Sentence Frames and Starters
Sentence frames and starters are "fill-in-the-blank" language structures that supply the syntactic pattern of an academic utterance so students can devote their cognitive energy to content and reasoning rather than to generating grammatical scaffolding from scratch. A sentence starter provides only the opening of a sentence (e.g., "I predict that ___ because ___"), while a sentence frame embeds one or more blanks within a fuller structure (e.g., "Although ___, the data show that ___"). They make the discourse moves of a discipline visible and reusable, supporting both oral participation (speaking) and written production (writing) of grade-level academic language. They work best as temporary, flexible models that students adapt and eventually outgrow, not as fixed scripts to be completed verbatim.
How it’s typically applied
- 1Identify the language function the task demands (e.g., predicting, comparing, citing evidence, agreeing or disagreeing, justifying a claim) and the academic vocabulary and grammar that function requires.
- 2Draft two or three frames that match that function, varying complexity so students can choose their level of challenge (e.g., "I think ___" alongside "Based on ___, I conclude that ___ because ___").
- 3Model each frame aloud and in writing with a content example, thinking aloud so students see how the frame carries meaning, then post the frames on a board, anchor chart, sticky note, or handout for reference.
- 4Have students rehearse orally with a partner before they write, so they hear and test the structure in low-stakes speaking before committing it to paper.
- 5Invite students to substitute their own ideas, draw on their home-language resources, or modify the frame, making clear that frames are a starting point and that going beyond them is encouraged.
- 6Gradually fade the support as proficiency grows: move from full frames, to starters, to a word bank of connectors, to independent production, releasing responsibility over time.
- 7Use student output to assess language and content together, and reteach a specific frame only when evidence shows a recurring gap, rather than requiring frames indefinitely.
Why it works for emergent bilingual students
Emergent bilingual students arrive with rich conceptual knowledge and full linguistic systems in their home languages; the task is to give them access to the specific academic registers of English (and of academic Spanish in bilingual settings), not to remediate a deficit. Sentence frames can lower the affective filter (Krashen, 1982) and reduce extraneous processing load so students participate in rigorous content discourse before they have fully internalized academic syntax. Because frames require students to produce language, they prompt the kind of "pushed output" that, in Swain's account, may contribute to acquisition by leading learners to notice gaps, test hypotheses about how English works, and reflect on form, in ways comprehensible input alone may not (Swain, 1985). They also help make the cognitively demanding, context-reduced academic register (CALP) more accessible by supplying its predictable structures, while conceptual understanding and academic language built in one language can transfer across the bilingual learner's common underlying proficiency (Cummins, 2008). The key asset-based caveat from the research is that frames must stay flexible and temporary: rigid, mandatory frames can narrow thinking and interrupt students' collaborative sense-making, so they should scaffold and then step aside as students take ownership of disciplinary discourse (Alvarez et al., 2023).
Adapting it across proficiency levels
Pre-Production
Students in the earliest stage of beginning proficiency are building receptive language and may respond non-verbally or with single words (the silent period of the Natural Approach). Offer ultra-simple starters paired with visuals, gestures, and word or picture banks so the student can complete a frame by pointing, drawing, labeling, or saying one word (e.g., "This is a ___" with images to choose from). Accept home-language responses and choral repetition; the goal is comprehensible participation, not independent sentence production. Frames here are oral models the student hears repeatedly more than blanks they must fill alone.
Beginning
At the Beginning ELPS level, students produce short, high-frequency phrases and simple sentences. Provide complete, single-clause frames with a small word bank and a model answer (e.g., "I see ___," "The ___ is ___," "I agree because ___"). Have students rehearse the frame orally with a partner before writing, and let them draw on cognates and home-language brainstorming. Keep one target function per frame so the student succeeds with the structure while focusing on content vocabulary.
Intermediate
At the Intermediate ELPS level, students handle simple connected discourse and routine academic tasks. Offer frames that require reasoning and two clauses joined by connectors (e.g., "I predict ___ because ___," "___ is similar to ___, but ___"). Provide a choice among frames so students select the structure that fits their idea, and begin shifting from full frames to sentence starters plus a connector bank. Encourage students to extend or combine frames to express more complex thinking.
