Language and Education

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Skills Development in 'Sustained' Content-Based

Curricula: Case Studies in Analytical/Critical
Thinking and Academic Writing

Marcia Pally

To cite this article: Marcia Pally (2001) Skills Development in 'Sustained' Content-Based Curricula:
Case Studies in Analytical/Critical Thinking and Academic Writing, Language and Education, 15:4,
279-305, DOI: 10.1080/09500780108666814

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Skills Development in ‘Sustained’
Content-Based Curricula: Case Studies in
Analytical/Critical Thinking and
Academic Writing
Marcia Pally
American Language Institute, New York University, 48 Cooper Square, Rm. 200,
New York NY 10003, USA

After suggesting a framework for the analytical/critical thinking skills needed in

academic/professional work, this article describes a pedagogical approach to guide
ESL/EFL students to those skills and observes its effects in case studies from 1998–99.
The approach, Sustained Content-Based Instruction (CBI), suggests that students learn
analytical/critical thinking skills when they confront actual academic/professional
tasks in which skills are modelled, explained and practised. As these skills include the
synthesis, comparison and challenging of sources as well as learning appropriate
rhetoricalconventions, they are best learned when students study a subject over time in
language classes that simulate university courses. The case studies involve 13 students
from the Americas, Africa, Asia and Europe in eight classes at two four-year institu-
tions. Student work examined includes summaries, papers, research charts and exer-
cises that guide students to questioning texts. The findings here suggest benefits from
sustained CBI. Papers by lower level students who had sustained CBI showed stronger
argumentation than papers by advanced students who had not. The accretion of infor-
mation in sustained CBI helped students question texts and support their challenges.
Students were better able to synthesise sources, categorising information from many
texts which in turn helped them discover their own views, support them, and note
where more research is needed.

Introduction
The needs of ESL/EFL students bound for university/professional work have
come under scrutiny of late as teachers and researchers have remarked on an
insufficiency in skills development in ESL/EFL curricula. Among those skills is
‘argumentation,’ the assembly of ‘a coherent series of statements leading from a
premise to a conclusion’ and ‘the act or process of forming reasons and drawing
conclusions, and applying them to a case in discussion’ (Webster’s, 1989). Argu-
mentation is involved in the range of academic/professional tasks – from lecture
comprehension and research to written and oral presentation. It requires both
analytical and critical thinking. The former includes: (1) grasping the claims or
perspectives of readings and lectures; (2) understanding the methods of proof
used to support those claims/perspectives; and (3) synthesising claims and
support from a range of sources. Critical thinking includes: (4) noting the social,
economic and political contexts of claims and support (Cope & Kalantzis, 1993;
New London Group, 1996; Shor, 1992); (5) questioning or challenging them; (6)
evaluating them (Mohan, 1986; 1990; Vygotsky, 1962; Widdowson, 1990); (7)
using one’s understanding, synthesis, and questions as a basis for formulating

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LANGUAGE AND EDUCATION Vol. 15, No. 4, 2001

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280 Language and Education

ideas of one’s own; (8) presenting (orally and in writing) ideas/positions of one’s
own using appropriate rhetorical conventions (Carson & Leki, 1993; Horowitz,
1986; Johns, 1990; Swales, 1987) – however, those conventions may differ from
argument and rhetoric in one’s L1 (Al-Abed Al-Haq & Ahmed, 1994; Leki &
Carson, 1994).
As argumentation and rhetorical conventions vary among languages,
(sub)cultures and discourse communities, a gap exists between the argu-
ment-strategies used by non-native speaker (NNS) students and those common
among native speakers (NS) (Connor & Kramer, 1995; Leki, 1995; for discussions
in contrastive rhetoric and second language acquisition (SLA) see, Braine, 1996;
Connor, 1996; Fox, 1994; Mauranen, 1993; Moser & Raphan,1993). As many NNS
write and speak in well-developed English, Anglo-American argumentation
and rhetorical conventions are evidently learnable. Yet research in SLA suggests
that students may not be learning them in ESL/EFL classes, thus leaving
students to acquire those skills as best they can on their own. Leki and Carson for
example (1994; 1997) find that ESL classes often ask for personal reaction papers
but do not often require ‘text responsible’ writing where students must show that
they have grasped course content. Research by Chitrapu (1996), Kasper
(1995/1996; 1997; 1998) and Smoke (1998) similarly shows a gap between the
skills taught in ESL programmes and those needed in academic/professional
settings.
In my own practice, I have looked at this gap in light of research in language
socialisation – specifically, how learners are socialised into discourse communi-
ties, including academic/professional discourse communities – and the role of
context (including schema) in language learning. The work of Bakhtin (Cazdan,
1989); Vygotsky, (1962); Lantolf and Appel, (1994) and Krashen (1981b, 1985)
among others suggests that language emerges from context and purpose (instru-
mental and interactive), and that language learning is boosted by specific
contexts: notably, the real-world tasks and social exchanges in which learners
engage. Thus, the gap between the skills ESL/EFL students need and those they
learn may result from curricula that do not provide the context for full develop-
ment of academic/professional English.
‘Sustained’ content-based instruction (CBI) is an approach to language peda-
gogy that aims at providing this context (Pally, 2000b; see also, Fredrickson et al.,
1991; Leki & Carson, 1997). This article will describe sustained CBI and observe
its effects through case studies from 1998–1999. These are not meant as a compar-
ative argument vis à vis other approaches, but rather are representative of student
work and illustrate patterns that have emerged in sustained CBI classes since
1996. Case studies involve 13 students from eight classes at New York University
and Fordham University (both four-year institutions); students are from Central
and South America, Africa, Asia, and Central and Eastern Europe. A diagnostic
of students’ analytical skills is found in assessing their summary writing, which
requires distillation of key claims and support. The effects of sustained CBI on
the nexus of analytical/critical thinking skills are best seen in student essays
where these skills are used synergistically. These case studies compare the essays
of advanced students who had not had sustained content study and lower lever
students who had. The effect of sustained CBI on synthesising sources will be
explored through student Research Charts and academic papers. Effects on
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 281

questioning and challenging sources will be explored through a writing activity

called ‘Question-Outlines’.

