Developing a Project in Content-Based Instruction
Extended from a Reading Passage
Noriko Fujioka-Ito
University of Cincinnati
Introduction
A number of successful Content-Based Instruction (CBI) in North American universities, in the context of postsecondary foreign language education, have been documented for the past two decades (Grabe & Stoller, 1997). CBI not only provides help for social and cognitive development during childhood, but also motivates learners and successfully lead students to good job placement opportunities (Genesee, 1994; Grandin, 1993; Wesche, 1993) and produces advanced levels of language proficiency (Genesee, 1987; Johnson & Swain, 1997).
This article reports how CBI has been integrated into the existing curriculum using a reading passage from “An Integrated Approach to Intermediate Japanese (IJ) (Miura & McGloin, 1994),” which is designed to develop four skills simultaneously. This particular unit of the curriculum, which is integrated all elements of Stoller & Grabe’s (1997) Six-Ts and the eleven standards of Five Cs (the all standards of five goals of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning), has students develop a project in CBI. Based on the reading passage and exposure to authentic content, CBI should enable them to demonstrate a deeper understanding of the topic of each reading passage.
In order to develop this unit, Stoller and Grabe’s (1997) Six-T’s Approach is used so that the students can benefit from the integration of language and content instruction. In this approach, the Themes are the major source for curriculum planning. A variety of relevant Texts (all resources and materials) leads to Topic selection. Specific Tasks are designed to teach the language knowledge and content information central to the Texts. Transitions and Threads also link throughout the curriculum while creating a sense of coherence. The Six-T’s Approach provides students with the means for developing a coherent content-based curriculum which promotes involvement in content learning, increases opportunities for negotiation of language and content tasks, allows for cooperative learning, focuses on the development of discourse-based abilities and maintains student motivations for learning.
CBI Unit Overview
A central curricula notion in the Six-T’s Approach is that all CBI is fundamentally theme-based (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989). The theme of this unit, taken from the reading passage of Chapter 3 in IJ, is “Study Abroad.” The reading provides students with background material information on study abroad programs (e.g., issues of cross-cultural adjustment, and the advantages of such programs).
This unit consists of two lessons. In Lesson 1, students read a selection in their textbook, using the language and content knowledge students obtained through conversation sections previously covered in the same textbook. Furthermore, the reading material provides students with basic knowledge about studying in Japan in several scenarios: with or without exchange agreements with home institutions and new grammar (including expressions and vocabulary), with a focus on student life abroad. In Lesson 2, students will continue to conduct research on studying abroad in Japan through a variety of other resources (e.g., videos, websites, and interviews with people who have studied in Japan). Students will use their research materials to make TV commercials to promote study abroad; the commercials will be videotaped and evaluated using the rubric at the end of the project. In this article, Lesson 2 and Unit Assessment are focused so as to describe how the Content-Based project was extended from a textbook reading.
Lesson Overview of Reading Passage
The summary of each component of the Six-T’s Approach in Lesson 1 is as follows (see Appendix A for details of Lesson 1). The Topics, sub-units of the Theme which explore its more specific aspects using the reading passage, are (a) the application process, (b) credit transfer, (c) socialization in international students’ life (such as extra-curricular activities and life with a host family), and (d) housing conditions in large cities. Through Threads, the Theme of this unit links with Chapter 5 “At University” and Chapter 10 “Domestic Travel” in the same textbook. After learning in the present unit, students compare and contrast Japanese and American universities (or schools) during in-class discussion. They also conduct research on travel spots and make posters of travel spots which will be exhibited during the International Education Week in November in the Fall of the following academic year. In the Lesson 1 Tasks and Task Transitions, students skim and summarize the information using grammar, vocabulary, and expressions which were included in the reading passage. This enables them to negotiate language content tasks in Lesson 2. Topical transitions occur from study abroad programs to cross-cultural adjustments.
CBI Activity 1: Video-viewing
Lesson 2 consists of three in-class lesson plans and two homework assignments (see Appendix B for the details of Lesson 2). The first section of this lesson occurs prior to viewing a video. Students briefly discuss potential problems of studying abroad. For example, students might not be able to make any friends if they are busy studying and cannot participate in any extra-curricular activities. This Task uses basic background knowledge obtained through the reading passage introduced in Lesson 1. The second is comprised of three parts. Before viewing the video entitled “Foreign Student in Japan: Dares and Rahman (NHK International & Japan Foundation, 1994),” the teacher distributes the comprehension check worksheet. Students read comprehension check questions so as to gain insight into the topics discussed in the video. During viewing, students use the vocabulary learned in Lesson 1 and watch for the answers to comprehension questions. By focusing on two main characters in the video who are students in Japan from Bangladesh and Thailand, students understand the perspectives of international students in Japan and the difficulties of their life. This includes, for instance, time constraints or limited finances. After viewing the video, students are paired up and compare their answers to the comprehension check questions. If the answers contain opinions, especially in response to a question which elicits differing views of international student life, students can discuss their perspectives of cultural differences between the US and Japan. This allows them to demonstrate understanding about how international students interact with friends through extra-curricular activities as well as daily life and host families while on vacation. In the final task, a class discussion is conducted that allows student to express their opinions about international student life in Japan. For example, whether or not international student life is easier than they had expected, and, if their life is hard, how they tried to handle the hardship. The objective of this task is to identify difficulties of cross-cultural adjustment and to demonstrate an understanding about how to solve the problems which might be caused by cultural differences. The first homework assignment has students continue to conduct their research on study abroad by visiting websites and using books. The second consists of preparation for interviews, which will be conducted on day 2. For the second assignment, students are encouraged to use both content obligatory and content compatible languages.
