Creatingrealcommunicationsintheclassroom Shaojun Bai

Running Head: Real Communications with Using the Content Based Instruction
Creating Real Communications in the Classroom:
with Using the Content Based Instruction
Shaojun Bai
Michigan State University
Abstract
Real Communications with Using the Content Based Instruction 1
This action research focused on creating real communications with the Content Based
Instruction in the Chinese Language and Culture classes. A total of 94 students in 4 second grade
classrooms participated in this research. The CBI method was applied in 2 second grade
classrooms and compared with the other 2 classrooms with Non-CBI. The main language target
is counting from 1 to 100 in Chinese. There was an enhancement of using the real
communications in the Chinese lessons. Meanwhile, not only the language skills of students
were improved, but also the math skills. The CBI is a language teaching method that helps to
develop real communication and students’ skills in the language classroom.
Keywords: foreign language, Chinese language, CBI
Introduction
Context
This is my third year teaching Chinese Language and Culture at Rochester Community
Schools. My district is a public school district with 13 elementary schools, 4 middle schools and
4 high schools. The Chinese program has been started for about 6 years. From first graders to
fifth graders, students are all learning Chinese language and culture lessons 40 minutes every
week. My department made and developed the Chinese curriculum in the past 2 years and still
working on it. Meanwhile, there is no grade or assessment in the curriculum.
I have taught and traveled in other elementary schools, but this school year, I am teaching
students from first to fifth grade Chinese only in Baldwin Elementary School, which is one of the
elementary schools in Rochester district. I have 20 classes with more than 500 students. There
are 4 classes in each grade, and around 25 students with similar amount of boys and girls in each
class. I don’t have my own classroom like other special teachers. Therefore I have to take my
teaching material with me and travel into different classrooms. In my school, even some of the
students have been learning Chinese for 4 years, most of them still have the language level in
novice low.
Issue
Students in my school acquired a lot of knowledge about Chinese culture. However, their
language level did not improve too much. Most students can repeat the vocabulary and simple
sentence structures in classes, but they have difficulty applying language with meaningful. In
their view, Chinese is the language isolated with their daily life and unusable for communication.
Under the circumstances, I think the reason is that students do not have too many connections
between Chinese language and their real life. There are very limited conditions people can use
Chinese around Rochester. Meanwhile, I can not “control” my students’ time after school.
Therefore, to help my students, I want to create more opportunities for students to apply Chinese
in real communications in the school.
Justification
Enhancing the opportunity and frequency of using the target language in real
communication is a common question for all language teachers.The best way to learn a language
is by using it, “not just by studying about them or performing exercises and drills.” (Stephen B.
Stryker & Berry Lou Leaver, 1997) Therefore, students need to acquire language in the authentic
matter, which is the most natural way to learn. However, the fact is that most students only
repeat the target language following teacher’s instruction in the classroom, because most of them
do not have any occasion where they need to be concerned about it. In general, creating real
communitions is a challenge for most teachers who are teaching a second language.
Research question
Focusing on the issue of limited chances of applying Chinese in real communication
meaningfully, my main question is: what opportunities or conditions I can create for my students
to apply Chinese? In researching this question. Two related themes around my demand are:
● What strategy or methodology I can use for creating real communication?
● How much students can be improved with applying Chinese in real communication?
Literature Review
The key words of my research started with: how to create opportunities for students to
use the Chinese language meaningfully in real communication? Due to the limited resources of
teaching Chinese as a language and culture, I looked into the field of foreign language
instruction, especially English Second Language and Linguistic Immersion. One methodology
which draws my attention is the Content-based Instruction (CBI). Aftering reading several
articles about CBI, I think this method will help me with my main question and can be the basis
of my research. Therefore, this literature review explores the benefits of using CBI to create real
communication in the classroom for enhancing students' language proficiency.
Content-based Instruction is a significant approach in language education (Brinton,
Snow, & Wesche, 1989), it is created to teach foreign language learners content and language.
The content can be explained to other subjects beyond linguistic, like math, science and social
studies, in the language immersion. Stephen and Berry (1997) addressed that "Content-based
foreign language instruction encourages students to learn a new language by playing real pieces
– actually using that language, from the very first class, as a real means of communication.
Furthermore, the philosophy of content-based instruction aims at empowering students to
become independent learners and continue the learning process beyond the classroom." (Stephen
B. Stryker & Berry Lou Leaver, 1997) After reading the book of Stephen and Berry, I realized
that the CBI is the methodology I am looking for to create real communications for students. In
the class of CBI, students will acquire the target language automatically through a natural way,
instead of learning from direct instruction. Because “CBI falls under the more general rubric of
communicative language teaching, the CBI classroom is learner rather than teacher-centered"
(Littlewood. W, 1981). Students are exposed to a considerable amount of language through
interesting content and engaged in interesting activities in a student-centered classroom.
Synthesis of Research
Even though most dissertations of CBI focused mainly on immersion programs. In my
opinion, I can still study their productions for applying CBI in Chinese language and culture
class, because I do not need to copy the whole program, but the teaching theory and strategy.
According to Lyster Roy (2011), "Content-based language Teaching (CBLT) has full potential
for maximizing integrated learning, it must be language-rich and discourse-rich." My inquiry
project will focus on the development of students' language proficiency levels. Thus, I want to
see what the research says about the designing to support language learning. Based on the data
from a two-way Spanish-English immersion school in the USA, Roy has found students who had
been taught with CBI Model performed better on measures of reading, writing and oral
proficiency than students who had not. "The clear identification of both content and language
objectives provides sample lessons that each end with a review of key vocabulary and content
concepts." Depend on the young age and the low language level of my students, Roy’s
suggestions push me on thinking more about the clear objects and directions I need to give.
On the other hand, Bejarano and J. Steiner proved that CBI can be applied into the
classroom with low language proficiency. They did a study to investigate the efficacy of training
in the skilled use of Interaction Strategies in improving interaction amongst foreign language
learners working together in small groups. According to the result of students' acquisition of
knowledge shows that of strategies of CBI "enable students to modify their interaction in the
target language and thus be able to negotiate meaning more successfully, even when language
proficiency is limited." (Bejarano, Y., T. Levine, E. Olshtain and J. Steiner, 1997) The strategies
of CBI can be used in the classroom with novice low students, which is the condition of my
classes.
Ashoka and Mahawattha’s research made research based on a teaching module with three
continuous assessments with CBI. The data has shown the difference indicating a positive
relationship between the development of Second Language Proficiency and the CBI. "It is
possible to comment that teaching materials should be relevant to students' disciplines because it
increases students' motivation that ultimately helps their Second Language Proficiency to be
developed" (Ashoka Permaratne & Mahawattha MDNMU, 2015). As an elementary teacher,
there are many related materials about the four common core subjects from the buildings and the
internet. Classroom teachers have many teaching resources I can borrow and connect with
Chinese language. At the same time, the Common Core State Standard already set the level for
the content and materials. There are four common core subjects in elementary school: English
language arts, math, science, and social studies. From these four disciplines, math will be the one
easier to be combined with Chinese language in my district, because number in Chinese is
largely involved in the curriculum.
CBI in Mathematics
To narrow the scope of searching literacy review on CBI, I add the word "math". What
surprised me is that many scholars did related research on applying foreign language into
mathematics through CBI.
Looking across the study of Mamokgethi and Jill's paper, they address that “the
movement between languages in the primary mathematics classroom is bound up with movement
across mathematical discourses."(Mamokgethi Setati & Jill Adler, 2000) Their research data is
collected from an English immersion program. The result of the data illuminated some of the
success of applying primary mathematics in language classrooms. "Curriculum and development

