Content-based Integration: Principles and Practices

1. CONTENT-BASED INTEGRATION: PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES Ramil G. Ilustre, Ph.D.

2. Words to Ponder ‘Education is the kindling of a flame, not the filling of a vessel.’ – Socrates

3. Curriculum encompasses what happens in the school and includes academics as well as arts, physical education, extracurricular activities, and support services and programs (National Middle School Association, 2010). Content across the curriculum as envisaged in CBI provides multiple opportunities for language input, to understanding and use of the language. Furthermore, this content is meaningful and understandable since it is drawn from the context relevant and appropriate to the age, interest and cognitive level of the learners (Omoto, 2013.)

4. Content-Based Intergration (CBI) Chaput (1993) defines content as “any topic of intellectual substance which contributes to the understanding of language in general, and the target language in particular.” In this view, the goal of utilizing content in a classroom would be for learning the language. Crandall and Tucker (1990) describe content as “academic subject matter” CBI “engages students as active learners who make the most of the decisions about what they study”(Brown, 2016, p. 123).

5. The Role of Teachers in CBI According to Stryker and Leaver (1993), teachers play the following role during CBI lessons: • (1) They must be knowledgeable in the subject matter and able to elicit that knowledge from their learners. • (2) Teachers are responsible for selecting and adapting authentic materials for use in class. • (3) Teachers must create truly learner-centred classroom. • (4) Teachers must keep context and comprehensibility foremost in their planning and presentation. • (5) Teachers must contextualize their lessons by using content as their point of departure. 


6. The Role of Materials in CBI The characteristics are as listed below with reference to Stryker and Leaver (1993): 1.Materials must contain subject matter of the context area.
 2. Materials must be authentic.
 3. Examples must be drawn from realia and real life experience and contemporary issues from newspapers, magazines, radio and TV.
 4. Materials must bear linguistic simplification to adopt texts and promote comprehensibility.

7. Principles of CBI 1. Base instructional decisions on content rather than language criteria. 2. Integrate skills. 3. Involves students in all phases of the learning process. 4. Choose content for its relevance to students’ lives, interests, and/or academic goals. 5. Select authentic texts and tasks.

8. Models of CBI Theme-Based Instruction The syllabus/budget to work is arranged around themes or topics. The themes used in this lesson usually take an important number of weeks of instruction.

9. Sheltered Model - two or three subjects study the same content. e.g. Oral Communication Creative Writing Wika sa Pananaliksik -Sheltered CBI is called “sheltered” because learners are given special assistance to help them understand regular classes.

10. Adjunct Model Students are prepared for “mainstream classes”. Two subjects are being paired to reach at a particular goal. E.g. Probability and Statistics Practical Research 1 or 2 A lot of coordination and cooperation is required from both teachers.