Abstract
This study aims to investigate EFL learners’ perspectives for the effectiveness of content-based instruction in a cross-cultural communication course. The main objectives of this study are three-folds: (1) to examine students’ perspectives regarding the effectiveness of content learning; (2) to examine students’ perspectives regarding the effectiveness of language learning; and (3) to examine students’ perspectives regarding the effectiveness of cooperative learning and development of critical thinking. Sixty non-English major EFL students from a university in Northern Taiwan participated in this study. A variety of tasks such as readings of a variety of authentic texts, viewing movie and video clips, discussing in groups, and accomplishing a group project were employed to have students actively explore the subject content and concurrently work on their language skills. Students were also required to evaluate their peers’ final group project with provided evaluation criteria. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore what students were able to learn from this course and the challenges they have encountered. The results from students’ feedback revealed their positive gains in the areas of content knowledge as well as the enhanced language skills. Some perceived difficulties among students such as inability to fully comprehend the input or to produce effective output were reported and the pedagogical solutions were suggested. Other benefits such as constructive cooperative learning, enhanced critical thinking, and boosted confidence in the target language use were also reported by the learners.
Highlights
Content Based Instruction (CBI) is a curricular approach which focuses on the “concurrent teaching of academic subject matter and second language skills (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 2003)
This result is congruent with some of the CBI research conducted in tertiary level in Taiwan from which students were able to improve in their reading skills, critical thinking abilities, and operational content knowledge (i.e., Lo & Sheu, 2008; Tsai & Shang, 2010; Tseng, 2015)
This paper intends to report on the curriculum design of a CBI based course, “Cross-Cultural Communication”, and to explore the learning outcome on both content and language improvement from students’ perspectives
Summary
Content Based Instruction (CBI) is a curricular approach which focuses on the “concurrent teaching of academic subject matter and second language skills (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 2003). The other extreme of the spectrum which is increasingly adopted in Taiwanese tertiary level is the English Medium Instruction (EMI) For these EMI courses, the learning of content is the focus of the curricular with little attention paid to the specific development of language skills. As for university students’ perspectives with CBI instruction in Taiwan , some studies reported positively in terms of enhancing their reading skills and some area of content knowledge (e.g., Lo & Sheu, 2008; Tsai & Shang, 2010); while other studies received some negative feedback from students, such as inability of comprehending well in class, or perceived insufficient implementation of content driven courses (e.g., Lee, 2007; Cheng, Chang, Chen, & Liao, 2010).With the limited curriculum which placed equal attention on the development of both content and language, and with the mixed results of student perspectives within the existed CBI curriculum, this study aims to add to the existing knowledge by reporting on the design and implementation of a CBI based subject elt.ccsenet.org. Cross-cultural terms, Hall’s concept of high and low context Pre-reading discussion, principles, theories cultures, monochromic vs polychromic vocabulary work, cultures; Hofstede’s cultural dimensions theory; Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis skimming and scanning, lecture , group discussion
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
