English Language Development Standards Transcript
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~Leticia
Welcome
The North Carolina Essential Standards for English language learners, also known as
the English Language Development Standards, are the WIDA English Language
Proficiency Standards.
North Carolina joined the World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment (WIDA)
Consortium in 2008 and adopted the WIDA English Language Proficiency Standards
beginning in the 2008-09 school year.
(1) The North Carolina English Language Development (ELD) Standards are for all
teachers of English language learners (ELLs).
(2) Content teachers as well as ESL teachers are responsible for integrating these
standards into daily instruction.
Learner Expectations
By the end of the English Language Development (ELD) section of the module, you will
agree with the following statements:

I can distinguish academic language that is critical for English Language
Learners to learn in my class.

I can use WIDA MPIs to create or adapt lesson objectives for ELLs at various
proficiency levels.
Why WIDA for North Carolina ELD Standards?
The WIDA Consortium, was created in response to No Child Left Behind’s requirement
that all states must have language development standards for English language
learners. WIDA brings together a number of states using the same standards and
assessments. Currently, 27 states and the District of Columbia are members of the
WIDA Consortium. WIDA provides extensive research based tools, professional
development and technical support.
The previous English Language Development Standard Course of Study (SCS) was
Leticia M. Trower, Gaston County Schools
lmtrower@gaston.k12.nc.us
developed specifically for North Carolina and correlated only with NC’s Language Arts
SCS, K-12.
(3) The WIDA standards focus on the development of the student’s social and academic
language proficiency over time and are designed to be used for instruction of ELLs in
all content areas.
WIDA Consortium Website
Click on the WIDA link on your screen. Take a few minutes to explore the WIDA
website.
(The WIDA website – www.wida.us - is listed at the bottom of the last page of the
handout)
Click on different topics on the left side navigation bar. For example, click on
Standards to learn more about the research-based WIDA standards or click on
Professional Development to see the training WIDA has to offer.
When you finish exploring the site, click to return to the module.
WIDA ELP Standards
Standard 1 , English language learners communicate for SOCIAL AND INSTRUCTIONAL
purposes within the school setting .
Teaching social and instructional language has always been a part of ESL curricula. The
WIDA Standards expand the focus to academic language in core content areas.
WIDA ELP Standards (cont.)
English as a Second Language teachers, along with content teachers, are responsible
for teaching students to communicate

