Crafting a Comprehensive Response
to Cultural and Linguistic Diversity:
A Perspective from the U.S.
FORUM
Centre for International Mobility and Cooperation
Helsinki, Finland
26.1.2012
Nancy L. Commins, Ph.D.
University of Turku 2011-2012 Fulbright Scholar
Guiding Questions
• How can we build on the opportunities that linguistic
and cultural diversity provide?
• What kinds of common understandings and
principles are needed to guide our work?
• How can knowledge about learning through two
languages enhance the way we structure
educational policies and programs?
Big Ideas
• Issues of linguistic and cultural diversity are
connected to larger issues of race, poverty and
prejudice
• Instruction organized with the needs of second
language learners in mind will benefit every student
in the classroom.
• Chances for success improve when all the adults in a
school (or system) share responsibility for the success
of all students
• The degree to which this can happen is dependent on
the vision and wisdom of school leaders
Reality of Linguistic & Cultural Diversity
• Learning through a second language is much
more than just “learning a second language”
• It is more challenging to teach students who are
learning through their second language
• When teachers and students come from
different cultural and language backgrounds,
there can be many misunderstandings in both
directions.
Bottom Line
The goal of all educators should be to
improve the academic achievement of
EVERY child in the school. The question
before every staff should be: “How can
we best organize ourselves and our
resources to meet the needs of ALL
students?”
Miramontes, Nadeau & Commins, 2011
Perspective Needed in the U.S.
Students who enter school speaking a
language other than English are not
broken.
THEY DO NOT NEED TO BE FIXED
RANGE OF PROGRAM STRUCTURES:
Programs for second language
learners can be placed on a
continuum, based on how much of
the students’ primary language is
used in instruction.
RANGE OF PROGRAM STRUCTURES IN THE U.S.
> All English Instruction
> Primary Language Support
Content Reinforcement / No Literacy
> Primary Language Instruction
Literacy Only
> Full Primary Language Foundation
Content & Literacy Instruction
Effectiveness?
Research shows that all of these program structures
include instruction in English and all can produce
academically proficient English speakers. HOWEVER
They vary in important ways
– The length of time it will take
– The extent to which teachers will need to modify
their instruction to make the curriculum
understandable to all students
– Students’ potential for lifetime bilingualism
How is academic
competence best
developed in linguistically
diverse settings?
First and Second Language Acquisition:
Common Underlying Proficiency
Surface Level
L2
L1
Common
Underlying
Proficiency
Adapted from Jim Cummins by John Hilliard, IRC
Learning through the Mother Tongue
Listening, observing, reading, and
imitating, doing
Speaking, writing, artistic expression,
physical movement, etc.
Deepen the Reservoir 
Strengthen the Pathways
Learning a Second Language Begins With
Representing What is Already Known
L2
Adding to the Reservoir Through a Second
Language
L2
TRANSFER
L2
Our Job As Educators
Fill the reservoir as
deeply as possible
Assure that students
are gaining concepts
and knowledge and
practicing higher
order thinking skills –
no matter the context
or the language used
to do so
Students Need To Be Able To
Talk about
Interact with
Act on
Read about
Write about
Connect to
Important Ideas
The figure at the end of the road represents academic bilingualism.
Emerging bilinguals are traveling on both pathways
Our role: Make sure students can get there.
Implication for Instruction:
Students benefit
when teachers
organize instruction
to help them take
what they know in
one language and
express it through
the other.
Critical Understanding
If we organize for the whole
school based on the
understandings that guide
instruction for ELLs
the blue pathway
then every child, regardless
of language background or
proficiency, would benefit.
Including highly literate
native speakers of the
dominant language!
Putting Linguistic & Cultural Diversity
At The Center Of The Work
Teaching & Learning in Linguistically & Culturally Diverse Settings
Lessons in
C1 Groups
Direct Instruction on Equity and Intercultural Competence
Homogeneous
Groups in L1
Lessons in
Integrated Groups
Exploring
Bilingualism
Heterogeneous
Groups
Lessons In
C2 Groups
Homogeneous
Groups in L2
Time to Practice Equity and Intercultural Competence
Sociopolitical Context - Global Issues
Developed by Nancy Commins,
Silvia Latimer & Sheila Shannon
A Contribution to the Evolving Dialogue
Putting Linguistic & Cultural Diversity
At The Center Of The Work
Engage in school-wide efforts
in which all adults share
in the decision making
& instructional responsibilities
for all students.
Underlying Assumptions
• Learning is a process of development that is both dynamic and
constructive.
• The primary language, developed in the context of social interaction, is
fundamental to the thinking, learning, and identity of every individual.
• Students’ first and second languages interact with each other. The
instructional opportunities students receive in each language will play a
critical role in determining their levels of bilingualism and academic
achievement in any language.
• Bilingualism is a cognitive, social, and economic asset for all people, and
schools can play a significant role in helping students from English and
non-English backgrounds develop full academic bilingualism.
• Individuals will need to function in a multicultural society. Students’
knowledge of their own culture as well as the culture of others is
important not only to their school performance but to their overall
success in life.
Underlying Assumptions
• The sociopolitical context has a direct impact on pedagogical decisions
about education. Educators’ underlying attitudes toward students’
families, cultures, and languages shape their instructional approaches
and can result in very different academic outcomes for students from
differing backgrounds.
• Schools can make a positive and significant difference for students
when educators account for the complex interaction of language,
culture, and context, and decisions are made within a coherent
theoretical framework.
• In all programs, there are ways to organize even limited resources to
optimize student achievement. The most effective programs for
linguistically diverse students result from a decision-making process
that involves a total school community.
• These assumptions hold true for all students, set the vision for the
entire school, and provide the foundation for Organizing Principles (see
Chapter 2).
Organizing Principles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Active learning
The primary language foundation
Learning through two languages
Strategies and contexts for second language development
Standards-based differentiated instruction
Instructional assessment
Sociocultural and political implications
Parents and community
Intercultural competence
School-wide process for decision making
Take A Moment To Reflect
• How does this mindset interface with the
initiatives already in place in Finland?
• How can these understandings be used to
improve outcomes for students?
• How can these understandings be more
explicitly incorporated into educational
policies and practices?
• What are the implications for research?
Possible Topics For Further Discussion
• The best way to move forward with
these understandings in mind
KIITOS
Danke Thank you ً‫شكرا‬
Merci Gracias
շնորհակալեմ
naleco@utu.fi