Content-Based Instruction
Definition of Content-Based Instruction
Content-Based Instruction (CBI) refers to an approach to second languageteaching in which teaching is organized around the content or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other types of syllabus. Krahnke offers the following definition:
It is the teaching of content or information in the language which is learned with little or no direct or explicit effort to teach the language itself separately from the content being taught. (Krahnke, 1987: 65)
Brown holds the view that Content-Based Instruction is the integration of content learning of with language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content material. It allows for the complete integration of language skills. It usually pertains to academic or occupational instruction over an extended period of time at intermediate-to-advanced proficiency levels. (Brown, 2001: 234-235)
Content-Based Instruction, according to Brinton, Snow, and Wesche (1989: vii), is “the integration of content learning with language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content material”. Such an approach contrasts sharply with many practices in which language skills are taught virtually in isolation from substantive content. When language becomes the medium to convey informational content of interest and relevance to the learner, then learners are pointed toward matters of intrinsic concern. Language takes on its appropriate role as a vehicle for accomplishing a set of content goals.
Although content is used with a variety of different meanings in language teaching, it most frequently refers to the substance or subject matter that we learn or communicate through language rather than the language used to convey it.
Content-based classrooms may yield an increase in intrinsic motivation and empowerment, since students are focused on subject matter that is important to their lives. Students are pointed beyond transient extrinsic factors, like grades and tests, to their own competence and autonomy as intelligent individuals capable of actually doing something with their new language. Challenges range from a demand for a whole new genre of textbooks and other materials to the training of language teachers to teach the concepts and skills of various disciplines, professions, and occupations, and/or to teach in teams across disciplines.
Quite simply, content-based language teaching integrates the learning of some specific subject-matter content with the learning of a second language. The overall structure of a content-based curriculum, in contrast to many traditional language curricula, is dictated more by the nature of the subject matter than by language forms and sequences. The second language, then, is simply the medium to convey informational content of interest and relevance to the learner. Here are some examples of content-based curricula:
• Immersion programs for elementary-school children;
• Sheltered English programs (mostly found at elementary- and secondary-school levels);
• Writing across the curriculum (where writing skills in secondary schools and universities are taught within subject-matter areas like biology, history, art, etc.);
• English for Specific Purposes (ESP) (e.g. for engineering, agriculture, or medicine).
Principles of Content-Based Instruction
Content-Based Instruction is grounded on the following two central principles:
1. People learn a second language more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information, rather than as an end in itself. This principle reflects one of the motivations for noted earlier—that it leads to more effective language learning.
2. Content-Based Instruction better reflects learner’s needs for learning a second language. This principle reflects the fact that many content-based programs serve to prepare students for academic studies or for mainstreaming; therefore, the need to be able to access the content of academic learning and teaching as quickly as possible, as well as the processes through which such learning and teaching are realized, is a central priority.
Theory of Content-Based Instruction
The theory of language underlying Content-Based Instruction can be summarized as follows:
• Language is text- and discourse-based;
• Language use draws on integrated skills;
•Language is purposeful.
The theory of learning can be stated as:
• People learn a second language most successfully when the information they are acquiring is perceived as interesting, useful, and leading to a desired goal;
• Some contents are more useful as a basis for language learning than others;
• Students learn best when instruction addresses students’ needs;
• Teaching builds on the previous experience of the learners.
Objectives of Content-Based Instruction
The objectives of Content-Based Instruction are:
• To activate and develop existing English language skills;
• To acquire learning skills and strategies that could be applied in future language development opportunities;
• To develop general academic skills applicable to university studies in all subject areas;
• To broaden students’ understanding of English-speaking peoples.
(Brinton et al., 1989: 32)
Activities of Content-Based Instruction
Stoller (1997) provides a list of activities classified according to their instructional focus:
• Language skills improvement;
• Vocabulary building;
• Discourse organization;
• Communicative interaction;
• Study skills;
• Synthesis of content materials and grammar.
Content-based teaching presents some challenges to language teachers. Allowing the subject matter to control the selection and sequencing of language items means that you have to view your teaching from an entirely different perspective. You are first and foremost teaching geography or math or culture; secondarily you areteaching language. So you may have to become a double expert! Some team-teaching models of content-based teaching alleviate this potential drawback. In some schools a subject-matter teacher and a language teacher link their courses and curriculum so that each complements the other. Such an undertaking is not unlike what Brinton, Snow, and Wesche (1989) describe as an “adjunct” model of Content-Based Instruction.
Content-Based Instruction allows for the complete integration of language skills. As you plan a lesson around a particular subtopic of your subject-matter area, your task becomes how best to present that topic or concept or principle. In such lessons it would be difficult not to involve at least three of the four skills as your students read, discuss, solve problems, analyze data, and write opinions and reports.