Growth in Educational Research
Module 25 Unit 3: What is WIDA?
What is WIDA?
World-Class Instructional Design and Assessment, or WIDA, is an organization that focuses on multilingual education through the development of standards that are both valid and reliable to enable teachers to accurately assess a student’s skill level in the four language domains of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Below is further information about the key components of the WIDA Framework, how teachers can apply the framework towards lesson planning and instruction, and finally, how the framework addresses socio-cultural competence in the classroom.
1. What are the key components of the WIDA Framework?
The key components of the WIDA Framework as described in in the The WIDA Standards Framework and its Theoretical Foundations are as follows (WIDA Consortium, 2014):
● 1) Can Do Philosophy
● 2) Guiding Principles of Language Development
● 3) Age-appropriate Academic Language in Sociocultural Contexts
● 4) Performance Definitions
● 5) Standards and Matrices (Strands of Model Performance Indicators)
The Can Do Philosophy focuses on the ability of students, in other words, what they can do versus traditional educational frameworks that explicates eradication gaps-in-knowledge (Colorin Colorado, 2016, WIDA-Understanding Students, 2026). This is based on the fact that students, through their cultural and mother tongue, bring a wide array of resources that they can utilize in their learning of a second language (WIDA Consortium, 2014). Finally, the Can Do Philosophy is “a resource educators can use to advocate on behalf of multilingual children and youth” (WIDA-Language Learning, 2026).
This is supported by the Guiding Principles of Language Development, “which outline the underlying theory that frames WIDA’s core beliefs about language development.” (WIDA Consortium, 2014, p. 4). It puts context at the front and center as a means to how learners develop their language skills and the factors that influence this development (WIDA-Language Learning, 2026). This context includes not only school, but factors outside of school that encompass a student's being such as family and culture, to create a comprehensive framework (WIDA, 2020).
The way we speak and the terminology that we use in the classroom, academic language, is the means for communication in the learning environment. (WIDA Consortium, 2014). The Performance Definitions “delineate what the various levels of language proficiency look like, informed by the features of academic language” (WIDA Consortium, 2014, p. 4). In other words, they describe what students can do at each level (WIDA Consortium, 2014).
2. How can teachers apply the WIDA standards framework to lesson planning and instruction?
To apply the WIDA standards framework to lesson planning and instruction, teachers can use the WIDA English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework (WIDA, 2020)
There are four parts to the framework: 1) Standards Statements, 2) Key Language Use, 3) Language Expectations, and 4) Proficiency Level Descriptors (WIDA-ELD, 2020). These parts “range from broad to narrow in scope” (WIDA, 2020, p. 11) and “work together to make a comprehensive picture of language development” (WIDA, 2020, p. 11).
WIDA. (202). WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition
Kindergarten—Grade 12. University of Wisconsin-Madison. (page 63)
https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/WIDA-ELD-Standards-Framework-2020-Edition-Grades-6-8.pdf
To begin applying the standards framework to lesson planning and instruction, teachers need to look at the WIDA ELD Standard Statements. They are the widest part of the framework and the “statements show language use in the service of learning—in other words, language for thinking and doing” (WIDA, 2020, p. 11). There are five standards statements that focus on using language to communicate socially and academically in school (standard 1), using language to navigate through classes focused on English (standard 2), math (standard 3), science (standard 4), and social studies (standard 5) (WIDA-ELD, 2026). Therefore, choosing a standard will be based on the content that multilingual learners will engage with, so for example, if you are teaching ELA then you will use standard 2.
WIDA. (202). WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition
Kindergarten—Grade 12. University of Wisconsin-Madison. (page 63)
https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/WIDA-ELD-Standards-Framework-2020-Edition-Grades-6-8.pdf
However, it is important to note that all teachers, regardless of the content they are teaching will also use standard 1. (WIDA, 2020). “Students communicate to learn but also to convey personal needs and wants, to affirm their own identities, and to form and maintain relationships” (WIDA, 2020, p. 11) and “ELD Standard 1 encompasses the experiential, linguistic, and cultural backgrounds and identities of multilingual learners in relation to the other ELD Standards” (WIDA, 2020, p. 11). In other words, this encompasses the academic and social language necessary for the learners to be successful students in school and could be written as a cultural objective (Tan, 2020).
