The Message Is the Medium: A New Paradigm for Content‐Oriented Instruction

Abstract

This article focuses on the Connections goal of the National Standards—i.e., on the integration of interdisciplinary content and language skills. Although content has always played some role in foreign language courses, the complexities of “connections” to academic content are far from being realized in the current foreign language teaching and learning environment. Consequently, this article proposes a developmental model for content‐oriented instruction that moves students from familiar to unfamiliar academic and cultural content while also taking into account their language level at each stage. In the process, the article offers suggestions on how to avoid the “sudden jumps” in difficulty, characteristic of language and literature courses both in high school and college, which lead to so much student/teacher frustration as well as to often dramatic drops in enrollment from level to level.

The Role of Reflective Conversations and Feedback in Helping Preservice Teachers Learn to Use Cooperative Activities in their Second Language Classrooms

“…Their interdisciplinary orientation favors CL (Bragger & Rice, 1999) and such an approach requires a reassessment of the teachers' role in terms of their contribution to the students' mediation processes (Magnan & Tochon, 2001). It is interesting to note that at least one cooperating teacher asked for the student teacher's materials at the end of the student teaching session.…”

“…Instructional standards target language, content, reflective and comparative processes, and interactions, as well as cultural patterns. Their interdisciplinary orientation favors activities like CL and content-based instruction to teach other subjects (Bragger & Rice, 1999). They support a reassessment of the teachers' role in terms of their contribution to the students' mediation processes, as occurs, for instance, during cooperative activities (Magnan & Tochon, 2001).…”

Sarah and Amber: A Tale of Two Third‐Year Spanish Students

“…In determining content for Spanish 301, I used Bragger and Rice's (1999) model for selecting authentic texts, which contends that content should progress from familiar to less familiar. In addition, these researchers posit that optimal conditions for learning include authentic texts that feature content with language "one step beyond the learner's current level" or less familiar content and language "at the current level of the learner" (p. 380).…”

Creating Community and Making Connections in the Third‐Year Spanish Course: A Content‐Based Approach

“…Students face "sudden jumps in difficulty" (Bragger & Rice, 1999) as they work with materials and complete tasks far beyond their current level of proficiency. In this prerequisite to advanced electives, students traditionally face a thorough review of target-language grammar and an introduction to literary analysis and commentary As a result, a major curricular shift occurs: Course content no longer focuses solely on skill getting, but centers increasingly on knowledge about Hispanic cultures and literary works.…”

“…In this prerequisite to advanced electives, students traditionally face a thorough review of target-language grammar and an introduction to literary analysis and commentary As a result, a major curricular shift occurs: Course content no longer focuses solely on skill getting, but centers increasingly on knowledge about Hispanic cultures and literary works. Students face "sudden jumps in difficulty" (Bragger & Rice, 1999) as they work with materials and complete tasks far beyond their current level of proficiency.…”