Content-Based Instruction for Language Learners
Your Instructor: Kathleen Bailey
Lesson 01
Chapter 2

Seven Characteristics of Content-Based Instruction

In the previous chapter, we defined what content-based instruction (CBI) is. In this chapter, we will consider some of the main characteristics of CBI.

Jourdenais and Shaw (2005, p. 2) have identified seven defining characteristics of CBI, which they say are hallmarks of this approach to curriculum design.

Students acquire language while learning about other content areas. Content areas are relevant to learners' academic and/or professional needs. Language is contextualized through these relevant content areas, and thus, is also relevant to learners' needs. Support is provided for learners' linguistic development. A focus is placed on developing academic and/or professional language proficiency. Authentic materials are used to present content matter. The use of authentic materials lends itself to the integration of skills, to increased motivation, and to increased cognitive and linguistic complexity.

CBI takes various forms in terms of how it is implemented, but these characteristics are present in most models. Let's examine each of these points in turn.

1. Learning language and content simultaneously
In content-based instruction, students are exposed to language while learning about other content areas (for example, math, science, etc.). This point is the central assumption underpinning a content-based approach to language teaching. If language learners are given interesting material to read and listen to, and if that material is not too difficult, students can learn language and content at the same time.

2. Focusing on relevant content areas
It is important that the content being studied is relevant to the learners' academic and/or professional needs. Relevant content helps to keep students interested and motivated. Content is relevant to the students if it matches their current personal, academic, or professional interests or their predictable future needs.

3. Contextualizing language through content
Saying that "language is contextualized" means that vocabulary and grammatical structures are used in meaningful contexts instead of in isolation. For example, instead of studying a list of vocabulary items and their definitions, students would encounter those new words in the context of a reading or listening passage. The context helps learners understand how vocabulary and grammar are used.

4. Supporting learners' linguistic development
Supporting learners' linguistic development means that even though students are focused on acquiring knowledge of the subject matter, teachers also promote their learning of the target language in various ways. These may include carefully planning tasks and activities, structuring group and pair work, providing visuals and ongoing assessment, and so on. We'll explore these ideas in more detail in future lessons.

5. Developing academic and/or professional language proficiency
In CBI, there is a focus on developing learners' academic and/or professional language proficiency. In other words, the "content" in CBI is not the random or wide-ranging content of a general English class. Instead, the subject matter chosen should be helpful to the students' academic work or their professional uses of the target language. With primary and secondary school learners, the focus is likely to be academic. With adults, the focus could be either academic or professional.

6. Using authentic materials
In CBI, authentic materials are used to present content matter. The term authentic materials usually refers to those materials which were not originally produced for language teaching purposes (Brinton et al., 2003, p. 17). Instead, authentic materials are "oral and written texts that occur naturally in the target language environment and that have not been created or edited expressly for language learners" (Larimer and Schleicher, 1999, p. v). By text, we mean stretches of language. Texts can be either written or oral.

7. Integrating skills and increasing cognitive and linguistic complexity
Finally, in content-based instruction, authentic materials lead to "the integration of skills, to increased motivation, and to increased cognitive and linguistic complexity" (Jourdenais and Shaw (2005, p. 2).

When students are given authentic texts for reading and listening, they have many opportunities for talking and writing about the subject matter (this is the integration of skills). Authentic texts also present learners with linguistic elements that are often more complex and richer than those that are usually found in materials developed specifically for language learners. Reading and listening to authentic texts gives learners opportunities for cognitive development as well.

In summary
In this chapter, we looked at seven defining characteristics of CBI as defined by Jourdenais and Shaw (2005). In future lessons, we will examine various types of content-based instruction. We will revisit these seven characteristics as we study the content-based approach to curriculum design.