Besides focusing on a cultural objective, a teacher also needs to focus on content and lesson objectives. For instance, as an ELA teacher I would choose WIDA ELD Standard 2 to plan my lesson and instruction. To apply WIDA ELD Standard 2, a teacher would need to determine which language domain (e.g., listening, speaking, reading, writing) they will focus on and what they want the student to do in class through the four Key Language Uses (KLU) that identify the functions of language (e.g., narrate, inform, explain, and argue) (Google, 2026; WIDA-ELD, 2026).
After that, the teacher will “(p)air content objectives with language objectives derived from the ELD Standards Statements” (Google, 2026) to give the lesson structure and let the learners know where the lesson is going and how they will meet these objectives. From there, teachers will choose a Proficiency Level Descriptor (PLD) for students in their class (Google, 2026). These PLDs are important because can help teachers differentiate content for learners at different levels so that everyone, not just high level learners, can meet the objectives (Gonzalez, 2016). Once a PLD is chosen, the teacher can choose one of the Can Do Descriptors to decide on how to scaffold the lesson for learners based on their PLD (Gonzalez, 2016). Finally, teachers will walk around and use a variety of formative assessments to determine how the learners are faring during the lesson and whether one part needs further explicit instruction or the whole lesson needs to be retaught (Google, 2026).
I am going to give an example of a lesson I taught that did not go as well as I would have liked. The language domain that I focused on was reading and it required the students will read a text in their student book, English in Minds 4, on a competition between musicians in the U.K. and the attempt by their supporters to have them win the number one single for Christmas. After reading the article, students will need to answer a gist question, “How did these two artists become involved in a ‘battle’ and who won?” (Putchka, Stranks, & Lewis-Jones, 2011, p. 82) as well as answer eight inference questions without any support (e.g., multiple-choice).
Putchka, Herbert, Stranks, Jeff, & Lewis-Jones, Peter. (2011). English in Minds 4. Cambridge University Press.
In my school, we do not utilize WIDA, but using the ELD Framework, I would need to decide on which KLUs that students will need to use during the lesson. Based on the fact that students will have to infer, this means that they will need to be able to inform and explain the reading and possibly even argue depending on how they answer the question. The content objective will require students to understand how social networking campaigns influenced music charts and the lesson objective required students to identify the main ideas and supporting details needed to infer.
Gonzalez, Jennifer. (2016). Can Do Descriptors: A Free Tool for ESL Differentiation. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/can-do-ell/
From there, I would choose the PLDs that apply to my students. I did not have access to the chart above (Gonzalez, 2016), but it would have been useful for the lessons. In my school, classes are levelled, but there is still some variance within my class. Nonetheless, I would say that the majority of my students fall somewhere between level 3 and level 4, but hue closer to level 4. For example, Bella, Jason, William, and Ryan are all good readers in my class and usually do well on the reading portion of the unit test. Jerry, Eric, Vivienne, Sunny are all at level 3, maybe even a bit above it, but struggle with the Can Do statements in level 4.
Looking at the PLDs provided in the chart, one of the Can Do statements is that students will “(i)nfer meaning from text” (Gonzalez, 2016) and for this Can Do statements, the results are mixed. When provided with multiple choice options on an assessment, students usually do well. Unfortunately, when asked to read a text and write a sentence that answers the question, the whole class tends to struggle and on a personal note, I am not sure why.
Once I chose the PLDs and Can Do statements that were applicable, I would need to decide how I was going to scaffold the lesson. For this lesson, I did a warmer to try and excite and engage them by having students match the genre of music to what they heard. On the whole, they found this enjoyable and after that, I scaffolded the vocabulary by explicitly teaching the words that they would need to know to read the story. Students matched the word to its meaning, which we did as a whole class, and then completed a gap-fill individually. Normally, learning the vocabulary would be a much more comprehensive lesson, but because they will take their mid-term on Tuesday, the lesson had to be condensed.