Sustained Content-Based Instruction

Definition and description
Sustained CBI argues that a context for learning analytical/critical thinking
skills can be found in language classes which simulate the demands of academic
work and so require students to practise academic skills with ‘scaffolding’
(Vygotsky, 1962) from language teachers. (As sustained CBI is described in detail
elsewhere, this overview will be brief; see Pally 1998, 2000b.) Skills such as the
synthesising/comparing/contrasting of sources, compiling research as support
for papers, etc. cannot be done without the accumulation of concepts and infor-
mation. Thus, sustained CBI distinguishes itself from ‘theme’-based ESL where
topics vary frequently through the semester – the most common form of
content-based instruction (Brinton et al., 1989). Rather, in sustained CBI students
study one discipline for a half or full semester, progressing through various
aspects of a larger topic such that later concepts and information rely on earlier
ones – just as students in content classes do (descriptions of specific sustained
CBI courses, including curricula development, are found in Appendix A; Kasper,
1995/96; Pally, 2000b). Students, like many people, learn something when they
need to. In sustained CBI, students learn skills because they need them for the
immediate job of grasping the content.
Sustained CBI is used in advanced-beginner through advanced levels of
English (Kasper, 1997; Pally, 2000b) and in elementary through tertiary educa-
tion to teach skills that are appropriate to each level and that are ‘transferable’
(Flowerdew, 1993;Widdowson,1993) – that is, that are basic to analytical/critical
thinking and undergird discipline-specific work. For example, the ability to
synthesise and evaluate data, identify cause-and-effect and claim-and-support,
and argue one’s position are required by both business and science and most
other fields (Arani et al., 1998). ‘There are differences as well as similarities across
disciplines . . . .’ Belcher wrote in her analysis of 14 areas of study adding, ‘[T]here
are also generic commonalities in the explicit critical writing in diverse fields’
(Belcher, 1995: 139; see also Bensley and Haynes (1995). Specialised conventions
can be learned in content classes (where NS learn them) once students grasp the
underpinnings of English language argumentation (Cope et al., 1993; Hyon,
1996).

Support for sustained CBI

Support for sustained CBI is found in Krashen’s (1981a) call for ‘narrow read-
ing’ (for its promotion of schema and recycling of vocabulary and forms); and in
research on content-area expertise which suggests that knowing a content area
abets reading and writing (Selinker & Douglas, 1985). Research on EAP curricula
shows that students benefit from learning in their ESL classes the skills specific to
later academic work (Ferris & Tagg, 1996). Kasper (1997; 1998) found that ESL
college students who had studied in sustained content courses had higher pass
rates into mainstream English than students who had not, stayed in college
longer, earned higher grades, and had higher graduation rates (see also,
282 Language and Education

Adler-Kassner & Reynolds, 1996; Bensley & Haynes, 1995; CUNY Language
Forum and CUNY ESL Council, 1992; Wade, 1995). Both text analysis research
(Connor, 1994; Connor & Farmer, 1990) and genre studies (Mustafa, 1995)
suggest that students practise in their language classes the conventions of argu-
mentation found in academic/professional settings – both to use those conven-
tions and to understand the socio-political structures they represent (Cope &
Kalantzis, 1993; Gosden, 1992).

Taxonomy of skills
In the case studies described below, the sustained content curricula are based
on a taxonomy of ‘transferable’ skills set in a progressive sequence so that
students build on earlier skills in order to grasp later ones (the Academic Skills
column of Appendix A). Not all the skills in the taxonomy need be studied in
every sustained CBI course. Both course content and skills may be selected to suit
student needs, level and interest.

Developing content
In ESL/EFL classes where students share a major or degree programme, the
content of sustained study may be related to that discipline. However, where
classes are comprised of students from various disciplines or if students wish to
study a subject outside their majors, content must be chosen that is academically
rigorous and that will engage people with different backgrounds and goals. I
have used two criteria in selecting content: the subject must be part of the ‘core’
curricula common to many colleges or it must be familiar to generally
well-educated people. A course in microbiology would likely not be suitable
whereas ‘Contemporary Issues in Public Health’ might be. Sustained CBI
courses based on the above criteria include: Introduction to Psychology/Sociol-
ogy/Health/Environmental Studies/Business/The History of America, Europe, Asia, etc.
(Pally, 2000a), Gender Studies; Society & Cinema (Pally, 1998); Language Learning:
Contrasting Language & Contrasting Cultures, Issues in Contemporary Medical
Ethics (Abarbanel, 2000, personal communication) and The American Mind:
Assumptions, Myths and Contradictions of American Culture. Curricula (course
readings, assignments) are developed through the language teacher’s research
and/or from existing college courses.

Integrating skills and content: Modelling > Instruction > Practice – a

reading-to-writing cycle
Course content is divided roughly into six units paralleling the six skill
sequences. Each unit is comprised of several readings of authentic materials that
introduce students to new ideas, spark discussion and questions, expand vocab-
ulary, and provide the context for analytical/critical thinking. Each skill is
modelled (Cumming, 1995; Swales & Feak, 1994) using the first reading in a unit
and then explained (Carrell, 1985; Davis et al., 1988). Students practise the skill as
they work through the next readings. When all the skills in a given sequence have
been modelled, explained and practised, students apply these skills to their writ-
ing in a reading-to-writing cycle-based comprehensible input (Krashen, 1985).
That is, students see how an aspect of argumentation appears in authentic mate-
rial before they try it on their own. For instance, after the main idea of an essay is
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 283

modelled, explained and practised, students write main ideas for their papers or
presentations. Thus, students work through progressively more complex units
of content-skill sequences to produce academic/professional work. To illustrate
content-skills integration, a course outline for Introduction to Psychology is
provided in Appendix A.

