by Luciana C. de Oliveira, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Teaching and Learning, Virginia Commonwealth University; Teacher Education SIG Chair (2026-2027), VATESOL

As teacher educators in Virginia prepare pre-service and in-service teachers for working with multilingual learners (Mls), one of the key questions we ask is: how do we incorporate high-level standards into courses that highlight classroom practice with MLs?

With Virginia’s adoption and implementation of the WIDA 2020 English Language Development (ELD) Standards Framework, our role as methods instructors is to ensure that teachers view these standards as an asset-based tool for instructional design.

This fall, in my Methods for Teaching Multilingual Learners course, I restructured our curriculum and anchor assignment to embed the WIDA 2020 ELD Standards Framework directly alongside my approach to teaching MLs in the content areas, the Language-Based Approach to Content Instruction (LACI; de Oliveira, 2023). By combining these frameworks with prominent tools such as Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) and translanguaging strategies, teachers learn how to build high-challenge, high-support environments for Virginia’s multilingual learners (MLs).

Course Description and Alignment

The course is built around foundational objectives designed to combine research and actionable classroom practice:

• Describing research-based environments for MLs.

• Analyzing MLs’ linguistic needs and building learning strategies.

• Utilizing linguistically sustaining instructional materials.

• Incorporating the WIDA (2020) ELD Framework into lesson design.

• Scaffolding academic language and content learning.

Rather than treating WIDA 2020 as a standalone topic covered in a single week, the framework serves as a thread running throughout the semester. The table below outlines how our course map incorporates foundational theory, pedagogical innovations, and state-level application across the semester:

Course Phase	Key Instructional Focus	WIDA (2020) & LACI Framework Integration
Week 2: Foundations	• LACI Overview & Six Cs of Support • Teaching & Learning Cycle (TLC) • Intro to WIDA (2020) ELD Framework	• Linking LACI’s high-challenge, high-support stance to WIDA's Big Ideas & asset-based philosophy
Weeks 3–11: Applied Innovations	• Translanguaging practices • GenAI Educator Toolkit & ethics • Collaborative co-teaching & advocacy	• Designing cross-linguistic and AI-assisted scaffolds for language demands • Building co-planning templates and family communication tools grounded in ML equity
Week 12: Deep Dive & Application	• Integrating WIDA 2020 into instruction • VDOE & WIDA resources • Guest Speaker: Jo-el Cox (VDOE)	• Mapping WIDA Key Language Uses (KLUs) to content lessons • Analyzing WIDA "Standards in Action" videos • Hands-on navigation of the Virginia Standards Satchel platform (va.satchelcommons.com)
Final Capstone	• Multilingual Learner Resource Guide • Integrated Lesson Plan	• Synthesizing LACI principles and WIDA 2020 standards into an annotated unit plan

Connecting the Semester: From Theory to VDOE Resources

The deliberate course design shows how teachers progress from big-picture theory to practical implementation. In Week 2, we establish our foundation by connecting LACI’s high-challenge, high-support philosophy with WIDA’s asset-based mindset. By Week 12, candidates take a deep dive into state-level implementation. Featuring a guest session with Jo-el Cox (VDOE Multilingual Learner Coordinator), candidates explore WIDA “Standards in Action” classroom videos available on the WIDA website, practice co-planning models, and navigate the Virginia Standards Satchel platform (va.satchelcommons.com) to examine real classroom resources.

A Quick Overview of Key Assignments

To put these course objectives into practice, candidates build a living Resource Guide over the semester. They compile a practical toolkit they can immediately share with colleagues, grade-level teams, or community volunteers who haven’t had formal ESOL training.

The guide breaks down into four accessible parts connected to the course-s modules:

• Part 1: LACI Foundations & Applications
  Candidates unpack de Oliveira’s Six Cs of Support (Connection, Culture, Code-breaking, Challenge, Community and Collaboration, Classroom Interactions) and the Teaching and Learning Cycle (TLC), applying scaffolding theory to language strategies for general education teachers.

• Part 2: Pedagogical Innovations
  Focuses on classroom moves, specifically, 3-4 actionable translanguaging practices that leverage students' home languages, and a GenAI Educator Toolkit featuring prompt charts and guidelines for mentor text uses in the classroom.

• Part 3: Co-Teaching, Advocacy, & Community
  Equips teachers with collaborative planning templates for co-teaching, linguistically responsive family communication tools, and a brief advocacy action plan.

• Part 4: WIDA 2020 in Action
  A visual guide mapping WIDA’s four Key Language Uses (Narrate, Inform, Explain, Argue) directly to content-area scaffolds and discipline-specific language targets.

The final capstone connects standards to real-world teaching through two key components:

1. An Annotated Lesson Plan: Candidates design a unit demonstrating how WIDA 2020 standards and LACI scaffolds work together during daily instruction.

2. A 10-Point Audit Checklist: A quick self-reflection tool teachers can use to review future units for high-challenge/high-support, language access, and translanguaging opportunities.

To ensure candidates apply what they’re learning to real-time classroom moves, the course also features a peer micro-teaching assignment titled "Replacing Outdated Practices." Working in pairs, teachers select an outdated TESOL practice, such as strict "English-Only" policies, decontextualized vocabulary worksheets, or static scaffolding, and re-builds it into a contemporary, research-based strategy. Pairs design and perform a 7–10 minute live teaching demonstration illustrating shifts toward strategic translanguaging, multimodal concept mapping, or genre-based pedagogy grounded in systemic functional linguistics (SFL). By physically modeling these shifts and reflecting on the practical realities of implementation, teachers learn how to dismantle deficit-based traditions and replace them with asset-based, interactive, and context-rich language instruction. 

By grounding our methods coursework in both LACI and WIDA 2020, teachers walk away with a ready-to-use toolkit that shows how content and language development occur simultaneously. To learn more about the topics covered in this blog post, come to my session, co-presented with Jo-el Cox, “Thriving Through Integration of Language and Content Standards in Teacher Education” at the 2026 VATESOL Conference this October!

References

de Oliveira, L. C. (2023). Supporting multilingual learners' academic language development: A language-based approach to content instruction. Routledge.

WIDA. (2020). WIDA English language development standards framework, 2020 edition: Kindergarten–grade 12. Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System.