Focus on Content-Based Language Teaching

Abstract

Content-based Language Teaching (CBLT) has grown enormously in recent years, sometimes under names such as immersion, bilingual instruction, sheltered instruction, or acronyms such as EAL (English as an Additional Language), CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning), SEI (Structured English Immersion), etc. This book provides a timely guide through these terms and acronyms, and helps us understand the different contexts that have given rise to the different ways in which CBLT is put into practice, and the different weights that can be attached to the two component strands of CBLT: teaching a subject through a foreign language and teaching the foreign language. The book is part of Oxford University Press’ Key Concepts for the Classroom series, which aims to ‘provide accessible information about research on topics that are important to second language teachers’ (p. xi). The goal of the series is to bridge the gap for this audience between ‘how-to’ methodology texts and academic texts in order to provide a guide for ‘instructional planning, pedagogical activities, and assessment of learners’ progress’ (p. xi). This particular book is aimed at educators both new to and experienced in CBLT and aims to explore ‘the possibilities and challenges of CBLT in primary and secondary schools’ (p. 1). Its length and style help to achieve this aim: at 164 pages the book is not foreboding in length, and it is also written in a very accessible style.