WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition Kindergarten

WIDA English Language Development

Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Kinder garten—Grade 12

Promote equity for multilingual learners • Teach language and content together

WIDA is housed within the Wisconsin Center for Education Research at the

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Suggested citation:

WIDA. (2020). WIDA English language development standards framework, 2020 edition: Kindergarten–grade 12.

Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.

Version 1.7

WIDA English Language Development

Standards Framework,

2020 Edition

Kindergarten—Grade 12

2 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

The WIDA Consortium is a member-based organization made up of U.S. states,

territories, and federal agencies dedicated to the research, design, and implementation

of a high-quality, standards-based system for K-12 multilingual learners.

WIDA Consortium Members

Alabama

Alaska

Bureau of Indian Education

Colorado

Delaware

District of Columbia

Department of Defense Education Activity

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Kentucky

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Missouri

Montana

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

North Carolina

North Dakota

Northern Mariana Islands

Oklahoma

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

U.S. Virgin Islands

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

Wisconsin

Wyoming

The WIDA International School Consortium is a global network of 500 accredited preK-

12 independent schools in over 100 countries focused on educating multilingual learners.

Contents

Introduction ................................................................................. 7

Welcome to the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition ......9

Section 1: Big Ideas ..........................................................................15

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework ..................................21

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials ......................................................37

Kindergarten ............................................................................41

Key Language Uses .......................................................................42

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features

............................................44

Annotated Language Samples .............................................................54

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors

..............................................................57

Grade 1

..................................................................................61

Key Language Uses

.......................................................................62

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features ............................................64

Annotated Language Samples .............................................................75

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors ..............................................................79

Grades 2-3 .............................................................................. 83

Key Language Uses .......................................................................84

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features ............................................86

Annotated Language Samples

.............................................................98

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors ..............................................................101

Grades 4-5 ............................................................................ 105

Key Language Uses ......................................................................106

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features ...........................................108

Annotated Language Samples ............................................................ 129

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors .............................................................135

Grades 6-8 ............................................................................ 139

Key Language Uses ......................................................................140

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features ...........................................142

Annotated Language Samples

............................................................164

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors ..............................................................171

Grades 9-12 .............................................................................177

Key Language Uses ......................................................................178

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features

...........................................180

Annotated Language Samples ............................................................202

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors .............................................................209

Section 4: Resources ....................................................................... 215

Key Language Uses: A Closer Look ........................................................ 217

Collaborative Planning for Content and Language Integration: A Jump-Oﬀ Point for

Curricular Conversations

..............................................................234

Glossary ............................................................................... 251

4 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Tables

Table 1-1: WIDA ELD Standards Statements .......................................................9

Table 1-2: Organization of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Table 1-3: Audience and Potential Uses of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition ........ 13

Table 2-1: Abbreviated forms of the Five English Language Development Standards Statements ......24

Table 2-2: The Anatomy of a Language Expectation ..............................................30

Table 2-3: Dimensions of Language in the Proﬁciency Level Descriptors: Criteria Foci

and Sample Language Features ............................................................33

Table 2-4: What the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is and What It Is Not .........................35

Table 3-1: Representations of the Components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework in

Grade-Level Cluster Materials .............................................................40

Table 3-2: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Kindergarten ......................................42

Table 3-3: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Kindergarten ...................................43

Table 3-4: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grade 1 ...........................................62

Table 3-5: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grade 1 ........................................63

Table 3-6: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grades 2-3

.......................................84

Table 3-7: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grades 2-3 .....................................85

Table 3-8: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grades 4-5

......................................106

Table 3-9: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grades 4-5

.................................... 107

Table 3-10: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grades 6-8 ......................................140

Table 3-11: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grades 6-8 .....................................141

Table 3-12: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grades 9-12 ..................................... 178

Table 3-13: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grades 9-12 ................................... 179

Table 4-1: Deﬁnitions of Key Language Uses ...................................................219

Table 4-2: Narrate Genre Family ..............................................................222

Table 4-3: Narrate Through the Years of Schooling .............................................223

Table 4-4: Narrate Across Content Areas ......................................................224

Appendices

............................................................................... 261

Appendix A: WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020

Edition—Meeting ESSA Title 1 Requirements .............................................263

Appendix B: Correspondence Tables for Content and Language Standards ...................266

Appendix C: A Compilation of K-12 Key Language Use Distribution Tables and Language

Expectations .........................................................................288

Appendix D: A Compilation of K-12 Proﬁciency Level Descriptors, with Technical Notes .........329

Appendix E: High-Level Comparison of WIDA Standards Editions From 2004 to 2020 ..........351

Appendix F: Theoretical Foundations of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition .....354

Appendix G: Select References ...........................................................375

Appendix H: Standards Development Process and Acknowledgements .......................379

Table 4-5: Inform Genre Family ...............................................................225

Table 4-6: Inform Through the Years of Schooling ..............................................226

Table 4-7: Inform Across Content Areas .......................................................227

Table 4-8: Explain Genre Family ...............................................................228

Table 4-9: Explain Through the Years of Schooling ..............................................229

Table 4-10: Explain Across Content Areas ......................................................230

Table 4-11: Argue Genre Family ...............................................................231

Table 4-12: Argue Through the Years of Schooling ..............................................232

Table 4-13: Argue Across Content Areas .......................................................233

Table 4-14: The Unit’s Academic Content and WIDA ELD Standards ...............................239

Table 4-15: Sample Content Unit Architecture ..................................................240

Table 4-16: Progress Trackers, Reading Informational Text, Driving Question Boards, and Building

Understanding ..........................................................................241

Table 4-17: Language Expectations with Embedded Language Functions .........................244

Table 4-18: Example Language Features that are Commonly Associated with a Language Function

..245

Table A-1: Critical Elements in Meeting ESSA Title 1 Requirements ................................263

Table D-1: Comparison of Criteria in 2014 Features of Academic Language Chart

and 2020 Dimensions of Language Table ...................................................329

Table D-2: Diﬀerences Between Performance Deﬁnitions and Proﬁciency Level Descriptors ........332

Table E-1: Comparison of Editions of the WIDA Language Standards ..............................352

Table F-1: Updated Abbreviations for the WIDA ELD Standards, 2020 Edition ......................361

Table F-2: The Dimensions of Language: A Short Reference ......................................367

Table H-1: SEA Standards Subcommittee Members (2018-2020) ..................................380

Table H-2: LEA Advisory Committee Members .................................................380

Table H-3: October 2019 Focus Group Participants, WIDA Annual Conference .....................381

Table H-4: Researcher/Teacher Advisory Panel (April 2020) .....................................383

Table H-5: Domestic and International Educators ...............................................384

Table H-6: WIDA Standards Development Team

................................................386

Figures

Figure 1-1: Big Ideas in the 2020 Edition ......................................................... 17

Figure 2-1: The Components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework ..............................23

Figure 2-2: Relationship among the WIDA ELD Standards .........................................25

Figure 2-3: Four Key Language Uses

............................................................26

Figure 2-4: Example Reference Code for a Language Expectation .................................28

Figure 2-5: Modes of Communication ..........................................................29

Figure 2-6: Dimensions of Language within a Sociocultural Context ...............................32

Figure 3-1: Kindergarten Language Functions and Language Features .............................45

Figure 3-2: Grade 1 Language Functions and Language Features ..................................65

6 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Figure 3-3: Grades 2-3 Language Functions and Language Features ...............................87

Figure 3-4: Grades 4-5 Language Functions and Language Features .............................. 109

Figure 3-5: Grades 6-8 Language Functions and Language Features ..............................143

Figure 3-6: Grades 9-12 Language Functions and Language Features ..............................181

Figure 4-1: The Four Key Language Uses ....................................................... 217

Figure 4-2: Sample Collaborative Planning Process .............................................237

Figure 4-3: Honing a Language Focus through the WIDA ELD Standards Framework ...............246

Figure 4-4: Lesson Planning Considerations ....................................................249

Figure D-1: Cumulative Expansion of Multilingual Learners’ Linguistic Resources ...................331

Figure E-1: Editions of the WIDA Language Standards ...........................................351

Figure F-1: Four Big Ideas in WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition .......................355

Figure F-2: Communication Modes Used in WIDA 2020 Edition ...................................358

Figure F-3: The WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition ...................................360

Figure F-4: Relationship among the WIDA ELD Standards

........................................362

Figure F-5: Key Language Uses ...............................................................363

Figure F-6: Elements within WIDA Language Expectations .......................................364

Figure F-7: WIDA ELD Standards Framework: Relationship between Language Expectations,

Language Functions, and Language Features ................................................365

Introduction

Introduction 9

Welcome to the WIDA English Language

Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

WIDA has historically grounded its work in language development standards as a driver of equity for

multilingual learners in curriculum, instruction, and assessment. This new edition reflects a continued

commitment to these goals.

Starting in 2004, all editions of the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards have

reflected the belief that multilingual learners are best served when they learn content and language

together in linguistically and culturally sustaining ways. The 2020 Edition recommits to this belief

by maintaining the five original WIDA ELD Standards Statements while adding new and expanded

resources to address updates in policy, theory, and practice.

Table 1-1: WIDA ELD Standards Statements

English Language Development Standard 1: English language learners communicate for Social

and Instructional purposes within the school setting

English Language Development Standard 2: English language learners communicate information,

ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Language Arts

English Language Development Standard 3: English language learners communicate information,

ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Mathematics

English Language Development Standard 4: English language learners communicate

information, ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Science

English Language Development Standard 5: English language learners communicate information,

ideas, and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Social Studies

WIDA ELD Standards Statements

10 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

The 2020 Edition presents a new supporting organization for the WIDA ELD Standard Statements, along

with additional resources, as shown in Table 1-2.