STUDENT WORK: Understanding Thesis-and-Support; Reflecting

Understanding in Summaries
Whereas English non-fiction frequently relies on a thesis-and-support struc-
ture (be it inductive or deductive), many languages and cultures do not. Thus,
ESL/EFL students may find the taxonomy’s first three sequences challenging,
confusing concept and proof or misidentifying which proofs are appropriate to
support a particular claim. The excerpts below illustrating these difficulties are
taken from an advanced ESL course in which all but one of the students (from
Central and South America, Africa, and Asia) were enrolled in degree
programmes at NYU. That is, regardless of background and preparation for
admission to a major university, these difficulties remained.
Students had read an article on the political aspects of the abortion debate in
the US and the lack of information about it, especially among young women. This
piece, written for the general public, is shorter and less complex than reading
material in degree programmes, and students reported no difficulty in under-
standing it. When given the opportunity to ask questions, they had very few,
although they regularly felt comfortable asking questions about more difficult
texts. The article may be summarised as follows:
Lewin describes the lack of information about the political aspects of the
abortion debate and notes that many women getting abortions consider the
legal and political fights remote. They lack basic information, including the
consequences of making abortion illegal, the impediments to getting an
abortion facing young and rural women today, and the possibility that the
procedure could again be outlawed. Many fail to note contradictions in
their views, such as believing abortion is too-readily available while avail-
ing themselves of it or calling themselves ‘pro-life’ even as they obtain abor-
tions themselves.
Of the students in the course, 60% failed to identify the main idea, as illustrated
below (surface errors retained in all student excerpts):
(1) Lewin talks about how women have abortions and they ignore the
constitutional right ‘Roe vs. Wade’.
(2) Lewin describes that K.J., a slight blond freshman who has not told
her parents that she is 12 weeks pregnant, Roe v. Wade is ancient history,
the lone demonstrator outside the planned Parenthood clinic here in Hous-
ton a minor irritant and the blistering debate of ‘partial birth abortion’.
In the first case, the student approximates the topic (abortion) but misses the
author’s viewpoint, instead combining the topic and the example of Roe v. Wade,
with which the author illustrated women’s lack of information. In the second
case, the student confuses provocative details from the article’s introduction
284 Language and Education

with the author’s main idea. In addition to misidentified main ideas, 30% of
students imposed their own views on the author:
(3) Lewin writes that abortion was often used too casually and discusses
people’s ambivalent attitude, ‘pro-choice’ and ‘anti-choice’ towards abor-
tion.
(4) Lewin describes their opinions about abortion and the reasons that
lead them to get an abortion the most of the cases ‘is used too casually’ in a
large mass of public.
Also confusing his opinion with the author’s, this student wrote a conclusion that
does not exist in the text:
(5) Now, whether is legal ir illegal, moral or immoral abortion shouldn’t
be accepted.
Of the 40% of students who correctly identified the main idea, 75% could not
identify the author’s central supports, merging them with background informa-
tion or examples, as illustrated in the summary below:
(6) According to Lewin, since the Supreme Court made abortion a consti-
tutional right, the continuing political debate is oddly distant from their
lives. More and more people considered themselves ‘pro-life’ instead of
‘pro-choice’. Especially over the past two decades, there were many young
women under 30 getting abortions. Lewin also mentioned ‘Roe v. Wade’
which was used by anti-abortion groups to call partial-birth. However,
there were few people ever hearing of it; most of them had never heard of
‘Roe. V. Wade’. Besides, he said about the idea of abortion being used as
birth control. Then he took many examples to present women’s opinions
about abortion. But, what interesting was while some parts of the country
where abortion requires some limits and parental notification, women in
big cities had always known where to get an abortion. Though there were
so many different voices about abortion, the most important this is using
some ways of contraception.
Summary discussion
The confusions above were common in all the intermediate-advanced ESL
classes observed in this study. As students had little difficulty with the vocabu-
lary or forms in the text, these confusions suggest that lexical/syntactical
command of English, while necessary, is not sufficient to grasp argumentation. If
students cannot grasp the claims and proofs of readings, they cannot synthesise
sources, question or evaluate them, or perform other analytical and critical think-
ing skills.

Understanding, synthesising and contextualising texts to develop and

present ideas of one’s own
The section below investigates student ability to understand and synthesise
sources, note political/economic/social contexts, develop a position of their
own and present it using appropriate rhetorical conventions. As these skills
work synergistically in academic/professional work, they were examined
together by looking at the essays of six pairs of students, one of whom was a
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 285

lower-level student who’d had sustained CBI, the other an advanced student
who had not. The lower level students showed clearer grasp and synthesis of
sources, stronger political/economic/social contextualisation of material, and
more academically persuasive argumentation. To illustrate this emerging
pattern, one pair of essays is compared below, allowing readers to see the full
development of student argumentation (rather than out-of-context excerpts).
Both the advanced student and the student two levels below her were under-
graduates at Fordham University; both papers (on the purpose of story telling)
were the first assignments of the semester. ESL levels are assigned according to
reading, grammar and writing test scores and an oral interview, assessed by the
department chair and two other faculty for inter-rater reliability. The author did
not participate in levelling. Essay by the advanced student:

Since the beginning of history, people have always told stories to each
other. In old times, people were gathering at fireplaces to listen to old men
or women telling either the story of their lives or the history of the village.
Everyone was enjoying those moments. They were bringing happiness to
people’s lives and were a source of hope. Stories had a lot of mystery, magic
and beauty. Those are things that people love and enjoy listening to.
Stories are about good and evil that always fight a battle. There are bad
characters and good ones. Most stories end with the good winning. Those
kinds of stories include morals that the good always wins, and that is why it
pays to be good and fight in the name of all small and unwanted creatures.
Stories include part of history. Before books were written, people had to
find some sources how to pass their knowledge and experience to future
generations. Telling stories was one of the solutions. Some fantasy elements
were added as time was passing but still an idea of truth was immortal.
Thankful to those history stories, people had the discovery of new conti-
nents because they wanted to have their own story to tell. Those stories
were seeds that grow in people and were pushing them to have their own
adventures.
A different meaning of stories is to show people a different life, unknown
to them. Books and plays show how different social classes are living and
what kind of problems and happiness they have. Sometimes movies and
plays can give people ideas about how real life looks like. Every day strug-
gles can raise compassion and the need to help and understand their neigh-
bors. Romances can show how beautiful life can be and give people a goal
that they might try to reach.
All those stories about heroes’ true love and the good always winning
can be heard millions of times but it is what people love to hear. People need
hope, and stories are giving them it. Stories are like religion books which
people open with respect and need, in order to hear good words or advice.