After that, I gave the class the option of either reading the story or listening to it and they chose the latter. From there, we went over the questions and I put the students in small groups and let them work on answering the question. Walking around monitoring, I heard a lot of grumbling that the content was, to paraphrase, “too difficult”. I would help the groups answer the questions by trying to elicit details via the students’ deductive reasoning, which helped with the specific question but students were not able to employ that strategy with other questions.
Initially, I was annoyed and thought the students were being “too passive” and just waiting for the answers, but even Bella, Jason, William, and Ryan struggled and they are my top-level students. After the lesson, I spoke with the head of the department, who teaches the higher level classes in the same grade, which I believe counts as a form of collaboration. He said that his students, who are usually very good at inferring, struggled with this reading as well.
According to the WIDA ELD Standards Framework, “(w)hen designing and delivering standards-based curriculum, instruction, and assessment, educators should consider multilingual learners’ previous personal and educational experiences” (WIDA, 2020, p. 8) as well as their culture (WIDA, 2020). This means I should have taken into account that students might not know the following:
· Who Rage Against the Machine or Joel McElderry are
· What the show X-Factor is (they do have reality singing competitions though)
· Musical charts and the importance of chart position for an artist’s career
· The U.K’s snarky attitude (opinion) towards pop music and anything that gains popularity in general
Taking these factors into account, I would have delivered the lesson differently. Not only would I have scaffolded the lesson by pre-teaching the vocabulary, but based on the conversation with my head of the department, I think I would have given more background about the aforementioned factors above to help them infer, especially with regards to the final point since the student’s found it bewildering that that anyone would want to prevent Joel McEderry from reaching number one. In addition, I think employing a bit more direct instruction and having students practice summarizing each paragraph might help with comprehension.
After the reading was completed, I would homogenously group the students and those that were at a higher level would receive a graphic organizer whereby they could note who the participants were, what their motivations were, and create a timeline of events to answer the gist question as well as the inference questions. For the lower students who might be closer to PLD of developing than the PLD of expanding, they would get support by having multiple choice options for each question. While the students worked on their graphic organizers or answer the multiple choice questions, I would monitor and formatively access how well the students were doing on their differentiated tasks.
On a personal note, I found this graphic below to be a useful flow-chart for applying the lesson standards framework to lesson planning and instruction.
WIDA. (202). WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition Kindergarten—Grade 12. University of Wisconsin-Madison. (page 63)
https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/WIDA-ELD-Standards-Framework-2020-Edition-Grades-6-8.pdf
3. What evidence is there that WIDA addresses socio-cultural competence and how does it address socio-cultural competence?
Socio-cultural competence involves being able to interact and work with people who are from diverse backgrounds and requires being aware of one’s own cultural biases (Google, 2026). The WIDA Framework addresses socio-cultural competence by having schools, administrators, and teachers enact the mission, values, and vision explicated in the WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition Kindergarten—Grade 12 (WIDA, 2020). It does this by not only acknowledging the cultural background and socio-emotional experiences of a wide-array of learners (e.g., ELLs, DLLs, SIFE, EAL, English learners with disabilities, etc.) but attempting to integrate their families into the learning process as well to ensure equity and inclusivity for all of the participants in the classroom (WIDA, 2020).
This is affirmed by the four big ideas explicated in the WIDA ELD Standard Framework, 2020, and they are 1) Equity of Opportunity and Access, 2) Integration of Content and Language, 3) Collaboration among Stakeholders, and 4) Functional Approach to Language Development that are backstopped by WIDA’s Guiding Principles of Language Development that “exemplify the overarching and ever-present WIDA Can Do Philosophy (WIDA, 2020). These Big Ideas, from what I understand based on when I was taking my teacher certification course through Moreland in 2021 (Module 6), are what teachers can use to develop a standards framework as well as unpack the lesson and cultural objectives that the students will learn in the lesson (Kirkpatrick, 2024). This blog is talking about the lessons that are being taught to students, but I also think that we can extrapolate this concept to the larger idea of the WIDA Framework and how it addresses and attempts to administer socio-cultural competence.
