CLD Conference Presentations
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Academic Presentations (alphabetical order by first author)
Academic Advisory Committee of Hinoki International School, & Eastern Michigan University Diverse learners in TESL programs: A case study of teacher learning
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Each individual student’s success is the main agenda for schools. School programs that are committed to caring, developing, and engaging all students at all levels are crucial for inclusion. A key part of that commitment is to secure, maintain and develop diverse students and communities that can help us meet the continually evolving needs of our society. Research was undertaken at Hinoki International School, a two-way English-Japanese immersion school, to investigate educational processes, pedagogy, and implementation. Findings offer insights for educating globally competent citizens. This presentation shows video-recorded daily school life to demonstrate how students, parents, teachers and the school itself are empowered within the environment of the school and English-Japanese language community in Michigan, USA.
Themistoklis Aravossitas Empowering Heritage Language Education through Sister Class Networks 
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Canada is often acknowledged globally as a multicultural nation, where multilingualism is celebrated and promoted. At the educational level, the country’s non-official tongues, also known as Heritage or International languages (HL), are primarily sustained by community organizations that operate without any substantial financial and institutional support. Educators and administrators of HL community-based programs face various challenges of organizational and pedagogical nature. My action research study explores the pedagogical implications of online learning networks on Heritage Language Education. Having initiated the involvement of a Toronto-based Greek HL program in a sister class project, I present the experiences of students and teachers, from different parts of the world, who collaborated during a school year and were rewarded for their efforts with a visit to their parents’ homeland. The classes involved used Jim Cummins’ Pedagogical Framework for Second Language Learning in the context of Computer-Supported Sister Class Networks, as they engaged in synchronous and asynchronous language activities. Through systematic observation and analysis of the participants’ reflections, the paper demonstrates ways of empowering heritage language education and creating opportunities for authentic and effective language use, thus addressing some of the main challenges for HL learners.
Naghmeh Babaee Bilingual development and social identity construction of Iranian heritage language learners in Canada
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The way people understand themselves and are viewed by others impacts their activities (Holland, Lachicotte, Skinner & Cain, 1998). Educational researchers have found that teachers and students assign, claim, and reject identities in relation to other teachers and students in mainstream and bilingual educational contexts (Goldstein, 2003; Harklau, 2000; Lee, Hill-Bonnet & Raley, 2011; Reeves, 2009). While previous studies have contributed to an understanding of identity negotiation in educational contexts, little research has been performed on potential impacts of students’ identity negotiations on their language use patterns at public schools. To address this gap, this study, part of a larger critical case study, focused on identity negotiation and heritage and English language use patterns of six Iranian immigrant students in public schools in Canada. Data were collected through in-depth, semi-structured interviews, descriptive and reflective field notes, and the participants’ journal writing. Results revealed that the students avoided using Farsi at public schools because of the English only policy of the school and peer pressure. Moreover, according to the students, it was more convenient for them to speak English, rather than Farsi. They, however, strategically used Farsi at public schools to claim powerful identity positions vis-à-vis non-Farsi speaking students by deliberately excluding them from conversation. Recommendations for public school teachers and policy makers to foster bilingual development and identity construction for immigrant students are presented at the end.
Stephen Bahry EQAO and Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test 2013 as a Window on Toronto High Schools’ Language Ecology
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This paper examines Toronto high schools’ language ecology. Data is drawn from the EQAO 2013 (n.d.) Grade 10 Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test. Information is provided about Toronto high schools in terms of students’ first language other than English, home language use, OSSLT success/failure rates and students’ English literacy practices. Schools are divided into types by student language/literacy characteristics and juxtaposed with each other and Hulchanski’s (2008) socioeconomic zones, and data on other education variables (TDSB, 2006; McAndrew et al., 2010). This provides a tentative picture of Toronto’s high school ecology of language and literacy. Cummins conversational/academic proficiency distinction and interdependence hypothesis suggest L1 academic proficiency supports L2 academic proficiency, and would predict (ceteris paribus) that schools where non-English L1 students also have L1 academic proficiency, L2 (English) academic proficiency and OSSLT pass rates would be relatively strong. We can identify schools with a) high non-English L1 student composition; 2) high non-English or mixed home language use; 3) high frequency and range of English literacy practices; and 4) high OSSLT scores. In such schools, we may hypothesize an association with home and/or school support for L1 conversational and academic proficiency, and additive bilingualism. Such schools would be fruitful sites for further investigation of home and school language practices.
