Name: _Lea Marie F.

Examen_________ Rating: __________________

Course Facilitator: Dr. Victoria V. Albacete Date submitted: February 11, 2022

Content-Based Instruction/ESP/EAP

Background of Content-Based Instruction (CBI)

❖ The roots of CBI can be traced back many centuries. St. Augustine pointed out that:

Once things are known knowledge of words follows… we cannot hope to learn words we
do not know unless we have grasped their meaning.

- Explicit approaches to content-based foreign language and second language instruction

have evolved over years out of the teaching-language-across- the-curriculum movement
in first language education, foreign language immersion programs, and the English for
Specific Purposes movement.

❖ The publication of Bernard Mohan’s work in the mid-1980s was the first appearance of
what is known today as CBI.

Mohan’s Language and Content explored the different ways in which the subject matter
and the learning of a language can be achieved (Brinton, 2003).

Theoretical Foundations of CBI

The bilingual immersion programs and the ESP /EAP movement, research in
second language acquisition presents an additional rationale for the content-based
approach to language instruction.

❖ The communicative approach, especially Krashen's comprehensible input hypothesis

(1982), and Cummins' and Swain's theoretical language proficiency framework (1986)
provide a theoretical foundation for content-based instruction.

The Communicative Approach: The Comprehensible Input Theory

❖ communicative competence is achieved through the subconscious acquisition of the
target language, which happens when individuals engage in real communication
activities.
❖ students are given the opportunity to use the target language to accomplish tasks they
have a personal interest in
❖ According to Snow, Met, and Genesee (1989), The motivation to communicate and
progress in the target language comes from needing to use that language to meet their
immediate goals; "language then will be learned because it provides access to content”

What is Content-Based Instruction (CBI)?

The focus of a CBI lesson is on the topic or subject matter. Students learn about this
subject using the language they are trying to learn, rather than their native language, as a tool
for developing knowledge and so they develop their linguistic ability in the target language.
Here are definitions of CBI from authors and researchers:

❖ CBI proposes an approach in which students acquire the target language through
content.
❖ Brinton, Snow, and Wesche (1989) consider content-based instruction as “the
integration of particular content with language teaching aims...as well as the concurrent
teaching of academic subject matter and second language skills.
❖ Richards and Rodgers (2001) say that “Content-Based Instruction refers to an approach
to second language teaching in which teaching is organized around the content or
information that students will acquire, rather than around linguistic or other types of the
syllabus.”

1
 ❖ Content-based instruction is “the teaching of language through exposure to content that
is interesting and relevant to learners” (Brinton, 2003).
❖ Snow (2001) goes beyond when defining the concept of content. Snow (2001) said:
Content is the use of subject matter for second/foreign language teaching purposes.
Subject matter may consist of topics or themes based on interest or need in an adult
EFL setting, or it may be very specific, such as the subjects that students are currently
studying in their elementary school classes. (Snow, 2001).

Then Stryker and Leaver (1997) point out that CBI is part of what is considered a
new paradigm in the learning-teaching process. It is precisely this idea of having
students develop communicative competence that allows them to participate in the
target culture as cited in Brown Stryker and Leaver (1997) provides four significant
characteristics:

1. All the previous components are taken into account when establishing the goals.
2. Language techniques in the classroom are used to promote language with meaningful
purposes.
3. Fluency and accuracy are complementary elements.
4. Language is used in unrehearsed situations, just like in the real world.

The role of content in other curriculum designs

● Language across the curriculum (mid-1970s): a proposal for native-language education.

● Immersion Education.
● Immigrant On-Arrival Programs.
● Programs for Students with Limited English Proficiency (SLEP).
● Language for Specific Purposes (LSP).

English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

➢ English for specific purposes (ESP) teaching is conducted to equip learners with a certain
English proficiency level for a situation where the language is going to be used, termed
target needs.
➢ Hutchinson & Waters (1987) define ESP as an approach to language teaching in which
all decisions as to content and method are based on the learners’ reason in learning.
➢ Richards & Rodger (2001) saw ESP as a movement that seeks to serve the language
needs of learners who need English in order to carry out specific roles (e.g. student,
engineer, nurse) and who need to acquire content and real-world skills through the
medium of it rather than master the language for its own sake.

