Content Based Instruction

CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A.      Background

            The writer is going to elaborate about definitions of CBI (Content Based Instruction) from some references are as follows:

            The first, According to Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the word “Content” is the subject written or spoken about in a book, program, etc., “Based” is containing something as an important part or feature. “Instruction” is detailed information on how to do or use something”. [1]

            The second, According to Brinton, Snow and Wesche (1998:vii), “Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is  the integration of content learning with language teaching aims. More specifically, it refers to the concurrent study of language and subject matter, with the form and sequence of language presentation dictated by content material.” [2]

            The third, According to Willy A. Renandya,“Content-Based Instruction is an approach to language teaching that focuses not on the language itself, but rather on what is being taught through the language; that is, the language becomes the medium through which something new is learned.”[3]

            The fourth, According to Bambang Setiyadi,“ in the CBI approach the student learns the  by using it to learn some other new content. For example, by studying the French Revolution while using the French langauge. The language being learned and used is taught within the context of the content. The theory behind CBI is that when students are engaged with more content, it will promote intrinsic motivation. Students will be able to use more advanced thinking skills when learning new information and will focus less on the structure of the language. This approach is very student-centered as it depends entirely on the students’ ability to use the language.”[4]

            The last, based on the explanation above, the writer can conclude about all of definitions of CBI itself. “CBI is one of approach has principle purpose that is to combine and to integrate several methods to one aim. For example, the teacher is going to teach the students the material that is Mathematic subject, yet he uses English language. Not only the students will get the knowledge about Mathematic subject, but also the students will get the knowledge about English.”   

CHAPTER II

DISCUSSION

A. The Principles of Content-Based Instruction (CBI)

            Content Based Instruction is one of approach that has principle purpose to make the contained of teaching becomes the key to learn about language itself. For the example, the teacher teach student mathematics subject by using English language. The content of teaching is mathematics, but students can learn more about English because the teacher used English language in teaching.

Content-Based Instruction is an approach to language teaching that focuses

not on the language itself, but rather on what is being taught through the language; that is, the language becomes the medium through which something new is learned. In the CBI approach the student learns the teaching language by using it to learn some other new content. The language being learned and used is taught within the context of the content. The theory behind CBI is that when students are engaged with more content, it will promote intrinsic motivation.
            They learn about this subject using the language they are trying to learn, rather than their native language, as a tool for developing knowledge and so they develop their linguistic ability in the target language. This is thought to be a more natural way of developing language ability and one that corresponds more to the way we originally learning.[5]

B. CONTENT BASED APPROACH IN LESSON

       What does a content based instruction look like?

            There are many ways to approach creating a CBI lesson. This is one possible way.

            1. Preparation

Ø  Choose a subject of interest to students.

Ø  Find three or four suitable sources that deal with different aspects   of the subject. These could be websites, reference books, audio or           video of lectures or even real people.

            2. During the lesson

1. Divide the class into small groups and assign each group a small          research task and a source of information to use to help them fulfil        the task.

2. Then once they have done their research they form new groups with   students that used other information sources and share and compare          their information.

3. There should then be some product as the end result of this sharing of            information which could take the form of a group report or presentation of some kind.[6]

 

C. TEACHER’S ROLES

            CBI anticipates a change in typical roles in language teachers. According to (stryker and leaver 1993:292).“Instructors must be more than just good language teachers. They must be knowledgeable in the subject matter and able to elicit that knowledge from their students”.

            Stryker and leaver suggest following the essential skills for any CBI instructor:
A. Varying the format of classroom instruction.

B. Using group work and team-building techniques.

C. Organizing jigsaw reading arguments.

D. Defining background knowledge and language skills required for student succes.

E. Helping the students develop coping strategies.

F. Using process approach to writing.

G. Using appropiate error correction techniques.

H. Developing and maintaining high levels student esteem.

            Almost all participating instructors comment on the large amounts of time and energy involved in the Content- Based Intruction and describe it as “ major challenge. Taking up this challenge requires highly motivated and dedicate individual or group of individuals”.[7]

D. STUDENT’S ROLES

            According to (stryker and leaver 1993: 286), “One goal CBI is for learner to become autonomous so that they come to understand their own learning process and take charge of their own learning from the way start”.[8]

            CBI in the “learning doing” school of pedagogi. This assume an active role by learner in sveral dimensions. Learners are expected to be interpreters of input, willing to tolerate uncertainty along the path of learning, willing to explore alternative learning strategies. And willing to seek multiple interpretion of oral and writen text.

            Learners themselve may be sources of content and joint participants in the selectionof topics and activities. Such participation “ has found to be highly motivating and has resulted in a course changing its direction in order to better meet the need of students.[9]

            Here, the writer is going to quote a statement from several references about Content-Based Instruction." In content-based instruction, students practice all the language skills in a highly integrated, communicative fashion while learning content such as science, mathematics, and social studies.

            Content-based language instruction is valuable at all levels of proficiency, but the nature of the content might differ by proficiency level. For beginners, the content often involves basic social and interpersonal communication skills, but past the beginning level, the content can become increasingly academic and complex.