Table 1-2: Organization of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Section 1:

Big Ideas

• Equity of access and opportunity are essential for multilingual

learners’ preparation for college, career, and civic participation

• Integration of language and content is critical in the planning and

delivery of instruction

• Collaboration among stakeholders is a shared responsibility for

educating multilingual learners

• A functional approach to language development focuses on the

purposeful use of language

Section 2:

Understanding

the WIDA ELD

Standards

Framework

• The five WIDA ELD Standards Statements—conceptual framing of

language and content integration

• Key Language Uses—prominent language uses across disciplines

• Language Expectations—goals for content-driven language learning

• Proficiency Level Descriptors—a continuum of language

development

Section 3:

Grade-Level

Cluster

Materials

• Representations of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework in sets of

grade-level cluster materials

• Annotated Language Samples illustrate the WIDA ELD Standards

Framework in authentic grade-level texts

Section 4:

Resources

• Key Language Uses: A Closer Look—extended definitions and

examples for each Key Language Use

• Collaborative Planning for Content and Language Integration:

A Jump-Off Point for Curricular Conversations

• Glossary

Appendices

A. Meeting ESSA Requirements

B. Correspondence Tables for Content and Language Standards

C. A Compilation of K-12 Key Language Use Distribution Tables and

Language Expectations

D. A Compilation of K-12 Proficiency Level Descriptors, with Technical

Notes

E. High Level Comparison of WIDA ELD Standards Editions

F. Theoretical Foundations

G. References

H. Acknowledgements

Introduction 11

WIDA Mission, Vision, and Values

WIDA draws its strength from its mission, vision, and values—the Can Do Philosophy, innovation, service,

collaboration, and social justice. This belief system underscores the cultural, social, emotional, and

experiential assets of multilingual learners, their families, and educators. It acts as a unifying force

that gives the consortium its strength of conviction and action throughout the PreK-12 education

community.

From English Language Learners to Multilingual Learners

Multilingual learners

refers to all children

and youth who are, or

have been, consistently

exposed to multiple

languages.

As part of its asset-based belief system, WIDA uses the term

“multilingual learners” to describe all students who come in

contact with and/or interact in languages in addition to English

on a regular basis. They include students who are commonly

referred to as English language learners (ELLs), dual language

learners (DLLs), newcomers, students with interrupted formal

schooling (SIFE), long-term English learners (L-TELs), English

learners with disabilities, gifted and talented English learners,

heritage language learners, students with English as an

additional language (EAL), and students who speak varieties of

English or indigenous languages.

Throughout the field of K-12 education, you will encounter various terms to describe multilingual

learners. For example, ESSA (2015) uses the term “English learners” (ELs). For policy purposes, the

five original WIDA ELD Standards Statements (2004) maintain the term “English language learners.”

However, in an effort to encourage the field to use terminology that is asset-based and inclusive, WIDA

began to use the term “multilingual learners.” You will see this term used throughout this document,

starting with the Guiding Principles of Language Development on the next page.

Mission

WIDA advances academic

language development and

academic achievement for

children and youth who are

culturally and linguistically

diverse through high quality

standards, assessments, research,

and professional learning for

educators.

12 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Hello!

HOLA

Hello!

HALLO

N I LT Z E

JAMBO

BONJOUR

Hello!

WIDA Guiding Principles of Language Development (2019)

The updated Guiding Principles of Language Development exemplify the overarching and ever-present

WIDA Can Do Philosophy and emphasize the importance of language in learning. They highlight the

four Big Ideas of the 2020 Edition.

1. Multilingual learners’ languages and cultures are valuable resources to be leveraged for schooling

and classroom life; leveraging these assets and challenging biases help develop multilingual

learners’ independence and encourage their agency in learning.

2. Multilingual learners’ development of multiple languages enhances their knowledge and cultural

bases, their intellectual capacities, and their flexibility in language use.

3. Multilingual learners’ language development and learning occur over time through meaningful

engagement in activities that are valued in their homes, schools, and communities.

4. Multilingual learners’ language, social-emotional, and cognitive development are inter-related

processes that contribute to their success in school and beyond.

5. Multilingual learners use and develop language when opportunities for learning take into account

their individual experiences, characteristics, abilities, and levels of language proficiency.

6. Multilingual learners use and develop language through activities which intentionally integrate

multiple modalities, including oral, written, visual, and kinesthetic modes of communication.

7. Multilingual learners use and develop language to interpret and access information, ideas, and

concepts from a variety of sources, including real-life objects, models, representations, and

multimodal texts.

8. Multilingual learners draw on their metacognitive, metalinguistic, and metacultural awareness to

develop effectiveness in language use.

9. Multilingual learners use their full linguistic repertoire, including translanguaging practices, to

enrich their language development and learning.

10. Multilingual learners use and develop language to interpret and present different perspectives,

build awareness of relationships, and affirm their identities.

Introduction 13

Audiences and Potential Uses of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework,

2020 Edition

The 2020 Edition of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is designed for U.S. and international

audiences. Table 1-3 outlines an array of uses for the document. While you will notice some overlap, we

have placed emphasis on the distinct nature and responsibilities of each group and its contribution to

the education of multilingual learners.

Table 1-3: Audience and Potential Uses of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Audience Potential Uses of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

State,

Territory,

and Federal

Education

Agencies,

known as

SEAs

• Comply with federal policy, including peer review requirements, and

other state mandates

• Ensure alignment with ACCESS for ELLs, the WIDA annual English

language proficiency assessment

• Guide state policy, informational documents, and resources inclusive of

equity for multilingual learners and their families

• Organize professional learning opportunities for educators of

multilingual learners

District

and School

Leaders

• Guide local policy, informational documents, and resources

• Guide professional learning

• Work with teachers, other school leaders, and families to provide

guidance on language development

• Support teachers in designing and enacting linguistically and culturally

sustainable curriculum, instruction, and assessment

• Promote collaboration among district and school leadership, content

and language teachers, specialists, support staff, students, and families

• Prompt coordination of services for multilingual learners and outreach to

families

• Forge partnerships with multilingual communities

Teachers

• Collaborate with colleagues around integration of content and language

• Partner to coordinate learning for multilingual learners

• Model products, projects, and performances to illustrate evidence of

meeting learning expectations

• Monitor multilingual learners’ language growth

• Provide standards-referenced feedback to students and families

14 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Audience Potential Uses of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Teacher

Educators

and

Professional

Learning

Providers

• Integrate into courses for pre-service teachers, in-service teachers, and

administrators

• Guide professional learning around asset-driven education for districts

and schools

• Model the process for integrating content and language in instruction

and assessment

• Partner in conducting classroom, school, and district research

Assessment

Leaders

and Test

Developers

• Apply to large-scale annual and interim ELP assessment development

• Use as a source for alignment and standards-setting studies

• Guide in interpreting score reports and in updating interpretive and

scoring rubrics

• Expand framing of test specifications around Key Language Uses and

Language Expectations

International

Schools and

Educators

• Craft a school-wide language policy

• Embed language development into curriculum, instruction, and

classroom assessment

• Collaborate with colleagues to coordinate language services

• Share with grade-level teams to create seamless learning experiences

for multilingual learners

Students,

Families, and

Communities

• Benefit from clear learning goals that promote equity for all

• Benefit from a coherent educational experience based on a standards-

aligned system

• Benefit from having clarity on what teachers should be teaching and

what students should be learning

• Understand the language development process and how the WIDA ELD

Standards Framework represent the joining of grade-level academic

content and language

Section 1: Big Ideas

Section 1: Big Ideas 17

HELLO

HOLA

HALLO

N I LT Z E

JAMBO

BONJOUR

Big Ideas of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework,

2020 Edition: Kindergarten–Grade 12

This 2020 Edition of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is anchored by four Big Ideas that are

interwoven throughout the document. Like the Can Do Philosophy, they support the design of

standards-based educational experiences that are student-centered, culturally and linguistically

sustaining, and responsive to multilingual learners’ strengths and needs.

Figure 1-1: Big Ideas in the 2020 Edition

EQUITY

of Opportunity

and Access

INTEGRATION

of Content and

Language

COLLABORATION

among Stakeholders

FUNCTIONAL

APPROACH

to Language Development

18 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Equity of Opportunity and Access

WIDA’s philosophy is rooted in equity and a commitment to supporting high-quality education for

multilingual learners. This support for educational excellence is evident in WIDA’s vision, mission, and

values—innovation, service, the Can Do Philosophy, collaboration, and social justice. As a WIDA value,

social justice includes creating positive change, challenging discriminatory actions (i.e., in terms of

language, culture, and race), and promoting equity to improve the education of multilingual children,

youth, and families.

Multilingual learners come from a wide range of cultural, linguistic, educational, and socioeconomic

backgrounds and have many physical, social, emotional, experiential, and/or cognitive differences.

All bring assets, potential, and resources to schools that educators must leverage to increase equity

in standards-based systems. Increasing avenues of access, agency, and equity for all multilingual

learners—including newcomers, students with interrupted formal schooling (SIFE), long-term English

learners (L-TELs), students with disabilities, and gifted and talented English learners—requires educators

to be knowledgeable, skillful, imaginative, and compassionate.

The 2020 Edition of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is here to guide educators to

• Set high expectations for all students

• Provide access for multilingual learners to rich, standards-based, grade-level content, including by

scaffolding up (see the WIDA website for resources about scaffolding)

• Enact linguistically and culturally sustainable pedagogies

• Create opportunities for multilingual learners to

• engage actively with each other in deep learning

• access and use multiple languages, including through translanguaging

When designing and delivering standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment, educators

should consider multilingual learners’

• Previous personal and educational experiences

• Recency of arrival in the United States, if applicable

• Diverse cognitive and behavioral strengths, needs, and abilities

• Home and community

• Languages and cultures

Drawing on students’ linguistic and cultural resources is essential to helping them navigate life in a

diverse world, in addition to supporting them in meeting demands of academic content areas as they

advance through school.

