Challenges, Opportunities, and Choices in Educating Minority Group Students 1' Evolution of a Theore

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Challenges, Opportunities, and Choices in
Educating Minority Group Students1. Evolution
of a Theoretical Framework

• Jim Cummins
• The University of Toronto
• Hedmark University College, October 27, 2006

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Points of Departure

• Ireland in the 1950s, 1960s
• Focus on the revivial of Irish (Gaelic)
  compulsory school subject from age 4-18 coercive
  policies generated backlash the Language
  Freedom Movement in the mid-1960s
• Contrast between the success of
  bilingual/immersion programs and teaching the
  language as a subject

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Points of Departure

• Canada in the 1970s
• French immersion programs success being
  documented by extensive evaluation (grades K-1
  100 French grade 2 80 French grades 4-6 50
  French, 50 English)
• Bilingualism emerging as an asset not a problem
  or cognitive deficit
• Contrast between the success of
  bilingual/immersion programs and teaching French
  as a subject

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The Threshold Hypothesis (1976)

• Attempt to explain the research data concerning
  the effects of bilingualism
• The essential idea was that there may be a
  threshold level (or levels) of proficiency in a
  bilinguals two languages above which positive
  cognitive consequences occur but below which
  negative cognitive consequences occur.
• For example, if a student doesnt attain
  sufficient knowledge of the language of
  instruction to keep up with the academic and
  cognitive demands of school as he/she progresses
  to higher grade levels, then neither cognitive
  nor academic proficiency will develop adequately.

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The Interdependence Hypothesis (1978)

• 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.
• This hypothesis was an attempt to explain why
  students in French immersion programs, and other
  bilingual programs, did not suffer adverse
  academic consequences despite being educated
  through a second language. At least 50 of
  instructional time was spent through a minority
  language but academic progress in the majority
  language showed no negative effects.

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BICS and CALP(conversational fluency and
academic language proficiency)

• The Skutnabb-Kangas and Toukomaa (1976) study of
  Finnish-background students in Finland had
  identified a gap between the surface fluency of
  bilingual students and their performance on
  academic language tests.
• The reality of this distinction with respect to
  school policies and practices emerged in a study
  of 400 teacher referral forms and psychological
  assessments of immigrant students in Edmonton
  (Cummins, 1980).
• Re-analysis of data from the Toronto School Board
  showed that immigrant students required 5 years
  to catch up academically. This was much time than
  what was required to function well in everyday
  face-to-face situations.

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Example of Psychological Assessment Comment
PR (289). PR was referred in first grade by the
school principal who noted that PR is
experiencing considerable difficulty with grade
one work. An intellectual assessment would help
her teacher to set realistic learning
expectations for her and might provide some clues
as to remedial assistance that might be
offered. No mention was made of the fact that
the child was learning English as a second
language this only emerged when the child was
referred by the second grade teacher in the
following year. Thus, the psychologist does not
consider this as a possible factor in accounting
for the discrepancy between a verbal IQ of 64 and
a performance (non-verbal) IQ of 108. The
assessment report read as follows Although
overall ability level appears to be within the
low average range, note the significant
difference between verbal and nonverbal
scores.It would appear that PRs development has
not progressed at a normal rate and consequently
she is, and will continue to experience much
difficulty in school. Teachers expectations at
this time should be set accordingly.
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The Classroom Reality of BICS/CALP
The relevance of the BICS/CALP distinction is
illustrated in Vincents (1996) ethnographic
study of second generation Salvadorean students
in Washington DC. Vincent points out that the
children in her study began school in an
English-speaking environment and within their
first two or three years attained conversational
ability in English that teachers would regard as
native-like (p. 195). She suggests, however,
that this fluency is largely deceptive The
children seem to have much greater English
proficiency than they actually do because their
spoken English has no accent and they are able
to converse on a few everyday, frequently
discussed subjects. Academic language is
frequently lacking. Teachers actually spend very
little time talking with individual children and
tend to interpret a small sample of speech as
evidence of full English proficiency. (p. 195)
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How Do We explain the Academic Failure of Certain
Minority Group Students?

• Threshold and Interdependence hypotheses focus on
  cognitive/linguistic variables and therefore
  could only answer cognitive and linguistic
  questions
• John Ogbus work pointed to major differences in
  achievement between voluntary and involuntary
  minorities although the distinction is
  over-simplified, it did point to the influence of
  societal power relations
• Cummins (1986) proposed a framework for
  explaining the differential patterns of academic
  achievement across minority groups this was
  later expanded into the book Negotiating
  Identities Education for Empowerment in a
  Diverse Society (1996, 2001).

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COERCIVE AND COLLABORATIVE RELATIONS OF POWER
MANIFESTED IN MACRO-INTERACTIONS BETWEEN
SUBORDINATED COMMUNITIES AND DOMINANT GROUP
INSTITUTIONS ?
? EDUCATOR ROLE DEFINITIONS ?
EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURES
? ? MICRO-INTERACTIONS
BETWEEN EDUCATORS AND STUDENTS forming
an INTERPERSONAL SPACE within which
knowledge is generated and
identities are negotiated EITHER
REINFORCING COERCIVE RELATIONS OF POWER
OR PROMOTING COLLABORATIVE
RELATIONS OF POWER
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Instruction as the Negotiation of Identities

• In our interactions with students, we are
  constantly sketching a triangular set of images
•   (a) An image of our own identities as
  educators
• (b) An image of the identity options we
  highlight for our students
• (c) An image of the society we hope our students
  will help form.
• Our society needs all the intelligence,
  imagination, and multilingual talent it can get.
•  
• To what extent does our instruction permit
  culturally diverse students to use and display
  their intelligence, imagination, and multilingual
  talents?
•  

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What Image of the Child Are We Sketching in Our
Instruction?

• Capable of becoming bilingual and biliterate?
• Capable of higher-order thinking and intellectual
  accomplishments?
• Capable of creative and imaginative thinking?
• Capable of creating literature and art?
• Capable of generating new knowledge?
• Capable of thinking about and finding solutions
  to social issues?

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The Power of Choice

• Regardless of institutional constraints,
  educators have individual and collective choices
• in how they interact with students,
• in how they engage them cognitively,
• in how they activate their prior knowledge,
• in how they use technology to amplify
  imagination,
• in how they involve parents in their childrens
  education, and
• in what they communicate to students regarding
  home language and culture.

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THE DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC EXPERTISE
Teacher Student Interactions
Maximum Cognitive Engagement
Maximum Identity Investment

• Focus on Use
• Using language to
• Generate new knowledge
• Create literature and art
• Act on social realities

• 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