Multilingualism and Equity
Beyond the Effectiveness Paradigm:
Exploring Inspirational Pedagogy for Bilingual
Students
Jim Cummins
The University of Toronto
“Making Multilingualism Meaningful”
conference,
London Metropolitan University
Multilingualism as the Stairway to Heaven
Overview
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Gabriel Budach question: What kinds of pedagogy are implied by the multilingual
realities of schools and classrooms?
We have increasing evidence that bi/multilingualism represents an advantage for
the individual, for families, and for societies, and yet we systematically ignore
this potential in the kind of instruction we implement.
Driven by an OECD-inspired “effectiveness discourse”, we implement “lowest
common denominator” transmission-oriented pedagogies within “English-only”
zone classroom spaces. Not only does this pedagogical orientation fail to
acknowledge multilingualism as an individual and societal resource, it constricts
students’ identity options and operates to reinforce coercive relations of power.
The presentation will try to articulate some essential features of an empiricallybased “inspirational pedagogy” for multilingual students. Inspirational pedagogy
extends classroom instruction beyond transmission and social constructivist
orientations into a transformative pedagogical orientation and creates
classroom spaces where power is being generated between teachers and
students.
Fundamental Principle
If you want immigrant and minority group students to emerge
from schooling after 12 years as intelligent, imaginative, and
linguistically talented, then treat them as intelligent,
imaginative, and linguistically talented from the first day they
arrive in school.
Rationale:
This implies rejecting the fatalism associated with attribution of
students’ underachievement to “SES” or “linguistic mismatch”. Instead,
policy and practice should focus on the ways in which student identities
are constructed (or constricted) in the curriculum and in the
interactions and relationships going on in school. Extensive researach
highlights the central role of these factors in students’ success or
failure.
Conditions for Promoting Literacy Engagement
among EAL Students
Literacy Attainment
↑
Literacy Engagement
↑
Scaffold
Meaning
(input and output)
↔
Activate prior
knowledge/Build
background knowledge
↔
Affirm
identity
↔
Extend
language
Literacy Engagement
What Is It?
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Amount and range of reading and writing;
Use of effective strategies for deep understanding of text;
Positive affect and identity investment in reading and writing;
Drawing on both the 1998 NAEP data from the United States and the
results of the PISA study of reading achievement among 15-year olds in
international contexts, Guthrie (2004, p. 5) notes that students
“…whose family background was characterized by low income and low
education, but who were highly engaged readers, substantially
outscored students who came from backgrounds with higher education
and higher income, but who themselves were less engaged readers.
Based on a massive sample, this finding suggests the stunning conclusion
that engaged reading can overcome traditional barriers to reading
achievement, including gender, parental education, and income.”
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC EXPERTISE
Teacher – Student
Interactions
Maximum
Cognitive
Engagement
Maximum
Identity
Investment
Focus on Use
Using language to:
Focus on Meaning
 Making input
comprehensible
 Developing
critical literacy
Focus on Language
 Awareness of language forms and uses
 Critical analysis of language forms
and uses
 Generate new
knowledge
 Create literature and
art
 Act on social realities
The Bilingual Advantage
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Marian & Kaushanskaya (Psychonomic bulletin and Review, August 2009)
English-Mandarin and English-Spanish bilinguals who had learned both languages
prior to schooling were compared to monolingual English speakers in how well they
mastered words in an invented language that bore no resemblance to English,
Spanish, or Mandarin. The bilingual participants “mastered nearly twice the number
of words as the monolinguals” (ScienceDaily,
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/05/090519172157.htm)
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Ellen Bialystok and colleagues (2006) in Toronto:
Examined age of onset of dementia (e.g., Alzheimer’s disease) in a population of
elderly people in seniors homes in Toronto;
For bilinguals/multilinguals the age of onset of dementia was 4 years later than for
monolinguals;
Conclusion: Using 2+ languages is good for your brain
Nested Pedagogical Orientations
Nested Pedagogical Orientations
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Transmission-oriented pedagogy is represented in the inner
circle with the narrowest focus. The goal is to transmit
information and skills articulated in the curriculum directly
to students.