programs need to be tailored according to whether they are within English Foreign Language or
English Additional (Second) Language environments and whether they are within primary or
secondary classrooms." (Mamokgethi Setati & Jill Adler, 2000)
Another strong supportive result is from the research of Liying, Miao, John R, Haiyan,
and Lesly (2010). They studied applying CBI in an English immersion school with grade two,
four and six in China. "We found that English Immersion (EI) students outperformed non-
immersion students on English achievement at Grades two, four and six, especially in Grade six
where the advantage became more apparent."
Some similar success gained by French Immersion students in Canada. One of the
findings from Holobow (1987) is “the present result of date indicate that English-soeaking
kindergarten pupils who spend half of their academic time in a foreign language can progress as
well in English as carefully matched control pupils following a conventional all English
program.”(Holobow, 1987) the author also addressed pupils “found benefit from an immersion-
type introduction to a foreign language” (Holobow, 1987)
All the data sets and research above proved teaching target language in mathematics
through CBI can improve student foreign language skills.
Different Opinions
On the other hand, Herbert, Kit-Tai, and Chit-Kwongm (2000), addressed a different
opinion that "For non-language subjects, late immersion in English as the language of instruction
had large negative effects." They researched a Hong Kong high school with 8 different subjects
taught in immersion to see the benefits of CBI. "Immersion in English did have positive effects
on English and, to a smaller extent, Chinese language achievement, but these effects were small
relative to the large negative effects in non-language subjects." (Marsh, Herbert W; Kit-Tai Hau;
Chit-Kwong Kong, 2000). Meanwhile, Mathematics is one subject they choose to evaluate.
"Post-test mathematics achievement indicated that English Instruction had a small negative effect
on post-test mathematics achievement, but that English in English Classes had a small positive
effect." (Marsh, Herbert W; Kit-Tai Hau; Chit-Kwong Kong, 2000) Even the small negative
effect of English instruction became smaller for initially students, the authors still believe "it is
not surprising that school-type differences in relation to the language of instruction were not
large." (Marsh, Herbert W; Kit-Tai Hau; Chit-Kwong Kong, 2000)
Same result from the research made by Alejandro S. Bernardo & Helen T. Gonzales.
They suggest there are "non–significant differences of memory, cognitive, and metacognitive"
(Alejandro S. Bernardo & Helen T. Gonzales, 2009).
This research informed the method I am going to incorporate into my design: in order to
create real communication in my classroom, I will connect Chinese and mathematics through the
method, content-based instruction, to see the development of students' language proficiency. In
conclusion of all the literature above, most results of research address that the CBI has beneficial
on linguistic learning, while not many researchers investigated the results of negative influence.
Even though it is implemented more in immersion system, I am still eager to try it in my
language and culture class and to see the benefits and negatives might occur.
Design and Method
Participants
As stated previously, I teach 20 classes from first to fifth grade, for a total of more than
500 students. It will be impossible for collecting whole school’s data, so I selected second grade
for this project because I am responsible for lesson planning for the second grade curriculum this
year with another Chinese teacher. I have 4 second classrooms with 94 second grade students.
The amount of boys and girls are the same.I choose to include all second-grade students in my
research. I will set two classrooms for using CBI as the CBI Classroom (Mrs.W and Mrs.H) and
two classrooms for using the teaching method used normally (traditional language teaching) as
the Non-CBI Classroom (Mrs.Y and Mrs.R). In this way, the data can be compared not only
between pre-test and end-test but also between the CBI Classrooms and the Non-CBI
Classrooms.
Setting:
I do not have my own classroom and I walk into different classes to teach Chinese. My
data collection will happen in the 4 second grade classrooms. The classrooms’ layout are very
similar. All of them have the carpet area where students usually sit during the instructional time.
In front the carpet, there is one smartboard which I highly used in each classroom. Meanwhile,
all the classrooms have the table area with different groups.Two classrooms have four groups,
one classroom has three groups and the last classroom has five groups. I mostly teach the whole
group during instruction time, and small group during the practice time. Also, all the classrooms
have the teacher area where I usually do individual assessment. In this way, the influence from
the difference of classroom layout will be limited among the four classrooms. What is more, the
classroom teachers stay in the classroom while I am teaching in most of the time.
Data
Data will be collected in several ways, in order to match results to my research questions.
I am going to use 4 different methods: documents, work samples, journals, and interview.
The documents data will be the test result. Students will be required to count from 1 to 20
in order, and say 5 numbers from 21 to 100 randomly. The five random numbers can be selected
by the computer. Both of the pre-test and end-test will be recorded. I will collect all data sets
preparing to compare the result between the CBI class and the non-CBI classes. However, there
will be no grade because of our district policy and curriculum. I am going to use the formal
assessment paper with checkmarks.
The work sample will be some math worksheets with Chinese. I borrowed a math
workbook that second graders are working on from a classroom teacher. From the work samples,
I can trace the development of students in the process. The worksheet will be collected every
week preparing for the data analyzation.
I will also reflect on a personal journal. This journal will allow me to take a deeper look
into my classes based on CBI. It will include my reflection, students' performance, and
classroom teachers' feedback. The journal will help me to see the area that needs to be revised
and improved.
Last but not least, I will make a short interview with the 2 teachers of the CBI Classroom
in the last week of data analyzing. I would like to listen to their feedback on the CBI.
Table 1:
Question Data 1: Data 2: Data 3: Data 4:
Document Work samples Journals Interview
(Pre test & Post
test)
Main question: The work Keep track of
What opportunities samples will how many
or conditions I can reveal to me language
create for my what I need to students
students to apply revise and comprehend and
Chinese change during how many
teaching based languages they
on CBI. are using during
Chinese class.
Sub-question 1: Students’ Keep track of From the

