What is Cognitive Activity

This chapter explores the contextual and linguistic potential of the content-based approach in language teaching. The first part of the analysis focuses on the theoretical underpinnings of this approach. The analysis of the cognitive-discursive activity of a non-native learner of a foreign language reveals the complex multi-level organization of cognitive-discursive activity. The author anticipates that context plays a decisive role in the processes of perception and understanding of a foreign language message embedded in a context. The second part of this chapter synthesizes research on learning outcomes in content-based EFL teaching of undergraduate science students. It deals with classroom-based research and participants' use of English taking account discourse factors, students' language resources, and didactic potential of the content-based teaching model. The findings demonstrated that the designed theme-based teaching framework proved to be more effective for science undergraduate students' speech skills development and acquisition of topic-related vocabulary.