Plurilingual Classrooms in Action

Scottish Council of Deans of Education –

Languages Group

Week 1
Plurilingualism and pluriliteracies. Prof Do Coyle, University of Edinburgh.
Video 6

Drawing on the work of Halbach, who usefully compares traditional methodologies

with a literacies approach to language learning, a shift has to occur in our thinking.
in order to develop linguistic skills, at least through the four skills (reading, writing,
listening and speaking) based on grammar systems, learners work with texts from
the very start. This is because language is not only a communicative tool, but also a
learning tool. We use language to build knowledge and raise that cultural
consciousness. So texts are used, therefore, to build different kinds of knowledge,
develop skills for meaning making and raise awareness of linguistic systems. This
moves away from previously, where in early years of language learning, the linguistic
system determined the types of texts that were deliberately created.

Using texts in a pluriliterate sense means that learners work with different types of
text (oral, written, visual, digital, virtual) in what we refer to as multimodal texts.
Texts are read, listened to, discussed, responded to then critically analyzed and used
as triggers for creativity, higher order thinking and problem solving in the languages
classroom. Texts are fundamental from the very start because they hold the key not
only to linguistic progression, but also to opening the doors to learning new things,
new knowledge, if you like, whilst at the same time developing language skills. In
other words, learners are transparently engaged in language using as well as
language learning in meaningful ways. This is what we call textual fluency. To put it
simply, linguistic fluency is no longer the golden ticket to successful language
learning. Instead, pluriliteracies classrooms pay attention to textual fluency as well
as linguistic fluency. Paying attention to textual fluency is essential if learners are to
become effective communicators to develop that critical and cultural awareness,
and ultimately to connect with and use their literacy skills developed in their first
and other languages so that they become increasingly aware of register style and
purpose of the language they need across different contexts. This approach builds
on relevance where learners expect to work with types of tasks to actively build
different knowledges (facts, concepts, procedures, language strategies and skills) to
encourage linguistic and textual fluency that respect our learners and are fit for
purpose.

There is some good news. EAL teachers and first language teachers work with
language in this way every day. Subject teachers also use disciplinary literacies, such
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as the language of science or geography. There's also an increasing number of
language teachers who are already exploring these approaches, and the results are
remarkable in terms of learner progression. It means that we have to consider how
we use languages in the classroom, how we encourage learners to use their existing
linguistic resources, including their first language, whatever that might be, how we
design tasks and how we select texts with learners that enable them to critically
evaluate meaning a skill so essential in our digital world.

This is not about dismissing tasks which focus on grammatical understanding and
practice linguistic forms. It is all about connecting languages and reframing the kinds
of experiences and opportunities learners need for language learning to be relevant,
meaningful and useful. We can start small. In this mooc we will experiment a little
further with text and share what working towards textual and linguistic fluency
involves. This is about classroom realities, where we actively pursue designing tasks
that encourage our learners to become more confident, critical, pluriliterate global
citizens.

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