The 2020 Edition of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework upholds the goal of increasing equity for

multilingual learners by providing common and visible language expectations in relation to grade-level

academic content. These expectations also serve to increase coherence of policy and practice around

the education of multilingual learners at federal, state, and local levels.

Integration of Content and Language

Earlier versions of the WIDA ELD Standards (2004, 2007, 2012) have historically represented the

integration of content and language. The 2020 Edition makes the content–language connection more

explicit and specific.

Section 1: Big Ideas 19

By content–language integration, we mean that multilingual learners develop content and language

concurrently, with academic content as a context for language learning and language as a means for

learning academic content.

The 2020 Edition introduces several new ways of looking at the integration of content and language, for

example, through Key Language Uses, Language Expectations, and Correspondence Tables for Content

and Language Standards (Appendix B); all these (and more) are introduced later in this document.

Multimodality, the use of multiple means of

communication, is an essential way for all students to

access and engage in the content areas. In addition to

the use of spoken and written language, students also

communicate through gestures, facial expressions,

images, equations, maps, symbols, diagrams, charts,

videos, graphs, computer-mediated content, and

other means.

In positioning the 2020 Edition to

spotlight the variety of ways in which

language is used in content area

learning, WIDA is drawing educators’

attention to multimodality, the use of

multiple means of communication.

Multimodality is inherent to and

essential for how students make

meaning and engage in disciplinary

practices. All students are able to

both interpret and express ideas

with greater flexibility when using

multimodal resources, including multiple languages. Multimodality allows all students to use multiple

means to engage, interpret, represent, act, and express their ideas in the classroom. For example, as

students read, they also might refer to illustrations or diagrams, and as students write, they might also

represent their ideas numerically or graphically.

The integration of content and language for multilingual learners promotes

• Understanding the connections between content and language

• Making meaning within and across content areas (disciplines)

• Interaction of students with each other in challenging content activities

• Coordination of design and delivery of curriculum, instruction, and assessment

Collaboration among Stakeholders

Districts and schools are complex educational systems

with collaboration extending across stakeholders from

classrooms, to schools, districts, and the families and

communities of students. Stakeholders have different

areas of expertise and are often responsible for different

aspects of educational planning and delivery; however,

collectively they are responsible for the success of

multilingual learners.

It is crucial for the academic success of multilingual

learners that both language and content teachers and

administrators see themselves as responsible for fostering the language development of multilingual

learners, and for systems to move away from the idea that language specialists alone should assume

sole responsibility for students’ language development.

Collaboration among

stakeholders (e.g., district

and school leaders, content and

language teachers, specialists,

support personnel, students,

families) is essential for providing

multilingual learners high-quality

educational experiences that are

coordinated and comprehensive.

20 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Although different classrooms may have different instructional foci, all classrooms with multilingual

learners must incorporate content and language development. Content teachers bring expertise in

their discipline, while language teachers bring expertise in language development. Each teacher can

contribute to deliver coordinated educational experiences for multilingual learners according to their

own qualifications and areas of expertise. With sustained collaboration, language teachers expand their

understanding of different content areas, and content teachers develop insights into and respond to

the language development needs of multilingual learners.

Content and language teachers can work together to

• Plan and deliver grade-level standards-based instruction

• Plan for systematic, explicit, and sustained language development alongside the academic

demands of the content areas

• Support one another

• Share unique fields of expertise

In this way, multilingual learners and their families benefit from a coherent and shared understanding of

expectations and common goals for learning.

Functional Approach to Language

Development

What does WIDA mean by a functional approach to

language development? One metaphor for language

is a toolbox, containing different tools that are used

to communicate, to develop relationships, and to

act upon the world. Like any good toolbox, the

language toolbox contains various tools that function

for different needs. Particular linguistic tools achieve

certain purposes. For example, we make choices

with language to reflect the topic at hand, the social

roles and identities of those involved (am I talking

to a college admissions interviewer or to my best

friend?), and the needs of our listeners and readers.

We make choices with language to organize our ideas

in particular ways, to convey the relationships among

these ideas, and about what types of words are most

effective for our message. The explicit teaching of how

language works can help multilingual learners expand

what they can do with language, thereby growing

their language toolbox. The result is that students

become increasingly aware and strategic in their use

of language to negotiate meaning and achieve their

purposes in various contexts.

To read more about all these Big

Ideas, see the WIDA website.

Language: a dynamic system used

by particular communities for

communicating with others. The

choices we make with language

enable us to accomplish many

purposes (e.g., to represent

experiences, share ideas, to enact

roles and relationships, and act upon

the world).

Language development: an

interactive social process that occurs

over time to expand what we can do

with language.

Sociocultural context: the

association of language with the

culture and community in which it

is used. In schools, it refers to the

interaction among students and

the classroom environment, along

with the influences that shape the

environment (e.g., purpose, topic,

situation, participant’s identities and

social roles, audience).

Section 2: Understanding

the WIDA ELD Standards

Framework

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 23

Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards

Framework

Underpinned by the four Big Ideas introduced in Section 1, the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is a

language development standards framework for K-12 academic settings.

Sometimes people describe a standards framework as being like a map. In the same way that a map

points out common, visible landmarks, a standards framework points out common, visible expectations

for all students and helps to bring coherence across educational systems. The WIDA ELD Standards

Framework is like a map in that it offers language expectations as destination points, as well as road

signs to set goals for curriculum, instruction, and assessment for multilingual learners.

The WIDA ELD Standards Framework consists of four components, each explored in the following

pages. These four components are like building blocks of language development, and range from broad

to narrow in scope. They work together to make a comprehensive picture of language development:

• Five WIDA ELD Standards Statements provide the broadest conceptual framing and illustrate the

integration of content and language. The standards statements show language use in the service of

learning—in other words, language for thinking and doing. They address the language of schooling.

• Key Language Uses describe prominent ways that language is used in school, across all disciplines.

When educators make choices about how to integrate content and language, the Key Language

Uses can help provide focus and coherence.

• Language Expectations set goals for content-driven language learning. They add specificity to

the ELD Standards Statements and Key Language Uses and make visible the language associated

with the content areas. Language Expectations are the statements most similar to what educators

generally find in academic content standards.

• Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) describe a continuum of language development for activities

that target Language Expectations. They provide a detailed articulation of how students might

develop language across the six levels of English language proficiency.

Figure 2-1 shows the four components of the framework conceptualized as nested building blocks of

language development within sociocultural contexts.

Figure 2-1: The Components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework

WIDA ELD STANDARDS STATEMENTS conceptual framing of language and content integration

LANGUAGE EXPECTATIONS goals for content-driven language learning

KEY LANGUAGE USES prominent language uses across disciplines

PROFICIENCY LEVEL DESCRIPTORS a continuum of language development

across six levels

24 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

The WIDA ELD Standards Statements

The five standards statements, introduced in Section

1, Table 1-1, represent the language of schooling and

provide the broadest conceptual framing of content

and language integration.

Each standard is shown in an abbreviated form in

Table 2-1, below. Hence ELD Standard 2: English

language learners communicate information, ideas,

and concepts necessary for academic success in the content area of Language Arts is abbreviated as

Language for Language Arts and its reference code is ELD-LA.

Table 2-1: Abbreviated forms of the Five English Language Development Standards Statements

ELD Standard 1: Language for Social and Instructional Purposes (ELD-SI)

ELD Standard 2: Language for Language Arts (ELD-LA)

ELD Standard 3: Language for Mathematics (ELD-MA)

ELD Standard 4: Language for Science (ELD-SC)

ELD Standard 5: Language for Social Studies (ELD-SS)

These abbreviated forms point to WIDA’s functional approach to language development, drawing

attention to

• The

dynamic nature of language

• Communicative purposes

of the discipline or content area

• The use of language to communicate and make meaning

• Language use in the service of learning—in other words, language for thinking and

doing

Standard 1

ELD Standard 1, Language for Social and Instructional Purposes, is broader in scope and applicability

than the other four ELD Standards Statements that are associated with discipline-specific learning. ELD

Standard 1 applies across a range of educational settings, and works both independently from and in

conjunction with ELD Standards 2-5. Students communicate to learn but also to convey personal needs

and wants, to affirm their own identities, and to form and maintain relationships.

ELD Standard 1 encompasses the experiential, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds and identities of

multilingual learners in relation to the other ELD Standards. It draws attention to multilingual learners’

positioning in the world that informs their meaning-making in the content areas. It reminds educators of

strength-based approaches that meet students where they are in their own contexts, and to bridge the

personal, social, and emotional to the academic.

WIDA ELD STANDARDS STATEMENTS

LANGUAGE EXPECTATIONS

KEY LANGUAGE USES

PROFICIENCY LEVEL DESCRIPTORS

Abbreviated forms of the Five English Language Development Standards Statements

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 25

Figure 2-2: Relationship among the WIDA ELD Standards

Standard 1 Standard 2 Standard 3 Standard 4 Standard 5

Language for

Social and

Instructional

Purposes

Language for

Language Arts

Language for

Mathematics

Language for

Science

Language for

Social Studies

Standard 1 encompasses multilingual learners’ use of language in the following situations:

• As they expand their linguistic repertoire from English language proficiency level 1 to level 6.

ELD Standard 1 is not just for newcomers and young children, and it is not a precursor to learning

disciplinary language. Rather, it encompasses opportunities for multilingual learners to develop

language for social and instructional purposes at all language proficiency levels, all grade levels,

and in all content areas.