The more detailed definition of ESP comes from Strevens (1998) who defined
ESP as a particular case of the general category of special-purpose language teaching.
He further revealed that the definition of ESP is needed to distinguish between four
absolute and two-variable characteristics. The four absolute characteristics of ESP
consist of English language teaching, they are:

1. design to meet specific needs of the learners,

2. related to content (i.e. in its themes and topics) to particular disciplines, occupations,
and activities,
3. centered on the language appropriate to those activities in syntax, lexis, discourse,
semantics, and analysis of this discourse, and
4. differentiated to General English.

English for Academic Purposes (EAP)

➢ English for academic purposes (EAP) emerged as a branch of English for specific
purposes in the early 1980s.
➢ English for academic purposes (EAP) has emerged out of the broader field of English for
specific purposes (ESP), defined by its focus on teaching English specifically to facilitate
learners' study or research through the medium of English (Flowerdew & Peacock,
2001).
➢ EAP grounds English language teaching in the linguistic demands of the academic
context, tailoring instruction to specific rather than general purposes. 

2
 ➢ The interest in EAP developed in response to the growing need for intercultural
awareness and of English as a lingua franca (ELF). 
➢ provides training in English language skills needed for academic study; they include
listening comprehension, fluency development, reading, grammar, writing, and
vocabulary.
➢ English for Academic Purposes (EAP) teaches students to use language appropriately to
study and publish in the academy.

Models of Content-Based Instruction

❖ Immersion Education: One of the earliest and most successful efforts to integrate
language and content teaching can be found in the French immersion programs first
established in 1965.
❖ Content- Enriched Foreign Language in Elementary School: Offers an updated
approach to traditional Foreign Language in Elementary School (FLES). Teachers find
points of coincidence with the standard school curriculum which can be paired with the
objectives of the foreign language curriculum.
❖ The Sheltered Model: It is used at university where the goal of teachers is to enable
their ESL students to study the same content material as regular English L1 students.
Sheltered CBI is called “sheltered” because learners are given special assistance to help
them understand regular classes.
❖ The Adjunct Model: Undertaken by ESL teachers. The aim of Adjunct classes is to
prepare students for “mainstream” classes where they will join English L1 learners.
❖ The Theme-Based Model: These classes can be taught by EFL teachers who create
content material based on the needs and interests of the students.

Strategies for Content Instructors

- CBI provides a rich context for teaching traditional four skills: listening, speaking,
reading, and writing. Since the focus of many CBI EFL/ESL courses is on academic
language learning, teaching strategic competence is essential.
- Richards and Rodgers (2001) point out that the teacher is a content specialist. In
general terms, the strategies used by language teachers in this model make the content
approachable to students (Stryker & Leaver, 1997)

In content classes, the instructor is concerned with delivering subject matter instruction.
Teachers need to utilize a variety of techniques and strategies for making content
comprehensible. These instructional techniques or strategies fall into four categories:
1. Modifying Input - recalling that second language learners have difficulty with the
cognitively demanding language academic texts.
2. Using Contextual Cues - content teachers much provide second language learners
with multiple cues to meaning.
3. Checking for Understanding - use of a variety of techniques to ensure that learners
understand both language used in instruction and the concept being imparted.
4. Designing Appropriate Lessons - teachers ensure adequate pacing, attention to
students' developmental levels, specification of appropriate objectives, a variety of
activity types, and ongoing formative evaluation. Teachers must take extra measures in
lesson planning in the following areas.
a. vocabulary instruction
b. prioritizing objectives
c. providing schema-building activities
d. learner grouping strategies.

The key features of the Content-based approach are explained as follows.

❖ Students are presented with authentic reading texts from the subject area, which they
need to learn, to read not only literally but interpretively and critically as well.
❖ Content-based instruction gives students the opportunity to respond orally to
content-based material, an opportunity not ordinarily afforded them in the content
classroom.

3
 ❖ A format is provided in which students synthesize factual information and ideas from
lecture and reading sources.
❖ Content-based teaching allows students to improve academic skills – note-taking,
summarizing, and paraphrasing from texts and lectures besides language skills –
Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. This would enable the learners to be better
academicians.