High Intermediate / Advanced
At the High Intermediate and Advanced ELPS levels, students approach grade-level academic language with decreasing support. Use open-ended starters and discourse connectors rather than full frames (e.g., "Although ___, the evidence suggests ___," "One could argue ___; however, ___"), and offer them as optional menus students may adapt or discard. Emphasize register, precision, voice, and citing evidence, and deliberately fade the scaffold so students generate, revise, and critique academic arguments independently and bring their own rhetorical choices.
In the classroom
In a 5th-grade science lesson on whether a material will sink or float, the teacher posts three tiered frames for the discussion: "The ___ will ___" (Beginning), "I predict the ___ will ___ because ___" (Intermediate), and "Based on its ___, I hypothesize the ___ will ___; however, ___" (Advanced). A newcomer in the silent period points to a picture card and says "float" with the support "This will ___." Students first turn and talk using a frame, then write their prediction in their science notebook. After investigating, the teacher invites students to revise their claims with an evidence connector ("The data show ___, so I now think ___"), and notices that several students at the Advanced level have stopped using the posted frames entirely, signaling it is time to fade the support for them while keeping it available for peers who still want it.
Research basis
Producing language ('pushed output') may promote second language acquisition by prompting learners to notice gaps, test hypotheses about the target language, and reflect on form, in ways comprehensible input alone may not; sentence frames elicit exactly this kind of output.
Swain, M. (1985). Communicative competence: Some roles of comprehensible input and comprehensible output in its development. In S. M. Gass & C. G. Madden (Eds.), Input in second language acquisition (pp. 235-253). Newbury House.
Academic language (CALP) is cognitively demanding and context-reduced and takes years to develop, while conceptual and academic-language proficiency can transfer across a bilingual learner's two languages via a common underlying proficiency; frames help make this academic register more accessible.
Cummins, J. (2008). BICS and CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. In B. V. Street & N. H. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of language and education (2nd ed., Vol. 2, pp. 71-83). Springer. [link]
Lowering the affective filter (anxiety, low confidence) supports acquisition; scaffolds that let learners participate successfully can reduce that filter.
Krashen, S. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Pergamon Press.
Sentence frames are 'fill-in-the-blank' structures that let English language learners focus on content concepts while developing academic language across speaking and writing, and they should be kept open and flexible, differentiated by proficiency level, modeled, posted for reference, and faded as proficiency grows.
Colorín Colorado. (n.d.). Sentence frames and sentence starters. WETA. Retrieved June 16, 2026, from https://www.colorincolorado.org/teaching-ells/ell-classroom-strategy-library/sentence-frames [link]
Scaffolded oral and written language practice with structures such as sentence frames is part of the SIOP model's approach to making grade-level content comprehensible and building academic language for English learners.
Echevarria, J., Vogt, M. E., & Short, D. J. (2017). Making content comprehensible for English learners: The SIOP model (5th ed.). Pearson.
Academic language and the discourse moves of each discipline can be taught explicitly; modeling structures for functions such as comparing, justifying, and citing evidence builds students' capacity for academic conversation and writing.
Zwiers, J. (2014). Building academic language: Meeting Common Core standards across disciplines, grades 5-12 (2nd ed.). Jossey-Bass.
Complex disciplinary thinking cannot be fully pre-scripted into sentence frames; an emphasis on frames can interrupt collaborative sense-making when attention shifts to language forms and correct products, so frames support participation best when used flexibly and temporarily and paired with interaction and student agency, rather than imposed as rigid required scripts.
Alvarez, L., Capitelli, S., & Valdés, G. (2023). Beyond sentence frames: Scaffolding emergent multilingual students' participation in science discourse. TESOL Journal, 14(3), Article e720. [link]
Sources reviewed by an independent second-language-acquisition specialist and an adversarial citation audit.
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