• Across all disciplines and school settings. Language for social and instructional purposes

is foundational for engagement and learning in every discipline—from core disciplines like

language arts and mathematics—to visual and performing arts; health and physical education;

cross-disciplinary endeavors like use of technology, and library/media center time; and school-

wide activities and events. Language is a part of the entire school day and all educators share

responsibility for engaging multilingual learners in rich opportunities to simultaneously learn

content and language.

• Across numerous topics, tasks, and situations. ELD Standard 1 presents Language Expectations

that apply to a range of activities and interactions. Some examples include setting classroom

norms; establishing routines; following procedures; asking for clarification; discussing with peers;

relating personal ideas, feelings, and views; and exploring languages, cultures, and perspectives.

• While interacting with others. Language is, after all, a social practice that is dependent on an

awareness of one’s own and others’ identities, as well as the unique roles and purposes that

participants have in communicating with different members of a learning community—including

peers, teachers, administrators, counselors, paraprofessionals, interpreters, family and community

liaisons, other support staff, and visitors to the school. Interactive learning increases opportunities

for multilingual learners to engage fully in content learning and leverage their assets as support for

their academic achievements.

26 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Key Language Uses

As part of developing the WIDA ELD Standards

Framework, 2020 Edition, WIDA researchers analyzed

academic content standards, research literature, and

disciplinary practices. They also incorporated an

understanding of genre families—categories of texts

that share specific characteristics, such as purpose,

organization, or other similar patterns of language

use. From this research, WIDA has identified four Key

Language Uses—Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue—

that can be used to prioritize and organize the

integration of content and language.

Key Language Uses exemplify the Big Idea: Functional

Approach to Language Development. They emphasize

language use for particular purposes, with particular

audiences, and in particular sociocultural contexts.

They

• Bring focus and coherence to the language of

schooling

• Help educators make choices to prioritize and

coordinate content and language integration

• Serve as an organizing principle for the Language

Expectations

WIDA recognizes that Key Language Uses are one of

many different configurations for connecting content

to language through standards. The increased emphasis on genre-centered pedagogy (teaching

that highlights genres as a way of organizing language use) provides a natural point for collaboration

between content and language educators, with Key Language Uses serving as a focus for that

partnership.

Key Language Uses share some common aspects across disciplines, and yet each discipline also has

unique ways of applying each. Below are brief definitions for each Key Language Use.

• Narrate highlights language to convey real or imaginary experiences through stories and histories.

Narratives serve many purposes, including to instruct, entertain, teach, or support argumentation.

• Inform highlights language to provide factual information. As students convey information,

they define, describe, compare, contrast, organize, categorize, or classify concepts, ideas, or

phenomena.

1 WIDA Key Language Uses have been updated: their definition is refined in the 2020 Edition to mean genre families. “Recount”

has been separated into “Narrate” and “Inform.” “Discuss” is not a genre family, but it is threaded throughout all Key Language

Uses and applies across all five ELD standards.

WIDA ELD STANDARDS STATEMENTS

LANGUAGE EXPECTATIONS

KEY LANGUAGE USES

PROFICIENCY LEVEL DESCRIPTORS

Figure 2-3: Four Key Language Uses

NARRATE

ARGUE INFORM

EXPLAIN

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 27

• Explain highlights language to give an account

for how things work or why things happen. As

students explain, they substantiate the inner

workings of natural, man-made, and social

phenomena.

• Argue highlights language to justify claims using

evidence and reasoning. Argue can be used to

advance or defend an idea or solution, change

the audience’s point of view, bring about action,

or accept a position or evaluation of an issue.

Key Language Uses can overlap and inform

each other. Key Language Uses should not be

considered strict categorical divisions. As genre

families, Key Language Uses can intersect, blend,

and build on each other. For example, as students

develop complex explanations, they may inform (by

naming, defining, describing, or comparing and

contrasting something), and even narrate (e.g.,

by including an anecdote) as they work to help

their audiences accurately understand the how

or why of a concept (Explain). Narratives can be

embedded within other expository structures,

such as those in the families of Argue and

Explain. Argue can incorporate elements of

many Key Language Uses, as it seeks to show an

audience the validity of a position or claim.

All Key Language Uses are present

across all grade levels and disciplines, and yet at

each grade-level cluster and discipline, some

are more prominent than others. The emphasis

placed on these four Key Language Uses is not

intended to restrict curriculum and instruction;

rather, it accentuates the most prominent genre

families as an organizing principle for the ELD

Standards. The most prominent Key Language

Uses are the basis for its Language

Expectations.

For a deeper dive into the features of each Key Language Use across grades

and disciplines, visit Section 4: Resources—Key Language Uses: A Closer Look.

Appendix C shows K-12 distribution tables of the most prominent Key Language

Uses by grade-level cluster and WIDA ELD Standard.

Genres are multimodal types of

texts (oral, written, visual) that recur

frequently for specific purposes, with

specific discourse organization and

language features (e.g., biographies).

Genres with similar characteristics (e.g.,

biographies, autobiographies, short

stories) can be grouped together into

genre families (e.g., narrate).

Key Language Uses reflect the most

high-leverage genre families across

academic content standards. They are

Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue.

Key Language Uses can overlap

and inform each other.

As genre families, Key Language

Uses can intersect, blend, and build on

each other.

All Key Language Uses are

present across all grade levels

and disciplines.

The emphasis placed on these four

Key Language Uses is not intended to

restrict curriculum and instruction; rather

it accentuates the most prominent genre

families as an organizing principle for

the ELD Standards.

28 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Language Expectations

Language Expectations are goals for content-driven

language instruction, adding specificity to the ELD

Standards Statements and Key Language Uses. They

are the statements most similar to what educators

generally find in academic content standards. We’d

like to call your attention to four aspects

of Language Expectations: their reference codes,

communication modes, Language Functions, and

example Language Features.

Language Expectations: Reference Code

As illustrated in Figure 2-4, each Language Expectation has a reference code that includes the WIDA

ELD Standard Statement (incorporating an academic content area), grade-level cluster, Key Language

Use, and communication mode.

Figure 2-4: Example Reference Code for a Language Expectation

ELD-LA.2-3.Narrate.Expressive: Multilingual learners construct language arts

narratives that

• Orient audience to context

• Develop story with time and event sequences, complication, resolution, or ending

• Engage and adjust for audience

ELD Standard:

Language for

Language Arts

Key Language Use: Narrate

Mode of Communication: Expressive

Grade-Level Cluster

Language Expectations: Communication Modes

In the Language Expectations, the four individual language domains (listening, speaking, reading,

and writing) are consolidated into two more inclusive modes of communication: interpretive and

expressive.

• The interpretive communication mode encompasses listening, reading, and viewing

• The expressive communication mode encompasses speaking, writing, and representing

WIDA ELD STANDARDS STATEMENTS

LANGUAGE EXPECTATIONS

KEY LANGUAGE USES

PROFICIENCY LEVEL DESCRIPTORS

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 29

Figure 2-5: Modes of Communication

MODES OF

COMMUNICATION

Listening

Speaking

Writing Reading

INTERPRETIVE

Viewing

EXPRESSIVE

+Representing

These two broader modes of communication (interpretive and expressive) increase accessibility

options for students and emphasize multimodal forms of communication (namely, by adding viewing in

conjunction with listening and reading as well as representing in conjunction with speaking and writing).

Language Expectations: Language Functions and Features

Developed from a systematic analysis of academic

content standards, Language Expectations are built

around a set of Language Functions. Language

Functions are common patterns of language use that

showcase particular ways students might use language

to meet the purposes of schooling. For example, a series

of Language Functions is associated with the process of

constructing fictional narratives, informing peers of newly gained knowledge, explaining phenomena,

or engaging in scientific argumentation.

Table 2-2 presents the Language Expectation for ELD-LA.2-3.Narrate.Expressive. It contains three

Language Functions that highlight common patterns of language use associated with Language Arts

narratives in grades 2-3:

• Orient audience to context

• Develop story with time and event sequences, complication, and resolution

• Engage and adjust for audience

Reminder: the most prominent

Key Language Uses are the basis

for its Language Expectations.

30 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

In order to carry out particular Language Functions, language users rely on various language

resources, including Language Features (e.g., types of sentences, clauses, phrases, and words).

Together, the Language Functions and Features form a dynamic and illustrative set that shows some

of the ways language works in service of content learning. Table 2-2 shows the Language Features

that accompany the second Language Function from the Language Expectation ELD-LA.2-3.Narrate.

Expressive.

Table 2-2: The Anatomy of a Language Expectation

Language Expectation ELD-LA.2-3.Narrate.Expressive

Stem

Indicates

interpretive or

expressive mode

Language Function

Common patterns of

language use associated

with Key Language Uses

(e.g., stages of the genre)

Example Language Features

Sample language resources that carry

out specific Language Functions (e.g.,

different types of sentences, clauses,

phrases, and words)

Construct

language arts

narratives that…

Develop story with time

and event sequences,

complication, resolution,

or ending through…

• Saying verbs (yelled, said, whispered)

to add details about characters in

dialogs

• Verbs to describe what characters do,

think, and feel

• Pronouns, renaming, and synonyms

to reference characters, situations, or

ideas across the text (Miguel=my little

brother=he; that night=the worst night)

• Connectors to sequence time (first,

next, and then), and events (before,

after, later), and to combine and link

event details (and, but, so)

This close integration of content and language invites collaboration between content and language

educators as they collectively share responsibility for teaching multilingual learners. Language

development is its own field of expertise, just as each discipline is. As content and language teachers

dive deeper into standards-based planning and delivery of instruction, language specialists can help

content teachers learn more about Language Functions and Features. Similarly, content teachers can

help language specialists connect to content learning.