Social constructivist pedagogy, occupying the middle
pedagogical space, incorporates the curriculum focus of
transmitting information and skills but broadens it to
include the development among students of higher-order
thinking abilities based on teachers and students coconstructing knowledge and understanding.
Finally, transformative approaches to pedagogy broaden
the focus still further by emphasizing the relevance not
only of transmitting the curriculum and constructing
knowledge but also of enabling students to gain insight into
how knowledge intersects with social realities and power
relations. The goal is to promote critical literacy among
students
The Effectiveness Paradigm
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The effectiveness paradigm focuses on transmitting curriculum content
and ensuring that students meet universal, one-size-fits-all standards
which are assess by standardized or state-developed tests;
The OECD PISA studies provide international comparisons of how well
different countries are doing both for the general population and 1st
and 2nd generation immigrants;
Typically, the recommended or mandated instructional approaches stay
within a transmission orientation with occasional forays into social
constructivism.
Monolingual (English-only zone) instructional approaches are assumed.
Neither bilingual education nor bilingual instructional strategies within
English-medium contexts are viewed as legitimate or feasible options.
PISA Data on First and Second Generation Migrant Student
Achievement
Christensen & Segeritz, 2008, p. 16
From Research to Problematic Interpretation:
Pathologizing the Home Language
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PISA (Stanat & Christensen, 2006): In both mathematics and reading,
first and second generation immigrant students who spoke their L1 at home
were significantly behind their peers who spoke the school language at
home. This suggested to the authors that insufficient opportunities to
learn the school language may be a causal factor in students’
underachievement. “These large differences in performance suggest that
students have insufficient opportunities to learn the language of
instruction” (Christensen & Stanat, 2007, p. 3).
Esser (2006) went further and argued on the basis of PISA data that “the
use of the native language in the family context has a (clearly) negative
effect” (p. 64). He also argued that retention of the home language by
immigrant children will reduce both motivation and success in learning the
host country language (2006, p. 34).
Emerging Policy Framework for Educating Immigrant
Children Based on OECD Data
A. Migration Policy Institute + Bertelsmann Stiftung
The Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and
Integration (2007)
B. Deborah Nusche: What Works in Migrant Education?
A Review of Evidence and Policy Options.
OECD Education Working Papers #22 (2009)
From Problematic Interpretation to Pathologizing Migrant
Students’ L1
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The Transatlantic Task Force on Immigration and Integration (2007)
articulated the policy implications of the PISA data and other research
syntheses as follows:
The reports recommend that lawmakers focus on policies that bring
children of immigrants into the education system by the age of three,
immerse them in the language of their host countries, provide language
support through both primary and secondary school within a clear
framework, and afford more flexibility to move between academic and
vocational education. (http://www.migrationinformation.org/transatlantic/)
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The unspoken logic here is that total immersion of immigrant students at a very
early age in the host country language will ensure cultural and linguistic
assimilation and get rid of the “problem” of children’s home language.
No mention is made of bilingual education as a credible or legitimate option.
Critique:
Home Use of a Language Other than the School Language is Not a
Cause of Underachievement
No relationship was found between home language use and
achievement in the two countries where immigrant students
were most successful (Australia and Canada);
Furthermore, the relationship disappeared for a large majority
(10 out of 14) of OECD-member countries when socioeconomic
status and other background variables were controlled (Stanat &
Christensen, 2006, Table 3.5, pp. 200-202).
The disappearance of the relationship in a large majority of
countries suggests that language spoken at home does not exert
any independent effect on achievement but is rather a proxy for
variables such as socioeconomic status and length of residence
in the host country.
Misinterpretation of the Interdependence Hypothesis
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Christensen & Stanat version (repeated verbatim by Nusche, 2009)
“Traditionally, the ‘interdependence hypothesis’ dominated research on
the effectiveness of language support. This hypothesis suggests that
students will only be able to become proficient in a second language if
they already have a good command of their first language. Although few
people today maintain the strict version of this hypothesis, the
assumption that first-language proficiency is a crucial prerequisite for
second-language acquisition is still widespread. Moreover, the empirical
support for this assumption is weak.” (2007, pp. 3-4)
Cummins version:
“To the extent that instruction in Lx is effective in promoting
proficiency in Lx, transfer of this proficiency to Ly will occur
provided there is adequate exposure to Ly (either in school or
environment) and adequate motivation to learn Ly.” (1981, p. 29)
Critique:
Bilingual Education Has Demonstrated Its Legitimacy as a Policy
Option for Promoting Academic Success for Minority Group
Students
“In summary, there is no indication that bilingual
instruction impedes academic achievement in
either the native language or English, whether
for language-minority students, students
receiving heritage language instruction, or those
enrolled in French immersion programs.