Essay by the lower-level student:

A story telling has a positive influence on each individual and country. It

offers unique development factors, which no other academic subjects such
as math, science and social studies can offer. It also educates for a tremen-
dous personal and country’s enrichment. The three important purposes of
286 Language and Education

story telling that I find is: to offer new perceptions about human beings and
the world around us, to provide diversion for an ordinary people and to
give the chance to learn a language.
The creative process can be carried on only when people are deeply
engrossed in their imagination. Compared with general areas such as math
and science, which are passive activities, in story telling, people can be in a
position to direct their feelings and harvest ideas from them. The story tell-
ing has the same function as art such as a theater, movie, and drawing a
picture. In ‘Early Adolescence Art Education’, Carl Reed says, ‘each
artwork is a personal journey of promises and possibility’. Through imag-
ining the unreal events or characters in story, people establish and realize
themselves and their world (Essay 1, page 16, 17).
Story telling provides people for new perceptions around the world. In
Japan, western story such as [Hans Christian] Anderson is popular among
children. Most of all know the story of ‘Hazel & Gratel’ in the Anderson.
They enjoy the story and at the same time they will be interested in western
culture. They try to compare it with their own culture and find out what
they story makes them understand. This process leads people to explore
themselves and their world. It is the time for each individual to understand
that story telling is one form of global studies to provide people new
insights and stimulate their lives and world.
The second purpose of story telling is to entertain people. It helps them to
forget about their worries and difficulties in their real life and gives them
happiness and comforts. When they listen to a story, they will transform
their emotional worries into the story they are listening and create their
owns fantastic space where they feel comfortable with (Essay 3, page 29). A
Japanese fairy tale, ‘Momotaro’ which is popular among children is a good
example. The story is about a fine strong hero, Momotaro in a small town
defeats a cruel demon that tries to destroy the town. In this story the audi-
ences imagine they are a strong men like Momotaro. They understand that
a hero always defeats a devil at the end, and they will have a satisfaction in
their reality. Moreover, they will have a confidence in themselves and their
lives as well as they enjoy story telling. They may think like this way:
Momotaro with courage defeated a devil and became hero, so that they can
succeed in their reality if they work hard for their present conflicts in their
reality like Momotaro does. The story which has the function of entertain-
ing people also help people to release their stress and gives them a comfort-
able space in the world of their owns. Story telling which is one of the
recreations in human life such as traveling, movie and theater lead people
to compare the reality and entertain ordinary people who are facing with
life difficulties in the business and personal life.
The third purpose of story telling is to teach people who are especially,
children, their own languages. Some books about a child rearing explore
that children learn their own language by listening to their mothers’ talk.
This shows that it is easy and fast for children to learn how to speak
language by hearings. The child rearing in Japan has an intimate relation-
ship to story telling. Most of children are brought up by their mother’s story
telling such as the story about a hero and devil or an imaginary animal. At
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 287

this stage they learn how to speak language, moreover, how to pronounce
and read words.
In this way, story telling is indeed useful to real life. The story telling is
significant for each individual in harvesting new perception about human-
ity and life’s universal myth, in entertaining their lives, and, in learning
their own language quickly. In order to stimulate story telling, what the
society around us need is to hand down a legend, fairy tale and mythology
from generation to generation. If each society, school, family and individ-
ual opens his or her eyes to story telling, people have better understanding
to themselves, their country and world around them. Even if a computer
will dominate the world more and more for a next few centuries, I hope
each individual will remember three main benefits from story telling and
keep living with story telling forever.

Apart from the misuse of the present

continuous tense, the essay by the The essay by the lower-level student
advanced student contains: contains:
23 sentences; 34 sentences;
subordination = 12 (50% of sentences); subordination = 21 (61%);
participial phrase = 1; participial phrase = 1;
three or more clauses = 5 (22%). three or more clauses = 11 (32%).
Errors: Errors:
articles = 0; articles = 7;
agreement = 0; agreement = 2;
plurals = 0; plurals = 11;
run-ons =0; run-ons = 3;
prepositions = 0; prepositions = 5;
spelling = 0; spelling = 1;
fragments =0; fragments = 1;
tense = 0; tense = 2;
punctuation = 0; punctuation = 6;
word usage =2; word usage = 11;
incorrect or absent object = 0. incorrect or absent object = 3.

In sum, the essay by the higher level student has fewer surface errors and is
more idiomatic than the lower level student’s (‘it pays to’, ‘in the name of’) but it
is less developed in ideas, structure and complex sentence forms.

Discussion of the advanced level paper

This paper does not yet reflect the analytical/critical thinking sufficient for
academic/professional work. First, looking at the understanding and synthesising
of sources, one would not know from the paper that the student had read several
essays on the purpose of story telling. The key ideas of the readings are: (1) the
unresolved issues of a society (fears, hopes, conflicts, etc.) are reflected in its
fiction; (2) thus, by examining fiction, one can learn about life in various societies
and about differences among them; (3) audiences, by slipping into fictive worlds,
experience unresolved issues and ‘play out’ possible responses to them – all in
the safety of their seats; and (4) confronting fears and conflicts in a safe imagina-
288 Language and Education

tive arena is a psychological benefit of reading/viewing fiction. Yet, although the

advanced student comments that ‘books and plays show how different social
classes are living and what kind of problems and happiness they have’, she does
not demonstrate that she has grasped the psycho-social arguments of the read-
ings or synthesised them.
Regarding setting texts in their political/economic/social contexts, this essay –
including the sentence about social classes – does not reflect the idea that societ-
ies (and sub-societies) have different fears and desires, and that their cultures
will both develop and be limited by them. From her essay, it is not clear whether
the student failed to grasp this idea from the readings and discussions or whether
she grasped it but didn’t apply it to the assignment.
Looking at the ability to put forth a position using appropriate rhetorical conven-
tions, one finds neither argument nor support sufficiently developed. The intro-
duction contains what might be a main idea, ‘Stories had a lot of mystery, magic
and beauty. Those are things that people love and enjoy to listen to.’ But the
student doesn’t develop the ideas of mystery, magic and beauty, and structures
the rest of the essay as a list of characteristics that stories might have: ‘stories are
about good and evil’, ‘stories include part of history’, and ‘stories show people
lives unknown to them’. This structure is characteristic of essays by students in
these case studies who have not had sustained CBI, even those of advanced
students whose papers are typically lists of their own views or lists of summaries
of readings that are not applied to argument-and-support. Within this student’s
list-structure, the items in it are inadequately supported. As Anglo-American
English seeks more, and more concrete, proofs than do many languages,
students must often make an adjustment in their approach to writing in order to
provide specific examples, quotations, data, etc. Here, no specific examples of
fiction or of the readings are used. Finally, the conclusion is adequate in that it
restates what has come before but it introduces no question or further line of
thinking for the reader to pursue.
In discussing her academic needs with me, this student reported good experi-
ence writing in her L1 and several years of EFL and ESL training. Yet, she’d never
been asked to write academic papers in English or been shown ways to do so, and
thus felt ‘overwhelmed’ by her content classes. In my class, as in others, she
produced a paper below her intellectual level because she was not sure how to
analyze and synthesise what she read nor what was required of her writing.
While her predicament does not suggest that academic/professional skills
develop only in courses of sustained study, it does suggest that these skills do not
develop automatically in language classes, and perhaps that they are more likely
learned in courses that simulate academic requirements. It also suggests that
ESL/EFL students will be less frustrated by their academic classes and benefit
more from them if they have a chance to practise academic skills before they
enroll in degree programmes.

