across content areas
Level 2 Emerging	Phrases or short sentences Emerging expression of ideas	Formulaic grammatical structures Repetitive phrasal and sentence patterns across content areas	General content words and expressions Social and instructional words and expressions across content areas
Level 1 Entering	Words, phrases, or chunks of language Single words used to represent ideas	Phrase-level grammatical structures Phrasal patterns associated with common social and instructional situations	General content-realted words Everyday social and instructional words and expresions