Understanding Basic Social Cues: The student recognises basic greetings, farewells, and commonly used expressions of politeness (e.g., "please," "thank you").

Responding Appropriately to Simple Questions: The student can answer simple, direct questions about themselves and their immediate environment (e.g., "Where are you from?" "What's your name?").

Use of Contextual Language: The student can use very basic phrases and sentences related to familiar topics, such as family, where they live, and their daily routines.

Maintaining Simple Conversational Flow: The student can engage in short social exchanges, though they might need significant pauses or repetitions.

Basic Turn-taking: The student understands when it's their turn to speak in a conversation, even if their responses are limited.

Adherence to Simple Discourse Norms: The student understands and follows basic norms of conversation, such as facing the speaker, making eye contact, and listening when not speaking.

Understanding a Greater Range of Social Cues: The student can identify and appropriately respond to a wider variety of social cues, including signs of politeness, friendliness, or impatience.

Responding Appropriately to a Wider Array of Questions: The student can handle a greater number of topics and deal with straightforward questions and responses in areas such as shopping, family, work, and leisure activities.

Increased Use of Contextual Language: The student can use a series of phrases and sentences to describe aspects of their background, immediate environment, and matters related to their immediate needs in simple terms.

Maintaining Conversational Flow: The student can sustain longer exchanges, using a repertoire of memorized phrases and responses, though they might still struggle with more complex language structures.

Turn-taking and Initiation: The student can not only respond to prompts but can also initiate simple direct exchanges of information on familiar topics.

Adherence to Discourse Norms: The student shows a clearer understanding of the give-and-take of conversation, allowing for smoother interactions, although they may still have difficulty understanding more nuanced or culturally specific conversational norms.

Understanding Intermediate Social Cues: The student can understand the main points and intentions of a conversation that occurs in standard dialect, especially if it involves work, school, or leisure topics.

Responding Appropriately to Various Topics: The student can handle most situations likely to arise while traveling, can enter unprepared into conversations on familiar topics, and can discuss dreams, hopes, and ambitions.

Use of Contextual Language: The student can connect phrases and sentences in a simple way to describe experiences and events, tell a story, or briefly explain their opinions or plans.

Maintaining Conversational Flow: The student can maintain a conversation or discussion but may sometimes be difficult to follow when trying to say exactly what they would like to.

Effective Turn-taking: The student can take turns effectively in conversation, including using common discourse markers to manage, link, and organise their speech into clear, coherent messages.

Adherence to Standard Discourse Norms: The student can follow the social and cultural norms of conversation, demonstrating understanding of politeness, formality, and idiomatic expressions.

Understanding and Responding to Complex Social Cues: The student recognizes and responds appropriately to a wide range of social cues, including humor, sarcasm, and subtleties of politeness.

Adapting Language to Varying Contexts: The student can adjust their language to fit different situations, formal and informal, and understands idiomatic expressions, colloquialisms, and cultural references.

Maintaining Fluent Conversational Flow: The student can maintain a conversation naturally without straining the listener’s comprehension. They can express their thoughts clearly and relatively smoothly, with only occasional self-correction.

Extended Discourse: The student is able to engage in extended discussions on a variety of topics, providing relevant comments, asking pertinent questions, and expressing opinions effectively.

Turn-taking and Interrupting Politely: The student can manage turn-taking smoothly, demonstrating an understanding of when to speak, when to listen, and how to interrupt or change the subject politely when necessary.

Responding to Implicit Meanings: The student can comprehend implicit meaning, innuendos, and can pick up on non-verbal cues during a conversation.

Understanding Complex Social Cues: The student can identify and appropriately respond to a wide variety of social cues, including those conveyed through idioms, irony, sarcasm, and other subtle elements of English communication.

Responding Appropriately to Complex Questions and Statements: The student can readily comprehend and respond to complex questions and statements, including those related to abstract topics or requiring critical thinking.

Use of Contextual and Idiomatic Language: The student can naturally use idiomatic expressions and colloquial language. They're able to vary their language to suit different contexts and audiences, demonstrating a rich and extensive vocabulary.

Maintaining Sophisticated Conversational Flow: The student can maintain a coherent, fluent, and logical flow in conversation, even when discussing complex subjects. They can effectively use discourse markers and other linguistic tools to structure their speech.

Advanced Turn-taking: The student can adeptly manage turn-taking in conversation, skilfully using interruptions, pauses, and overlaps where appropriate to maintain the dynamics of the conversation.

Adherence to Complex Discourse Norms: The student can effectively use body language, intonation, and other non-verbal cues to enhance their conversation. They're sensitive to cultural nuances and norms in English-speaking discourse.

Understanding Complex Social Cues: The student can pick up on nuanced social cues, including underlying meanings or tones in conversations.

Responding Appropriately to Complex Statements or Questions: The student can respond appropriately to a wide range of complex or abstract questions, comments, or scenarios. They can infer meaning even when the language used is indirect or nuanced.

Use of Contextual Language: The student can adapt their language use based on context, employing a wide range of idiomatic expressions, specialized jargon, and cultural references as necessary. They can understand and utilize irony, sarcasm, innuendos, etc.

Maintaining Advanced Conversational Flow: The student can maintain a natural and fluent flow in conversation, managing discourse effectively and articulating complex ideas seamlessly. They can clarify, check understanding, or redirect conversations as needed.

Advanced Turn-taking: The student can smoothly manage the turns in a conversation, even in complex discussions, group conversations, or debates. They can interrupt politely and appropriately, if necessary.

Adherence to Complex Discourse Norms: The student understands and can utilize a wide range of conversation strategies. They can moderate their language based on the relationship with the listener, the purpose of the conversation, and the social setting. They can also pick up on regional or cultural variations in conversational norms.