What strategy or growth in students' feedback of 2
methodology I can learning the reactions to teachers of the
use for creating Chinese CBI. CBI classroom,
real language. I can record
communication? more about
students’
language using
condition.
Sub-question 2: Compare the The accuracy Compare From the

How much result between may show the students’ feedback of the
students can be the pre-test and development of behavior and 2 teachers of the
improved by end-test, students. comprehension CBI classroom,
applying Chinese between CBI in the beginning the
in real classes and non- and the end. improvement of
communication? CBI classes to students can be
see the proved.
improvement of
students’
language
proficiency.
Timeline
All tests, sample collections, and journals will be done on Tuesday because all second-
grade Chinese classes are on that day. I will compile my data and notes from weeks in a special
folder, which I analyzed after school and during the weekends. Because each classroom only has
one Chinese class each week, I will collect students’ work samples once a week.
Table 2
Stages Timeline Purpose To do list
Stage 1 10.1-10.18 Pre-test Pre-test: test second grade students on

counting from 1-100 in Chinese. Record and
collect the data sets for analyzation at the
end of the project.
Stage 2 10.19-11.10 Instruction The main content will be numbers from 1 to

(Collect of work 100 in Chinese. Two classes with be taught
samples and with CBI and two classes will be taught
journals every without CBI.
Thursday.) The worksheets will be pass weekly to all
students but only collected from Joy.
Do professional journal every Tuesday after
the end of school.
Stage 3 11.11-11.24 Post-test & Test second grade students on counting from
Analyzation 1-100 in Chinese and compare with the data
of pre-test. Do a summary for further
analysis and adjustment.
Role and Issues
In the process of doing research, I realized the differences between functioning as a
teacher leader and researcher. Before starting this research, I just need to ensure my focus as a
teacher stayed with my students and planning. I concentrate on each unit and content and design
my class with specific activities. On the other hand, as a researcher, I need to expand my
consideration more in the systems and theories. My focus cannot just be limited in each class but
in a wider perspective to support students and other teachers.
To balance my role as a researcher and as a teacher, I would like to separate the time and
location of lesson planning and research. As a teacher, I will do all responsibilities at school,
which helped me to ensure my focus as a teacher stayed with my students. I will try to finish all
the lesson planning and other related works in school time. I will stay at school lately if need
more time. As a researcher, I will do data analysis outside the classrooms after school. All data
analysis and synthesis were completed outside of regular school day hours. I may go to the
library near my home every Thursday evening to write the personal journal and organizing data
sets. Meanwhile, I will have a special folder for all my research materials: data, samples, etc.
These will help me to separate my external research with my classroom duties so that I continued
to perform my regular tasks without compromising their importance with my research.
To protect the privacy of all my students, I will use pseudonyms on all work samples and
removed student names from the test documents. After asking my principal about the policy of
district, I don't need to connect with parents because I will not use students' names, pictures or
any other personal information.
Data Analysis
Procedures
My original question is “what opportunities or conditions I can create for my students to
apply Chinese?” Due to the resources from other language teachers, I decided to apply the
teaching method of CBI in my classroom and see how it influences students’ learning. To find
how CBI create real communication and how much students can be improved with applying
Chinese in real communication, I collect 4 types of data: documentation for students’ test, work
samples from students, my observation journal, and interview with 2 CBI classroom teachers.
Even though my second grade classes are canceled in some weeks because of snow days,
PDs, and assemblies. I still tried my best to collect all 4 kinds of data sets. First, the pretest and
posttest are collected from all students and show the development of students' language learning.
Second, I collected work samples twice from all classrooms to analyze students learning. The
third is my observing journal. I wrote down all my feelings and observing in all classrooms. I
also interviewed the 2 classroom teachers (Mrs. W and Mrs. H) to see their feelings about
students learning on both Chinese and math. At the same time, I shared my data with them
during lunchtime unofficially. I planned to do member check but we could not find time
eventually. I also did not do member check with my students due to their age. It is too complex
for them to understand CBI. I would like to share the result with the Chinese team in Rochester,
but do not have an appropriate time yet.
Initially, I intend to use a priori themes to look for the advantages and disadvantages of
teaching language in CBI, to find how CBI beneficial for distracted students' learning. However,
when I started to look through the data I collected, I found the two themes were too wide to be
reflected and analyzed. As many different aspects are influencing, and influenced by CBI, there
are a lot of data sources produced themes during my data analyzing process. Under this situation,
I believe it could be more specific to analysis the data by using a combination of prior themes
and emergent themes. Meanwhile, those additional themes produced by the data will be
evaluated in my discussion at the end sources since these were not consistent throughout all
sources. Since there are many data sources I collected, during the data analysis process, I tried to
color code different themes and highlight the data source with the corresponding color.
Results
During my three weeks of study, I observed students' learning in two classrooms with
CBI and two classrooms with the traditional learning method. I wrote observation journals to
record the experience of teaching with CBI, I gave pretest and posttest to all students and also
collect two different kinds of work samples from students. I also interviewed the second grade
classroom teachers. Originally, I intended to find what opportunities or conditions I can create
for my students to apply Chinese? During the literature review, I concentrate on the teaching
method of CBI. I would like to see can CBI use for creating real communication? And how much
students can be improved with applying Chinese in real communication? During the data
analysis, I also found that CBI also influences students learning on the content, which is math in
my research. Therefore, I decided to add it as an emergent theme. Overall, how the data
resources correspond to themes could be found below (table 2).
Table 2: Triangulation of Themes from Data Sources
Data Source Theme #1: Theme #2: Emergent Theme:

