What is ALFA?

ALFA (Academic Language for All, adapted from E.L. Achieve Constructing Meaning)

Academic English is no one's first language.  Students toggle between home dialects, hallway dialects, and standard English taught in schools.  Academic Language for All (ALFA) is designed to help all students acquire the academic English language functions needed to succeed in K-12 schools and at the university level.  Studies have shown that both English Language Learners and students in low-income demographics come to school with a tremendous vocabulary deficit. Students will only be as successful as their language allows them to be.  Stated another way, state and national testing require students to perform at a certain level of academic English. Unless we model and expect academic tone from our students, their chances of articulating their learning in a meaningful, academic way are limited.  ALFA intends to help students acquire the functional language of English that crosses content areas and allows students to make meaning of their learning and articulate that learning in formal written and spoken forms.

ALFA provides teachers with a framework that infuses explicit language instruction into discipline-specific learning.  Lesson planning is driven by both content standards and academic language demands. Based on backward design and a gradual release of responsibility, the ALFA framework helps teachers:

• Understand the role language plays in content learning.

• Decide what language knowledge and literacy skills students need in order to access the content and express understanding.

• Provide appropriate, explicit instruction and practice in oral and written language.

ALFA Websites of Interest 

ALFA Resource Documents File Cabinet 

Planning Resources 

Instructional Supports