By: Dr. Liza Trejo, Professional Learning Specialist
I’ve been trying to answer a simple question lately: What is Proficiency First Multiliteracies?
The truth is, it didn’t start as a framework. As with most things in my life, it started as a pattern I couldn’t ignore.
Across my work—as a language learner, teacher, administrator, coordinator, and now working with educators across World Languages, Dual Language Immersion, and Multilingual Learner programs—I kept seeing the same thing:
Students weren’t struggling because they couldn’t think. They were struggling because they didn’t yet have the language to show what they knew, and because, incredibly well-meaning teachers didn’t know how to give them the language support they needed.
At the same time, I noticed something else.
We talk about language in schools as if it’s separate from learning, some sort of organic acquisition. But how is learning even possible without language? And couldn’t higher proficiency levels in language potentially equate with deeper and more meaningful instances of learning?
I also noticed that in a system obsessed with labels, only certain students are considered language learners. But as my wise colleague, Dr. Brandee Mau always reminds me, every child in every school in every country is a language learner because kids don’t come to school speaking the language of schooling.
That realization is what led to Proficiency First Multiliteracies.
What Does Proficiency First Multiliteracies Mean?
Proficiency First Multiliteracies, or PFM, is an educator-developed framework that centers language proficiency in how we understand learning, literacy, instruction, and assessment.
At its core is a simple but important shift:
Language proficiency—whether it’s a first, second, or third language—is not separate from learning. It is an integral part of learning.
Without language proficiency, literacy is not possible. And because all students are language learners, this applies to all students.
PFM places language proficiency at the center of how we understand learning—across literacy, content, and communication.
Why Does Language Proficiency Matter for Learning?
Language proficiency matters because all students need language to participate in learning.
They need language to ask questions, explain their thinking, make connections, solve problems, interpret texts, engage with peers, and show what they know. When students do not yet have the language required for a task, they may appear to struggle with the content even when they are capable of understanding the concept.
This is why language proficiency must be part of how educators design instruction.
Why Does PFM Matter Now?
In today’s classrooms, educators are being asked to do more than ever:
- Teach grade-level content
- Develop academic literacy
- Support increasingly multilingual student populations
- Navigate a rapidly changing, AI-driven world
But without a clear understanding of how language actually develops, these goals can feel disconnected—or even in tension with each other.
What I’ve come to believe, through both research and practice, is this:
When we deepen our understanding of language proficiency—especially how it develops across multiple languages—we unlock new possibilities for how students learn.
Not just in language classrooms. In every classroom.
Where does PFM come from?
This idea didn’t come from one place.
It grew out of years of experience across different systems—World Languages, Dual Language Immersion, and Multilingual Learner education—and from ongoing collaboration with educators and leaders, including my work with Avant.
Across all of these contexts, the same pattern kept emerging:
When educators better understand language proficiency, they make different instructional decisions. And students have greater access to learning.
PFM is our attempt to name that pattern—and to look at teaching and learning through that lens.
It is intentionally a living framework, one that will continue to evolve through practice, collaboration, and research.
How does PFM help educators?
PFM is not about replacing what educators already do.
It’s about refining how we see what’s already happening in our classrooms—and using a clearer understanding of language to guide instruction, interaction, and assessment.
What if language isn’t something we “add on” to learning? What if it’s the engine that makes learning possible?
What if developing multiple languages doesn’t complicate learning— but actually deepens it?
In a world where artificial intelligence can generate information instantly, the human ability to interpret, communicate, and make meaning becomes even more important.
Language sits at the center of all of that.
This is just the beginning. Proficiency First Multiliteracies is still developing.
In future work, we will explore what this looks like in practice—how educators can design instruction, assessment, and learning experiences through a proficiency-first lens.
But at its core, the idea is simple:
If we better understand how language works, we can better understand how humans learn.
And that has the potential to change everything.