Creating real Students Influence on the
communication improvement content
Documentary: pretest V V
& posttest
Work samples V V
Observing journal V V V
Interview with V V
teachers
(V as check marks.)
Also, the tables of the result pretest and posttest are below (Table 3 & Table 4). They show the
number of students at each level.
Table 3: the results of pretest on counting from 1-100 in Chinese.

Table 4: the results of the posttest on counting from 1-100 in Chinese.
Result 1: Teaching with CBI can create authentic communication in the target language in
classrooms.
In all second grade classrooms, I always observed more Chinese communications in the
CBI classrooms. Especially when students doing worksheets by themselves, I can hear more
target language used in the classrooms.
In the journal of October 22nd:
When students discuss the math worksheets, a lot of students are speaking Chinese
instead of English in Mrs. W and Mrs. H's classroom. Some students are using the same
sentence structures with the one I used to teach and model.
In the journal of October 29th:
Today I feel surprised that a quiet boy who doesn't talk a lot starts to participate in
discussion with numbers in Chinese. I asked him the reason, he said, “I love math, now I
am happy to say it in Chinese.”
Meanwhile, there is less authentic communication in the Non-CBI classroom. I wrote down the
similar sentence 22nd, 29th and November 4th.
I heard many students said the number in Chinese, but they only said the number in
Chinese.
In this situation, CBI provides students speaking more target language in the classrooms.
At the same time, I made worksheets with authentic Chinese languages to see how much
students can comprehend. I translate the math journal my students are using into the Chinese
language. There is one unpredictable situation is the Chinese class was canceled too much.
However, I still got a chance to collect two different work samples from all 4 classrooms with 94
students.
Work Sample1: Counting: counting the school supplies in Chinese and write the number down.
There are 6 questions on the paper. Both students have high accuracy with this worksheet.
Table 5: the result of Work Sample 1
Work sample 1: counting the school supplies in Chinese and write down the number
Students Students Students Students

number of number of number of number of
answering 0-1 answering 2-3 answering 4-5 answering 6
questions questions questions questions
correctly correctly correctly correctly
CBI Classrooms 0 0 9 37
Non-CBI 0 2 8 38
classrooms
The results also showed in the bar charts below:

Work Sample 2: Chinese Math: write down the answers of the following addition and subtraction
questions. There are 25 math questions on the worksheet.
Table 6: the result of Work Sample 2

