Prof Jim Cummins

Jim Cummins is a Canada Research Chair in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching and Learning of the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on literacy development in multilingual school contexts as well as on the potential roles of technology in promoting language and literacy development. His recent publications include The International Handbook of English Language Teaching (Springer, 2007) (co-edited with Chris Davison) and Literacy, Technology, and Diversity: Teaching for Success in Changing Times (Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2007) (with Kristin Brown and Dennis Sayers).

Presentation

From Compound and Coordinate Bilingualism to Multicompetence and Multiliteracies: Challenging Dogma or Embracing Heresies?

During the past decade there has been a significant change in orientation regarding the relationships between L1 and L2 in second language instruction at both school and university level. While most policy makers and many practitioners still regard monolingual instructional approaches as synonymous with best practice, research and theorizing have increasingly highlighted the limitations of monolingual instructional strategies and the learning opportunities that emerge when bilingual instructional strategies are implemented and “translanguaging” encouraged.

The presentation will examine the roots of the ascendancy of monolingual instructional practices, the lack of research support for such approaches, and the diverse research and theory-driven initiatives that are fueling reconsideration of “best practice” in language teaching at both school and university levels. It will be argued that researchers, policy-makers, and teachers need to discuss the appropriate balance between encouraging active target language use in both oral and written modalities and ensuring that students are engaged to the full extent of their cognitive potential in learning across the curriculum.