Content-Based Second Language Instruction by Donna M. Brinton

Content-based instruction (CBI) has emerged over the past several decades as one of the primary approaches used in the teaching of second/foreign languages. In this session, I begin by explicating the basic principles of CBI, focusing on several of its common “prototype” applications. I next examine the degree to which the principles of CBI align with those of communicative language teaching. The presentation concludes with a critical examination of the principles of CBI along with an examination of its various applications for college-level foreign language teaching, particularly with respect to the teaching of culture, literature, and history. Participants are invited to participate in the follow-up question and answer period and reflect on how CBI can help make foreign language teaching a more integral part of higher education. Donna M. Brinton recently retired as Lecturer in Applied Linguistics and Associate Director of UCLA’s Center for World Languages to pursue her interest in international teacher development. She has taught a variety of graduate level classes and also trained and supervised teaching assistants. She is the co-author and co-editor of several professional texts including Content-Based Second Language Instruction (University of Michigan), The Content-Based Classroom (Longman), Teaching Pronunciation (Cambridge), New Ways in Content-Based Instruction (TESOL), New Ways in ESP (TESOL), and Heritage Language: A New Field Emerging (Routledge, forthcoming). She has also co-authored several commercial English language textbooks and numerous journal and book articles. Ms. Brinton has done short-term international teacher training in China, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Taiwan, Canada, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Israel, Morocco, Tunisia, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Mauritius, Senegal, Mali, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Armenia, Syria, Lebanon, and Curaçao.