Moving from the 4Cs Framework to a

PluriLiteracies approach for CLIL

A transcript of the presentation by Do Coyle (University of
Slide 1
Aberdeen) on behalf of the Graz Group ECML 2015
Slide 2 Hello - I am Do Coyle and in this short presentation I want to
take a brief look at the development of Content and
Language Integrated Learning or CLIL as a pedagogic
concept.

We are living in times of rapid change.

CLIL has shifted from its earlier days of investigating

potential learning gains where subject learning or thematic
studies and languages are successfully brought together, to
more recently supporting a pluriliteracies approach.
A Pluriliteracies Approach is one where integrated learning
in the broader sense can impact on any learning across any
language – be it a first, second, foreign or other language.
Slide 3 When the European Centre for Modern Languages – ECML -
funded a team to work on pluriliteracies and CLIL in 2013,
the early phase of working with Oliver Meyer, Ana Halbach,
Teresa Ting and Kevin Shuck soon developed into the Graz
Group.

The Graz Group is developing a new and evolving model for

pluriliteracies in CLIL. I would therefore like to share with
other CLIL professionals how our PluriLiteracies Approach is
rooted in the 4Cs and thereby enables teachers, teacher
educators and researchers to conceptualise and re-
conceptualise their practices in the light of deepening
understanding.

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 I shall now explore this further.

Slide 4 I would like to begin by revisiting the 4Cs Framework. The

4Cs Framework was developed in the 1990s after working
constantly with groups of teachers, teacher educators –
especially my colleague Philip Hood at the University of
Nottingham - and researchers across Europe. The aim was
to provide a tool which foregrounds the fundamental
elements of CLIL.

The 4Cs – as they are now commonly called- are now used
widely across the globe to raise awareness of the
components of CLIL and to support teachers in their CLIL
planning.

It highlights the need for teachers to not only focus on

content and language, but also on the dynamic aspects of
integrated learning without which neither language
progression nor knowledge construction can happen
effectively.
Slide 5 The 4Cs Framework is based on the principle that
strengthening and deepening a learner’s conceptual
understanding requires social, cultural, linguistic and
cognitive processes.

The component are: Content, Cognition, Communication

and Culture.

Slide 6 The first C is the C for Content. Content is the subject or

theme which ranges from subject disciplines such as Science
or Geography to cross-disciplinary themes such as global
citizenship or sustainability which can be led by any teacher.

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 It is important to note, that content, in the broadest sense,
may range from topics and themes which language teachers
wish to work with in their classes to those which the subject
teacher must cover as part of the syllabus.

Content can be worked on at any age and stage. Critically,

content learning involves meeting and understanding
different kinds of new knowledge including concepts, facts
and procedures so that learners can apply their knowledge
to problem solving, discussion or further development.

Slide 7 The second C for Cognition requires learners to process

information and engage with it in order to make meaning.

Constructing meaning involves individual learners in

applying and strategically using existing and new knowledge
to solve problems and carry out tasks related to the subject
or theme.

It also involves learners in ‘cognitive challenge’ through

higher order thinking - for example - as set out in Bloom’s
Taxonomy. We know that content is not about the rote
learning of facts, but that content is all about how learners
can engage with it in different creative and challenging ways
so that it can be internalised.

Slide 8 The 3rd C is Communication and perhaps one which is the

most interesting. It focuses on the language which is
needed to construct knowledge.
It ‘cements’ content and cognition since language is needed
by individuals to share and demonstrate understanding
both externally and internally.

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 Communication involves both language learning (i.e.
acquiring the language needed to learn the subject or
theme) and language using (i.e. using language to articulate
understanding and thereby engage in learning processes).
Communication is part of any learning – be it through a
foreign, first or second language.
Slide 9 The Language Triptych provides us with a useful reminder
that creating the necessary conditions for learning is
needed to enable learners to access the different types of
language: language of learning, language for learning and
language through learning.

Language of learning is the language closely related to the

content such as key vocabulary, expressions and
terminology; language for learning is the language learners
need to process and operationalise their understanding in
the classroom -such as how to work in a group or write a
report; and language through learning is the language that
emerges and is needed by individual learners to deepen and
internalise their learning – new learning requires new
language determined by the learner, not the teacher
Slide 10 The 4th C –Culture has two interrelated strands.

First, at the macro level, culture encompasses making

transparent societal values and cultures embedded in home
and other contexts. Culture is the filter through which
individuals interpret their world. CLIL requires learners to
develop intercultural understanding which impacts on all
the other Cs.
Second, at the micro level, in CLIL each subject discipline or
related theme has its own culture with its own content and
ways of communicating and interpreting the world. These
subject-specific norms impact on the way in which content
is conceptualised and the kind of discourse functions used

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 to support these processes. It requires learners to think and
act like a scientist or like a geographer or like a global
citizen.
Slide 11 The 4Cs Framework is therefore a conceptual framework. It
is a useful aide-memoire for planning and conceptualising
CLIL programmes for learning to be successful and
connected in CLIL classrooms. It provides a useful tool and
springboard.
Slide 12 So what about integrated Learning beyond the 4Cs?
The 4Cs was developed to draw attention to integrating
elements of learning which go beyond content and
language. The 4Cs encourages us to conceptualise CLIL
holistically, it does not tell us HOW to integrate learning
over time
Slide 13
The Graz Group has been working with colleagues in the
field to develop a new understanding of the
interconnectedness of the elements of CLIL. The Group
seeks to provide guidance about how integrated learning
can lead to progression over time, as it happens in reality in
classrooms.

