On Effectiveness Of CBI In Improving Maritime Major Students’ English Proficiency And Learning Motivation

In the1980s, Content-Based Instruction (CBI) was found to be an effective approachto teaching English as a foreign or second language because with CBI, students can gainthe necessary content knowledge and academic skills in addition to the language itself. It isalso believed that CBI can help enhance students’ learning motivation and interest throughcontent themes.Up till now, in China, empirical studies on the learning effects of CBI to Englishlearners are fewer in the field of College English teaching, let alone CBI on maritimemajor College English teaching. Based on the survey in Dalian Ocean University as well asthe related theories and research at home and abroad, by comparing the effects of CBI andthe traditional teaching method (TTM) on maritime major students’ English proficiencyand learning motivation, this thesis introduces the empirical study to find out theeffectiveness of CBI in improving maritime major students’ English proficiency andlearning motivation, and attempt to construct a new CBI maritime major College Englishteaching mode.The152subjects in this study are maritime major students in Dalian OceanUniversity (DLOU). These subjects constituted the experimental group and the controlgroup. Two English instructors cooperated in this study by practicing CBI in theexperimental group and TTM in the control group.Based on a3-semester investigation of the above experimental group and controlgroup, with the questionnaire, the pretest and posttests, classroom observations and theinterview, this research has findings as follows: CBI is more effective in improvingmaritime major students’ English proficiency and learning motivation than TTM, and wecan construct a new CBI maritime major College English teaching mode. In addition, thestudy attempts to find out what deserves our attention in the implementation of CBI inmaritime major College English classes as well as in other academic English fields. Theresults of this research can enrich the theory of foreign languages and direct the practice ofCollege English teaching.