Discussion of the lower level paper

Assessing the same analytical/critical thinking skills in the lower level essay,
one finds better grasp and use of the readings, and better organisation and
support in the writing. Reflecting her understanding and synthesising sources, this
student synthesises three readings in the course of a two-page paper, not as a list
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 289

but in support of her own claims. She shows that she has grasped the psychological
argument of the readings when she writes, ‘Through imagining the unreal events
or characters in story, people establish and realize themselves and their world’,
and ‘when they listen to story, they will transform their emotional worries into the
story they are listening and create their owns fantastic space where they feel
comfortable’. And finally in the Momotaro example: ‘audiences imagine they are a
strong men like Momotaro . . .. They may think like this way: Momotaro with cour-
age defeated a devil and became hero, so that they can succeed in their reality if
they work hard for their present conflicts in their reality like Momotaro.’
Regarding the setting of texts in their political/economic/social contexts, this
student does not yet identify the specific cultural bounds of the readings (e.g.
cultural relativism) but she does grasp the principle of politi-
cal/economic/social bounds when she writes, ‘They try to compare it with their
own culture and find out what the story makes them understand. This process
leads people to explore themselves and their world.’ She shows that she has a
conceptual foundation for contextualising readings and, again, that she grasped
the cultural-psychological arguments of what she read.
Reflecting her ability to develop a position of one’s own and present it using appro-
priate rhetorical conventions, the student has a clear main idea and structure, and
appropriate support. After a brief introduction, the main idea is clearly stated:
‘The three important purpose of story telling that I find is to offer new percep-
tions about human beings and the world around us, to provide diversion for an
ordinary people and to give the chance to learn a language.’ Each of her three
points is developed separately, indicating that she has learned both to distin-
guish between separate concepts and to group like examples together with the
point they support. Exemplification follows English evidentiary conventions
(research data, quotations from authoritative sources, specific case studies, etc.)
if not accepted rules of citation. The first point is supported by a quote from Carl
Reed, a reference to Essay 2, and the example about Japanese children reading
Hansel and Gretel; her second point, by a reference to Essay 3 and the example of
the Japanese fairy tale ‘Momotaro’; the third (and least developed point) by a
discussion of the links among story telling, ‘mother talk’ and child language
learning. The transitions between these points are clear if not elegant but she is in
a position to refine transitional conventions. Her conclusion both summarises
her argument and opens up two new lines of thinking, a suggestion about
preserving story telling and about the effects of computers on stories. Finally,
this paper contains both more writing and more complex forms than that of the
higher level student: 34 sentences compared with 23; 61% of sentences include
subordination compared with 50%; 32% of sentences contain three or more
clauses compared with 22%.

Summary discussion
The backgrounds of these students might have predicted opposite results.
Both received strong L1 educations through high school in their home countries,
Europe for the advanced student and Asia for the lower level student. Though
the argument and rhetorical conventions of both L1s differ from those of
academic/professional English, the European conventions differ less. One
might expect the advanced student to more closely approximate an English essay
290 Language and Education

(even without instruction) because she had less of a gap to close. Moreover, as
with all the lower level students in this six-pair investigation, the levelling exam
of this lower level student showed that she was not familiar with Anglo-Ameri-
can analytical/critical thinking when she entered the ESL programme. Yet, in
this essay, she produced better argumentation than a higher level student, over-
coming both the impediments of less competence in English and greater differ-
ences between L1 and L2. One possible contribution to the improvement of these
lower level students was their sustained CBI classes in previous semesters. In
sum, though they began with lower-level skills, their experiences since the level-
ling exam allowed them to perform better at analytical/critical thinking than
advanced students. This paper suggests that among those helpful experiences
was sustained CBI.

Questioning and challenging sources

In interviews (Pally, 2000a), students report significant difficulty challenging
readings or lectures because: (1) ‘it’s hard’; (2) it is intimidating to challenge
‘authority’; (3) it is ‘not permitted’ or ‘dangerous’; and (4) students feel they lack
the content expertise to do so. Yet, questioning and challenging texts is a skill
necessary for academic/professional work in English. The hypothesis of
sustained CBI is that, because students accrue knowledge in a discipline, they
both acquire the background from which they can question texts and gain more
confidence in doing so. Put another way, if students do not read extensively in
one area, they face the unreasonable demand of having sufficient knowledge of a
subject to challenge experts even before reading up on the topic.
The Question-Outline (sequence 4 of the skills taxonomy) uses the
model>instruction> practice framework to help students identify questions and
express them with appropriate rhetorical conventions. Students mark any area
of a text that doesn’t ‘feel right’ and discuss their markings in groups and as a
class. They then work with the Question-Outline worksheet which guides
students towards organising their objections along the following lines:
· an overview statement of why a claim does not hold (it lacks
evidence/ignores issues, is incomplete, etc.);
· a description of the claim and its key supports;
· a reason why each (or most) of the supports is inadequate;
– each reason backed up by evidence from readings/lectures/experience;
· any additional reasons that question/challenge the problematic view
– each reason backed up by evidence from readings/lectures/experience.
Each student first works with a partner who disagrees with him/her, taking
notes on the ‘other side’. Then each student works with a partner who shares
his/her views, together creating the strongest rebuttal. Once they are familiar
with this sort of argument, students are asked to identify it in readings and
finally to incorporate it into their writing.
Below is a Question-Outline from an intermediate ESL class where the
sustained content was Gender Studies, the unit, Childcare. (Appendix B contains a
Question-Outline from an advanced class; the content was The American Mind,
the unit, Immigration).
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 291

