Content-based instruction (CBI) is not a new concept in the field of language teaching. Historically, this approach originated from English speaking countries such as the US, Canada and European countries where children of multinational immigrants study content subjects in English. It is “an approach to second language teaching in which teaching is organized around the content or information that students will acquire, rather than around a linguistic or other type of syllabus” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.204).

By reviewing some linguistics, pedagogical rationales as well as principles for the application of CBI in EFL context, we would like to propose some teaching models in which an English language instructor can be a content teacher or language competent content teacher can play the role of a language teacher or even a team teaching model. To put aside the issues of syllabus designs, material preparation, and classroom procedures, the benefit of CBI is enormous in terms of improving academic English language proficiency for non-English majored students.