Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL)
Facilitated Interdependent Language Learning (FILL) is a flexible, learner-centered approach to language learning in which students pursue different languages and proficiency goals within a shared learning community. With guidance from a skilled teacher/facilitator, learners develop the habits, strategies, and confidence needed to direct their own growth as communicators. FILL emerged in response to limited access to language programs that offer more than one or two languages, staffing and scheduling constraints, and the need for more personalized pathways to proficiency. It creates learning environments where students, guided by a teacher/facilitator, set meaningful goals, seek appropriate resources, collaborate with peers, and document progress using nationally recognized proficiency frameworks. In a FILL classroom, the teacher/facilitator supports learners by helping them understand language proficiency levels, clarify goals, reflect on progress, connect with resources and communities, and build the skills necessary for lifelong language learning.
Start Here
To learn more about how FILL works in practice and how it supports learner agency and proficiency development, we invite you to begin with the following resources:
Check out our introductory video on YouTube:
Join the FILL Community
Connect with educators, supervisors, and school leaders who are exploring and implementing FILL.
- Email: FILL4WLS@gmail.com
- FILL Community Information: https://tinyurl.com/FILL-Community
We welcome inquiries from educators, administrators, and state leaders interested in learning more about FILL or exploring how it might support language learning in their local context.
Research and Publications
The following publications document the development and implementation of FILL and provide insights from classrooms and districts across multiple states.
Three seminal publications from the Center for Applied Linguistics (www.cal.org):
These publications highlight how FILL supports learner agency, equitable access to languages, and transparent proficiency-based learning pathways.
Authors of FILL Publications
Michele Anciaux Aoki, Ph.D., world languages and international education advocate, is a former world languages program supervisor for the Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and international education administrator for Seattle Public Schools, focusing now on heritage and less commonly taught languages.
Nancy C. Rhodes, CAL senior fellow, served as CAL’s director of foreign/world language education for 18 years overseeing research and development projects for K-12 language teaching and assessment, and currently works to reinvigorate early language programs across the country.
Jacqueline Van Houten, Ph.D., intercultural communication consultant and advocate for the Global Seal of Biliteracy, is a former president of ACTFL, NNELL and NCSSFL, and world language supervisor for the Kentucky Department of Education and Jefferson County Public Schools.
Tom Welch, educational consultant, is a former French teacher, high school principal, and state foreign language supervisor at the Kentucky Department of Education. He currently advocates for increased opportunities for learning unbound by traditional limits of time or place.
Acknowledgements
NCSSFL and the FILL team would like to specifically acknowledge the teachers and administrators from Wisconsin who originally developed the model of Facilitated Language Study (FLS), which we report on in the CAL Briefs. Their work has been an inspiration and a confirmation that this type of approach can actually be successfully implemented over the long term. They are:
Claudine Clark, French, and Monica Severa, Spanish – Madison Metropolitan School District (WI) and Laura Koebel, Spanish – Plymouth School District (WI)
In Wisconsin, FLS is used at the district level and FWLS (Facilitated World Language Study) is used at the state level within Wisconsin’s world language education data collection system. The “W” was added to FLS to distinguish a world language versus bilingual education program model.