Main Idea: Men also should take care of children 50% when both men
mother work.
I (opponent) Men should not required to take care of children as much as
mother
1. Since men have more responsible in companies than women, they
can’t move freely. It’s not easy for men:
a. to leave their office earlier and pick their children up
b. to take a day off for nursing their children who catch a cold
2. Traditional thoughts are existing.
a. stay-at-home moms
b. the man is the achiever outside the home and the woman takes
care of the home and the families
3. Women are better at bringing up their children because
a. they spend more time than men from they are pregnant
b. of motherhood
c. they learn from their mother
II. Men should take care of children 50% when the mother works
1. Men having children have responsibility as father before as busi-
nessmen because having children is both men and women choice: not
only men’s, not only women’s. (If men can’t take care of children and
depend on women completely the mane are just selfish and they
shouldn’t have had their children.) So it’s quite natural that fathers:
a. pick up their children
b. nurse their children
2. Traditional thoughts are being broken
a. a survey question: ‘Do you agree or disagree that it is much
better for everyone involved if the man is the achiever outside the
home and the woman takes care of the home and the families?’ In
1977, 66% of adults agreed. In 1996, 38% of adults agreed (‘By the
Numbers’ by Andrew Cherlin).
3. The percentage of married women who work outside the home has
increased significantly.
a. In 1996, of all married women with school age children were
employed or looking for work.
b. The figure was 63% for those with pre-school age children –
five times what it was in 1950.
4. It’s good for children to be up brought by both a father and a mother.
a. children can catch a glimpse of the adult society at least more
the only men or only women take care of them
b. children can get ability to think, since they would listen to both
mothers’ and fathers’ opinion and they have to think about it by
theirselves

Conclusion: It’s an ideal that a man and a woman discuss the percentage
and agree with it each other, even though it’s not 50%–50%. Men have to
accept the recent situation and change their mind for the sake of men’s and
women’s equality.
292 Language and Education

In this Question-Outline, the student begins with a statement of her position,

based on her experience, the readings, lectures and discussions. She then
describes the key points of the position she wants to question: men have more
responsibilities at work and thus cannot easily care for children; it is not tradi-
tional for men to care for children; and women are better at childcare. Finally, she
rebuts each point, and while her first point would be better supported with
examples of how men can care for children (bottle-feeding, flexitime, etc.), her
second and third points firmly challenge the ‘tradition’ argument with two
sources of data. Her last rebuttal rather inventively suggests that children gain a
more realistic view of life when they have regular contact with both men and
women, and that children learn to think critically as they deal with the differing
views of two parents. She may now recast the outline as prose and include her
challenge in a paper or oral presentation.

Summary discussion
At the beginning of the sustained study class on Gender Studies and The Ameri-
can Mind, students had either vague opinions or opinions they could not back up.
Frequent comments included: ‘I don’t know about that’; ‘I never thought
about/read about that’; ‘It’s ‘natural’ that women to stay at home’; ‘I don’t know
about American economy/about how immigrants influence America’, etc.
Moreover, like the students interviewed in earlier research, students here
reported being unfamiliar with questioning texts, even unable or unwilling to do
so. The outline above and in Appendix B suggest that reading a range of texts and
working with the Question-Outline helped students to note points they disagree
with, discover their views, and gather the wherewithal to back them up. While
there is no a priori reason why students cannot question texts after reading only
one, they may find it easier after studying a variety of sources that provide a
range of concepts and information.

Synthesising sources
In the section above on questioning/challenging texts, students support their
positions by drawing on a number of readings – that is, by synthesising sources.
They must identify materials across texts that support their views, categorise
them together, and distinguish them from material that supports other or oppos-
ing claims. Thus, reading a range of material is a first step; students must also
organise it. Without such categorising, they are apt to present lists of summaries
in their essays or presentations, rather than claim-and-support argumentation.
Yet, ESL/EFL students even at the advanced level typically report being
confused about what’s considered ‘like’ and ‘different’ information in English
writing; about methods to categorise information; and about how such catego-
ries might contribute to their academic work. In class and interviews, students in
these case studies report that they ‘just highlight the important facts’ and, when
they have to prepare a paper or oral presentation, ‘have to read again all articles
to find important ideas, good facts’. The dearth of note-taking and synthesising
skills hobbles development of argumentation and increases student workload.
The Research Chart (sequence 3 of the skills taxonomy) helps students organ-
ise their readings, first by having them identify sub-topics as they read and listen
to lectures and then by having them create a chart with a box for each sub-topic
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 293

and record the source of important information (author’s name, page) in each
box. Students work on their charts alone, in groups and as a class; as they
continue reading, they identify more sub-topics so that the chart continues to
develop. For instance, in the Work unit of the Gender Studies course, intermediate
students identified as sub-topics: salary, promotion, number of female employ-
ees in a workplace, job conditions, and discrimination in the company and in
society (see Appendix C). As a single article may include material on several
sub-topics, students must correctly categorise each item and place it in the appro-
priate boxes in their charts so that the material on housework is in one box, mate-
rial on salaries in another, and so on. When they prepare papers or presentations,
the categories of the chart first suggest a basic structure. For instance, if one is
writing a paper on gender roles, one can identify areas of change in the last 30
years by looking at the boxes, and so organise one’s paper to investigate each
area. The chart also provides a handy way to retrieve data in support of one’s
claims.
The outline below for a research paper on Society & Cinema demonstrates how
students incorporate research charts into papers and presentations. In this paper,
the student analyzes the conflicts in the film The Untouchables and shows how
they reflect parallel issues in American life.
Main Idea: The unresolved issues in The Untouchables are: following the law
or doing thing our own way, using violence in society, and using corrup-
tion. The film makes the following propositions about them: people should
do thing their own way because people shouldn’t follow the law in some
cases, people should prevent violence in the society, and people should
advocate incorruption.
[in Section I of her outline, the student explains each unresolved issue and
shows how it appears in the film using examples from various scenes; in
Section II, she explains each proposition and, again, uses examples to
show how it appears in the film; Section III is excerpted below]
III. These unresolved issues and propositions reflects unresolved issues in
American life.
1. Unresolved issues in films reflect those of the society in which the
film was created
a. quote from Ch. 2: ‘Opposing propositions in a film often reveal
an unresolved issue of the society in which the film was made’
b. quote from ‘Shaking Up the World’: ‘Films . . . are much more
likely to reflect their culture than transform it.’
c. example about police violence in the film and in society: the
film Mercury Rising and New York Times article about Amadou
Diallo: ‘Four plainclothes police officer fired 41 bullets at
Amadou Diallo, 22, as he stood in the vestibule of his apartment
house in the Bronx on Feb.4. Many have questioned why so many
shots were fired.’
2. The first unresolved issue reflects the conflict in American life
between following the law and doing thing our own way.
a. KKK always do thing their own way without following the law
(Wilentz quote)
294 Language and Education