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 31

Proﬁciency Level Descriptors

Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) are a detailed

articulation of multilingual learners’ growth in

interpretive and expressive language across levels of

English language proficiency.

PLDs describe how multilingual learners use language

toward the end of each language proficiency level

(PL) until they reach PL6. PL6 is open ended: it

indicates that for all of us, language development continues throughout life. Each end-of-level

descriptor includes and builds on previous proficiency levels (e.g., PL4 = PL1 + PL2 + PL3 + PL4).

Educators should scaffold learning and resources across all levels of language proficiency.

For the purposes of representation and understanding, PLDs describe proficiency in a linear way.

However, language development is not a straightforward linear process across proficiency levels; it is

contingent on a variety of factors, including multilingual learners’ familiarity with the topic, audience,

and situation. Therefore, multilingual learners may take various paths to develop and reach Language

Expectations.

At any given point along their continua of language

development, multilingual learners may demonstrate

a range of abilities within and across each proficiency

level. For example, they may speak at a higher

proficiency level while write at an earlier proficiency

level. A proficiency level does not categorize a

multilingual learner (e.g., ‘a PL1 student’), but, rather,

identifies snapshots of what a multilingual learner

knows and can do at a particular stage of language

development (e.g., ‘a student at PL1’ or ‘a student

whose listening performance is at PL1’).

PLDs maintain consistency with the K-12 Performance

Definitions of the 2012 edition of the WIDA ELD

Standards. As such, the PLDs continue to be written

according to the three dimensions of language use:

discourse, sentence, and word/phrase.

The Dimensions of Language Use

The dimensions of language use are one way to conceptualize the linguistic system within a

sociocultural context. Language users make choices in all three dimensions of language that contribute

to how a text is purposely constructed to have the desired effect on its intended audience(s).

WIDA ELD STANDARDS STATEMENTS

LANGUAGE EXPECTATIONS

KEY LANGUAGE USES

PROFICIENCY LEVEL DESCRIPTORS

The relationship between

Language Expectations and

Proficiency Level Descriptors

Language Expectations offer goals

for how all students might use

language to meet academic content

standards.

Proficiency Level Descriptors

describe how multilingual learners

might develop language across levels

of English language proficiency as

they move toward meeting Language

Expectations.

32 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

The discourse dimension imparts overall meaning across an entire text, supported by the sentence and

word/phrase dimensions. To consider how a language user constructs a meaningful message, begin

by looking at the discourse dimension and the overarching message to see how language is organized

to communicate particular ideas, how language holds ideas together in a text (its cohesion), and how

loosely or tightly language is packed (its density).

The sentence dimension contributes to the grammatical complexity of a text. Language users make

choices in how they express ideas and their interrelationships through clauses in various sentences

types. These also help shape how a text is sequenced and connected.

The word/phrase dimension adds precision to communication. For example, language users

strategically select everyday, cross-disciplinary, or technical language; employ multiple meanings and

nuances of words and phrases; or play with their shades of meaning.

Figure 2-6: Dimensions of Language within a Sociocultural Context

Sociocultural

Context

Discourse

Sentence

Word/

Phrase

Everyday language: language for representing ideas in nontechnical ways (e.g., dogs instead

of canines)

Cross-disciplinary language: common academic language used across content area contexts

(e.g., analyze, evaluate, summarize)

Technical language: specialized language associated with a content area such as science and

history (e.g., mitosis, imperialism)

Table 2-3 updates the Features of Academic Language table (WIDA, 2014). It delineates five criteria

across the three dimensions of language, framed within a sociocultural context. In addition to the

dimensions and their criteria, the column to the far right presents sample features found in the PLDs.

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 33

Table 2-3: Dimensions of Language in the Proficiency Level Descriptors:

Criteria Foci and Sample Language Features

The three language dimensions operate within sociocultural contexts for language use.

Dimension Criteria Focus on . . .

Sample Language

Features

Discourse Organization

of language

How ideas are coherently

organized to meet

a purpose through

organizational patterns

characteristic of the genre

Whole text

organizational patterns,

such as introduction,

body, conclusion; claim,

evidence, reasoning

Cohesion of

language

How language connects

ideas within and across

sentences and discourse

using a range of cohesive

devices

Cohesive devices, such

as repeated words,

synonyms, pronoun

substitution, connectors

Density of

language

How information in noun

groups is expanded or

consolidated

Noun groups expanded

with resources, such

as adjectives or other

modifiers added before

nouns, prepositional

phrases following

nouns, nominalization

Sentence Grammatical

complexity of

language

How relationships

are expressed with

clauses through simple,

compound, and complex

sentences

Simple, compound,

complex sentences;

coordinating,

subordinating

conjunctions;

dependent and

independent clauses

Word/Phrase Precision of

language

How everyday, cross-

disciplinary, and technical

language more effectively

conveys precise meaning

A variety of words

and phrases, such as

adverbials of time,

manner, and place; verb

types; abstract nouns

34 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Applicable Uses of the WIDA Proficiency Level Descriptors

Below are some non-exhaustive examples of ways the PLDs may be used.

The PLDs might be used during

• Collaboration between language development and content area educators

• Professional learning activities about language development

• School team discussions about the language growth of multilingual learners

• Conversations with families in their preferred language

The PLDs might be used to

• Help design and scaffold classroom instruction and assessment tasks—as one tool among others

• Support teacher and student discussions around language performance in relation to learning

goals

• Monitor progress of multilingual learners as they show language growth over time

• Evaluate evidence from student work (portfolio of speaking and writing samples) as part of the

eligibility process for special services

Inapplicable Uses of the WIDA Proficiency Level Descriptors

The PLDs should not be used as restrictive examples

or as a finite list of student abilities. Nor should they

be used to limit access to complex texts and grade-

level materials, participation in rigorous learning, or

engagement in meaningful classroom discussions.

Finally, the grade-level cluster PLDs should not be used

to lower expectations or slow student growth.

PLDs should not be used as the single document or as the only evidence in high-stakes situations

such as

• Identification for special education services; for example in trying to obtain cognitive support

services solely based on a student’s English language proficiency level

• Description of cognitive ability

• Identification of student readiness abilities

• Tracking for remediation or enrichment

• Grading in report cards

• Consideration for grade placement or retention

• Evaluation of teachers

The Proficiency Level Descriptors

should not be used as a sole

source to define or categorize a

multilingual learner or teacher.

Section 2: Understanding the WIDA ELD Standards Framework 35

The WIDA ELD Standards Framework: What It is and What It is Not

The WIDA ELD Standards Framework, together with cross-disciplinary academic content standards and

disciplinary practices, defines the language multilingual learners need as they move toward college,

career, and civic readiness.

The WIDA ELD Standards Framework does not—indeed, cannot—enumerate all or even most of the

language of school. Use of the Standards Framework must therefore be complemented by a well-

developed, content-rich curriculum and effective pedagogical approaches within an equitable

educational program for multilingual learners (See Section 4: Resources—Collaborative Planning for

Content and Language Integration: A Jump-Off Point for Curricular Conversations).

Table 2-4: What the WIDA ELD Standards Framework is and What It Is Not

The WIDA ELD Standards Framework is

NOT intended to be

• A description of clear and measurable

goals for language learning represented

• Language Expectations for

interpretive and expressive modes of

communication

• Grade-level cluster PLDs of what

multilingual learners can do at

consecutive language proficiency

levels

• A resource for state, district, and school

accountability

• A guide for informing the design of

linguistically and culturally sustaining

curriculum, instruction, and assessment

• A central component of the

comprehensive WIDA research-

based system of language standards,

assessment, and professional learning

• Statements of grade-level knowledge and

skills

• A prescriptive document to be enacted

without consideration for the local setting

• A de facto curriculum or course of study

• Specific lessons associated with units

of learning with a series of language

objectives

• A step-by-step process for teaching and

learning

• An endorsement for any particular

language pedagogy

• A form of evaluation or a basis for grading

• A compendium of academic content

standards and disciplinary practices

• Used in isolation, independent of grade-

level content

36 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Section 3: Grade-Level

Cluster Materials

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 39

Grade-Level Cluster Materials

WIDA recognizes that English language development

occurs over multiple years, is variable, and depends

on many factors, such as multilingual learners’ ages,

maturation, classroom experiences, motivation, attitudes,

and types of educational programming.

With this in mind, we have developed sets of materials

that are appropriate for students in different grade-

level clusters (K, 1, 2-3, 4-5, 6-8, and 9-12). Within each

grade-level cluster section, the materials are organized

according to the components of the WIDA ELD

Standards Framework, and include some additional

resources. The grade-level cluster materials help

educators enact the WIDA ELD Standards Framework.

Please be sure you have read the information in the

previous two sections of this publication:

• Section 1 introduces the Big Ideas that are threaded throughout this document.

• Section 2 introduces the components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework.

The table on the next page shows the components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework on the left,

and the corresponding grade-level cluster materials on the right.

Grade-level cluster materials rely

on a deep understanding of how

language works in the service of

content learning. Whereas we

recognize that collaboration is

not possible in every situation,

partnerships between language

and content teachers are critically

important for planning and

enacting curriculum, instruction,

and assessment for multilingual

learners.

