Digited CLIL

Foundations and glossary

The pattern is a distillation, not an invention. Here are the ideas behind it, the terms it uses, and the works that ground it.

The ideas the pattern rests on

Foundations

What CLIL is

Teaching a subject through an additional language, so content and language grow together. The term was established in the 1990s, notably by David Marsh.

The four C's

Coyle's planning lens. They are held together, not addressed in turn.

Content

The subject knowledge.

Communication

The language to express it.

Cognition

The thinking it demands.

Culture

The context it stands on.

The eight parts of the pattern are this lens made concrete. After Coyle, Hood and Marsh (2010).

The language triptych

Within Communication, Coyle names language at three levels.

Of learningThe vocabulary and form a topic requires.

For learningThe functional stems to compare, hypothesise, justify.

Through learningThe new language that emerges, then reused.

Naming all three, not vocabulary alone, is what makes it CLIL.

The academic-language gap

Everyday talk and academic writing are not the same register.
Many students reason well aloud, then stall on the written form.
So we name the language demands, scaffold them for all, and assess the subject.

How reading and writing work

The pattern leans on a few settled models from literacy research.

The reading rope. Reading braids word recognition with language comprehension; both must be taught. Hollis Scarborough, building on the Simple View of Reading (Gough and Tunmer).
The Simple View of Writing. Writing competes for working memory across transcription, composition, and planning, so we reduce the load. Virginia Berninger and colleagues.
Word depth. A reader needs to know almost all the words on a page to understand it, so teach fewer words deeply, by their roots. Alex Quigley, drawing the threads together for teachers.

These reach teachers most clearly through Quigley's Closing the Gap books, listed under References.

The terms it uses

Glossary

Short, plain definitions of the terms that recur across the site.

CLIL

Teaching a subject through an additional language, so content and language develop together.

The four C's

Coyle's lens: Content, Communication, Cognition, Culture, planned together.

Language of, for, through learning

The vocabulary a topic needs; the stems to work with; the new language that emerges and is reused.

Content-obligatory and content-compatible language

What a task cannot be done without, against what is useful but not required.

Language demands, and demands analysis

The reading, writing and talk a task asks for, and studying that before teaching.

BICS and CALP

Two terms from Jim Cummins. BICS, Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills, is everyday conversational language. CALP, Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency, is the abstract academic language subjects demand. The gap between the two is where many learners stall.

Scaffolding

Temporary support that lets a learner do now, with help, what they will later do alone.

CLIL contexts

Monolingual, bilingual, multilingual or plurilingual, by how many languages carry the curriculum.

Language showers

Short, regular exposure to a subject in the target language. More common in primary.

Immersion

Most or all content taught through a second language. Marked by intensity, time, exposure.

The works that ground it

References

Cited as sources. None is reproduced. The worked example throughout is my own.

On CLIL

Bentley, K. (2010). The TKT Course: CLIL Module. Cambridge University Press.
British Council. Teaching History through English: a CLIL Approach. British Council.
Cambridge Assessment English. TKT: Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), Handbook for Teachers. Cambridge Assessment English.
Cambridge Assessment English. TKT: CLIL, Sample Paper and Answer Key. Cambridge Assessment English.
Cambridge Assessment English. TKT: CLIL, Glossary of Terms and Concepts. Cambridge Assessment English.
Coyle, D., Hood, P., and Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL: Content and Language Integrated Learning. Cambridge University Press.

The four C's originate in Coyle's earlier work of the late 1990s, developed in full in Coyle, Hood and Marsh (2010).

On literacy and disciplinary literacy

Education Endowment Foundation. Improving Literacy in Secondary Schools. EEF guidance report.
Shanahan, T., and Shanahan, C. (2008). Teaching Disciplinary Literacy to Adolescents. Harvard Educational Review.
SEDL. (2015). Insights on Disciplinary Literacy.

Books for teachers

A short shelf on literacy, all by Alex Quigley, all from Routledge. Listed here as recommended reading; none is reproduced.

Quigley, A. (2018). Closing the Vocabulary Gap. Routledge. Why word knowledge underpins success in every subject, and how to teach it across the curriculum.
Quigley, A. (2020). Closing the Reading Gap. Routledge. How reading works, with practical ways for every teacher to build fluent, confident readers.
Quigley, A. (2022). Closing the Writing Gap. Routledge. The development of writing, and how to teach planning, drafting, grammar and revision with confidence.
Quigley, A. (2024). Why Learning Fails (And What To Do About It). Routledge. Eight reasons learning breaks down, drawn from cognitive science, with practical classroom responses.
Quigley, A. (2026). Literacy Essentials for Every Teacher. Routledge. A synthesis of reading, writing, talk and vocabulary, with strategies for every phase, including SEND and assessment.