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LCB – TTC Methods II 2009Class Presentation: CBL (Content Based Learning)Student: Alejandra de AntoniProf: Gladys Baya
Content-Based Learning
What is content-based learning?
 The focus of a CBL lesson is on the topic or subject matter such as global warming,the Civil War, science, math, or social studies. During the lesson, students are madeto focus on learning about something. This could be anything that interests them,from a serious science subject to their favourite pop star, or even a topical newsstory or film. They learn about this subject using the language they are trying tolearn, rather than their native language, as a tool for developing knowledge, so theydevelop their linguistic ability in the target language. This approach is thought to bea more natural way of developing language ability and one that corresponds moreto the way we originally learn our first language.
What does a content-based learning lesson look like?
 There are many ways to approach creating a CBL lesson. Listed below is onepossible way.
Preparation:
1. Choose a subject of interest to students.2. Find three or four suitable sources that deal with different aspects of the subject.Be aware that these could be websites, reference books, or audio or video of lectures or even real people.
During the lesson:
1. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a small research taskand a source of information to use to help them fulfil the task.2. Then once they have done their research they form new groups with studentsthat used other information sources and share and compare their information.3. There should then be some product as the end result of this sharing of information which could take the form of a group report or presentation of somekind.
Teachers' perspectives
 Teachers in content-based learning may be content specialists who use the targetlanguage for instruction, or language specialists who are using content for languageinstruction. To be effective in their roles, they will need the knowledge, skills andconcepts required for content delivery in the target language. All teachers incontent-based learning have similar professional needs, but the degree to whichthey will need certain knowledge or skills may vary by their assignment. To besuccessful, it will be helpful for teachers to be well prepared in the following areas.
Content knowledge:
Obviously, it will be hard to teach content if teachers do not know it themselves.While content teachers will be prepared in their own disciplines, it may beparticularly challenging for teachers trained as language specialists who are notSeptember, 4
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LCB – TTC Methods II 2009Class Presentation: CBL (Content Based Learning)Student: Alejandra de AntoniProf: Gladys Bayafamiliar with the content. Some language teachers are uncomfortable teachingcontent in fields they may have struggled with themselves, such as mathematics.
Content pedagogy:
 There are identifiable strategies that make content instruction more effective. Somecontent specialists have had no training in pedagogy, particularly at thepostsecondary Level. Because learning content in a new language can posedifficulties for students, it is essential that teachers (regardless of their content orlanguage orientation) have a repertoire of strategies at their disposal to givestudents multiple opportunities to access content in meaningful, andcomprehensible ways. Language specialists, in particular, will need opportunities tobecome skilled in content-appropriate instructional strategies if they are to teach oruse content appropriately. For example, while few secondary school art teacherswould deem it appropriate to lecture students as slides of famous works of artparaded on the screen, some language teachers have used this approach whenincorporating art into language lessons.
Understanding of language acquisition:
All teachers in content-based learning will benefit from an understanding of theprocesses involved in second language acquisition. To select and sequenceappropriate learning experiences teachers need to understand and be aware of howlanguage learning develops in formal contexts (Classroom context). One of the mostimportant aims of CBL is to help students acquire language rather learning it, i.e.that students internalise language unconsciously while they are working with thelanguage as a means to learn something else.
Language pedagogy:
Promoting language growth can and should be done by content-based teachers,even those who work in settings where content, not language, is a primary programgoal (Snow, Met, & Genesee, 1989). Language learning can be planned as part of every content lesson, and teachers can use strategies drawn from languagepedagogy to help students gain language skills. In fact, in doing so, they will exceedthe goals of content instruction, since the better students know the language, themore easily they can learn content through it. It is important to remember that,even though the purpose of CBL is to use the target language to learn somethingelse, there will come a moment in which focus on how the language works willbecome necessary.
Knowledge of materials development and selection:
When students learn content through a new language they will need a variety of instructional materials. Print and non-print resources developed for native speakersmay need modification or adaptation. Teachers may also need to develop their ownmaterials. Criteria for selecting and developing materials include accessibility of language, text organization that facilitates comprehension (e.g., headings and sub-headings), availability of non-linguistic supports to meaning (illustrations, graphs,and diagrams), and a certain degree of cultural knowledge required forcomprehension.
Understanding of student assessment:
 Teachers will need to understand the principles of assessment across disciplines. Itwill be helpful for teachers to be familiar with a range of assessment options, andthe contexts in which they are most likely to provide answers regarding studentSeptember, 4
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LCB – TTC Methods II 2009Class Presentation: CBL (Content Based Learning)Student: Alejandra de AntoniProf: Gladys Bayaprogress. These options may also need to integrate language and contentassessments as well as allow learning to be measured independently.
Students’ perspectives
Motivation:
CBL can make learning a language more interesting and motivating. Students canuse the language to fulfil a real purpose, which can make students both moreindependent and confident.
Developing wider knowledge:
Students can also develop a much wider knowledge of the world through CBL whichcan, in turn, improve and support their general educational needs.
 Academic purpose:
CBL is extremely popular among EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers as ithelps students to develop valuable study skills such as note taking, summarizingand extracting key information from texts.
Transferable skills:
 Taking information from different sources, re-evaluating and restructuring thatinformation can help students to develop valuable thinking skills that can then betransferred to other subjects.
Improving social skills:
 The inclusion of a group work element within the framework given above can alsohelp students to develop their collaborative skills, which can have great socialvalue. By social interaction, they can learn from each other and bring theirstrengths into their groups.
Assessing students' progress
What determines student progress in content-based learning? What are someappropriate approaches to assessing what students have learned? The answers tothese questions are likely to reflect course priorities and where on the continuum aprogram lies. In content-driven programs, it is important to ascertain whetherstudents are gaining mastery over the content. This issue may be of particularconcern if content is important and students are learning it in a language in whichthey are not proficient.It is possible that students will know content relatively well, even if they cannotdemonstrate the depth of their understanding through language. Since goodcontent teaching uses strategies that allow learners to access content even whentheir language skills are limited, students may be able to show rather than explaintheir understanding. To demonstrate their academic progress, students may call onthe same strategies that teachers use during instruction, using concrete objects,diagrams, body language, or other paralinguistic supports to convey meaning. Forexample, students may understand how simple machines work, or be able to carryout complex algebraic tasks, but not be able to explain how they arrived at theiranswer. Teachers will need to decide when content learning should be assessedindependently of language. Often, however, it may be desirable for content andSeptember, 4
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Kamal Elqasem

thanks a lot nice project

reply05 / 12 / 2012
Gladys Baya

Listening to you discuss all this f2f was a GREAT experience indeed. Now many others have the chance to learn from your learning too. 8-D! Thanks a million for sharing, Alez!

reply02 / 04 / 2010
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