An evaluation of "Content-Based Instruction (CBI)"-oriented course material in teaching English as a foreign language at tertiary level: A case study on the students of software engineering department at a foundation university in Türkiye

Content-based Instruction (CBI) has taken the attention of foreign language educators as it enables learners to learn the target language and to absorb subject matter knowledge at the same time. Although there are various foreign language teaching materials on the market, it is quite challenging to find a suitable material designed and specifically developed for each unique expertise field. The present study aims to demonstrate the evaluations of the students and of the instructor regarding a CBI-oriented English language course material developed by the researcher for the computer and software engineering students at a foundation university in Türkiye. The study also aims to find out the evaluations of the participants regarding the in-class implementation of the material and investigates its effects on the students' English language skills and on their content knowledge. For the purposes of the study determined, both quantitative and qualitative data were gathered from 40 software engineering students studying at the same foundation university and from the instructor of the course who was the developer of the CBI-oriented language course material and the researcher of this thesis study. Therefore, the present study employed mixed-method research design. The quantitative data were gathered through the Materials Evaluation Questionnaire (Işık & Altmışdört, 2010), students' scores in the content sections in the midterm and the final exam of the course, and in the English Language Placement tests. The qualitative data, on the other hand, were collected from semi-structured interview sessions and the instructor's reflective journals. The findings demonstrated that students and the instructor were mostly satisfied with the course material and its in-class implementation. The material had positive effects on the students' content knowledge and their English language skills, except for their speaking skills, though.