Adult education isn’t a parking lot* where learners wait until they’re “ready.” It’s more like a busy intersection with people arriving from many places and heading toward many destinations. Our role is to guide learners through, helping them grow from simple exchanges in English to conversations and discussions that explain, compare, and evaluate, as part of a larger set of language, literacy, and digital skills that support success in school, work, and community life.

Watch any class and you’ll see this growth in action.

• At a low beginning level, a student might say: “My job is good.”
• As they approach low intermediate, they naturally want to explain more: “My job is good because I like my co-workers, and the schedule is good for my kids’ school.”
• At high intermediate or advanced levels, learners are ready for more complex communication: “I think flexible work schedules are good for employees and companies. Employees can take care of our families and still do their jobs well. Some people say it’s harder for managers, but if the company has good communication, it can still work.”

This progression from simple statements to organized arguments with evidence and counterclaims reflects the development of different registers of language use – casual social language as well as academic and professional language.

Each language register serves important purposes. A simple 'My job is good' works perfectly in casual conversation, while a more complex response may work better in a classroom discussion, community meeting, or when explaining your position on an important issue. We help learners recognize when different types of language are most effective and help them build confidence and fluency in using each appropriately.

Casual social language, like informal conversations about family, food, or weekend plans, remains the foundation of our classes. Learners need it for family life, community participation, and civic engagement.

What BEST Plus 3.0 Shows Us

As we fully switch from BEST Plus 2.0 to BEST Plus 3.0 (standardized listening and speaking test) this fall semester, instructors may notice that the assessment now recognizes a broader range of communication skills. In particular, BEST Plus 3.0 highlights two areas that we can pay closer attention to:

1. Organizing and developing their ideas: helping learners move from short responses to fuller, more organized thoughts that include reasons, examples, and supporting details.
2. Evaluating and reasoning with language: helping learners move beyond understanding to forming judgments and expressing opinions.

We could call these types of academic and professional skills the “language of access”, the communication skills that open doors to further education, greater success at work, and fuller participation in community life.

When we ask students, for example, to describe their weekend plans or compare two restaurants, we're teaching these skills. The goal isn't choosing between practical English and academic English but rather helping learners develop the full range of communication skills they need for their personal, educational, and professional goals.

Where to Focus by Level

Each level builds on what came before. Here are some skills you can emphasize more intentionally to help learners be ready to move up:

• Low Beginning → High Beginning (ready for EEC Level 2): Learners begin to expand short answers into simple opinions with reasons. (“I think… because…”)
• High Beginning → Low Intermediate (ready for EEC Level 3): Learners start organizing ideas with beginning–middle–end structure (introduction, a few reasons or details connected with common linking or transition words, and concluding sentence) and shifting toward more formal language and content-specific vocabulary when appropriate.
• Low Intermediate → High Intermediate/Advanced (ready for specialized classes or higher-level classes at other programs): Learners begin analyzing information and evidence for an idea, summarizing key points, and participating in conversations or discussions about a range of topics, texts, and issues that may not be familiar.

How the New Standards Help Us Teach More Effectively

BEST Plus 3.0 is aligned to the English Language Proficiency Standards for Adult Education, which offer clearer descriptions of what adult learners should know and can do with language at each level.

• Support and scaffolding for tasks and language development: Guidance on when instructors should expect to help learners (“with support,” “with prompting”).
• Specific language targets: Syntax (sentence structure) and vocabulary expectations for each level.
• Scaffolded Expectations: Realistic progression from simple to complex skills.

Practical Routines to Try

Here are three activities that build learners’ oral communication skills. Think of these as options you can layer onto what you’re already doing. Even 15-20 minutes a week makes a difference. They’re reusable activities that many instructors across the country have found helpful.

As always though, any new routine takes time to learn and get comfortable doing. Start with whichever one feels most comfortable for your teaching style and most relevant for your learners. Try one routine this semester and see how it feels before adding others in future semesters. Make sure to demonstrate and model it using the I do, We do, You do steps.

Student-Facilitated Conversations Routine

What it is: Structured small-group conversations where students practice academic and professional conversation skills like taking turns, restating or summarizing, and asking follow-up questions back and forth with each other as opposed to mostly just with the instructor.

