English Learners (ELs), including Long-Term English Learners (LTELs) and adolescent multilingual learners, bring immense potential to classrooms but often face dual challenges in mastering academic content and English simultaneously. For these students to succeed, improving literacy must become a Tier 1 excellence issue across all content areas—not just a secondary concern. A whole-school approach is essential, where all teachers, regardless of their subject, explicitly address the unique language and literacy demands inherent in their disciplines. When teachers consistently make academic language visible and teach students to reason and communicate as experts in their fields, they create equitable opportunities for EL success and enrich learning for every student. This comprehensive instructional approach, which aligns perfectly with WIDA standards, ensures ELs are equipped to thrive academically.
District and school leaders looking to boost literacy outcomes for secondary ELs can leverage a powerful insight: when content-area teachers explicitly teach the language and reasoning of their disciplines, all students benefit. This principle is central to WIDA standards and disciplinary literacy approaches. In this post, we outline six high-impact, WIDA-aligned instructional strategies to improve literacy outcomes for ELs.
WIDA and Disciplinary Literacy: Why Language Matters in Every Class
WIDA standards emphasize that language development is a shared responsibility across all teachers, highlighting discipline-specific academic communication—Narrate, Inform, Explain, and Argue—as essential skills. As Dr. Joshua Lawrence explains in his influential Reading Ways blog, once students decode text, comprehension hinges on discipline-specific language and background knowledge.
Six Strategies Aligned with WIDA (Effective for All Learners)
You can get all these strategies for free in the Reading Ways Hub. Find out how in the "How to Access the Hub Demo" section below.
- Focused Language Objectives
Clearly define language skills needed alongside content goals (e.g., using comparative language in math). Teachers explicitly addressing WIDA standards for integrated content and language instruction see improved student outcomes. Academic Word List and Connectives Chart are valuable for identifying high-value language targets. - Sentence Frames for Speaking and Writing
Sentence frames scaffold academic language, allowing students to focus on expressing complex ideas (“I hypothesize that __ because __”). Adaptable sentence frame templates from Reading Ways support science, social studies, math, and literature. - Models and Exemplars
Show students examples or perform think-alouds to model expert thinking and language. For instance, demonstrating annotation techniques in ELA or problem-solving in math clarifies expectations. Jacy Ippolito’s webinar describes how to simultaneously teach disciplinary literacy strategies, intermediate, and basic literacy skills. - Awareness of Teacher Language and Talk Moves
Teachers should consciously model academic language and utilize talk moves (e.g., “Can you elaborate?”) to encourage accountable discussions. The Talk Moves Prompt & Response guide is an effective tool for fostering productive classroom discourse. - Visual Supports
Incorporate visuals like diagrams, graphic organizers, and interactive “Living Word Walls” to enhance comprehension and vocabulary retention. Tools like the Interactive Word Wall guide reinforce academic vocabulary visually and interactively. - Differentiated Ways to Show Knowledge
Use varied assessments, including oral presentations, visuals, or quickwrites with scaffolds, to accurately capture student understanding without language barriers. The use of explicit supports allows us to differentiate by adapting the support.
Research Supporting These Strategies
Programs like Word Generation confirm these strategies improve vocabulary and discussion quality, particularly benefiting multilingual learners (Lawrence et al., 2014). Explore more in the Simple View of Reading blog.
Empowering Teachers, Empowering Students
School leaders can support professional development through resources like the Reading Ways Hub. Promoting explicit academic language instruction across disciplines ensures English Learners—and all students—thrive academically.
How to Access the Hub Demo
Here's how you can access the Hub and all the strategies mentioned in this blog post, for free:
- Sign up for the Hub Demo: https://hub.readingways.org/
- Once your registration is confirmed, simply search for the strategy name using the search bar at the top, or use the direct links provided in this post.
- On the strategy page, you can download it in Google Docs, Microsoft Word, or PDF formats.
While you're there, check out the Reading Ways Resource Library to discover more classroom-ready strategies and tools to support teaching.
References & Further Reading
- Lawrence, J. F., Snow, C. E., & White, C. (2014). Improving vocabulary and discourse in secondary classrooms. Reading Ways.
- WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition. WIDA Consortium.
- Lawrence, J. F. (2024). The Simple View of Reading and disciplinary literacy. Reading Ways.