40 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Table 3-1: Representations of the Components of the WIDA ELD Standards Framework in

Grade-Level Cluster Materials

Section 2: Components of the WIDA ELD

Standards Framework

Section 3: Representation of the

Framework in Each Grade-Level Cluster

Section

WIDA ELD Standards Statements –

Language for Social and Instructional

Purposes, Language for Language Arts,

Language for Mathematics, Language for

Science, and Language for Social Studies –

the broadest conceptual framing of language

and content integration

WIDA ELD Standards Statements – Remain

the same from kindergarten through grade 12

Key Language Uses – Narrate, Inform,

Explain, Argue – select genre families

summarizing the most prominent language

uses across academic content standards

Key Language Use Distribution Table – Most

prominent Key Language Uses for a particular

grade-level cluster and ELD standard

Language Expectations – Interpretive and

expressive goals for content-driven language

learning

Language Expectations, along with

embedded Language Functions and

example Language Features

Proficiency Level Descriptors – Continua of

language development across six language

proficiency levels and six grade-level clusters

Proficiency Level Descriptors – A continuum

of language development across six

language proficiency levels for a particular

grade-level cluster

An additional resource in Section 3, Annotated Language Samples, illustrates WIDA ELD Standards

Statements, Key Language Uses, and Language Expectations, Functions, and Features in authentic

grade-level texts. These samples are drawn from teachers and multilingual students from across the

WIDA Consortium. Together, the grade-level cluster materials enhance visibility of language to help

educators enact the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, planning for the simultaneous development of

content and language in systematic, sustained, and explicit ways.

KINDERGARTEN

Kindergarten

Entering kindergarten is a big milestone for many

children and their families. Children develop in different

ways and at different rates, but in general, kindergartners

tend to be quite active—playing, running, enjoying

being silly, and making friends. Around this time, young children learn many new skills,

from hopping on one foot, to holding a pencil, cutting with scissors, and recognizing

colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. As kindergartners develop in social–emotional

ways, they are also beginning to learn academic concepts through language and

other multimodal means of communication.

The physical, hands-on world of kindergartners fosters their language development.

Make-believe, singing, dancing, and playing games create natural connections

between school and home, where, bolstered by their families, multilingual learners

interact in multiple languages and draw on their cultures and experiences to express

feelings, tell stories, and enter the world of print.

In this section you can find detailed, grade-level cluster specific information about

the WIDA ELD Standards Framework. Remember that the WIDA ELD Standards

Statements are the same from kindergarten through grade 12. Then, you will find the

following materials for kindergarten:

• The most prominent Key Language Uses

• Language Expectations, Language Functions, and Language Features

• Annotated Language Samples illustrating WIDA ELD Standards Statements,

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features in authentic kindergarten texts

• Proficiency Level Descriptors

Before using these materials, be sure to read the information in Section 1 (Big Ideas)

and Section 2 (Introduction to the WIDA ELD Standards Framework: WIDA ELD

Standards Statements, Key Language Uses, Language Expectations, and Proficiency

Level Descriptors).

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 41

42 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Key Language Uses

Key Language Uses—Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue—are present across all grade levels and

disciplines. Table 3-2 offers snapshots of some ways students engage in each Key Language Use

throughout kindergarten.

Table 3-2: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Kindergarten

Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Kindergarten

Narrate • Reflect on their lived experiences

• Retell personal experiences

• Create imaginative new stories through multimodal text, combining

drawings and spelling approximations

Inform

• Describe observations about the world around them

• Share observations about experiences and topics they know well

• Compare and contrast information about individual entities

• Categorize objects

Explain

• Wonder and ask questions about natural observable phenomena, such how

caterpillars become butterflies

• Construct pictorial representations of their emerging understandings of

phenomena

• Ask and answer how things work or why things are the way they are

Argue

• Express likes and dislikes on familiar topics, such as food and games

• Express emotions stemming from personal experiences

• Share opinions about issues from their own lives

Learn more about each Key Language Use across the grades and disciplines in

Section 4: Resources—Key Language Uses: A Closer Look.

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 43

The most prominent Key Language Uses in kindergarten are the basis for its Language Expectations.

They are marked with a filled-in circle ( ●●

) in the boxes of Table 3-3. The half-filled circle and the open

circle indicate lesser degrees of prominence of each Key Language Use; see the legend underneath

the table.

Table 3-3: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Kindergarten

Distribution of Key Language Uses in Kindergarten

WIDA ELD Standard Narrate Inform Explain Argue

1. Language for Social and Instructional

Purposes

●● ●● ●● ●●

2. Language for Language Arts

●● ●● ●●

●●

3. Language for Mathematics

●● ●●

4. Language for Science

●● ●● ●●

●●

5. Language for Social Studies

●●

●● ●●

●●

Most Prominent

●●

Prominent

●●

Present

44 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features

Language Expectations

Language Expectations are interpretive and expressive goals for content-driven language learning.

They articulate the language necessary for meeting academic content standards.

Language Functions

Language Expectations are built around a set of Language Functions. Language Functions highlight

common patterns of language use, showcasing particular ways students might use language to

meet the purposes of schooling. For example, a series of Language Functions is associated with the

process of constructing fictional narratives, informing peers of newly gained knowledge, explaining

phenomena, or engaging in scientific argumentation. In Figure 3-1, you can see that the Language

Functions are listed in bulleted form, under the interpretive and expressive Language Expectations.

Standard 1 Language Expectations and Language Functions

Given its broad scope and applicability, Language Expectations and Language Functions for Standard

1 (Language for Social and Instructional Purposes) are presented in two wide-ranging spans, the first

for grades K-3 and the second for grades 4-12. These are logical divisions between early childhood

education and upper elementary years and beyond. Language Expectations and Functions for

Standard 1 can be readily interwoven or paired with those in Standards 2-5 (Language for Language

Arts, Mathematics, Science, and Social Studies). The pairing of Standard 1 with Standards 2-5 reminds

us that students communicate as part of disciplinary learning, but also to convey personal needs and

wants, to affirm their own identities, and to form and maintain relationships.

Language Features

The Language Functions of Standards 2-5 are further delineated with Language Features. In Figure 3-1,

you can see sample Language Features for each Language Function, marked with a box (■). Language

Features are examples of various language resources that carry out particular Language Functions,

such as different types of sentences, clauses, phrases, and words. Due to the intertwining nature of

Standard 1 with Standards 2-5, there are no specific Language Features for Standard 1.

In the example here, you can see how the Language Features connect to the Language Functions in

the expressive Language Expectations. Language Features are only shown in the expressive functions

because those also help us see how learners have processed information through interpretive modes.

For example, when multilingual learners share information about something they have heard, read, or

viewed, we can use their expressive language skills to evaluate and guide our instructional choices.

Figure 3-1 on the next page shows how the Language Functions and Language Features appear.

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 45

Figure 3-1: Kindergarten Language Functions and Language Features

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 49

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 2

Language for Language Arts

Inform

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-LA.K.Inform.Interpretive

Interpret informational texts in language arts

(with prompting and support) by

● Identifying main topic and key details

● Asking and answering questions about

descriptions of familiar attributes and

characteristics

● Identifying word choices in relation to topic

or content area

ELD-LA.K.Inform.Expressive

Construct informational texts in language arts

(with prompting and support) that

● Introduce topic for audience

● Describe details and facts

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Introduce topic for audience through…

■ Pictures, words, title to identify topic

■ Pronouns to reference entity (farmers=they)

■ Oral recounting to share information (The farmers grow food.)

Describe details and facts through…

■ Nouns to label visuals (fruit, oranges)

■ Verbs to label actions (farming)

■ Prepositional phrases to tell about where (on the farm, in the trees)

■ Visuals (labeled drawings) to support information

Language

Functions (common

patterns of language

use) appear here

and again below

Language

Features

(examples

of language

resources)

appear here

46 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 1

Social and Instructional Language

The Language Expectations and Language Functions of Standard 1 are interwoven and paired with

those of Standards 2-5. For this reason, remember that there are no specific Language Features for

Standard 1, and that the expectations for the interpretive and expressive communication modes are the

same. As you can see from the reference codes, the Language Expectations are the same for students

in kindergarten through grade 3.

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

Narrate

ELD-SI.K-3.Narrate

● Share ideas about one’s own and others’ lived experiences and previous learning

● Connect stories with images and representations to add meaning

● Ask questions about what others have shared

● Recount and restate ideas

● Discuss how stories might end or next steps

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

Inform

ELD-SI.K-3.Inform

● Define and classify objects or concepts

● Describe characteristics, patterns, or behavior

● Describe parts and wholes

● Sort, clarify, and summarize ideas

● Summarize information from interaction with others and from learning experiences

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 47

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 1

Social and Instructional Language

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

Explain

ELD-SI.K-3.Explain

● Share initial thinking with others

● Follow and describe cycles in diagrams, steps in procedures, or causes and effects

● Compare and contrast objects or concepts

● Offer ideas and suggestions

● Act on feedback to revise understandings of how or why something works

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

Argue

ELD-SI.K-3.Argue

● Ask questions about others’ opinions

● Support own opinions with reasons

● Clarify and elaborate ideas based on feedback

● Defend change in one’s own thinking

● Revise one’s own opinions based on new information

48 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 2

Language for Language Arts

Narrate

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-LA.K.Narrate.Interpretive

Interpret language arts narratives (with

prompting and support) by

● Identifying key details

● Identifying characters, settings, and major

events

● Asking and answering questions about

unknown words in a text

ELD-LA.K.Narrate.Expressive

Construct language arts narratives (with

prompting and support) that

● Orient audience to story

● Describe story events

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Orient audience to story through…

■ Pictures, words, title, simple statements, or common story expressions to introduce context

■ Noun groups to state who or what the story is about (tall man, baby bear)

■ Prepositional phrases to specify location and time (at Grandma’s house, by the river; in the

winter, at night)

Describe story events through…

■ Verbs to describe character actions (jumped), feelings (was sad), behaviors (eating)

■ Connectors to establish sequence (then, after, and)

■ Pronouns and renaming to reference a character across the text (the girl=she=Nancy)

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 49

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 2

Language for Language Arts

Inform

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-LA.K.Inform.Interpretive

Interpret informational texts in language arts

(with prompting and support) by

● Identifying main topic and key details

● Asking and answering questions about

descriptions of familiar attributes and

characteristics

● Identifying word choices in relation to topic

or content area

ELD-LA.K.Inform.Expressive

Construct informational texts in language arts

(with prompting and support) that

● Introduce topic for audience

● Describe details and facts

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Introduce topic for audience through…

■ Pictures, words, title to identify topic

■ Pronouns to reference entity (farmers=they)

■ Oral recounting to share information (The farmers grow food.)

