Content-Based Instruction- A Method of Developing Language and Social Competences

Abstract

This paper examines Romanian students‘ attitudes towards several content-based instruction (CBI) workshops in English on topics such as leadership, human rights, successful women, violence and environmental protection. The purpose of this study is to show that CBI is not only an effective means of developing language skills, content-based knowledge, but also a very engaging and motivating way of enhancing civic and social competences such as justice, equality, non-discrimination, non-violence, tolerance and respect for human dignity. These workshops incorporated a blended approach which focused on analysis and discussion of critical subject matters that also engaged an interdisciplinary perspective. The conclusion is that by choosing topics that render both language and social competencies, the process of learning a foreign language (in our case, the English language) becomes more meaningful for the learners as the values they absorb will have a long-lasting impression on their overall education.