Where differences were observed, on average
they favored the students in a bilingual program.
The meta-analytic results clearly suggest a
positive effect for bilingual instruction that is
moderate in size.”
(Francis, Lesaux, and August 2006, p. 397)
Critique:
Bilingual Education Has Demonstrated Its Legitimacy as a Policy
Option for Promoting Academic Success for Minority Group
Students
F. Genesee, K. Lindholm-Leary, W. Saunders, & D. Christian
(Eds). Educating English Language Learners. (pp. 176-222). New
York: Cambridge University Press.
“[T]here is strong convergent evidence that the educational
success of ELLs [English language learners] is positively related
to sustained instruction through the student’s first language. ...
most long-term studies report that the longer the students
stayed in the program, the more positive were the outcomes”.
(Lindholm-Leary & Borsato, 2006, p. 201)
National Literacy Panel on Language-Minority Children and Youth
(2006)
Findings on Transfer and Linguistic Interdependence (Dressler & Kamil)
In summary, all these studies provide evidence for the crosslanguage transfer of reading comprehension ability in bilinguals.
This relationship holds
(a) across typologically different languages ...;
(b) for children in elementary, middle, and high school;
(c) for learners of English as a foreign language and English as a
second language;
(d) over time;
(e) from both first to second language and second to first
language; (p. 222)
What is “Inspirational Pedagogy”
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At its most intuitive level, it is the kind of instruction that you would
like your own children to receive K-12;
It will involve school and literacy experiences that students are likely
to remember throughout their lifetimes.
More specifically, inspirational pedagogy is characterized by:
 Classroom interactions that generate high levels of academic
engagement;
 Cognitive challenge supplemented by appropriate support to enable
students to succeed;
 Identity affirmation;
 Instruction that goes beyond just transmission of curriculum;
 Using language to (a) generate knowledge, (b) create literature and
art, and (c) act on social realities.
The Collaborative Creation of Power in One Classroom
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Lisa Leoni: Year 1 – Grade 7/8 mainstream class; Year
2 – Grades 4-6 ESL;
Large Muslim student population from Pakistan;
Lisa explored implementation of bilingual instructional
strategies as a way of enabling literacy engagement
from a very early stage of students’ learning of
English. In a “normal” classroom, it would be several
years before newcomer students could engage in
extended creative writing (in English).
Identity Negotiation in the Classroom
Lisa Leoni
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The way I see it everything has to relate to the identity of the
students; children have to see themselves in every aspect of their
work at school.
My overarching goal as a teacher is to uncover all that is unknown to
me about my students–linguistically and culturally, and especially to
understand the community they are part of (their parents, their
friends, their faith) and the list goes on. So when a student enters
my class, I want to discover all that I can about that student as a
learner and as a person.
For example, when Tomer entered my class last year, a lot of the
work he produced was in Hebrew. Why? Because that is where his
knowledge was encoded and I wanted to make sure that Tomer was
an active member and participant in my class. It was also a way for
me to gain insight into his level of literacy and oral language
development.
Tomer’s Identity Text
Tomer’s Words and Tomer’s Theory
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I think using your first language is
so helpful because when you don’t
understand something after you’ve
just come here it is like beginning
as a baby. You don’t know English
and you need to learn it all from
the beginning; but if you already
have it in another language then it
is easier, you can translate it, and
you can do it in your language too,
then it is easier to understand the
second language.
The first time I couldn’t
understand what she [Lisa] was
saying except the word Hebrew,
but I think it’s very smart that
she said for us to do it in our
language because we can’t just sit
on our hands doing nothing.