Work sample 2: Chinese Math
Students Students Students Students

number of number of number of number of
answering 0-15 answering 16- answering 20- answering 24-
questions 19 questions 23 questions 25 questions
correctly correctly correctly correctly
CBI Classrooms 3 22 14 7
Non-CBI 6 24 13 4
classrooms
The results also showed in the pie charts below with percentage:
There is no big gap between the CBI classrooms and Non-CBI classrooms on finishing
the worksheets. However, during the observing, the Non-CBI classrooms spend a longer time on
the work samples than the CBI classroom. In my journal, I record that the Non-CBI classrooms
spent about 7 minutes on the Work Sample 1 while the CBI classrooms used about5 minutes.
The time gap on the Work Sample 2 is longer. Non-CBI classrooms spent nearly 30 minutes
while the CBI classroom only spent about 20 minutes. Students in CBI can do both worksheets
faster than the students in Non-CBI classrooms, which means they are more familiar with the
authentic language on the worksheets.
Result 2: Teaching with CBI can improve students’ language learning.
From the results of the pretest and posttest. It could be easily found that the pretest result
of all four classrooms is similar, but the posttest result is better in the two CBI classrooms (figure
1). There are 17 students in CBI classrooms that can count from 1-100 in Chinese, and only 8
students in Non-CBI classrooms.
Figure 1
The result also showed in my journal. Students in the CBI classrooms can say the number
out faster than the students in Non-CBI classrooms. In my journal on October 15th, I wrote:
Today I taught numbers from 1-100 in Chinese differently in the four second grade
classrooms. In the CBI classroom, which is Mrs. W and Mrs. H's classroom, I taught
addition and subtraction following the math standard. I give each student a dictionary
book with numbers from 1-100 in Chinese. After going through the pronunciation of each
number, I modeled on how to figure out addition and subtraction questions with 100%
Chinese language. Students learn math exactly the same as how they learn in America
because I copy the lesson from American classroom teachers. Then, students worked on
math worksheets with their group. All the numbers on worksheets are in Chinese, so
students need to figure the number first then do the math. I am surprised that students
can follow my directions very well especially with those math questions they already
learned in English. Meanwhile, students are very concentrated and engaged. They read
the number in Chinese and said the answer in Chinese. One boy said to me that he likes
Chinese math because it is a Challenge but he can do it!
In the Non-CBI classrooms, students only concentrate on numbers. They listened and
repeated the sound in Chinese, then song the number song in Chinese, and copy the
number in Chinese. Most students are concentrate but some students were distracted.
Some students repeated number mechanical without using their brains to think.
At the end of all four classes, I prepared a quick answer game. Students say the number
in Chinese as fast as they can when a number showed on the smartboard. I set a timer to
see how many seconds the whole class used. There are 15 same numbers for each
classroom. In Mrs. W and Mrs. H's classroom, students reacted very fast, even surprised
me, much quicker than my expectations. Mrs. W's classroom used 81 second and Mrs. H's
classrooms only used 73 seconds. At the same time, in the two Non-CBI classrooms, Mrs.
Y's classroom used 96 seconds and Mrs. R's classroom used 92 seconds. I didn't expect
such a big gap between CBI classrooms and Non-CBI classrooms, but it is here.
Meanwhile, from the interview, the 2 CBI classroom teachers told me their feelings about
watching students learning math in Chinese. Both Mrs. H and Mrs. W strongly agree with
students can improve their language more with the method of CBI. Mrs. H said that she heard
students saying the number in Chinese while they figure the math question, which means they
are learning and thinking in Chinese. Students learn the language better when they do it
initiative. Mrs. W said that she feels students are more relaxed when they doing Chinese math
because they know the math part already. The only thing students need to do is saying and
writing the number in Chinese, and they can find all they need in the dictionary book. If students
feel too much pressure, they refuse to learn. When they are not afraid and feel achievability, they
learn better.
According to all data above, students' language learning is improved better based on the
CBI, which is a method that creates real communication in the target language.
Result 3: CBI also can improve students learning on the content.
After teaching math in Chinese in the two CBI classrooms, I got some positive feedback
from the classroom teachers. Mrs. W said that she had two students who were struggling with
addition and subtraction with the number over 10. After the Chinese math program, she realized
that those two students can do math journals better in English. For better data collecting, I made
an interview with Mrs. W and Mrs. H. Both of them claim the same results that students are
improved on math skills. When I ask how they could know students are improved. They
mentioned that students use less time finishing English math worksheets than before. Mrs. H
said, “I used to spend 30 minutes on math, but now I just need about 25 minutes on it because
most students finish early.”
Conclusion & Discussion
Summary
My main research question is to find out what opportunities or conditions I can create for
my students to apply the Chinese language. After finishing the literature review, I concentrate on
the CBI which is a method of using the target language for authentic communication in the
classroom. There are 4 second grade classes in my building. I chose 2 of them as the CBI
classrooms and the other 2 are the Non-CBI classrooms. Then I collect data from all of them in 3
ways: pretest-posttest, work samples and observing journal. Meanwhile, I also did a simple
interview with the 2 teachers of the CBI classrooms. After analyzing the data, it is easy to see
from the result of the pretest and the posttest that students in the CBI classrooms improved more
with their language skills. There are more students can count to 100 in Chinese in the posttest,
there are more students react faster with saying the number randomly, and there are more
students willing to show their language skills to others. Meanwhile, I found that the students in
