Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context

Integrating content and language instruction has recently become popular in many countries. This approach has gained momentum following the inadequacies observed in comprehension-based classrooms, indicating that the learners were unable to develop native-like proficiency and control over L2 product...

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Main Authors: Abadikhah, Shirin, Ahangar, Zohreh
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Penerbit UKM 2015
Online Access:http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8258/1/4409-22052-1-PB.pdf
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author Abadikhah, Shirin
Ahangar, Zohreh
author_facet Abadikhah, Shirin
Ahangar, Zohreh
author_sort Abadikhah, Shirin
collection UKM
description Integrating content and language instruction has recently become popular in many countries. This approach has gained momentum following the inadequacies observed in comprehension-based classrooms, indicating that the learners were unable to develop native-like proficiency and control over L2 production (Swain, 2001). The present study is an attempt to examine how integrating content and language instruction may affect the accuracy of L2 production in an EFL context. Two groups of learners (n= 36; experimental and control) attended twenty sessions in a semester. In order to examine the participants‟ progress over the term, an achievement test targeting content and linguistic knowledge was administered to both groups during the pretest and posttest sessions. For integration of language into content, the experimental group worked in pairs to complete four focus-on-form tasks (dictogloss) developed on the basis of the content presented to them during the previous sessions. To examine the amount of noticing and progress in the accuracy, their conversations were tape-recorded and transcribed. While performing each task, the learners were asked to write their reconstructed texts in their handouts. The results obtained from the pretest and posttest indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in their final scores. It was also revealed that the amount of noticing increased in the experimental group from the first to the fourth task. Furthermore, there was a rising trend in the accuracy of production. The findings lend support to the efficiency of integrating content and language instruction in the Iranian EFL context.
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spelling ukm.eprints-82582016-12-14T06:46:42Z http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8258/ Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context Abadikhah, Shirin Ahangar, Zohreh Integrating content and language instruction has recently become popular in many countries. This approach has gained momentum following the inadequacies observed in comprehension-based classrooms, indicating that the learners were unable to develop native-like proficiency and control over L2 production (Swain, 2001). The present study is an attempt to examine how integrating content and language instruction may affect the accuracy of L2 production in an EFL context. Two groups of learners (n= 36; experimental and control) attended twenty sessions in a semester. In order to examine the participants‟ progress over the term, an achievement test targeting content and linguistic knowledge was administered to both groups during the pretest and posttest sessions. For integration of language into content, the experimental group worked in pairs to complete four focus-on-form tasks (dictogloss) developed on the basis of the content presented to them during the previous sessions. To examine the amount of noticing and progress in the accuracy, their conversations were tape-recorded and transcribed. While performing each task, the learners were asked to write their reconstructed texts in their handouts. The results obtained from the pretest and posttest indicated that the experimental group significantly outperformed the control group in their final scores. It was also revealed that the amount of noticing increased in the experimental group from the first to the fourth task. Furthermore, there was a rising trend in the accuracy of production. The findings lend support to the efficiency of integrating content and language instruction in the Iranian EFL context. Penerbit UKM 2015-02 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8258/1/4409-22052-1-PB.pdf Abadikhah, Shirin and Ahangar, Zohreh (2015) Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context. GEMA: Online Journal of Language Studies, 15 (1). pp. 39-55. ISSN 1675-8021 http://ejournal.ukm.my/gema/index
spellingShingle Abadikhah, Shirin
Ahangar, Zohreh
Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context
title Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context
title_full Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context
title_fullStr Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context
title_short Effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an EFL context
title_sort effectiveness of integrating content and language instruction in an efl context
url http://journalarticle.ukm.my/8258/1/4409-22052-1-PB.pdf
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