The Marco ALE de WIDA: A sociocultural approach to the creation of Spanish language arts standards

This WIDA Snapshot introduces the Marco de referencia de las artes del lenguaje del español de WIDA: Aplicación para la actualización y desarrollo de estándares (Marco ALE). The Marco ALE is a Spanish language arts framework and is designed to support the development of Spanish language arts standards specifically for educational settings in the United States. This framework operates through a sociocultural lens, emphasizing the importance of students' diverse backgrounds and experiences. The Marco ALE presents three interconnected elements—guiding ideologies, practices of the discipline and basic concepts—that should be integrated when creating standards to ensure they are relevant and effective within local contexts and support the development of well-rounded and successful students.

Marco ALE: Foundations and Elements

As noted above, the Marco ALE is a foundational document designed to guide the creation of Spanish language arts standards specifically in the U.S. educational context. The primary purpose of the Marco ALE is to present the fundamental elements needed for designing these standards at the local and/or regional level. It's important to understand that the Marco ALE itself does not provide the standards or directly inform the development of teaching tools. Instead, it lays out the essential building blocks that can be adapted to create these resources, always keeping local contexts and circumstances in mind.

A central tenet of the Marco ALE is the adoption of a sociocultural perspective. This perspective acts as a lens through which we understand the world, focusing on individuals' circumstances, contexts and interactions. In education, this means considering the social and cultural environment in which our students grow, live and learn, as well as the historical, social, political and educational aspects of their communities. This lens informs how the entire framework is applied in the development of standards, ensuring they are relevant to the specific educational settings where they will be used.

The Marco ALE proposes three interwoven elements that should be integrated into the development of standards.

Guiding ideologies

These are the overarching beliefs that should inform the development of standards. The Marco ALE highlights three key ideologies.

• Discourse (el Discurso): This refers to the ways we use language in various social contexts and how language shapes our understanding of the world.
• Transculturalism (el transculturalismo): This ideology focuses on how students from diverse cultural backgrounds interact and learn from one another, enriching their experiences.
• Multiliteracies (las multiliteracidades): This expands the traditional view of literacy to include the diverse ways bi/multilingual students engage with various types of texts, including digital and multimodal forms of communication.

These ideologies are interconnected; for instance, exploring multimodal texts can create opportunities for transcultural interactions, which can then be examined through the lens of Discourse.

Practices of the discipline

These are the essential skills and abilities that experts in the field of language arts have identified as critical. These practices integrate content knowledge, experiences and skills with the ability to read, write, listen, speak, think critically and use language meaningfully. The seven practices of the discipline included in the Marco ALE are based on six practices identified by language arts experts, but have been transadapted. This transadaptation involved analyzing and modifying standards from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, the United States and Mexico to align with the specific cultural context, language and objectives of the Marco ALE.

Basic concepts

These are the fundamental areas of Spanish language arts on which the framework is focused. The Marco ALE outlines four basic concepts.

• Oracy (la oralidad): This focuses on speaking and listening skills. This differs slightly from the area of "listening and oral expression" used in the Common Core en Español.
• Reading (la lectura): This involves the comprehension and interpretation of written texts.
• Writing (la escritura): This focuses on the ability to communicate effectively through written language.
• Language (el lenguaje): This area deals with the knowledge of how the Spanish language functions.The Marco ALE provides a slightly different approach to this area compared to the Common Core en Español.

These three elements — guiding ideologies, practices of the discipline and basic concepts — are not separate entities but are interwoven and interdependent. They exist under the overarching sociocultural lens of the framework, which informs their application in the development of standards that are responsive to local circumstances. The combination of these three elements aims to create well-rounded standards that foster the necessary knowledge, skills and values in Spanish language arts for students to become successful citizens. The adjustments to the basic concepts, particularly in the areas of oracy and language, were made intentionally to better integrate the proposed guiding ideologies and align with the transadapted practices of the discipline.

In summary, the Marco ALE serves as a foundational guide for developing Spanish language arts standards in the United States. It emphasizes a sociocultural perspective and provides a framework built upon guiding ideologies, practices of the discipline and basic concepts that are all interconnected. By considering these elements and the local context, educators can create relevant and effective standards for their students.