in the language of language arts,

In the language of mathematics,

In the language of science and

In the language social studies.
(4) The focus of the standards is teaching students to use academic language. (5) The
WIDA Standards are the bridge which connects language to content thereby making
content accessible to English language learners.
Academic language includes the vocabulary and structures that students need to
discuss, read or write in the content area. This language crosses over grade levels and
content areas. Some examples are words and phrases for comparing and contrasting .
Such words are commonly found on EOGs and EOCs. This is important because
unfamiliar language prevents ELLs from demonstrating their content knowledge. Often
Leticia M. Trower, Gaston County Schools
lmtrower@gaston.k12.nc.us
ELLs understand content, but are unable to understand the questions on the state tests
because of words that surround the content vocabulary.
English Language Proficiency Levels
WIDA utilizes a proficiency scale which describes what a student can do in English at
different stages of language development. The scales help teachers and students set
language learning goals, evaluate progress and know when a goal has been achieved.
The levels are: Level 1 Entering, Level 2 Beginning, Level 3 Developing, Level 4
Expanding, Level 5 Bridging and Level 6 Reaching.
Several tools discussed in this section will deepen your understanding of how
proficiency levels are used for instruction and assessment.
For now, it is important to understand that: (6) the extent to which an English language
learner can express understanding and communicate in English is very limited at Level
1 Entering and Level 2 Beginning. As the ELL’s proficiency level increases, so do
reading, writing, listening and speaking skills.
Reaching describes the English language ability of ELLs at the highest level of
proficiency.
ELLs Require Different Teaching
Academic expectations may be illustrated as a vertical continuum. In this continuum
the focus is on content in the Common Core State Standards and NC Essential
Standards.
English language proficiency levels demonstrate a horizontal progression of gradual
acquisition of the English language within a grade level. ELLs follow a continuum of
language development as described by the six levels of English language proficiency.
In order to navigate these two progressions (7) ELLs must move forward in learning
grade level content, while at the same time developing academic language proficiency.
It is critical to accelerate ELLs learning and minimize foundational gaps by ensuring
they have access to content.
-------------- SKIP TO “Model Performance Indicators” -------------Performance Definitions
Academic Language
Learning Academic Language
Common Lesson Objectives
Language of Science
Language of Math
Language of Social Studies
Leticia M. Trower, Gaston County Schools
lmtrower@gaston.k12.nc.us
Language of ELA
ELP Standard 3: The Language of Mathematics
--Model Performance Indicators
MPIs are tools WIDA provides to help teachers apply the WIDA standards to all content.
MPIs align with the progressive levels of English Language proficiency; Entering,
Beginning, Developing, Expanding and Bridging.
They are divided into the 4 domains, listening, speaking, reading and writing.
Each domain strand includes MPIs that are structured around the example topic. On
the Grade 6-8 MPI chart, the topic for the listening strand is Resources and Supplies.
The MPIs demonstrate what students should do at each proficiency level.
Remember, MPIs are models. As the topic changes, the MPIs are formed based on the
language function, topic , and support format. For an actual lesson, a MPI in the chart
above would be adapted to the topic, applying appropriate language functions and
supports for each proficiency level.
Click to download a pdf of this chart for our next activity.
Investigation and Reflection Activity
Please use the document you just downloaded to answer the following questions.

What should a student be able to do at the Level 3 developing based on this set
of MPIs?

If the topic for the Reading Strand were School Life, how might the MPI be
adjusted for this student?

Why do you think WIDA only offers models instead a full set of performance
indicators?
When you have finished, click next to continue through the module.
CAN DO Descriptors
The Can Do Descriptors are another resource for lesson planning. The CAN DO
Descriptors build upon the Performance Definitions by describing what students can
do at each proficiency level by domain and grade cluster.
The Can Do descriptors are on the WIDA web site, in the ESL tool kit and on the ESL
web site. This version of the Can Do Descriptors has spaces for student names. This
allows the teacher to plan for what students in their class can do at their current
proficiency levels for listening, speaking, reading and writing, as well as what is
expected in subsequent proficiency levels.
Click on this link to access this planning tool for all grade clusters located on the NC
DPI ESL web site.
Leticia M. Trower, Gaston County Schools
lmtrower@gaston.k12.nc.us
Roles of Teachers
(8) Content teachers should use the WIDA standards documents to guide lesson
planning and expectations for ELLs in their classrooms. (9) ESL teachers should teach
the language of the content – not the content. ESL teachers must be selective as it is
impossible to teach the academic language of every lesson in every content area.
However, if the ESL teacher is teaching general academic language, such as cause and
effect, sequence, compare and contrast, the lesson crosses over all content areas and
grade levels.
In this way, the ESL teacher can focus on language that is used in all content areas to
help students access academic content.
NC DPI ESL Toolkit
Please see the NC DPI ESL Toolkit for more resources. Click here for the Toolkit.
Quote
“Good literacy teaching isn’t something added to an already crowded curriculum: it
isn’t the icing on the cake, but the ingredients of it!” -Pauline Gibbons
Development of academic language and academic content knowledge are inter-related
processes.
Teachers should focus on all language domains to ensure academic language
proficiency.
(10) Collaboration between ESL teachers and classroom teachers must occur to
effectively integrate academic language and content.
Closing Activity **OPTIONAL**
Think of the students in your classes. How will using the WIDA standards with a focus
on academic language increase student achievement for ELLs and all students? Share
with a partner or respond using a journal entry.
What's Next?
Leticia M. Trower, Gaston County Schools
lmtrower@gaston.k12.nc.us