Linking Language and Content Instruction in the Social Sciences.

This paper begins with a brief review of some of the controversies about linking language and content instruction in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. It then describes an attempt at fostering such a link through collaboration between the language teachers and the content teachers in an Academic Communication and Study Skills course at the University of Hong Kong. While the collaboration has resulted in the production of six discipline-specific language modules, it has given rise to a number of ‘ssues in course administration, staff development, and student assessment. Drawing on the experiences involved in designing these two modules, these issues and their practical implications are discussed. (JO *********************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** HONGKONG PAPERS IN LINGUISTICS AND LANGUAGE TEACHING 16 (1993) ISSN 1015-2059 Linking Language and Content Instruction in the Social Sciences Max Hui and Lily Leung’ This paper begins with a brief review of some of the controversies about link. g language and content instruction in English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses. It then describes an attempt at fostering such a link through collaboration between the language teachers and the content teachers in an Academic Communication and Study Skills (ACSS) course at the University of Hong Kong (HKU). While the collaboration has resulted in the production of six discipline-specific language modules, it has given rise to a number of issues in course administration, staff development and student assessment. We will discuss these issues and their practical implications, drawing upon our experiences of designing two of the modules. We believe that these issues need to be adequately addressed in order to enhance the effectiveness of the link between language and content instruction. Should language and content instruction be linked? In the ELT literature, there has been a growing body of work advocating a greater link between languaee and content instruction (Mohan, 1979,1986; Cantoni-Harvey, 1987; Crandall, 1987; Shih, 1986; Thaiss, 1987; Benesch, 1988). One of the more extensively reported approaches to establishing such a link has been the ‘adjunct model’ (Snow and Brinton, 1988, Brinton, Snow and Wesche, 1989, Snow and Brinton, 1990). In an adjunct program, a language course and a content course (e.g. introductory courses to Sociology and Psychology) are linked by the shared content base and mutually coordinated assignments. Through the close coordination among staff of the linked courses, the language syllabus is dovetailed with that of the content course. Although the format of adjunct programmes may vary among institutions, a common requirement is that students attend the language and content courses concurrently. The foremost justification for link courses such as the adjunct programme is their high face validity in addressing the academic needs of ESL students. Because the language course shares the substantive content and assignments with the content course, it not only takes into account the eventual uses the students will make of the target language, but also integrates into its curriculum the actual language and cognitive skills required of the content course. There are other pedagogical advantages for a language course to share the informational content of a content course. Students would, for instance, perceive the relevance of such a course more readily than that of a general language course. This tends to enhance their motivation to learn and hence the effectiveness of the course. A further advantage is that students’ shared knowledge and learning experience in a discipline could facilitate and substantiate their discussions. Language learning becomes more likely to succeed as it takes place in a meaningful and contextualized form, with the focus on acquiring and sharing information. ‘Lily Leung has taught English for Academic Purposes courses at the University of Hong Kong since February 1988. Her current area of research is in the teaching of writing. Max is currently a member of the teaching staff in the English Centre, the University of Hong Kong. His research interests include the teaching of literature, and the teaching of English through short stories, novels, and films. -PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY uq)2,-) Ltuiey) TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 2 35 LS. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Othce of Educational Remiarch and Improvement MUG. ,TIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER IERICI (C This document has been reproduced as rece.ved from the person or organization onginahng .1 r Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction quality Points of view or opinions stated M MIS clocu ment do not necessenty represent h thc sccond consolidating and extending these skills in the context of a Social Science disciplinary project (Figure 1).