Content-based Instruction (CBI) Curriculum

Akemi Morioka

Issues in Second/Foreign Language Education

Shift of pedagogical interest: From methods/approachers (1980s-1990s) To content(1990s-2000s) Content-based Instruction = integration of linguistic forms and contents

General Definition of CBI (Content-based Instruction)

Discipline-based language instruction, and the broader "content-based" approach to which it belongs, are part of a trend at all educational levels aiming at the development of use-oriented second and foreign language skills. Content-based language teaching is distinguished first of all by the concurrent learning of a specific content and related language use skills in a "content driven" curriculum, i.e., with the selection and sequence of language elements determined by the content. (Brinton, 2006)

Benefit of Using CBI in a Foreign Language course in Higher Education

Approach/Philosophy
Integrates language and content. Eliminates the artificial separation between language instruction and subject matter classes which exists in most education settings. (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche. 1989) Embraces the broad and fluid concepts of culture and literacy. Intercultural competence is the ability to create for oneself a comfortable third place (Kramsch, 1993:13) between ones linguaculture and the target linguaculture Literacy= socially, historically, and culturally-situated practices (Kern, 2000). Texts= dialogue, graphic signs, paralinguistic behavior, and other semiotic systems(Kern, 2000). Reading= an active action; is an interaction between the reader and the text (Kern, 2000).

Benefit of Using CBI in a Foreign Language course in Higher Education

Outcome
Self-directed/autonomous learner Motivated learner Can think critically

Difference between Theme-based Approaches and CBI

<Theme-based Approaches> Systematic study of grammar with activities based on such topics as food, music, and the family, etc. The study of a topic is an add-on to a course based on the study of grammar. < CBI> Themes take on a central roles in the curriculum. The entire course is designed around an in-depth study of topics.

Theoretical Support to the Principles of and Pedagogy of CBI Krashen: Meaningful input
Kramsch: Culture as Social Semiotics Culture is not a product but a continually-shared process. Culture is a way of interacting with people in everyday life and identifying with a particular group or nation. Culture is a way of meaning-making in a shared speech community. Liddicoat: Intercultural Language Teaching (ILT), Intercultural Competence andThird Space Intercultural Competence includes the ability to create for oneself a comfortable third place between ones first linguaculture and the target linguaculture.

Theoretical Support to the Principles of and Pedagogy of CBI (continued)

Cummins: CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) & BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills)
Postponing content instruction while students develop more advanced academic language is impractical and ignores students complex educational needs.

Lee & VanPatten: Atlas Complex Whose responsibility is it to learnMost instructors assume that their principal task is one of improving the ways in which they express their expertise.. In moving away from teaching-fronted to teacher-assessed interactions, instructors will necessarily behave in a less Atlas-like way (Lee & VanPatten, 2002) Vygotsky: higher-order cognitive functions are culturally-mediated by the signs and artifacts emergent of practical activity. - Social Semiotic Theory - Signs - Activity Theory - Zone of Proximal Development - Distributed Cognition - Dialogic Learning - Metacognition

CBI Curriculum Goal to be Stated in Course Syllabus

The curriculum aims to foster students in becoming competent and culturally-literate users of Japanese. The students become able to acquire and construct knowledge of culture on their own and express their thoughts and opinions regarding these issues.
(Syllabus of UCI Japanese Language Program)

Conventional Second Language Acquisition Models Central Interest

Foreign Language CBI Models

Acquisition of functional Learning content, and language that is communication skills, and culture that necessary for mastering the content. is necessary in order to act Becoming culturally literate. appropriately in the target culture Mastering skills Input/output Understanding multiple signs Scaffolding

Learning Teaching

Interaction

Transmission of message Filling in information gap

i + 1 (Krashen) Stable entities Stable entities Native speaker Reading for information Appropriate language use Communicative skills Independent as language study

Collaborative dialogue. Relating self to others. Negotiation of meaning.

ZPD (Vygotsky) Co-constructed and mediated Temporarily-shared social worlds Participation/membership in community Reading social signs Multi-literacies Understanding of content Language use in social context First step for the content study

Space for Growth Concept of language & culture Concept of society Proficiency model Literacy Assessment Curriculum

Definitions by Kramsch (1998) #1

Culture= 1. Membership in a discourse community that shares a common social space and history, and a common system of standards for perceiving, believing, evaluating, and acting. 2. The discourse community itself. 3. The system of standards itself. Cultural literacy= Term coined by literary scholar E.D. Hirsch to refer to the body of knowledge that is presumably shared by all members of a given culture.

