Wili proponents of Genre Based pedagogy and Systemic Functional Linguistics for English Learners in the US, such as Luciana de Oliveira, Mary J. Schleppegrell, and Meg Gebhard, step up in asserting that we should no longer try to disentangle language from content in assessing multilingual learners?

Go for it if you believe teaching disciplinary-specific language helps your students. Just don't attempt to disentangle the language from the content, call it academic language, and assess only multilingual-orientated students on this false construct.

According to WIDA, testing and teaching academic language is fine as long as you're using their AL construct. At the same time, WIDA often sides with raciolinguistic critiques of AL. Like many in the field, they want it both ways and ATTEMPT to thread the needle.

While using one of the many academic language (al) constructs to teach "ELs" is often raciolinguistically charged. The bigger problems lie in the assessment of al and sorting labeled English Learners into those who possess al and those who do not. It is time to accept our failing in assessing al.

There exists "substantive unresolved disagreements between positions" with "little consensus on what Academic Language (AL) means of how teaching it helps students. " (Jensen and Thompson, 2020 p. 1) So how are we assessing and designating students as English Learners based on the construct of AL?

WIDA is a key culprit in promoting and benefiting from a faulty and harmful construct of academic language, but they are all not alone. All academic language constructs and assessments in the US promote raciolinguistic framing of multilinguals and shoddy research. WIDA does seem to get a free pass.

WIDA asserts a transparent assessment (Gottlieb and Chapman, 2021). Students want to know what the WIDA ACCESS measures and how to improve scores. The construct is so vague that this is impossible. For example, students are assessed in Math Language, but there are no specifics-just math language.

It is WIDA testing time for designated English Learners in my school. We have been using the 2020 WIDA Standards for five years, but the assessment to measure the new standards will not be available til next year. The WIDA test is still based on the 2012 standards. Would this happen for ELA or Math

Educational linguistics is corrupted. The field is, at minimum, complicit in promoting raciolinguistic ideology, supporting academic language standards and assessments without scrutiny. Some decry raciolinguistic practices yet support archaic notions and constructs of academic language proficiency.