For instance, the Equity of Opportunity and Access can be found in the ten Guiding Principles of Language Development, which not only serve as the foundation for giving all learners and equal chance to learn, but can be utilized to try to ensure that socio-cultural competence becomes a facet of a teacher’s classroom (WIDA, 2020). This is seen in the first principle that acknowledges that a “(m)ultlingual learners’ languages and cultures are valuable resources to be leveraged for schooling and classroom life” and that (l)everaging these assets and challenging biases help develop multilingual learners’ independence and encourage their agency in learning” (WIDA, 2020, p. 6). Because learners come from a “wide range of cultural, linguistic, educational, and socioeconomic backgrounds and have many physical, social, emotional, experiential, and/or cognitive differences” (WIDA, 2020, p. 8), it is important implement a culturally sustaining pedagogy (CSP) that encourages them to utilize and view their culture as a means to aid in second language acquisition (SLA) rather than something to ignore due to it hindering SLA and/or mask so as to avoid the appearance of offending the authority figure of the classroom, be it the teacher, administrator, etc. that chose to implement a policy such as English-only (Chajed, 2023).
Django Paris, in his article Equity By Design: On Educating Culturally Sustaining Teachers, writes about the need to carry out the concept of asset pedagogy, which is a way to incorporate the strengths of all learners in the class that might fall outside of the dominant narrative (Paris, 201). Doing this can enable a teacher to avoid the curricularization of racism, as well as a deficit lens that per Django Paris, has been a part-and-parcel of the American system of education since time immemorial (Paris, 2017). We can do this by acknowledging learners as individuals to make them feel comfortable in the classroom (e.g., learning a bit of their language (sage.pub.com, 2021)), “building on their funds of knowledge” (Chajed, 2023, sage.pub.com, 2021), and doing more to acknowledge their culture than just token displays (e.g., “dressing up on Cinco de Mayo, reading an article about an African American during Black History Month” (Arias & Medina, 2017) that are seen as a way to check the box by administrators.
Often, this box checking is nothing more than virtue signaling that attempts to say, “Hey, we are implementing Dual-Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) that is mandated by the federal and state boards of education. Instead, it is just all hat and no trousers since many of the gestures are nothing more than pronouncements that are forgotten as soon as the calendar flips to the next month. The point that Arias and Medina made in their article about Dual-Language Bilingual Education (DLBE) is that socio-cultural competence cannot be performative but must be something that is practiced every day or it will not garner the respect it should. This, I believe, is evident in the current discourse you see put forth by our political leaders who decry education as having been “too woke” and are using this lexical phrasing to rally people against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusivity (DEI) such as DLBE and is nothing more than a dog whistle to maintain the status quo that benefits from racism, sexism, homophobia, and ableism (Yilik, 2026).
Therefore, to ensure Equity of Opportunity and Access, WIDA has set up the framework for teachers to “set high expectations for all students” (WIDA, 2020, p. 8), utilize scaffolding as a way to ensure all learners understand content, “(e)nact linguistically and culturally sustainable pedagogies” (WIDA, 2020, p. 8), and “(c)reate opportunities for multilingual learners to engage actively with each other in deep learning” (WIDA, 2020, p. 8) and “access and use multiple languages, including through translanguaging” (WIDA, 2020, p. 8). Not only does this serve as evidence that WIDA is addressing socio-cultural competence, but it also demonstrates WIDA’s commitment to ensuring that is addressed in the classroom so that all learners have an opportunity to succeed.
