ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: The fundamental premise underlying Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is that students can learn (and teachers can teach) both meaningful content and a new language at the same time. The crux of effective CBI is content and language integration-teachers and students have to attend to both content and language if the language learning benefits of CBI are to be maximized. Yet such integration is challenging for teachers and needs to be systematically addressed through professional development. This paper provides an overview of the features and goals of CBI, types of CBI models, and benefits of CBI. It then identifies key teacher characteristics needed for CBI and illustrates ways that teachers can learn to integrate language and content. It concludes with review of a recent study that explored the types of professional development experiences teachers perceive to have a positive impact on their ability to integrate language and content in their teaching.
