· Born in Dublin, Ireland on July 3, 1949 and was educated in the Ireland public school system · Received his Ph.D in the field of Educational Psychology in 1974 from the University of Alberta · A professor in the Department of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto · Has served as a consultant on language planning in education to numerous international agencies · Awarded an honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City, in May 1997
2. Theoretical Orientation, The Major Theories, Studies and strategies for which Cummins is being credited
· One of the world’s leading authorities on bilingual education and second language acquisition · “Cummins began to change the language debate in ways that are now firmly ingrained, largely accepted and internationally acclaimed” (Baker) when he produced two papers between 1974 and 1975 · 1976 to 1978 Cummins was involved with the Canadian ‘Parent for French’ movement · Negotiated access to data from psychological assessments in a local school board, and uncovered evidence of discrimination against bilingual children · In October 2000, Empowering minority students: Framework for intervention” paper written in 1986, has made notable contributions to education Theories:
· SUP & CUP (The Separate Underlying Proficiency Model & The Common Underlying Proficiency Model) (1981) · Iceberg Theory (1981) · Due Icebergs Theory (1981) · Threshold Hypothesis (1981) · Two Paradigms of Bilingual Education (Skutnabb-Kangus, 1986) · Blaming the Victim (1989) · BICS and CALPS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills and Cognitive Academic Linguistics Proficiency Skills) (1981) · Length of Time Hypothesis (1981) · Zone of Proximal Development (1994)
3. Belief about literacy instruction
· Research Findings:
Ø Reading
1.Decoding skills are a necessary but not sufficient condition for reading comprehension development; many low-income students who appear to perform well on standardized tests in the early grades experience a “grade 4 slump” when reading comprehension rather than decoding becomes the primary focus of standardized tests of reading; 2.The most effective approaches to developing initial reading skills (decoding) are those that combine extensive and varied exposure to meaningful print with explicit and systematic instruction in phonemic awareness and letter-sound correspondences; 3.Systematic phonics instruction can enable second language learners to acquire word recognition and decoding skills in their second language to a relatively high level, despite the fact that their knowledge of the second language is still limited. These decoding skills, however, do not automatically generalize to reading comprehension or other aspects of second language proficiency; 4.The order in which reading is introduced in a bilingual program (L1 first, L2 first, L1/L2 together) is not, in itself, a significant predictor of reading development or academic progress; 5.After the initial grades, reading comprehension is predicted primarily by the amount that students actually read; extensive reading provides access to a wide range of vocabulary which has consistently been shown to be the strongest predictor of readability; psychometrically, vocabulary knowledge is virtually indistinguishable from reading comprehension.
Ø Bilingual Instruction
1.Instruction through a minority language a well-implemented bilingual program entails no adverse effects on academic development in the majority language (for either minority-language or majority-language L1 students); 2.Moderately strong relationships have consistently been reported between L1 and L2 academic development in bilingual programs both for cognate and non-cognate languages (e.g. Basque-Spanish) (the interdependence hypothesis); 3.Transfer of academic language skills can be two-way (from L1-L2 and L2-L1 – Verhoeven’s research); 4.Continued development of L1 and L2 through elementary school is associated with enhanced awareness of language and, to a lesser extent, increased cognitive flexibility; 5.For minority-language students, the most positive outcomes for L2 and L1 academic development have been reported in dual-language and developmental programs that promote L1 literacy throughout elementary school (e.g. Thomas/Collier research); 6.The primary causes of underachievement among marginalized students are rooted in coercive power structures in the wider society; reversal of underachievement requires that schools actively challenge the operation of this power structure; some “bilingual” programs may reinforce coercive power structures while some English-medium programs may challenge coercive power structures.
Ø Assessment
1.Standardized reading tests reflect decoding skills in the early grades and increasingly comprehension skills in later grades (3+); thus, early grade results are not necessarily a good indicator of later progress (the grade 4 slump); 2.High stakes testing can dramatically constrict instruction and reinforce “banking education” (Gándara, McNeil research) 3.Standardized (or non-standardized) English-only academic language measures will underestimate bilingual students’ academic progress and potential for at least 5 years after they start learning English; 4.Use of standardized verbal ability tests for special education diagnosis and placement has resulted in significant overrepresentation of bilingual and culturally diverse students in classes for handicapped students (e.g. “learning disability”) and under-representation of such students in classes for gifted and talented students; 5.When administered appropriately, standardized reading tests assess the same underlying academic language construct as more authentic measures such as cloze tests, miscue analysis, etc. 6.Teaching-to-the-test is likely to be much less effective in the long run than promoting
4. Seminal Works
· Significant Works:
Cummins, J. (in press). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Clevedon, England: Multilingual Matters
· Publications:
1. Cummins, J. (1999). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. (Greek Translation). Athens: Gutenberg. (ISBN: 960-01-0797-1). 2. Cummins, J. (1996). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education. (ISBN: 1-889094-00-5) 3. Cummins, J. & Sayers, D. (1995/1997). Brave new schools: Challenging cultural illiteracy through global learning networks. New York: St. Martin's Press. (ISBN: 0-7744-0430-2) 4. Cummins, J. (1991). Language learning and bilingualism. Tokyo: Sophia University (Sophia Linguistica Monograph, 29). (ISSN 0287-5357) 5. Cummins, J. & Danesi, M. (1990). Heritage languages: The development and denial of Canada's linguistic resources. Toronto: Our Schools/Our Selves and Garamond Press. (ISBN: 0-921908-05-9 [Our Schools/Our Selves]; 0-920059-69-4 [Garamond]) 6. Samuda, R.J., Kong, S.L., Cummins, J., Lewis, J. & Pascal-Leone, J. (1989). Assessment and placement of minority students. Toronto: C.J. Hofgrefe and ISSP. (ISBN: 0-88937-024-9 [hb]; 0-92113-01-3 [pb]) 7. Cummins, J. (1989). Empowering minority students. Sacramento: California Association for Bilingual Education. 8. Cummins, J. & Swain, M. (1986). Bilingualism in education: Aspects of theory, research and policy. London: Longman. (ISBN: 0-582-55380-6) 9. Cummins, J. (1984). Bilingualism and special education: Issues in assessment and pedagogy. Clevedon England: Multilingual Matters. (Co-published in USA by College-Hill Press). (ISBN: 0-905028-14-7 [hb]; 0-905028-13-9 [pb]). 10. Cummins, J. (1983). Heritage language education: A literature review. Toronto: Ministry of Education. 11. Cummins, J. (1981). Effects of French language experience at Kindergarten level on academic progress in French immersion programs. Toronto: Ministry of Education. 12. Cummins, J. (1981). Bilingualism and minority language children. Toronto: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, l98l.
1992 Los Angeles County Bilingual Directors Association Award
1990 English-Speaking Union's Duke of Edinburgh English Language Book Competition (highly commended) The development of second language proficiency. (B. Harley, P. Allen, J. Cummins, M. Swain [Eds.], Cambridge University Press, 1990).
Baker, Colin. An Advocate For Tolerance. A Biography of Jim Cummins. The Bilingual Family Newsletter. 2003, Vol 20 number 2. www.achievementseminars.com/seminar_series2005…/tesol.turkey.pdf