Principles and Characteristics of CBI

The principles of CBI are heavily rooted in the principles of communicative language
teaching since they involve the active participation of students in the exchange of content.
According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), CBI is based on two relevant 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.
2.) CBI better reflects learners’ needs for learning a second language.

Brinton (2003) offers some additional principles for CBI that complement the ones
offered by Richards and Rodgers (2001). These principles are significant for language teachers
intending to use and promote CBI in their lessons and institutions, indeed. These are:

1.) Base instructional decisions on content rather than language criteria.

- Brinton (2003) points out that CBI “allows the choice of content to dictate or influence
the selection and sequencing of language items”
2.) Integrate skills.
- For example, a regular lesson may begin with any skill or focus such as intonation or any
other linguistic feature.
3.) Involve students actively in all phases of the learning process.
- One of the main characteristics of the CBI classroom is that it is learner-centered, not
teacher-centered.
4.) Choose content for its relevance to students’ lives, interests, and/or academic
goals.
- Content is closely related to the students’ needs and instructional settings. For instance,
in high schools and universities content parallels the several subjects that learners study.
The only difference is that they are taught from a different perspective and with
different instructional objectives.
5.) Select authentic texts and tasks.
- Texts and tasks used in CBI come from the real world.

The role of teachers

Instructors must be more than good language teachers. They must be
knowledgeable in the subject matter and able to elicit that knowledge from their
students Stryker and Leaver (1997).

Teachers are responsible for:

❖ selecting and adapting authentic materials for use in class;

❖ create truly learner-centered classrooms;
❖ keep context and comprehensibility foremost in their planning and presentations;
❖ contextualize their lessons by using content as the point of departure.

Essential skills for an instructor by Stryker and Leaver (1993):

❖ Varying the format of classroom instruction;

❖ Using group work and team-building techniques;
❖ Organizing jigsaw reading arrangements;
❖ Defining the background knowledge and language skills required for students success;
❖ Helping students develop coping strategies;
❖ Using process approaches to writing;
❖ Developing and maintaining high levels of students’ esteem.

4
The role of materials

❖ Materials must contain the subject matters of the content course.

❖ Materials must be “authentic” – like the ones used in native language instruction.
❖ Examples of sources (and of realia): newspapers, magazines, any media materials,
tourist guidebooks, technical journals, railway timetables, newspaper ads, radio and TV
broadcasts, etc.
❖ Linguistic simplification to adapt texts and promote comprehensibility.

Current and Future Trends in Content-Based Instructions

❖ Teachers have incorporated communicative teaching practices into content-based

instruction.
❖ Stoller (1997) describes how she integrated project work into content-based instruction.
❖ Short (1997) reports on the use of graphic organizers to teach social studies.
❖ Teachers also integrate technology into content-based instruction by looking to the
internet as a rich resource for language and content activities.

The objective of content-based education is therefore to improve linguistic and academic skills.

❖ This approach helps trainers prepare materials based on students' interests and needs.
❖ CBI can be both challenging and rewarding. If students, the administration, and
professors are positively involved in the process, this approach could be successful.

References:

Brinton, D. (2003). Content-Based Instruction. In Nunan, D. (Ed.), Practical English Language

Teaching. McGraw-Hill Contemporary.

Brinton, D. , Snow, M. & Wesche, M. (1989). Content-Based Second Language Instruction.

Boston: Heinle and Heinle Publishers.

Hutchinson, T & Waters, A. (1987). English for Specific Purposes, A Learning centered
Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Second
Edition. NY: Cambridge University Press.

Snow, M. A. (2001). Content Based and Immersion Models for Second and Foreign Language
Teaching. In M. C. Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language (third
edition, pp. 293–317). Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle Thompson Learning.

Snow, M. A., Met, M., & Genesee, F. (1989). A conceptual framework for the integration of
language and context in second/ foreign language instruction. TESOL Quarterly. 23., 201-217.

Stryker, S. & Leaver, B. (1997). Content-Based Instruction in Foreign Language Education.

Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.

Trimble, L. (1985). English for Science and technology: A discourse approach. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.