I shall start with an obvious statement: content only

becomes meaningful when it is understood or
conceptualised. Conceptualisation requires language to be
used appropriately since it is through language that
understanding is made visible.
Slide 14 But what do we mean by made visible?
This happens when learners put into their own words what
they have learned. This articulation - or to use Swain’s term-
languaging - requires not just ‘any’ language but language
which relates to subject cultures and disciplines

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 Slide 15 However, when concepts are linked to specific subject tasks
and activities, this languaging or explaining learning requires
language which is specific to the cognitive-discourse
functions of the subject discipline (e.g. classifying,
explaining, describing, justifying) in order to make thinking
‘visible’.

Each discourse function takes on a different shape

depending on the context and subject discipline. In order to
progress learners have to learn how to adapt these
discourse functions to different subject cultures. Therefore
meaning-making which involves knowing (this is content)
and thinking (or cognition) only becomes visible when
discourse functions are articulated well (that is through
communication).
Slide 16 Learner progression is about individuals becoming
increasingly skilled in purposeful communication across
cultures and languages using the appropriate style, mode
and genre typical of their subject and their audience, i.e.
they will have to develop subject literacies across languages
(pluriliteracies).

Throughout schooling the quality of this communication

needs to become increasingly inter-culturally aware and
subject-appropriate (culture).

In other words we cannot separate one C from another.

Slide 17 So what is the pathway from Subject Literacies to

PluriLiteracies?
Subject literacies have to be developed throughout
schooling across disciplines and languages. Whilst this may
appear a ‘given’ it does not automatically happen beacuse

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 the development of learners’ subject literacies is not usually
prioritised either by subject teachers or language teachers.

Fundamentally, it requires learning to be conceptualised as

progression along knowledge pathways in order to
increase learners’ meaning-making potential and lead them
further into deeper learning of subject disciplines.
Slide 18 Starting with basic literacies in any language, learners move
increasingly towards subject–specific literacies, broadening
the range of text types through which they express their
knowledge and understanding. In order to do this, learners
must become familiar with a range of genres.

They have to learn how to communicate their

understanding at deeper levels in different styles and for
different purposes. This in turn requires the use of
appropriate subject specific modes - such as spoken and
written text, visual and graphic representations.
Slide 19 These principles form the basis of our PluriLiteracies Model.
The Model takes individual components related to the 4Cs
Framework and demonstrates how an integrated approach
requires a shift in how we conceptualise learning in CLIL
classrooms.

It focuses on the development of subject (academic)

literacies.

It draws on integrating conceptual development and

linguistic progression through a range of social, linguistic,
communication and cultural processes discussed previously.
Our model, therefore, eliminates the content-language
divide.

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 Placing PluriLiteracies development at the centre of
learning, challenges teachers to focus on subject-specific
task performance if their learners are to actively engage in
subject-specific discourses. Ana Halbach - a member of the
Graz group has created a You Tube video where she
explains in greater detail the Pluriliteracies Model - so do
take a look.
Slide 20 Finally I would like to underline the fundamental need for
Learner Progression in CLIL to be more transparent

The PluriLiteracies Model focuses on meaning-making.

Learner progression happens through strengthening the
connections between two continua: the conceptualising
continuum and the communicating continuum.

As a subcategory along the communicating continuum,

‘mode’ stresses the need for teachers to enable their
learners to understand, critically reflect upon and to create
multimodal messages - essential for operating successfully
in current contexts.

Novices move outwards through the pluriliteracy arc in the

model.

Pluriliterate experts are sensitive to the social and cultural

context and can position themselves inside the two axes of
the continua. This involves learners in responding
appropriately to the demands of a given task.

In other words, it requires them to adapt their language to

specific purpose, modes and audiences in order to
communicate their understanding and construct meaningful
social interactions.

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 The PluriLiteracies Model provides a means of visually
mapping progression in literacies over time across
languages, subjects and contexts.

Slide 21 The Model fundamentally challenges the relation between

content and language which has dominated the CLIL
discussions during the last two decades.
In simple terms by working on the language, learners refine
their understanding, and by increasing their understanding
they also become able to express their knowledge in more
appropriate and sophisticated terms. Language and content
therefore determine each other.

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 Slide 22 The Model suggests that defining levels of subject literacies
may become possible. This will fundamentally change the
ways in which learning is assessed in CLIL contexts in the
future. The Model also bridges learning across languages by
integrating learning and transfer through a foreign or
second language with mother tongue learning. All learning –
whatever the language - can benefit from this approach.
Slide 23 The Graz Group hopes that through constructing the Model,
there is a transparent pathway for progression where
language and language awareness can, and profitably ought
to be developed into a whole-school approach to learning
cutting across languages and subject boundaries and
promoting pluriliterate citizens.

We are looking forward to collecting case studies of

teachers who are working with the Model.

What we do know is that for CLIL to be sustainable and

successful then it has to be dynamic. We hope the
Pluriliteracies Model provides a useful trigger for future
thinking.
Acknowledgements and thanks
Slide 24

Slide 25 Acknowledgement and thanks

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