the CBI classrooms tended to discuss the math in Chinese with the language used during
modeling. Hence, the CBI methods help students become more familiar with the authentic
language, the CBI method creates more authentic language in the classroom.
Connections
According to Stephen and Berry (1997), Content-based foreign language instruction
encourages students to learn a new language by actually using that language, from the very first
class, as a real means of communication. It is exactly what I saw in the CBI classrooms during
the research. Students not only said the number in Chinese, but also the sentences which are even
not the learning target. They were expressing their opinions and discuss with others in Chinese.
Therefore, I totally agree with Stenphen and Berry that the CBI encourages students using the
language to communicate instead of repeating no meaningfully.
During my research, I also found that it is essential to provide enough language and
content resources. Just like Lyster Roy (2011) said, "Content-based language Teaching (CBLT)
has full potential for maximizing integrated learning, it must be language-rich and discourse-
rich." I put all the language students need on the smartboard while they were doing the math for
supporting them on speaking Chinese. Otherwise, students could not say the language because
they did not remember.
Meanwhile, I also agree with Ashoka Permaratne and Mahawattha MDNMU (2015) that
the teaching material should be relevant to students' disciplines because it increases students'
motivation that ultimately helps their Second Language Proficiency to be developed. When I
show the math worksheets, some students were very excited that they are the same with their
English math journals. There is one boy who was not interested in Chinese but loves math in the
CBI classroom. He was super excited and motivated during the Chinese class with Chinese math
worksheets. He never talked a lot in my class, but he was talkative in Chinese during learning the
number from 1-100 in Chinese.
Moreover, I found a similar result with Mamokgethi Setati & Jill Adler (2000) and
Holobow (1987). Students who are in the CBI classrooms outperformed students in the Non-CBI
classroom on target language achievement.
On the other hand, I also agree with Herbert, Kit-Tai, and Chit-Kwongm (2000). CBI
does not always have positive effects. I noticed that a few students were struggling with using
Chinese on math in the CBI environment. All of these students could not count to 10 in Chinese
in the pretest. In the beginning, they refused to do the Chinese math because they “don’t know
what to do” and lose their patient. Even some of those students like Chinese class, they feel bad
during the CBI class. After I tutored them individually, they became better and better. Without
an appropriate language level, the CBI has negative effects.
Implications
Based on what I found about CBI, I will apply it to my teaching to facilitate and conduct
more real communications in the classrooms. I am very pleased with the results I saw during my
research. Although the language level of most students is still a novice, the connection between
Chinese and math, which is a part of students' daily life, has been built. One boy who was not
interested in Chinese said: “I thought Chinese is boring because I don't speak Chinese at home.
But I like the Chinese math journal, it makes me feel that I can speak Chinese. I showed my mom
how to do it at home.” Most students are excited about the math journal to have a connection
between the Chinese language and their math class, which is a part of their daily life, which is
another achievement of this research. Meanwhile, there are more student-centered activities to
increase the use of the target language with CBI.
At the same time, I have closer relationships with my colleagues: the second grade
classroom teaches. I was new to my building, but they helped me a lot on the math journal and
curriculum. They also share their feelings about the research during lunchtime: students also
have some improvement in their math skills, because they practiced more.
Moreover, in the process of the research, I realized the differences between being a
teacher leader and being a researcher. As a teacher, I always focus on my own lesson planning
and concentrate on teaching. The goal of my work is helping students to be achieved in Chinese
language and culture. However, as a researcher, I have to explore my mind out of teaching the
lesson and expand it in different areas. I relied more on the data from a wider perspective to
support student's achievement. This research helps me to see my job in a new way by jumping
out from my own lessons and thinking in a broader way.
Further Study
During my research, I only have two CBI classrooms as resources. At the same time. The
period of the data collection in one month. I am wondering that if the CBI can be used in more
classrooms in a longer time. The gap in comparing CBI classrooms and non-CBI classrooms
might be larger, and the results can be more significant.
I am also planning to share my final report with my school district because I think it
might help other teachers get some ideas on how and why using CBI to teach a foreign language.
I am thinking about maybe I can have an opportunity to share my feelings with the school district
during the PD days.
Last but not least, I am also considering that CBI is a great choice to connect Chinese
class with other subjects. I would like to talk with the classroom teachers in our district and see is
there any chance I can combine the common core standard of the 4 main subjects into Chinese
class to help students be successful.
Reflections
This inquiry research really gives me a great opportunity to understand what CBI is, how
does it influence students’ learning and how can language teachers teach in a new way. When I
was little, I learned English in a very traditional style, like direct methods and grammar
translation. I remember the feeling of reciting 50 vocabulary one day. Now I became a language
teacher and studied many different language teaching methods. How can I make the language
class more fun within authentic communication?
I will also be more open-minded and adjust my teaching style consistently to better help
students’ learning. I will not stop the same processes as this inquiry project to identify questions
in the classrooms, observe students’ learning, search resources, conduct adjustments of my