3. The second unresolved issue reflects the conflict in American life

between effective violence but wanting peaceful
a. quote from ‘Bombs Bursting in Air, Still’ ‘Our [American]
history is filled with acts of public terror and mayhem’
b. quote from ‘Bombs Bursting in Air, Still’ ‘American political
life has seethed with violent passions’
c. example: Diallo tragedy
4. The third unresolved issue reflect the conflict in American life
between effective corruption but wanting incorruption
a. example: ‘Report Details Lavish Spending in Salt Lake’s Bid to
Win Games’ (New York Times, 10 Feb 1999)
b. example: ‘44 City Police Officer Held on Corruption Charges’
(New York Times, 24 Nov 1998)
In Section III, the student relies on support from one book (assigned in class), one
film other than The Untouchables (not assigned), three readings from the course
curricula and three additional articles that she researched on her own. As she
read the class assignments, she developed two research charts, one with unre-
solved issues in American life and one with unresolved issues in The
Untouchables. Comparing these charts helped her decide which real-world issues
were best reflected in the film and thus which to focus on in her paper. The infor-
mation in each box provided support materials for her claims and also showed
her visually (a relatively empty box) which subtopics required additional
research. In this way, the research chart guides students away from ‘stringing’
articles together and towards synthesising materials in a claim-and-support
structure appropriate for academic/professional work.

Conclusion
The 13 case studies above illustrate patterns in student work that have
emerged in sustained CBI classes since 1996. The excerpts are representative and
were selected to show both the challenges of analytical/critical thinking and
some ways of tackling them. The summaries reflect difficulties in analyzing texts
(grasping main ideas and support). Research Charts, Question-Outlines and
student papers show, respectively, how students synthesise sources, question
them, and develop argumentation using appropriate claim-and-support and
rhetorical conventions.
Papers by lower level students who had sustained CBI showed stronger argu-
mentation than papers by advanced students who had not, suggesting an emerg-
ing pattern of benefits from sustained CBI. One such pair of papers from 1999 is
examined in detail. As both advanced and lower-level students had strong
secondary school educations in their home countries and good experiences writ-
ing in their L1s, quality of L1 training cannot in theses cases account for differ-
ences in English. In the case study detailed here, the lower-level student more
sharply analyzed readings, incorporated them into her paper, synthesised
sources, noted political/social/economic contexts, developed a clear
claim-and-support structure for a paper, and provided appropriate exemplifica-
tion. Interestingly, the paper by the lower level student also showed more
instances of complex forms, a finding that may be pursued in future research.
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 295

Excerpts from student Question-Outlines suggest that the accretion of infor-

mation inherent in sustained CBI helps students note points they disagree with,
challenge them and support their challenges. Additionally, students synthesised
information more effectively after sustained CBI, appropriately categorising
information which in turn helped them discover their own views, support them
in writing, and note where they need to do more research.
While sustained study may not be the only way to teach or learn analyti-
cal/critical thinking skills, it is difficult to see how one might acquire them with-
out studying a discipline over time. Synthesising sources leaves no alternative.
Developing a position of one’s own is considerably eased by reading extensively
on a subject, as the differing opinions add to one’s own experience and to the base
of information from which one can distill a claim. Supporting that claim is based
on synthesising sources and thus relies on sustained study. Questioning texts is
abetted by reading extensively in an area – again, as it adds to one’s own views and
to the base of information from which one may raise a question and support it.
Unlike these synthetic skills, grasping the argument of a single reading can be
practised without sustained study. In fact, rotating topics may be useful as an
exercise requiring students to find the line of argumentation as subject matter,
vocabulary, rhetorical conventions, and forms change. Yet, understanding a
reading is a limited part of the academic/professional project. When students
must use their understanding to take a position on a subject and support it,
sustained study is implied.
One of the arguments in support of sustained CBI is that studying a discipline
over time is how NS students learn analytical/critical thinking skills – that is,
they learn skills as they go through their content classes, in order to learn the
content. This is true of professional training in ESL/EFL as well, including this
work on sustained CBI. I could not have arrived at my hypothesis regarding
sustained study without reading on content-based ESL/EFL, on the skills
needed in EAP, on ways to scaffold students towards those skills, and by noting
the sorts of analysis and critical thinking I was doing while reading.
At base, the argument for sustained study is to give students instruction and
practice in the skills that anyone reading this article likely has. It is an argument
for demystifying analysis/critical thinking by explicit instruction and model-
ling, and to democratise it by giving students that same sorts of practice from
which we have benefited.