Describe details and facts through…

■ Nouns to label visuals (fruit, oranges)

■ Verbs to label actions (farming)

■ Prepositional phrases to tell about where (on the farm, in the trees)

■ Visuals (labeled drawings) to support information

50 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 3

Language for Mathematics

Inform

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-MA.K.Inform.Interpretive

Interpret mathematical informational texts (with

prompting and support) by

● Identifying concept or object

● Describing quantities and attributes

ELD-MA.K.Inform.Expressive

Construct mathematical informational texts

(with prompting and support) that

● Define or classify concept or entity

● Describe a concept or entity

● Compare/contrast concepts or entities

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Define or classify concept or entity through…

■ Single nouns to represent class of things (colors, shapes, patterns)

■ Relating verbs (be, have) to define, describe, or classify (The pattern is red, blue, red, blue.)

Describe a concept or entity through…

■ Expanded noun groups to add specificity (The red star has five points.)

■ Sequential signals (first, second, then, last) to describe patterns (First is a green bear, then two

blue bears.)

■ Prepositional phrases (behind, on top of, under, next to, below, above) to specify location (The

blue star is next to the green triangle.)

Compare/contrast concepts or entities through…

■ Comparison/contrast language (both, same, different) and pointing to differentiate between

entities (This pattern is different than that one.)

■ Causal language (because, so) and demonstration to provide reasoning (I can make a triangle

because I have three sticks.)

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 51

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 4

Language for Science

Inform

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-SC.K.Inform.Interpretive

Interpret scientific informational texts by

● Determining what text is about

● Defining or classifying a concept or entity

ELD-SC.K.Inform.Expressive

Construct scientific informational texts that

● Introduce others to a topic or entity

● Provide details about an entity

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Introduce others to a topic or entity through…

■ Pictures, words, drawings to introduce others to the topic

■ Generalized nouns to identify class of things (pollinators, insects)

■ Pronouns (it, they) to reference entity or idea (insects=they) (demonstratives identify that this is

a plant)

■ Oral recounting to share information (The butterflies fly for a really long time.)

Provide details about an entity through…

■ Prepositional phrases to tell about where (in the trees, on the flowers, next to, above, below)

■ Verbs to label actions (fly, grow, eat)

■ Relating verbs (be, have) to define entity (Butterflies are pollinators. Butterflies have antennae.)

■ Adjectives to add details (red and black wings)

■ Pictures, labeled drawings, words to categorize, compare, and contrast information

(moths=night, butterflies=day)

52 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 4

Language for Science

Explain

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-SC.K.Explain.Interpretive

Interpret scientific explanations by

● Defining investigable questions or simple

design problems based on observations

and data about a phenomenon

● Using information from observations to

find patterns and to explain how or why a

phenomenon occurs

ELD-SC.K.Explain.Expressive

Construct scientific explanations that

● Describe information from observations

about a phenomenon

● Relate how a series of events causes

something to happen

● Compare multiple solutions to a problem

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Describe information from observations about a phenomenon through…

■ Single words to identify context (floating, sinking)

■ Relating verbs (have, be) to state relationships or attributes

■ Pictures, diagrams, to add information or illustrate phenomenon

Relate how a series of events causes something to happen through…

■ Nouns to represent concepts (investigation)

■ Simple sentences to describe the phenomenon (A feather floats.)

■ Cohesion to reference ideas, people across text, including pronouns, articles, demonstratives

(it, a, the, this, that)

■ Causal connectors to combine ideas into logical relationships (so, because, when/then)

■ Connectors to link or compare observations (Paper floats but rocks sink.)

Compare multiple solutions to a problem through…

■ Simple statements to represent conclusions (Heavy things float.)

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 53

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 5

Language for Social Studies

Inform

Language Expectations: Multilingual learners will…

ELD-SS.K.Inform.Interpretive

Interpret informational texts in social

studies by

● Determining topic associated with a

compelling or supporting question

● Defining attributes and characteristics in

relevant information

ELD-SS.K.Inform.Expressive

Construct informational texts in social

studies that

● Introduce topic associated with a

compelling or supporting question

● Provide a detail about relevant information

Language Functions and Sample Language Features

Introduce topic associated with a compelling or supporting questions through…

■ Pictures, words, title to identify topic or concept (My Neighborhood, Activities)

■ Visuals (labeled drawings, diagrams) to share information about topic attributes

Provide a detail about relevant information through…

■ Nouns to label visuals or cultural items (family members, weather words, food, events)

■ Verbs to label actions and activities (dancing, cooking)

■ Prepositional phrases to tell about location (on the block, in the house, next to the store, at

Grandma’s house, on the bus)

■ Adjectives to add description to labeled nouns and simple sentences (It is a sunny day.)

54 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Annotated Language Samples

Annotated Language Samples exemplify the WIDA ELD Standards Framework in action. In particular,

they show an ELD Standards Statement, a Key Language Use, a Language Expectation, as well as its

Language Functions and Language Features contextualized in authentic grade-level texts. The samples,

drawn from the work of teachers and students from across the WIDA Consortium, help make more

visible the language for content learning. In this way, educators can envision how to highlight language

and plan for its systematic development during content learning.

• Language Functions (bold white text on a blue background)

• Connectors, sequence words (in bold)

• Nouns and noun groups (in red with dashed underline)

• Verbs and verb groups (in green with dotted underline)

• Prepositional and adverbial phrases (in blue with diamond underline)

• Objective/evaluative language (words or phrases) (in italics)

• Cohesive devices (circles and arrows within the text)

• Clauses (underlined and italics)

• Sentences (highlighted with boxes around them)

LEGEND FOR THE ANNOTATED TEXTS

Several different conventions are used to indicate example Language Features in the annotated

text:

Note: Examples of sentences are declarative statements, statements of

claims, statements foreshadowing events. See individual texts for more

detail.

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 55

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 2

Language for Language Arts

Narrate

Annotated Language Sample

Context: This text was written by a multilingual kindergartner. At this time, students were writing every

day about their lives or about books they were reading. This is the first of two texts presented here,

written by the same kindergartner on two consecutive days. Both are modeled after a book the learner

was reading.

Prompt: It’s story writing time!

Language Expectation: ELD-LA.K.Narrate.Expressive

Multilingual learners use language t

o construct language arts narratives (with prompting and

support) that

• Orient audience to story

• Describe story events

Functions &

Features

Functions &

Features

Orient audience to

story through…

Simple statements

• Brather … hopey

Noun groups to

introduce context

• Brather [brother]

• Mother

Brather [Brother] is hopey [hoping].

Mother is hoee [home].

He will wear boots and a scarf.

Describe story

events through…

Verbs (and verb

groups)

• is hopey [hoping]

• will wear

Pronoun to reference

characters

• Brather … he

Example of Student Writing

56 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

KINDERGARTEN

WIDA ELD STANDARD 4

Language for Science

Inform

Annotated Language Sample

Context: This is the second text written by the same multilingual kindergartner (the first is on the

previous page). The student had been reading informational books about animals.

Prompt: “Ok friends, it’s writing time! Get out your notebooks and pencils. Remember you can write

about books you are reading.”

Language Expectation: ELD-SC.K.Inform.Expressive

Multilingual learners use language to construct scientific informational texts that

• Introduce others to a topic or entity

• Provide details about an entity

Functions &

Features

Functions &

Features

Introduce others to

the topic through…

Generalized nouns

• a gosling

• a piglet

• a calf

• a wing

• a tail

• a nose

A gosling has a wing.

A piglet has a tail.

A calf has a nose.

…

This horse is fast. This duck and this pig are

slow.

Provide details

about an entity

through…

Relational verbs

• has, is, are

Adjectives to add

details

• fast

• slow

Noun groups to add

details

• a wing

• a tail

Example of Student Writing

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 57

Proficiency Level Descriptors

Remember…

Proficiency Level Descriptors (PLDs) illustrate a continuum of language development for multilingual

learners across six levels of English language proficiency for each grade-level cluster. The descriptors

span three dimensions of language: discourse, sentence, and word/phrase.

• Each proficiency level (PL) includes and builds on previous levels (e.g., PL4 = PL1 + PL2 + PL3 + PL4).

PL6 is open-ended. It indicates that for all of us, language development continues throughout life.

• Language development is not a straightforward linear process across proficiency levels; it

is contingent on a variety of factors. Multilingual learners may take various paths to develop

language.

• The PLDs are designed to be used in coordination with Language Expectations, Language

Functions, and Language Features.

• Whereas Language Expectations offer goals for how all students might use language to meet

academic content standards, PLDs offer a succinct description of how multilingual learners

might develop language across levels of language proficiency in moving toward meeting

Language Expectations.

• In the PLDs, text is multimodal, including oral, visual, and written forms.

• Scaffolding learning increases accessibility for multilingual learners, supports and bolsters

their opportunities to meaningfully engage in grade-level content learning, and builds toward

independence. The PLDs are predicated on the idea that appropriate scaffolding supports students

in moving through the language proficiency levels.

