Effects of Content-Based Instruction to Non-English-Major Undergraduates English Teaching with Internet-Based Language Laboratory Support

Yougen Lou,Pei Xu

doi:10.4236/ce.2016.74062

Abstract

With development of technology of computer and internet, it is a beneficial attempt to the reform of College English Teaching based on the subject content with Internet-Based Language Laboratory support for non-English-majored undergraduate students. Content-Based Instruction (CBI) has been defined as “the teaching of content information in the language being learned with little or no direct or explicit effort to teach the language itself separately from the content being taught”, which can make non-English-majored undergraduate students not only learn subject knowledge but also improve their foreign language (English) ability in learning content in Internet-Based Language Laboratory (IBLL). 90 non-English-majored undergraduate students in Yangtze University participated in this study for one-year experiment to investigate effects of CBI English teaching with IBLL support. Results in this study showed that: 1) Compared with the control group (CG), both CBI English teaching and CBI English teaching with IBLL support could improve the level of English learning motivation of non-English-majored undergraduate students in their English learning, and CBI English teaching with IBLL support is better in enhancing the level of English learning motivation; 2) compared with the control group (CG), both CBI English teaching and CBI English teaching with IBLL support could improve the level of English language applied ability of non-English-majored undergraduate students in their English learning, and CBI English teaching with IBLL support is better in enhancing the level of English language applied ability; 3) both CBI English teaching and CBI English teaching with IBLL support are limited for some non-English- majored undergraduate students with poor foreign language (English) basis.

Highlights

College English is a required course for every student in colleges or universities in mainland China
The purpose of College English teaching in mainland China is to develop students’ English language proficiency, especially in listening and speaking skills, so that they can use English to communicate effectively in the future study, work and social interactions, while enhancing their self-learning ability and cultural awareness to adapt to the development of our society and to meet the need for international exchanges
After the one-year experiment, from Table 1 and Table 2, compared with Control Group (CG), the method of combining Content-Based Instruction (CBI) with Internet-Based Language Laboratory (IBLL) support were better than the method of only CBI in developing non-English-majored undergraduate students’ English learning motivation

Summary

Introduction

College English is a required course for every student in colleges or universities in mainland China. Content-Based Instruction (CBI) has been defined as “the teaching of content or information in the language being learned with little or no direct or explicit effort to teach the language itself separately from the content being taught” (Krahnke, as cited in Richards & Rodgers, 2001). This teaching approach is considered by many researchers an effective and realistic teaching method in terms of combining language and content learning. Four teaching models are “theme-based approach”, “sheltered-content courses”, “adjunct courses”, “language for special purposes”

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Results

Conclusion