            The Cognitive Academic Language Learning Approach (CALLA), created by Chamot and O'Malley (1994) shows how language learning strategies can be integrated into the simultaneous learning of content and language.[10]

E. How to Practice Content-Based Instruction (CBI) in Teaching

     1. Indicator

a. Teaching mathematics by using English language.

b. Student can learn mathematics and learn more about English because the teacher implicated English language in teaching. 

2.  Procedure

a. Teacher divides students into some groups.

b. Teacher shows mathematic story question about Addition, Subtracter,            Divisor, and Multiplication. The example of mathematics story            questions:

               Feri was a philanthropist boy. He was so get along with the others.

               One day, Feri went to market. He bought 4 apples. Then, he came back to home. On the way, he looked a beggar and gave two apples for him. When he arrived in the home, his brother asked him for one apple. So, Feri gave one to his brother. Suddenly, Feri’s mother was coming. She brought 10 apples and gave it to Feri. Because of Feri had a big body and really like eating, Feri ate 1 apple. In the night, Feri went to mosque and brought 6 apples. He  gave 6 apples to his friends.

·         Questions: How much Feri’s apples now?

·         Answer : 4-2-1+10-1-6 = 4 Apples

c. Teacher has student to discuss about this question and get the answer             quickly.

d. The fastest group that can answer the question get a reward.

e. Teacher gives short explanation to students about grammatical            function in the mathematics story questions. Such as:

·         Feri was a philanthropist boy ( Past Tense/ Nominal)

·         Feri went to market ( Past Tense/ Verbal)

F. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Content-Based Instruction (CBI)

1. The Advantages:

      • It can make learning a language more interesting and motivating.

       Students can use the language to fulfil a real purpose, which can make students both more independent and confident.

• Students can also develop a much wider knowledge of the world through  CBI which can feed back into improving and supporting their general educational needs.

• CBI is very popular among EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers as it helps students to develop valuable study skills such as    summarising and extracting key information from texts.

• Taking information from different sources, re-evaluating and restructuring that information can help students to develop very valuable thinking skills that can then be transferred to other subjects.

• The inclusion of a group work element within the framework given above can also help students to develop their collaborative skills,          which it can have great social value.

2. The Disadvantages:

• Because CBI isn't explicitly focused on language learning, some students may feel confused or may even feel that they aren't            improvingtheir language skills. Deal with this by including some form of language focused follow-up exercises to help draw attention   to linguistic features within the materials and consolidate any difficult vocabulary or grammar points.

• It can be hard to find information sources and texts that lower levels can understand. Also the sharing of information in the target language may cause great difficulties. A possible way around this at lower levels is either to use texts in the students' native language and then get them to use the target language for the sharing of information and      end product, or to have texts in the target language, but allow the students to present the end product in their native language. These questions should reduce the level of challenge.[11]

CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

            Content Based Instruction is one of approach that has principle purpose to make the contained of teaching becomes the key to learn about language itself. For the example, the teacher teach student mathematics subject by using English language. The content of teaching is mathematics, but students can learn more about English because the teacher used English language in teaching.

            The Advantages of this approach is it can be more interesting and interactive teaching. Besides that, Students can learn about English by practice to analyze. The Disadvantages is it can more difficult because students need more concentration and they can find difficulty about the strange vocabulary and grammatical complex.

REFERENCES

AS Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, Oxford University Press:

                  1995.

Bambang Setiyadi, , Teaching English as Foriegn Language, Yogyakarta: Graha

                  Ilmu, 2006. 

Brown, H.Douglas, Teaching by Principles  an Interactive Approach to Language

                   Pedagogy,(2^nd  Edition), San Francisco: Longman Press, 2004.

Richards, Jack C and Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in     Language Teaching, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Harmer, Jeremy, the Practice of English Language Teaching, Cambridge:   Cambridge University Press, 2002.

Freeman, Diane Larsen, Techniques And Principles In Language Teaching,             Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.

O'Malley, J.M., & Valdez Pierce, L, Authentic Assessment for English Language    Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers, New York: Addison     Wesley, 1994.

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[1]  AS Hornby, Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, (Oxford University Press: 1995)

[2] Brown, H.Douglas, Teaching by Principles  an Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy,(2^nd     Edition), (San Francisco: Longman Press, 2001),  p 49.

[3] Richard, Jack. C, Methodology in Language Teaching, (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p.  40

[4] Setiyadi, Bambang, Teaching English as Foriegn Language, (Yogyakarta: Graha Ilmu, 2006),  p 125

[5] Bambang. Op. Cit., p.127

[6] Richards, Jack C and Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 19

[7] Harmer, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002), p. 86

[8] Ibid., p. 87

 [9] Freeman, Diane Larsen, Techniques And Principles In Language Teaching, (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 80 
 [10] O'Malley, J.M., & Valdez Pierce, L, Authentic Assessment for English Language Learners: Practical Approaches for Teachers. (New York: Addison Wesley, 1994),  p. 11 

 [11] Ibid., p. 13