Combing studies of "content" and English

In this course we will study both public administration in the English language, and study English as it is used for professional purposes.

We can imagine three or more types of English study in university:

1. General English (often, English Conversation, also, often, Engilsh Grammar & Writing)
2. Test English (usually TOEIC, sometimes for other tests such as TOEFL, IELTS, PELT, etc)
3. Professional EnglishW e can include "academic English" in this subject if we want, or we can make "academic English" - such as skills in writing a thesis - a separate section (section #4).  Professional English can include reading professional or academic papers, making presentations, writing documents & theses, etc.

The images below help to explain the challenge.

Combining Language and Ideas, Challenges for Learners

Thinking or learning new ideas (“cognition”) is hard enough for anyone, but if we add the problem of difficult language it makes things much harder. Your mental “computer” is “multitasking,” working harder. The “cognitive demand” is increasing. When teachers combine the learning of new information with the learning of language, we call this “content-based instruction” (CBI) or “content and language integrated learning” (CLIL).

Language teaching experts have divided the kinds of English skills language learners have into two classes, BICS (basic interpersonal communicative skills, ordinary talk between people), and CALP (cognitive academic language processing, the kind of language you need when you are learning or talking about school materials or difficult subjects (see Cummins, 1979). CALP requires both higher content demand (thinking about content) and higher language demand (harder vocabulary, more advanced forms of grammar). This description of language is true whether we are reading, listening, writing, or speaking.

Two pictures indicate some of the issues.
In the first, we show the relative demands of the BICS and CALP orientations.

Here, the “demand” is the same as skills. We might say that the TOEIC test is based on BICS, and the TOEFL is based more on CALP. How are these two tests different?

In the next picture, “demand” is more like “challenge” or “difficulty” -- how hard is your brain working to do this? So it is different for each person, because even for people who study the same, we have different skills. It suggests that if the total cognitive demand is too low, learners will be bored, and if too high, learners get frustrated. But when the overall cognitive load is ideal, people learn well and are contented. To fit the ideal, when the “content” load increases, the “language” load must decrease. Also, cultural differences and stress can add to the cognitive load.

So as you can see, we have a considerable challenge ahead. Don't worry, we'll work carefully to make sure we all succeed!