Investigating The Effects Of Content-based Instruction On EFL Learners' Motivation And Proficiency

Content-based instruction (CBI) refers to an approach of subject integration to language teaching in which the teaching is organized around the subject or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other type of syllabus. It has become a widely adopted pedagogical approach in western countries. Since the early 2000s, CBI in language teaching has begun to be appreciated by our teachers, linguistics and educationalists, but there is still a lack of systematic study of CBI about its implementation in middle school English classrooms in China. Therefore, the present research sets out to investigate, within the framework of cognitive and educational psychology, the effects of CBI on English as Foreign Language (EFL) learners'motivation and language proficiency in middle School.The present research has adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods. Through classroom observation, semi-structured interviews, questionnaires and students'logs, this study collected lots of data to contribute to its conclusions. This study was conducted from April to December in 2008 in the 2nd Middle School Attached to Northwest Normal University (NWNU). The teacher, Lisa, integrates the philosophy of CBI into her real teaching practice. There are two groups of participants. One group are the students in Class Two, Grade Eight who have been carried out CBI since September, 2007. They were observed in the classrooms in order to investigate the application of CBI. The other group are the students who graduated from the 2nd Middle School Attached to NWNU in July, 2007. The study used their records and questionnaires to evaluate their language performance and motivation level.It has been found in the present study that CBI can really enhance students'motivation and interest level, and it can also help them to develop cultural knowledge, improve their language proficiency, especially their communicative competence. In CBI classroom, the activities of the language class are specific to the content being taught, and are geared to stimulate students to think and learn through the use of English. Such an approach lends itself quite naturally to the integrated teaching of the four language skills. Therefore, students are exposed to study skills and learn a variety of language skills which prepare them for the range of content tasks they will encounter.The results reveal that CBI offers a challenging but highly rewarding alternative to traditional foreign language approaches. It can be applied in EFL classrooms effectively. Eventually, several implications for instruction in CBI programs and the professional development of teachers emerge from this study...