Rejection of “Bottleneck Theory of
English Language Acquisition” – the
BTELA states that: English will be
acquired more effectively when we
(a) restrict the input to what
learners can internalize through the
narrow bottleneck that is their
current level of proficiency in
English and (b) limit their cognitive
processes to what they can
currently express through English.
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Building on prior knowledge is a
central aspect of learning – if
students’ prior knowledge is encoded
in L1, then L1 must become part of
the instructional process;
Knowledge and skills transfer across
languages – teachers should
encourage and enable that transfer
rather than restricting it;
Kanta’s Words and Kanta’s Theory
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And how it helped me was when I came
here in grade 4 the teachers didn’t
know what I was capable of.
I was given a pack of crayons and a
coloring book and told to get on coloring
with it. And after I felt so bad about
that--I’m capable of doing much more
than just that. I have my own inner
skills to show the world than just
coloring and I felt that those skills of
mine are important also. So when we
started writing the book [The New
Country], I could actually show the
world that I am something instead of
just coloring.
And that's how it helped me and it
made me so proud of myself that I am
actually capable of doing something,
and here today [at the Ontario TESL
conference] I am actually doing
something. I’m not just a coloring
person—I can show you that I am
something.
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Multiliteracies pedagogy
constructs an image of the child
as intelligent, imaginative, and
linguistically talented; individual
differences in these traits do
not diminish the potential of
each child to shine in specific
ways.
Multiliteracies pedagogy
acknowledges and builds on the
cultural and linguistic capital
(prior knowledge) of students
and communities.
Multiliteracies pedagogy aims
explicitly to promote cognitive
engagement and identity
investment on the part of
students.
Conditions for Promoting Literacy Engagement
among EAL Students
Literacy Attainment
↑
Literacy Engagement
↑
Scaffold
Meaning
(input and output)
↔
Activate prior
knowledge/Build
background knowledge
↔
Affirm
identity
↔
Extend
language
PISA: Reading Engagement
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Data on the reading attainment of 15-year olds in 27 countries
showed that “the level of a student’s reading engagement is a
better predictor of literacy performance than his or her
socioeconomic background, indicating that cultivating a student’s
interest in reading can help overcome home disadvantages”
(OECD, 2004, p. 8).
The authors point out that “engagement in reading can be a
consequence, as well as a cause, of higher reading skill, but the
evidence suggests that these two factors are mutually
reinforcing” (p. 8).
THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC EXPERTISE
Teacher – Student
Interactions
Maximum
Cognitive
Engagement
Maximum
Identity
Investment
Focus on Use
Using language to:
Focus on Meaning
 Making input
comprehensible
 Developing
critical literacy
Focus on Language
 Awareness of language forms and uses
 Critical analysis of language forms
and uses
 Generate new
knowledge
 Create literature and
art
 Act on social realities
Culture Speaks
(Russell Bishop & Mere Berryman, 2006)
“A large proportion of the teachers we interviewed took a position from
which they explained Maori students’ lack of educational achievement in
deficit terms [i.e., Maori students themselves and their homes]. This gave
rise to low expectations of Maori students’ ability or a fatalistic attitude in
the face of ‘the system’, creating a downward-spiralling, self-fulfilling
prophecy of low Maori student achievement and failure.
In terms of agency, this is a helpless position to take, because it means
that there is very little any individual teacher can do about the
achievement of the Maori students in his or her classroom”. (p. 261)
“… Simply put, if the imagery held of Maori children (or indeed of any
children) and the resulting interaction patterns stem from deficits and
pathologies, then teachers’ principles and practices will reflect this, and
the educational crisis for Maori students will be perpetuated”. (p. 263)
Culture Speaks
(Russell Bishop & Mere Berryman, 2006)
Maori students, their families, and some educators adopted a different
perspective, focusing on “relationships and interactions”.
“Those who take this position are putting forward explanations based
on the power differentials and imbalances between the
various
participants in the relationships and focusing on how they
can and must
be managed better”. (p. 263)
“These narratives identify the various elements that make up and
establish effective learning relationships for Maori students.
