Snow, Marguerite Ann and Brinton, Donna M. (1997). Content-Based Classroom: Perspectives on Integrating Language and Content. White Plains, NY: Longman.

Chapter 4: Moving from Comprehensible Input to “Learning to Learn” by Kate Kinsella.

p 52-53: “A Rationale for Strategy Instruction” She talks about how some students get good at taking tests without comprehending. Some teachers integrate strategy instruction — how students can learn vocabulary and concepts most efficiently — but few places include that at the program level.

“When ESL students are faced with course material that is beyond their ability to linguistically and schematically comprehend, they develop ways of completing assignments without truly understanding them, thereby concealing their learning obstacles and confusion from the teacher.” One such strategy is to scan a text for the answers to questions, without truly reading or understanding the material.

This would be a good book to buy. It’s rich with info: How to collaborate with content-area teachers, CBI in high school, CBI in workplace literacy, EAP and  VESL. It’s subdivided into theoretical underpinnings; K-12 instruction; postsecondary instruction; syllabus, materials & course design; teacher preparation; assessment; research; alternative models; practical issues; CBI in concert with other approaches.

In Chapter 34, Christine Holten writes about Literature: A Quintessential Content. She talks about “literature as remedy to gaps in content-based instruction.” Literature, she says, is usually left out CBI, but it can be useful because it’s motivating, cognitively less demanding, and a good way to introduce the grammar of academic texts, etc.