Respect the individual.
Recognize each learner’s interests, experience, readiness, and needs. Help them follow a pathway that makes sense for them.
Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning
A different future for language learning.
A learner-centered approach where students pursue language proficiency through personalized pathways, supported by teachers, peers, and AI.
Goals grounded in the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements. Learning guided by respect for each individual.
Watch · An introduction to FILL
Get to know FILL.
Explore the approach through this introductory video.
Watch directly on YouTube ↗ Learner agency
Interdependent learning
Clear Can-Do goals
What is FILL?
Different learners.
Different pathways.
Learning together.
FILL begins with respect for individual learners. Students bring different interests, experiences, and readiness to language learning. Their pathways can reflect those differences.
Rather than organizing everyone around the same textbook and pace, FILL structures learner goals around the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements. These provide the organizing framework in place of a traditional prescribed curriculum, while learners pursue individual pathways toward meaningful proficiency goals.
Individualized does not mean isolated. Teachers, peers, communities, and resources help each learner take their next step.
The framework for learner goals
Individual pathways.
Goals everyone can understand.
The NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements give learners and facilitators a shared language for setting goals and reflecting on progress toward language and intercultural proficiency.
In FILL, they take the organizing role of a traditional curriculum: the focus is what a learner is working toward being able to do, rather than which chapter everyone must complete next.
Facilitators help learners choose goals appropriate to their current readiness, connect those goals with their interests, and identify the learning and support needed to succeed.
Explore the official NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements ↗FILL Guiding Principles
A commitment to each learner’s success.
Make expectations transparent.
Learners understand their goals, what success looks like, and the evidence that will show their learning.
Make success achievable.
Provide the learning and support needed for the next step. Goals should be achievable with sufficient, targeted, appropriate effort.
Healthy struggle belongs in learning. The commitment is to avoid placing learners in situations where they have not yet had the learning needed to succeed. Challenge should stretch learners, with appropriate preparation, feedback, and support.
How FILL works
Agency, with support.
Students may pursue different languages within the same learning community. The facilitator helps connect individual goals with purposeful learning.
Find a meaningful direction.
Learners and facilitators use the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements to identify meaningful, achievable goals connected to learners’ interests and readiness.
Build a pathway together.
Teachers help learners gain the learning needed for their next step. Targeted effort, feedback, peers, communities, and resources—including AI—support progress.
Make learning visible.
Learners gather evidence of what they can do with language over time, reflect on their Can-Do goals, and identify a meaningful next step.
Asset-based assessment
Start with what learners can do.
Assessment focuses on what learners know, understand, and can demonstrate. Clear proficiency expectations help learners and facilitators recognize achievement and plan what comes next.
Can-Do Statements guide goals and reflection; self-assessment alone does not establish an official proficiency rating or award credit. Credible assessment provides a basis for recognizing achievement.
Individual pathways. Clear expectations.
Meaningful evidence of learning.
Meaningful evidence of learning.
FILL supports opportunities to earn credit through demonstrated proficiency, wherever the relevant school or institution’s policies allow.
Explore assessment & credit ↗For teachers & administrators
Start with possibilities.
Explore what a learning environment could look like when individual agency and a supportive community work together.
These questions offer a starting point for considering FILL in your setting.
What could learners work toward?
Begin with the NCSSFL-ACTFL Can-Do Statements. Learners and facilitators select goals that connect meaningful language use with current readiness and clear expectations.
How does the teacher’s role change?
The teacher facilitates learning: making expectations transparent, recognizing emerging needs, and ensuring learners have appropriate preparation and support for their next step.
Can learners study different languages?
Yes. Learners may pursue different languages within one learning community, drawing on appropriate resources and support.
Where does AI fit?
AI can be one source of practice and support alongside teachers, peers, communities, and other resources. Its use should serve the learner’s goals and context.
Our story
Rooted in experience.
Growing through partnership.
FILL was initially developed through the work of a team of current and retired state supervisors for languages.
The FILL team has since expanded to include a variety of other partners, bringing additional perspectives to the work.
Contact the FILL team
Let’s keep the conversation going.
Have a question, a resource to share, or an interest in FILL? We’d like to hear from you.
fill4wls@gmail.comSelect the email address to open your email app, or copy it into the email service you use.