teaching methods and continue doing reflections. I wish I could become a more professional
teacher to support my students being successful.
References
Brinton, Snow, & Wesche (1989): Second Language Instruction
Stephen B. Stryker & Berry Lou Leaver (1997): Content-based Instruction: from Theory to
Practice, Washington, D.C. Georgetown University Press
Littlewood. W (1981): Communicative language teaching. Cambridge Cambridge University
Press.
Lyster Roy (2011): Content-based language teaching: Convergent concerns across divergent
contexts, Language teaching research, ISSN:1362-1688, Volume: 15, Issue: 3, Page: 279-288,
DOI: 10.1177/1362168811401150
Mahawattha, M D N M U; Premaratne, Ashoka (2015): Relationship between Development of
Second Language Proficiency and the Content-Based Instructions/Teaching Materials,
International Journal of Arts & Sciences; Cumberland Vol. 8, Iss. 6, (2015): 375-411.
Bejarano, Y., T. Levine, E. Olshtain and J. Steiner (1997): The skilled use of interaction
strategies: creating a framework for improved small-group communicative interaction in the
language classroom.
Mamokgethi Setati & Jill Adler (2000): Between Languages and discourses: Language practices
in primary multilingual mathematics classrooms in South Africa, Educational Studies in
Mathematics, Vol 43, Issue 3, pp 243-269
Liying Cheng, Miao Li, John R. Kirby, Haiyan Qiang &Lesly Wade-Woolley (2010), English
language immersion and students' academic achievement in English, Chinese and mathematics:
Evaluation & Research in Education. Vol 23, Issue 3, Pages 151-169,
Holobow, N., Genesee, F., Lambert, W.E., Gastright, J. and Met, M (1987): Effectiveness of
partial French immersion for children from different social classes and ethnic backgrounds.
Applied Psycholinguistics, Vol 8(2): 137–152.

