ELT Journal Volume 59/2 April 2005 © Oxford University Press
The Project Framework: a tool for language, content, and skills integration
1 Gulbahar H. Beckett (PhD) is an assistant professor of Sociolinguistics and Applied Linguistics at the University of Cincinnati, USA. Her research includes ESL and content integration through project-based instruction. Email: gulbahar.beckett{at}uc.edu, 2 Tammy Slater (PhD) is currently affiliated within the Department of Language and Literacy Education at the University of British Columbia, Canada. Her research focuses on academic discourse development. Email: tslater{at}interchange.ubc.ca
Project-based instruction is a valuable way to promote the simultaneous acquisition of language, content, and skills, provided that students in academic ESL classes can see the value of learning through projects, which the literature notes has not consistently been the case. This article introduces a methodological tool called ‘The Project Framework’, describes the research which tested it in an undergraduate university ESL classroom, and suggests how it can be used as a cultural tool to help socialize students into a new way of thinking about language and language learning. The Framework allows ESL students to see the value of project-based instruction by making explicit the various components which work together to promote higher level academic literacy: language, thinking skills, and content knowledge.