Next, with regards to the Integration of Content and Language, WIDA states that multilingual learners not only use multimodality “make meaning” (WIDA, 2020, p. 9), since, per the fourth Guiding Principle of Language Development, their “language, social-emotional, and cognitive development are inter-related processes that contribute to their success in school and beyond” (WIDA, 2020, p. 6). This involves not only understanding verbal communication in the form of vocabulary and syntax, but also non-verbal communication in the form of body language and gestures, and finally hidden biases that multilingual students experience on a daily basis (WIDA, 2020). Paris touched upon this in his article when writing about how black and Latina/o students are more likely to be referred to a higher authority for discipline as well as incarcerated at a younger age for an infraction (Paris, 2017). This is also evident in the disparity with regards to sentencing based on a person’s race whereby “Black Americans were imprisoned at roughly 5 times the rate of white Americans, while Latinos/Hispanics were imprisoned at roughly 2.4 to 3.1 times the white rate, despite making up only 29% of the U.S. population” (Sentencing Project, 2018).
I believe that an awareness of the hidden biases that Arias, Medina, and Paris touch upon in their articles is necessary for teachers to be aware should they want to implement socio-cultural competence properly in their classroom through the integration of language and content. This is because, per the third Guiding Principle of Language Development, “(m)ultilingual learners’ language development and learning occur over time through meaningful engagement in activities that are valued in their homes, schools, and communities” (WIDA, 2020, p. 6). In other words, if multilingual learners pick up not only on what we say, but how we react towards them, and how we choose to discipline them for a violation of the rules, then it is possible that the message they will internalize is one that states they are seen as being insufficient or unworthy of a place in society (Paris, 2017). In turn, once again in my opinion, this often leads to disengagement that manifests in the form of inattention, acting out, truancy, and ultimately, quitting school.
Furthermore, to create Equity Opportunity and Access and the successful Integration of Content and Language, the third big idea needs to be instituted, which is the Collaboration among Stakeholders (WIDA, 2020). The stakeholders in the education system are “district and school leaders, content and language teachers, specialists, support personnel, students, families” and all parties are “essential for providing multilingual learners high-quality educational experiences that are coordinated and comprehensive” (WIDA, 2020, p. 9). The administration and teachers must work together to guarantee that multilingual learners will be successful in the classroom.
Besides focusing on academic language and standards, both parties must work together to ensure that socio-cultural competence is at the forefront of the curriculum so as to avoid offending and/or reaffirming the aforementioned biases that have been inherent in the American system of education (Arias & Medina, 2017; Paris, 2017). Otherwise, I believe that we are underserving and potentially failing these multilingual learners and even possibly restricting their future economic opportunities and health outcomes. This is why I argue that the big ideas, although presented separately, are in reality linked and need to be seen as integrated to be executed successfully.
WIDA stipulates that educational “systems (need to) move away from the idea that language specialists alone should assume sole responsibility for students’ language development” (WIDA, 2020, p. 10). Instead, both content and language teachers collaborate to ensure that lessons meet the standards (WIDA, 2020). These teachers can do this by not only writing content objectives, but also include language and cultural objectives in their lessons (Hyunh, 2020).
By including language and cultural objectives in lessons and cooperating to ensure their implementation, content and language teachers are addressing and enacting socio-cultural competence in their classroom. I would argue that, most importantly, “multilingual learners and their families (will) benefit from a coherent and shared understanding of expectations and common goals for learning” (WIDA, 2020, p. 10). This coherence and shared understanding will only come about through the stakeholders collaborating, which is necessary to ensure that socio-cultural competence is woven into the fabric of learning and not just virtual signaling or box ticking (Arias & Medina, 2020; Paris, 2017).
Finally, the fourth big idea is Functional Approach to Language Development (WIDA, 2020). The WIDA Handbook uses the idea of a toolbox as “metaphor for language” (WIDA, 2020, p. 10). WIDA states that learners use these tools “to communicate, to develop relationships, and to act upon the world” (WIDA, 2020, p. 10) as well as make meaning in the form of what we choose, how we engage with society, and construct our identity (WIDA, 2020). Moreover, “(w)e 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” leading students to become “increasingly aware and strategic in their use of language to negotiate meaning and achieve their purposes in various contexts” (WIDA, 2020, p., 10).