Basic Structure:

• Person 1 reads and answers a question → Person 2 says what they heard → Person 3 asks another question about the answer

Example Questions by Level:

• Beginning: “What food do you like to eat for holidays or celebrations?” “What do you do on weekends?”
• Intermediate: “What’s the best way to learn English?” “Should children have cell phones?” “What job skills are most important today?” “How has technology changed family life?”

This routine is a staff favorite because it can be reused with nearly any topic and is featured in our Adult ESOL Instructor Basics training. Choose questions that connect to your students' experiences, interests, and goals. The examples above are starting points. The most engaging discussions are on topics that matter to your specific learners.

Beginning-level tip: Instead of expecting learners to create follow-up questions, have Person 3 ask a stock question (e.g., “What about you?”) to Person 2. This keeps everyone engaged while being more level appropriate.

To see examples of this action, watch this beginning-level pair conversation facilitated by an instructor (17’40”-19’35”) or watch this intermediate-level student-facilitated conversation (from 13’25”-16’55”).

One-Question Survey Routine

What it is: Students collect data from classmates, analyze trends, and present findings using graphs and academic language. This takes the question-and-answer practice and conversations you already facilitate and adds steps for collecting data and speaking in front of a group.

General Steps:

1. Survey classmates (e.g., “Do you bring your own bags to the supermarket?” Always, sometimes, never, I don’t think about it)
2. Analyze data with group
3. Create a simple graph
4. Present findings (e.g., “Most people / Some people / Half the class sometimes bring their own bags to the supermarket.”

Example Questions by Level:

• Beginning:
• “Do you cook dinner at home every day?” (Yes/No)
• "How many children do you have?" (None / 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 or more)

• Intermediate:
• "What's the best way for adults to continue learning?" (In-Person Classes / Online Classes / YouTube / Books / Other)
•  “What factor is the most important when choosing where to live?” (Schools / Jobs / Safety / Cost / Family / Other)

Tip: For a class of 20, come up with 4-6 questions. Give the same question to 3-5 students so that they can work as a group to analyze the responses.

Tip for an online class: Give each breakout room one question and have them report the findings about their group.

Watch a more detailed explanation of the steps for a one-question survey in this webinar recording from minute 29 to minute 36 or read about it in this blog.

Question of the Day Routine

What it is: A digital literacy routine where students look up information online, building technology skills, critical thinking, and information literacy.

Core Routine:

1. Present a research question
2. Students use devices to find answers
3. Share results and discuss search strategies and source reliability

Example Questions by Level:

• Beginning:
• “What time does the [Arlington Central Library / Fairfax Regional Library] open on weekends?”
• “What is the weather forecast for [Alexandria] next week?”
• “Where can I buy a new SmarTrip card?”
• Intermediate:
• “What day is trash pickup in [my city]?”
• “What free family activities are happening at the Smithsonian museums this weekend?”
• “What career certifications are offered by Fairfax County Adult and Continuing Education?”
• “Which bank has the best interest rate on a savings account – Capital One, First National Bank, or Freedom Bank?”

This activity builds oral communication on top of reading skills and integrated technology use. After finding information online, students can strengthen their English skills to restate or summarize what they read and share it aloud with classmates, reinforcing both comprehension and speaking skills.

For more detailed steps, read our fall 2024 newsletter article "Digital Skills Made Easy."

What This Means & Looking Ahead

Our staff is evaluating how best to use BEST Plus 3.0 scores for placement and progress monitoring. We’ll share updates with teachers as this unfolds. The changes that come from focusing on these additional skills enhance rather than replace the excellent teaching already happening. They simply help us be more intentional about building communication skills that serve students in all areas of their lives.

For more on BEST Plus 3.0, watch the test publisher’s overview video showing examples of the new high-intermediate and advanced-level task types. (The relevant segment starts 3 minutes and 50 seconds in.)

Your students are already growing as communicators in your classes. These routines help you support that natural progression from understanding to explaining, from responding to reasoning, and from participating to leading discussions. You're already doing the essential work of helping them develop their voice in English. These routines are just additional options in your teaching toolkit to strengthen that voice for whatever comes next in their journey.

*The parking lot and intersection metaphor comes from Stephen Reder, Portland State University, as shared by Patsy Egan.