They
involve the teacher creating a culturally appropriate and
responsive
learning context, where young people can engage in learning by bringing their
prior cultural knowledge and experiences
to classroom interactions, which
legitimate these, instead of
ignoring or rejecting them”. (pp. 264-265)
What Inspirational Pedagogy Might Look Like in a Late Primary
Classroom
Consider the teaching of Social Studies in the later grades of primary school:
let us suppose that we have students from Iran, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Somalia, China,
Korea, and Romania together with native English-speaking students.
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On a world map, indicate with pins of different colours the number of students
born in different countries (or the countries in which students’ parents were
born); do various maths calculations (e.g., percentages) on these figures;
Have students carry out language surveys of what languages they know, how well
they know these languages, and to whom they speak each language. Again, use as
a basis for work across the curriculum (e.g., maths). Similar surveys can be given
by students to their parents and even implemented across the school.
Write up a class report on the proportions of students in the class who speak
different languages or who were born in different countries, using both decimals
and fractions as well as pie charts, frequency graphs, and other forms of data
representation that can be generated by spreadsheet programs.
What Inspirational Pedagogy Might Look Like in a Late Primary Classroom
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Invite students, working individually or in groups, with parental support, to
prepare a presentation (e.g. on a poster or PowerPoint or some other electronic
medium) highlighting aspects of the history and culture of their countries of
origin;
Students engage with sister classes in carrying out a project entitled Voices of
Our Elders, in which they interview older people in their communities (e.g.,
grandparents) focusing on 3 questions: (a) What was your childhood and
schooling like? (b) Why and how did you come to the UK, and (c) What have you
learned in your life that you would like young people today to know?
Use Google Earth to “zoom in” on students’ countries of origin or on the cities in
which they or their parents were born;
Discuss the languages students speak and the different orthographies of these
languages (comparing, for example, Chinese, Korean, Tamil, and Roman scripts);
Have students write and web-publish poetry in multiple languages, starting from
whichever language is most comfortable for them. Students can collaborate with
each other and with community volunteers in translating poetry.
What Image of the Child Are We Sketching in Our Instruction?
What Kinds of Individual and Collective Identities Are We Sketching for
Ourselves as Educators?
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Capable of becoming bilingual and biliterate?
Capable of higher-order thinking and intellectual
accomplishments?
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Capable of creative and imaginative thinking?
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Capable of creating literature and art?
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Capable of generating new knowledge?
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Capable of thinking about and finding solutions to social issues?
A School-Based Choice Template for Planning Literacy Instruction
Instructional Options
Content
How do we adapt curriculum materials to link with students’ prior
knowledge and cultural background (e.g. purchase dual language books)
and also to promote critical thinking about texts and issues (e.g. whose
perspectives are represented in a text)?
Cognition
How can we modify instruction to evoke higher levels of literacy
engagement and critical thinking?
Tools
How can we use tools such as computers, digital cameras, camcorders, web
pages, etc?
Assessment
How can we complement mandated standardized assessments in order to
present to students, parents, and administrators a more valid account of
student progress? (e.g. a role for portfolio assessment?)
Language/Culture
What messages are we giving students and parents about home language
and culture? How can we enable students to use their L1 as a powerful tool
for learning? Can we increase students’ identity investment by means of
bilingual instructional strategies (teaching for transfer)?
Parental Involvement
How can we engage parents as co-educators in such a way that their
linguistic and cultural expertise is harnessed as fuel for their children’s
academic progress?
Current Realities
Where Are We?
Vision for the Future
Where Do We Want
To Be?
Getting it Done
How Do We Get
There?
Web and Book Resources
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www.multiliteracies.ca (Multiliteracies project – check Michael Cranny
school)
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http://thornwood.peelschools.org/Dual (Dual Language Showcase)
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http://www.curriculum.org/secretariat/archive.html (webcast on
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Teaching and Learning in Multilingual Ontario)
http://www.edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/manyroots/
(Many Roots, Many Voices)
Literacy, Technology and Diversity: Teaching for Success in Changing
Times (Jim Cummins, Kristin Brown, and Dennis Sayers; Allyn & Bacon,
2007)
(http://www.allynbaconmerrill.com/bookstore/product.asp?isbn=02053
8935X&rl=1)