58 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Grade K WIDA Proficiency Level Descriptors for the Interpretive Communication Mode (Listening, Reading, and Viewing)

Toward the end of each proficiency level, when scaffolded appropriately, multilingual learners will…

Understand how coherent texts (spoken, written, multimodal) are created…

Understand how ideas are connected across a whole text through…

Understand how ideas are elaborated or condensed through…

Understand how meanings are extended or enhanced through…

Understand how precise meanings are created through everyday, cross-disciplinary, and technical language through…

Criteria End of Level 1 End of Level 2 End of Level 3 End of Level 4 End of Level 5 Level 6

DISCOURSE

Organization

of language

around topics (my

family) with words,

pictures, phrases, or

chunks of language

around topics (all

about me) with

repetition, rhyming,

and common language

patterns

around topics (all

about me) with

repetition, rhyming,

and other language

patterns with short

sentences

to meet a purpose

(to inform, narrate,

entertain) through

multiple related

sentences

to meet a purpose in

a series of extended

sentences

to meet a purpose in a

short text

DISCOURSE

Cohesion of

language

patterned language

with repetitive words

patterned language

with repetitive words

and phrases (This is a

duck. The duck says

quack, quack. This is a

goat.)

repetitive words and

phrases across a text

(Brown bear, brown

bear, what do you

see?)

some frequently used

cohesive devices

(demonstratives: this,

these, that, those)

a few different types

of cohesive devices

(repetition, pronoun

referencing, etc.)

multiple types of

cohesive devices

(synonyms, antonyms,

repetition)

DISCOURSE

Density of

language

labels with single

nouns (ball, car)

frequently used single

noun groups (my toys,

my car, your ball?)

frequently used multi-

word noun groups (my

favorite book)

multi-word noun

groups with

connectors (a shiny

truck and a red ball)

expanded noun

groups with classifiers

(the red fire truck)

expanded noun groups

with prepositional

phrases (the red fire

truck in the station)

SENTENCE

Grammatical

complexity

words, pictures, and

phrases (Anna’s chair)

words, pictures,

phrases, and chunks of

language (ran to her

room)

chunks of language

(sat in her chair, jumps

on her bed)

simple sentences (She

picked it up.)

related simple

sentences (She picked

it up. She carried it to

her room.)

multiple related simple

sentences (She picked

it up. She carried it to

her room. She opened

it up.)

WORD,

PHRASE

Precision o

language

a few words and

phrases in familiar

contexts and topics

(map, desk, hello)

repeated words and

phrases in familiar

contexts and topics

(sound it out, think

first)

frequently used words

and phrases in familiar

contexts

(

time to clean

up)

situation-specific

words and phrases

(What sounds do we

hear?)

an increasing number

of words and phrases

(We need four

different colors to

make a pattern.)

a growing number of

words and phrases in

a variety of contexts

(special visitor, school

assembly)

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 59

Grade K WIDA Proficiency Level Descriptors for the Expressive Communication Mode (Speaking, Writing, and Representing)

Toward the end of each proficiency level, when scaffolded appropriately, multilingual learners will…

Create coherent texts (spoken, written, multimodal) using…

Connect ideas across a whole text through…

Create precise meanings through everyday, cross-disciplinary, and technical language with…

Criteria End of Level 1 End of Level 2 End of Level 3 End of Level 4 End of Level 5 Level 6

DISCOURSE

Organization

of language

single words, phrases,

or chunks of language

to represent ideas

phrases or short

sentences to represent

ideas with an intended

purpose (to describe,

narrate, share

opinion)

short sentences linked

together to convey

an intended purpose

(and, then)

short sentences that

convey an intended

purpose with emerging

organizational patterns

sentences linked

together to convey

an intended purpose

(inform: The parrot eats

nuts and seeds.)

text that conveys an

intended purpose

with emerging

organizational patterns

(first, and then, also,

next)

DISCOURSE

Cohesion of

language

single words and

phrases related to

topic (water, leaf)

an emerging use of

cohesive devices

(repetition: water,

water, the water)

a few frequently used

cohesive devices

(repetition: this leaf

is red, this leaf is

yellow)

some frequently used

cohesive devices

(demonstratives)

some formulaic

cohesive devices

(pronoun referencing)

a growing number

of cohesive devices

(emerging use of

articles to refer to the

same word)

DISCOURSE

Density of

language

Elaborate or condense ideas through…

limited elaboration

(single words)

simple elaboration

(familiar single nouns)

simple types of

elaboration (newly

learned single nouns)

a few types of

elaboration (adding

a familiar adjective to

describe a noun)

some types of

elaboration (adding

a newly learned

adjective to a noun)

a growing number of

types of elaboration

(adding articles or

demonstratives to a

noun: the or these

clouds)

SENTENCE

Grammatical

complexity

Extend or enhance meanings through…

words, pictures, and

phrases (cats and

dogs)

words, pictures,

phrases and chunks of

language (cats meow

and dogs bark)

sentence fragments

(cats and dogs)

sentence fragments

and emerging use

of simple sentences

(Dogs sleep, Dogs

bark.)

simple sentences (Cats

like to climb. Dogs like

to run.)

sentences with

emerging use of

clauses (My cat sleeps

all day. My dog runs all

the time. They are my

pets.)

WORD,

PHRASE

Precision of

language

frequently reoccurring

words and phrases

(Good Morning, let’s

play)

emerging use of words

and phrases with

attempted precision

(Today is Friday,

September 15.)

few frequently used

words and phrases

with emerging

precision (lunch time,

morning meeting)

some frequently used

words and phrases

with some precision

(my pattern is red,

blue, red, blue)

a small repertoire of

words and phrases

with developing

precision (beautiful

butterfly, repeating

pattern)

a growing repertoire

of words and phrases

with growing precision

(green and yellow

stripes)

60 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

GRADE

Grade 1

Moving from kindergarten to first grade can mean big changes for

children in the way they think about and interact with peers and

their surroundings. In general, these young learners tend to ask

and answer questions about the world, themselves, and texts in

multimodal ways (for example, oral, visual, or written). Social and thinking skills develop

rapidly as first graders actively explore their environment and look for answers in

increasingly logical ways. Working with partners or in small groups, students feel proud

to share their discoveries with others. They start to combine spoken language with

some reading and writing, and make connections among ideas, illustrations, and words.

In first grade, educators and families may easily connect school to home by encouraging

multilingual learners to share observations about the world in multiple languages. For

example, academic learning can readily be reinforced at home simply by walking around

the neighborhood to describe plant life or notice environmental print. Activities like

dancing, playing games, and doing chores are also great opportunities to strengthen

the home–school connection in culturally and linguistically sustaining ways. Likewise, in

school, multicultural books allow students to practice academic concepts in ways that

reflect the experiences of multilingual learners and their families.

In this section you can find detailed, grade-level cluster specific information about

the WIDA ELD Standards Framework. Remember that the WIDA ELD Standards

Statements are the same from kindergarten through grade 12. Then, you will find the

following materials for grade 1:

• The most prominent Key Language Uses

• Language Expectations, Language Functions, and Language Features

• Annotated Language Samples illustrating WIDA ELD Standards Statements,

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features in authentic grade-level texts

• Proficiency Level Descriptors

Before using these materials, be sure to read the information in Section 1 (Big Ideas)

and Section 2 (Introduction to the WIDA ELD Standards Framework: WIDA ELD

Standards Statements, Key Language Uses, Language Expectations, and Proficiency

Level Descriptors).

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 61

62 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Key Language Uses

Key Language Uses—Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue—are present across all grade levels and

disciplines. Table 3-4 offers snapshots of some ways students engage in each Key Language Use

throughout grade 1.

Table 3-4: Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grade 1

Snapshots of Key Language Uses in Grade 1

Narrate • Imagine and create new stories

• Begin to develop a sense of story structures

• Interpret narratives read aloud with predictable structures and language

patterns

Inform

• Describe and define familiar concepts or topics

• Categorize and classify information

• Interpret and construct brief descriptions or reports on familiar, concrete

entities, such as animals, objects, places, or people

Explain

• Describe their observations in relation to concrete phenomena in their

immediate environment

• Ask and answer questions about how things work or why things are the way

they are

• Interpret and construct multimodal representations of their emerging

understandings of observed relationships

Argue

• Formulate opinions

• Give reasons for their opinions

• Interpret persuasive texts

Learn more about each Key Language Use across the grades and disciplines in

Section 4: Resources—Key Language Uses: A Closer Look.

Section 3: Grade-Level Cluster Materials 63

The most prominent Key Language Uses in grade 1 are the basis for its Language Expectations. They

are marked with a filled-in circle ( ●●

) in the boxes of Table 3-5. The half-filled circle and the open circle

indicate lesser degrees of prominence of each Key Language Use; see the legend underneath the

table.

Table 3-5: Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grade 1

Distribution of Key Language Uses in Grade 1

WIDA ELD Standard Narrate Inform Explain Argue

1. Language for Social and Instructional

Purposes

●● ●● ●● ●●

2. Language for Language Arts

●● ●● ●●

●●

3. Language for Mathematics

●● ●●

4. Language for Science

●● ●● ●●

●●

5. Language for Social Studies

●●

●● ●● ●●

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64 WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition

Language Expectations, Functions, and Features

Language Expectations

Language Expectations are interpretive and expressive goals for content-driven language learning.

They articulate the language necessary for meeting academic content standards.

Language Function

Language Expectations are built around a set of Language Functions. Language Functions highlight

common patterns of language use, showcasing particular ways students might use language to

meet the purposes of schooling. For example, a series of Language Functions is associated with the

process of constructing fictional narratives, informing peers of newly gained knowledge, explaining

phenomena, or engaging in scientific argumentation. In Figure 3-2, you can see that the Language

Functions are listed in bulleted form, under the interpretive and expressive language expectations.