Specially Designed Academic Instruction in English (SDAIE)

SDAIE refers to an approach for scaffolding the teaching of rigorous content and academic language in English to students who are just acquiring conversational skills in English.

The strategies, drawn from the research of Jim Cummins, Stephen Krashen, Kenji Hakuta, and others, employ small group configurations, carefully planned use of media, body language, graphic organizers and pictures, many forms of informal, low anxiety discourse and communication, jigsaw learning, and thematic instruction.

All these approaches increase comprehension of complex academic language by presenting them in an engaging, authentic, and linguistically contextualized setting.