The Effect of Task-based Instruction on the Acquisition of Content and Academic Language

Abstract

Research has shown that second language speakers have a difficult time in the U.S. public school system coping with both the language barriers as well as the content gap in their studies (particularly in culture-specific contexts such as social studies, history, civics, and so forth). In this study, we examine the effectiveness of task-based instruction (TBI) in facilitating high school ELLs’ ability to learn both content knowledge and academic language in the area of social studies. The setting was a 10th grade class in a high school on the East Coast of the United States.