CBI Activity 2: Interview
On day 2, students are divided into two groups—students who have never studied in Japan or have not studied in Japan for more than six months belong in Group 1; the second group is comprised of those who have studied in Japan for more than six months. If there are not enough students in Group 2, guest speakers who have been to or come from Japan are invited from the community. Using the vocabulary and grammar learned in Lesson 1, students in Group 1 prepare interview questions using the first half of the interview sheet. Students in Group 2 recall their experiences in Japan and get ready for responding to the interview questions. Before the interviews, each interviewee in Group 2 very briefly provides his or her background about college/school life in Japan. While listening to interviewees' experiences, the students in Group 1 decide whom they are going to interview. Then, the students in Group 1 ask their questions to two or three people in Group 2 so as to acquire multiple viewpoints about Japanese society. The discourse of interviews should be extended from each single question so that the students in Group 1 can later synthesize deeper views learned through interactions during their interviews. After the interviews, students summarize the findings of their interviews by integrating results of their previous research findings to analyze the cultural differences between the educational systems in Japan and the US. This activity could be done in writing or as a group discussion.
CBI Activity 3: Debate
On day 3, students identify advantages and disadvantages of study abroad and express their opinions during discussion, using their linguistic knowledge and information obtained through resources. Before the discussion, students synthesize their findings from the interviews and primary research. Then, students discuss positive and negative aspects of study in Japan and decide their positions (i.e., whether or not they want to go to Japan to study). Based on their positions, a debate is conducted so as to practice critical thinking skills by generating pros and cons of study abroad. After the discussion, students write the short summary paper which indicates their positions including the reasons why they want to go to Japan to study or not. The objective of the paper is to develop organizational skills by synthesizing data obtained from their research and summarizing information about study abroad programs. This summary paper is collected and evaluated using the summary paper rubric.
Assessment of CBI Activities
Assessment in CBI must balance assessing the content with the language. It also has to accurately reflect the goals and purposes of the CBI unit. In Lesson 2, two formative evaluations are conducted. First, the comprehension check worksheet is collected and used as an evaluation of how well students could understand the information about international student life. Second, the interview sheet is also collected and evaluated from the perspectives of grammar and vocabulary accuracy and content. The first half of the sheet is evaluated by assessing how well students used the expressions and vocabulary introduced in Lesson 1. The last half of the interview sheet evaluates how well students developed insights into international student life in Japan. The first summative evaluation of this unit is conducted using the summary paper. This summary is evaluated by using the summary paper rubric, which consists of five criteria—(a) organization of expressing ideas, (b) understanding of topic, (c) accuracy of content information, (d) completion of work, and (e) accuracy of language use.
Unit Assessment
On day 1 of the unit assessment, students are exposed to Japanese TV commercials. Through viewing these, they come to learn how effective it is to use colloquial speech/plain forms of language, in addition to the typical images, music, and sound effects which implicate a specific meaning. After viewing each segment, students discuss what commercial it is and why it is attractive. Then, students brainstorm possible TV commercials they could produce with their classmates. The homework assignment on this day has students select the images, music, and sound effects which can be incorporated with verbal messages in their commercials. In addition, they are expected to rehearse their presentations.
On day 2, each student presents his or her TV commercial using visual aids (and/or music/sound effects). All TV commercials are videotaped and three native speakers of Japanese, including an instructor, evaluate them independently using the TV commercial presentation rubric, which consists of five criteria—(a) organization of expressing opinions, (b) accuracy of content information, (c) delivery of knowledge, (d) presentation style, and (e) accuracy of language use. After video-taping, students discuss what they have learned through this unit regarding study abroad programs and the cultural aspects of college life and society in Japan (see Appendix C for detail of Unit Assessment).
In order to measure the reliability of the unit assessment, Cronbach’s Alpha was performed using the scores collected during the Fall Quarter, 2004 at the University of Cincinnati. The scores of TV commercial projects were given by three different evaluators. For each criterion, 1 (the lowest), 2, 3, or 4 (the highest) points were given. Although the evaluators received the rubric beforehand so that they could be familiar with the evaluation criteria, they were not trained to rate; however, the scoring was fairly consistent among three raters. The internal consistency reliability estimates for this evaluation using Cronbach’s Alpha procedure are as follows: Organization, .78, Accuracy of Content Information, .72; Presentation Style, .92; Accuracy of Language Use, .56; Delivery of Knowledge, .87.
Pedagogical Implication from Students’ Project
Table 1 shows what topics each student included his or her TV commercial.
Their products tell the teacher not only what students learned but also what information or resources they need to know when they get interested in study abroad (and thus what the teacher needs to provide them). For example, half of the students talked about availability of scholarships during the discussion on day 3 in Lesson 2, though this topic was not included in either a reading passage or the video we watched. Also, these products informed the teacher about their primary reason for wanting to study abroad. Interestingly, all students except Student E emphasized that study abroad is the best way to practice the Japanese language. Student E focused more on recreational aspects of a stay in Japan. Although a topic related to Ninja or Samurai was not discussed in class, Student E mentioned the possibility of meeting a Ninja as a means of promoting study abroad. Student C, who is a non-traditional student who had lived in Japan for a number of years, also brought up topics which were not covered in class. He could even expand his message to an abstract statement—living overseas changes our perspectives of our own countries.
Table 1
TV Commercial Project
Student / TopicsA / ・language study ・ extra-curricular activities ・ socialization (friends) ・course subjects ・daily life ・ scholarship
B / ・language study ・ understanding culture ・ socialization (friends) ・information resources
C / ・language study ・traditional culture such as Koto playing, tea ceremony ・change of perspectives
D / ・language study ・exchange program ・scholarship ・culture shock
E / ・extra-curricular activities ・socialization (friends) ・pop culture such as Ninja
F / ・language study ・scholarship ・homestay
Linkages across One-year Curriculum