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 one’s
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
• Krashen: Meaningful input of CBI
• 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” and“Third Space”
– Intercultural Competence includes the ability to create for
oneself a comfortable “third place” between one’s 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 learn…Most 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 Acquisition of functional
communication skills, and culture that
is necessary in order to act
appropriately in the target culture
Learning Mastering skills
Foreign Language CBI Models
Learning content, and language that is
necessary for mastering the content.
Becoming culturally literate.
Understanding multiple signs

Teaching Input/output Scaffolding

Interaction Transmission of message Collaborative dialogue.
Filling in information gap Relating self to others.
Negotiation of meaning.
Space for Growth i + 1 (Krashen) ZPD (Vygotsky)
Concept of language Stable entities Co-constructed and mediated
& culture
Concept of society Stable entities Temporarily-shared social worlds
Proficiency model Native speaker Participation/membership in
community
Literacy Reading for information Reading social signs
Multi-literacies
Assessment Appropriate language use Understanding of content
Communicative skills Language use in social context
Curriculum Independent as language study First step for the content study
 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
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References
(continued)
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 References
(continued)
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