While this is true for students, I would also argue this is true for teachers as well, especially if they want to implement socio-cultural competence in their classroom. The function of a teacher’s language- what they say to the student (content) and how they say it to the student (tone)- are both equally important. Students pick up on the vocabulary a teacher employs and the manner in which it is said as well as how teachers talk to their peers and the language and tone that is used with those peers, especially White students versus Black and/or Latina/o students (Paris, 2017). Therefore, an awareness of language and the biases that underpin their language would serve them well when implementing socio-cultural competence.
APA References
Aria, Beatriz & Medina, Jose. (2020). Sociocultural Competence in Action. Language Magazine. https://languagemagazine.com/2020/10/15/sociocultural-competence-in-action/
Chajed, Avanti. (2023). Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy: An Introduction. Columbia University, CPET.
https://cpet.tc.columbia.edu/news-press/culturally-sustaining-pedagogy-an-introduction
Colorin Colorado. 2016 June 17. Building upon student strengths. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvdb2U-0mz4
Gonzalez, Jennifer. (2016). Can Do Descriptors: A Free Tool for ESL Differentiation. Cult of Pedagogy. https://www.cultofpedagogy.com/can-do-ell/
Google. (2026). Gemini (Feb 15 Version) [How would a teacher apply WIDA ELD standard 2 to lesson planning and instruction?]. https://www.google.com/search?q=how+would+a+teacher+apply+WIDA+ELD+standard+2+to+lesson+planning+and+instruction
Google. (2026). Gemini (Feb 15 Version) [What is socio-cultural competence?]. https://www.google.com/search?q=what+is+socio+cultural+competence&oq=what+is+socio-cultural+comp&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUqCAgBEAAYFhgeMgYIABBFGDky
Kirkpatrick, Gina. (2024). Designing Curriculum Around Big Ideas. Mind Education
https://www.mindeducation.org/resources/designing-curriculum-around-big-ideas/#:~:text=Proponents%20of%20a%20big%20ideas,a%20journey%20exploring%20those%20questions.
Paris, Django. (2017). Equity By Design: On Educating Culturally Sustaining Teachers. Midwest & Plains Equity Assistance Center. https://teachnowprogram.com/amazon/getS3File?file=https://platform-user-content.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/activity_resources/Paris_M25.pdf
Putchka, Herbert, Stranks, Jeff, & Lewis-Jones, Peter. (2011). English in Minds 4. Cambridge University Press. sage.pub.com. (2021). Building on Student Assets. Corwin, Inc.
https://players.brightcove.net/268012963001/rJenILPQx_default/index.html?videoId=ref:V962978
sage.pub.com. (2021). Why Culturally Responsive Teaching Matters?. Corwin, Inc.
https://players.brightcove.net/268012963001/rJenILPQx_default/index.html?videoId=ref:V962975
Huynh, Tan. (2020). #117. How to write language & culture objectives. Tankhuynh.com. https://tankhuynh.com/culture-objectives/
The Sentencing Project. (2018). Report to the United Nations on Racial Disparities in the U.S. Criminal Justice System. The Sentencing Project.
https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/report-to-the-united-nations-on-racial-disparities-in-the-u-s-criminal-justice-system
WIDA Consortium. 2014. The WIDA Standards Framework and its Theoretical Foundations. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.
WIDA. (2026). ELD Standards Framework. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
https://wida.wisc.edu/teach/standards/eld
WIDA. (202). WIDA English Language Development Standards Framework, 2020 Edition Kindergarten—Grade 12. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
https://wida.wisc.edu/sites/default/files/resource/WIDA-ELD-Standards-Framework-2020-Edition-Grades-6-8.pdf
WIDA. (2026). Language Learning. University of Wisconsin-Madison.
https://wida.wisc.edu/teach/language-learning
Yilik, Caitlin. (2026). Hegseth says Pentagon cutting ties with top universities, calling them "woke breeding grounds". CBS News. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hegseth-pentagon-cutting-ties-with-top-universities-woke/