Definitions by Kramsch (1998)#2

Intercultural= 1. Refers to the meeting between people from different cultures and languages across the political boundaries of nation-states. 2. Refers to communication between people from different ethnic, social, gendered cultures within the boundaries of the same nation. Multicultural= Political term used to characterize a society composed of people from different cultures or an individual who belongs to several cultures.

Definitions by Kramsch (1998)#3

Literacy= The cognitive and sociocultural ability to use the written or print medium according to the norms of interaction and interpretation of a given discourse community. discourse= The process of language use, whether it be spoken, written or printed, that includes writers, texts, and readers within a sociocultural context of meaning production and reception. Discourse= This term, with a capital D, coined by linguist James Gee, refers, not only to ways of speaking, reading and writing, but also of behaving, interacting, thinking, valuing, that are characteristic of specific discourse communities.

References
Brinton, D., Snow, M. A., & Wesche, M. B. (1989). Content-based second language instruction. Boston: Heinle & Heinle Publishers. Crozet, C., & Liddicoat, A. (1999). The challenge of intercultural language teaching: Engaging with culture in the classroom. In Striving for the third place: Intercultural Competence through language education. (pp. 113-125). Melbourne: Language Australia. Curtain, H. A., & Pesola, C. A. (1994). Languages and children: Making the match (2nd ed.). New York: Longman. Eskey, D. E. (1997). Syllabus design in content-based instruction. In M. A. Snow & D. A. Brinton (Eds.), The content-based classroom: Perspectives on integrating language and content. White Plains, NY: Longman.

References
(continued)
Genesee, F. (1994). Integrating language and content: Lessons from immersion. (Educational Practice Report No. 11): National Center for Research on Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. Grabe, W., & Stoller, F. L. (1997). Principles and practices in second language acquisition. New York: Longman. Kern, R., G. (2002). Literacy as a new organizing principle for foreign language education. In Reading between the lines (pp. 40-59.). New Heaven: Yale University Press. Kramsch, C. (2002). Language and culture: a social semiotic perspective. ADFL Bullertin, 33(2), 8-15. Krashen, S. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. New York: Longman. Lee, J. F., & VanPatten, B. (2003). Making communicative language teaching happen. San Francisco: McGraw-Hill.

References
(continued)
Marco, M. J. L. (2002). Internet content-based activities for English for specific Purposes. English Teaching Forum, 20-25. Met, M. (1991). Learning language through content: Learning content through language. Foreign Language Annals, 24(4.), 281-295. Met, M. (1999). Content-based instruction: Defining terms, making decisions. (NFLC Reports). Washington, DC: The National Foreign Language Center. Mohan, B., & Beckett, G. H. (2003). A Functional Approach to Research on Content-Based Language Learning: Recasts in Casual Explanations. Modern Language Journal, 87(3), 421-432. O'Malley, J. M., & Chamot, A. U. (1990). Learning strategies in second language acquisition (Vol. Cambridge University Press.). New York. Rosenthal, J. W. (Ed.). (2000). Handbook of undergraduate second language education. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Publishers.

References
(continued)
Snow, M. A. (2001). Content-based and immersion models for second and foreign language teaching. Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Stoller, F. (2002, March).). Content-Based Instruction: A Shell for Language Teaching or a Framework for Strategic Language and Content Learning? Paper presented at the annual meeting of Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Salt Lake City. Stryker, S., B. & Leaver, B. (Ed.). (1997). Content-based instruction in foreign language education: models and methods. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press. Terrell, T. D. (1982). The Natural approach to language teaching: An update. Modern Language Journal, 66, 121-132. VanPatten, B. (2002). From input to output. San Francisco: McGraw-hill.

References
(continued)
Vygotsky, L. S. (1990). Imagination and creativity in childhood. Soviet Psychology, 28(1), 84-96. Vygotsky, L. S., , & context, L. t. t. C. d. i. s. (1991). Genesis of the higher mental functions. In P. Light, S. Sheldon & e. al. (Eds.), Learning to think. Child development in social context (Vol. 2, pp. 32-41). Florence, KY: Taylor & Frances/Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. S., Whorf, B. L., Wittgenstein, L., & Fromm, E. (1990). Language and consciousness. In J. Pickering & M. Skinner (Eds.), From sentience to symbols: Readings on consciousness (pp. 240-266). Toronto: University of Toronto Press.