Content-based instruction is a model which follows an integrated-skills approach to language instruction. The second language is simply the medium to convey informational content of interest and relevance to the learner. Examples: immersion programs, shelter instruction, writing across the curriculum and English for Specific Purposes (ESP)

A number of text- and student-related factors can make content area reading difficult for some students. Students may have little experience reading expository writing, the kind of text structure found typically in textbooks and other content area materials. Students may become frustrated and confused by the content-specific vocabulary and concepts that characterize these materials.

Students may have inadequately developed basic reading skills, such as word identification and decoding skills, and so may not be able to read with fluency. Many students may lack—or be unable to use efficiently—the comprehension strategies necessary for getting meaning from content area materials.

Coriano (2001) CALL based annotations and basic English students Rivera (2002) Idiom processing across proficiency levels Feliciano (2008) Dictionary use by pre- basic students

Context: My sister’s appendix erupted this morning. She has to go under the knife immediately. Participant: She is going under the knife immediately. Ella quiere estar debajo del cuchillo inmediatamente. Ella quiere suicidarse. (She wants to commit suicide)

 Interviewer: knife es cuchillo y under debajo  Participant: Ah ok…que se fue. Que fue a cortarlo. What does it mean to go under the knife? Bueno, que la queria matar parece. (She wanted to kill her)

Context: The little boy is always getting in trouble. He is a pain in the neck. What does it mean to be a pain in the neck. Participant: The little boy is always getting in trouble. Que tiene, esta harta de el, tiene dolor en el cuello, (his neck hurts)

All teachers across the curriculum and across grade levels can play a role in teaching students to use reading skills and strategies to learn the content of the subjects that they teach and to become independent readers and learners.

F amiliarizes them with the structure of expository text Promotes content area vocabulary development Promotes word identification skills Builds reading fluency; and emphasizes and directly teaches how, why, when, and where to use a repertoire of comprehension strategies

Skim the text for main ideas Scan the text for specific information Identify topic sentences and controlling ideas in paragraphs Use semantic mapping or clustering Understand subheadings, previews, summaries, photographs and illustrations, and the captions that accompany them

Recognize and make use of words that signal a particular type of text structure, including causal indicators and words that indicate time or order sequences or comparisons Interpret text graphics such as charts, tables, and figures Construct graphics on their own

Globalization Economic Political Ecological Cultural Free trade NAFTA and GATT Supply and demand Job Foreign trade Advertising Homogenization of culture Control of food supply Globalization of education system Arguments Against Types Caused by Related terms

Recognize if the word is important or non-essential Identify multiword expressions such as phrasal verbs and idioms Identify cognates Identify parts of speech (verb, noun, adjective) Look for pictures, captions, and definitions of words in the text Use the context to infer meaning Use productively and effectively dictionaries and translators

Contain pre-reading activities that help students link their existing Knowledge to the topics to be studied Make evident to students the relationships between concepts and main Ideas and supporting details Use accurate and clear graphics, such as illustrations, photographs

Charts, tables, and diagrams to help students conceptualize the structure of the text Provide vocabulary activities to help students develop deeper understandings of the meanings of concepts and to contribute to generalization of learning across topics

 Words have histories. They have been in other people’s mouths and on other people’s pens. They have circulated through other Discourses and within other institutions. They have been part of specific historical events and episodes. Words bring with them as potential situated meanings, all the situated meanings they have picked up in history and in other settings and discourses (Gee, 1996, p. 54). 

 Conceptual map activity  Present your conceptual map draft to the group