A Study of the Effects of the Content-Based Instruction for English Majors in the Chinese Context

This study focused on the effects of the Content-Based Instruction (CBI) for English majors in the Chinese context. A quasi-experiment was conducted in an English teaching institution with tests as data collection instruments. The quantitative study indicates that CBI brings better outcome than Skill-Oriented Instruction (SOI) in developing language knowledge, language skills and disciplinary knowledge, achieving the general objectives of the national curriculum more effectively than the conventional SOI. The findings throw a positive light on the reform of the national curriculum for English as a specialty and the education of English majors in China.