Foreign Language Teachers’ Struggle to Learn Content-Based Instruction

Abstract

Research has shown content-based instruction (CBI) to be effective in various language settings, yet this promising curricular approach remains rarely implemented in mainstream foreign language educational contexts. While the existing body of research has identified important barriers to the implementation of CBI, it has neglected the problem of meaning which is essential to understanding educational reforms. This phenomenological study explores the meaning that the experience of learning CBI had for in-service foreign language teachers in traditional teaching contexts who were once enrolled in a year-long professional development program specifically designed to help them become familiar with CBI core principles and create CBI curricular materials. Findings suggest that teachers struggle mainly with the idea of teaching language through content, a concept they have difficulty grasping or even accepting as a possibility. Professional development programs must be designed to respond to this specific challenge if they are to help teachers explore new instructional possibilities.