Adapting Content-based instruction to teach EFL in Obligatory Secondary Education

Abstract

[eng] After having reviewed the main language-teaching methods and approaches, we have seen that Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is nowadays the preferred approach. CLT is a step further Situational Language Teaching (SLT) and it keeps its functional view, gone are the days where the syllabus was formal, nowadays, with the support of the European Union, there is a common approach to language teaching with a notional / functional syllabus, based on interaction and communication. In the context of CLT, Content-based instruction (CBI) seems to stand out for its good results, both in language learning and in students’ motivation; when the students use the language because they need it to access information, with a purpose and using real materials, they learn both, the language and the content, together with critical thinking and cognitive strategies. For this reason, the present proposal develops exercises that can be used both, in a classroom or online if the situation required it, as it happened the present academic year during the third term. What is important nowadays is the ability to communicate, it is fluency over accuracy, in a globalised world where languages are more important than ever and, if online tuition is necessary again, CBI is a good tool to compensate the lack of real practice in the classroom.