Appendix A

Course outline in Introduction to Psychology

Content: Academic Skills:

Chapter 1: Consciousness reading:
reading #1,2 * find the main idea of each paragraph
* find and chart key terms
readings #3,4,5 * find and chart rhetorical conventions (strategies of
definition, comparison, contrast, exemplification, etc.)
* developing private dictionaries
* find the main idea of an article or chapter
296 Language and Education
* identify kinds of main ideas (describe, persuade, etc.)
writing:
* answering definition questions (exam taking)
* brainstorming
* writing a main idea for your paper
– introduction to types of main ideas/papers
* writing assignments on Consciousness
Chapter 2: Thought and
language reading:
reading #1,2 * find the introduction, middle and conclusion of a
reading
reading #3,4 * find main & supporting points of the ‘middle’ of a
reading
* find evidence of the ‘middle’ (examples, data, etc.)
reading #5,6 * find and chart transition sentences
* develop an outline of a reading
– outlines, note-taking
writing:
* answering short answer questions (exam taking)
* developing an outline for your paper/essay
* writing assignments (for papers or essay exam
writing)
– definition/description essay: brainstorm, main
idea, outline (claim and support)
– argument essay: brainstorm, main idea, and outline
(claim and support)
Chapter 3: Motivation
and Emotion reading:
all readings * develop your research chart
reading #1,2 * variations on the classic outline:
reading #3,4,5 – different sequences for main points, supporting
points and evidence (inductive, deductive, etc.)
– implied points
writing:
* answering application questions (exam taking)
* summary writing: using your outline to write a summary
* paraphrasing
* writing assignments
– summary writing and paraphrasing
– argument essay: brainstorm, main idea, and outline
(claim & support)
– persuasive essay: brainstorm, main idea, outline
(claim and support)
* citations and bibliographies
Chapter 4: Human
Development reading:
reading #1,2 * note when readings/sources disagree
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 297

readings# 3,4 * identify rhetorical conventions that show disagreement

all readings * note when you disagree with a reading
* challenging/questioning a reading (the question-outline)
writing:
* practice definition, short answer and application questions
* writing assignments (papers and essay exams)
– compare/contrast essay: brainstorm, main idea,
outline
– synthesizing texts (research chart) and
summarizing contrasting texts
Chapter 5: Personality reading:
all readings * questioning readings & ‘refute opposing opinion’
strategies
writing:
* practice definition, short answer and application
questions
* writing assignments
– ‘refute opposing opinion’ strategies: brainstorm,
main idea and outline
* peer editing and revision
– using the question-outline with a partner’s paper
Chapter 6: Social Consolidation of Skills:
Psychology
all readings Reading:
* key terms
* outlining, note-taking
* questioning/challenging readings
Writing:
Exam Questions:
* definition
* short answer
* application
Assignments for research papers or essay exams:
* brainstorm
* main idea
* outline (claim & support)
* summary/paraphrasing
* synthesizing readings (research chart)
* compare/contrast strategies
* refute opposing opinion strategies
* peer editing and revision
Glossary
298 Language and Education

Appendix B
Advanced level question outline
The sustained content for this Question-Outline is The American Mind course;
the unit for which this Question-Outline was written is Immigration. Here, the
student takes issue with an article claiming that immigration has positive effects
on the American economy.
Main Idea: I believe that Mr. Chan’s views on immigration ignore the
following issues: the affect of low-skilled and poor immigrants on America.
I. Chan writes that immigration does not reduce job opportunities of Amer-
icans, increase the number of high school dropout or increase the costs of
services to immigrants.
1. Chan suggests that those wealthy immigrants who immigrate into
America can create more job opportunities for Americans.
2. He claims that some immigrant groups’ children, who study in
American high schools, have a greater high school graduation rate
than Americans.
3. He writes that wealthy immigrants do not use social services; there-
fore, the costs of services to immigrants should not increase.
II. However, Chan does not consider the effect of poor, struggling and
low-skilled immigrants.
1. Even though the wealthy immigrants who immigrate unto Ameri-
can can create more job opportunities for Americans, the poor and
struggling immigrants compete the job opportunities from the
low-skilled Americans.
a. The United States admits 800,000 to 900,000 mostly poor people
into the US every year (‘The Costs of Immigration’, 1996)
b. In 1996, while there were nearly 7½ million unemployed Amer-
ican workers, the U.S. admitted over 900,000 immigrants (‘Immi-
grations Lowers Wages for American Workers, 1998’)
c. 23% of Americans are employed in the low-skilled occupations
(about 25 million workers). If there is a 1% increase in the immi-
grant composition of their occupations, there is a 0.8% reduce in
wages. Since these occupations have 15% immigrants, the article
suggests that immigrations may reduce the wages of the average
American in a low-skilled occupation by perhaps $1,915 a year
(‘The Wages of Immigration: The Effect on the Low-Skilled Labor
Market,’ 1998)
2. I agree with Can that some immigrant group’s children, who study
in American high school, have a greater high school graduation
percent than American children. But most of the immigrant groups’
children have a lower high school graduation rate. Specifically, the
greatest immigrant group – Mexican – has the lowest high school
graduation rate.
a. Mexican immigrants have the lowest percent of high school
graduation – 21.3% – while Americans have a 66.5% high school
graduation rate (‘Immigration Assimilation Quotient, 1997’)
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 299

b. immigrant high school drop out rate is 123% higher than the
native-born Americans (‘Immigration Assimilation Quotient,
1997’)
3. Chan claims that wealthy immigrants do not need many social
services; however, he ignores the costs to the states of struggling
immigrants.
a. The United States admits 800,000 to 900,000 mostly poor people
into the US every year (‘The Costs of Immigration,’ 1996)
b. immigrants use Medicaid is 175% higher than native-born
Americans
c. immigrants use food stamps is 98% higher than the native-born
Americans
d. immigrants use SSI is 39% higher than the native-born Ameri-
cans
e. immigrants use AFDC is 33% higher than the native-born
Americans
f. immigrants use cash welfare is also 29% higher than the
native-born Americans (‘Immigration Assimilation Quotient,
1997’)
Conclusion: In sum, I am skeptical of Chan’s conclusion unless he can
explain that there is not negative effects from the poor immigrants.
The student begins with a statement of her position based on experience, reading
and discussion. She then describes the views of the author she wishes to chal-
lenge and addresses each one of his claims with counterclaims supported by data
from four research articles. By rewriting the outline in paragraph form, the
student incorporated this challenge into a paper on immigration which asked
students to describe the advantages and disadvantages of current policies and
suggest changes in immigration law.
300 Language and Education

Appendix C
Research Chart from Gender Studies
Sustained Content-Based Instruction 301
302 Language and Education

Correspondence
Any correspondence should be directed to Dr Marcia Pally, 308 West 103 St.
#5D, New York, NY 10025, USA (mp28@is.nyu.edu).

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