Marsh, Herbert W; Kit-Tai Hau; Chit-Kwong Kong (2000), Late immersion and language of
instruction in Hong Kong high schools: Achievement growth in language and non-language
subjects: Harvard Educational Review; Cambridge Vol. 70, Iss. 3, 302-346.
Alejandro S. Bernardo & Helen T. Gonzales (2009), Vocabulary Learning Strategies of Filipino
College Students across Five Disciplines: TESOL Journal Vol. 1, pp. 17-27
Appendix A--Interview question to 2 classroom teacher


Creatingrealcommunicationsintheclassroom Shaojun Bai

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Running Head: Real Communications with Using the Content Based Instruction

Creating Real Communications in the Classroom:

with Using the Content Based Instruction

Michigan State University

develop real communication and students’ skills in the language classroom.

Keywords: foreign language, Chinese language, CBI

working on it. Meanwhile, there is no grade or assessment in the curriculum.

in real communications in the school.

Focusing on the issue of limited chances of applying Chinese in real communication

● What strategy or methodology I can use for creating real communication?

communication in the classroom for enhancing students' language proficiency.

Content-based Instruction is a significant approach in language education (Brinton,

Furthermore, the philosophy of content-based instruction aims at empowering students to

(Littlewood. W, 1981). Students are exposed to a considerable amount of language through

interesting content and engaged in interesting activities in a student-centered classroom.

Even though most dissertations of CBI focused mainly on immersion programs. In my

for maximizing integrated learning, it must be language-rich and discourse-rich." My inquiry

developed" (Ashoka Permaratne & Mahawattha MDNMU, 2015). As an elementary teacher,

easier to be combined with Chinese language in my district, because number in Chinese is

largely involved in the curriculum.

mathematics through CBI.

success of applying primary mathematics in language classrooms. "Curriculum and development

secondary classrooms." (Mamokgethi Setati & Jill Adler, 2000)

where the advantage became more apparent."

type introduction to a foreign language” (Holobow, 1987)

through CBI can improve student foreign language skills.

large." (Marsh, Herbert W; Kit-Tai Hau; Chit-Kwong Kong, 2000)

(Alejandro S. Bernardo & Helen T. Gonzales, 2009).

method, content-based instruction, to see the development of students' language proficiency. In

Even though it is implemented more in immersion system, I am still eager to try it in my

Design and Method

assessment paper with checkmarks.

week preparing for the data analyzation.

Sub-question 1: Students’ Keep track of From the

Sub-question 2: Compare the The accuracy Compare From the

Stage 1 10.1-10.18 Pre-test Pre-test: test second grade students on

Stage 2 10.19-11.10 Instruction The main content will be numbers from 1 to

Role and Issues

In the process of doing research, I realized the differences between functioning as a

in a wider perspective to support students and other teachers.

to perform my regular tasks without compromising their importance with my research.

any other personal information.

My original question is “what opportunities or conditions I can create for my students to

but do not have an appropriate time yet.

resources correspond to themes could be found below (table 2).

Table 2: Triangulation of Themes from Data Sources

Data Source Theme #1: Theme #2: Emergent Theme:

number of students at each level.

Table 3: the results of pretest on counting from 1-100 in Chinese.

Table 4: the results of the posttest on counting from 1-100 in Chinese.

target language used in the classrooms.

In the journal of October 22nd:

sentence structures with the one I used to teach and model.

In the journal of October 29th:

am happy to say it in Chinese.”

similar sentence 22nd, 29th and November 4th.

Table 5: the result of Work Sample 1

Students Students Students Students

The results also showed in the bar charts below:

questions. There are 25 math questions on the worksheet.

Table 6: the result of Work Sample 2

Work sample 2: Chinese Math

Students Students Students Students