Ann Burke Apples & Apps: Using Multiliteracies to Connect Children, Teachers and Community through Digital Tools and Tablets
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In the past few years there has been a massive uptake in mobile phones, net books, digital slates (iPods, playbooks) and other handheld computing tools (iPod touch, kindle readers). These digital tools have extended to some of the very youngest of children. However, while these tools and engagements grow in their ubiquity, it is perceived that these new mobile tools do not offer children anything much more than social networking and gaming (Burke & Marsh, 2013; Marsh, 2010; Rideout, 2011). This presentation focuses on a one- year study in which an identified literacy challenged school and neighborhood after-school program worked together to build and enhance a grade 3 classroom digital skills (Barton & Hamilton, 1998; Cope & Kalantzis, 2000; Lankshear & Knobel, 2006; Burnett & Merchant, 2011). The paper will look specifically at how the teacher implemented a multiliteracies pedagogy to engage new digital learning for both the children and parents in the school community.
Adolfo Arrieta Carrascal A case study of EFL Teachers’ positional identities at Universidad de Sucre
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This paper presents some preliminary findings of a case study on EFL teachers’ positional identities in classroom discourse. The participants were two teacher educators and their students in a foreign language program in a public university in Sincelejo, Sucre, Colombia. The main purpose of this study was to interpret the way teachers’ positional identities emerged in the co-creation of learning opportunities, inter-subjective positioning, and imagined identities. Autobiographies, classroom observation, and focus groups were used to gather the data. The data was analyzed and discussed using a complex analytical framework which combined micro and macro discourse analysis of classroom discourse (Bucholtz & Kira, 2005; Christie, 2002; Gee, 2000). Preliminary results show the emergence of teachers positioning is highly influenced by institutional identities underwritten by the National Bilingual Policies and by Global pedagogical practices turned into karaoke pedagogies. Affective positioning is also important in students’ investment and in building their imagined identities (Cummins, 1996; Norton, 2000; Ushioda, 2009). Pre-service and in-service teachers should assume a more critical pedagogical positioning in classroom interaction so that their identities can be critically authored by themselves.
Ivy Chan The Promotion of International Education and International Languages Programs in the 21st century – Challenges and Solutions
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In a global educational environment that increasingly directs students and staff to look beyond the classroom, the district, and one’s own country, the promotion of International Education programs and International languages is gaining momentum and significance. One of the challenges in this exciting development is finding ways to engage students who are from very diverse cultural, linguistic and educational backgrounds. Some of the students have benefitted from cutting-edge Differentiated Instructional strategies and technology-assisted learning; some have thrived under more traditional teaching methods; some are more comfortable with activity/discovery based learning; and some require a more formal learning environment. All are desperate to succeed and do well. Faced with these challenges, teachers and administrators strive to find creative solutions that will engage all students with various intelligences and learning styles to maximize their educational experience. Through video clips and staff and student stories, this presentation shares one administrator’s journey and seeks to engage the audience in finding relevance to their particular teaching environment and ways that will enhance it.
Roma Chumak-Horbatsch Creating Identity Texts with Young Immigrants Children: Success and Challenges
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This presentation shares preliminary findings from a collaborative action research project called Linguistically Appropriate Practice or LAP (Chumak-Horbatsch 2012). The study was conducted in a unique Toronto full day Kindergarten School located in a high-density area inhabited by immigrant families speaking 26 different languages. Broadly defined as products of students’ creative work or performances (Cummins & Early 2011) identity texts are situated in the LAP study within the Literacy Engagement framework that highlights personal and academic long-term benefits of engaging children in meaningful print and book experiences. Using select LAP activities, classroom teaching teams set the stage for orchestrating identity texts with children by creating multilingual pedagogical spaces and validating children’s home languages. While some invitations to create identity texts such as bilingual name cards, dual language greeting cards, and labeling in the home language were met with enthusiasm, many children were unwilling to participate, leaving teachers both surprised and unsure of how to proceed. This reluctance, explained as age-specific and directly related to young children’s cognitive-linguistic capabilities, tells us that our understanding of identity texts is incomplete and that teachers need ongoing support as they implement this pedagogical tool.
James Corcoran & Tiffany Ng The Use of Monolingual and Bilingual Pedagogies in the Foreign Language Classroom: Examining Teacher Perspectives
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First language (L1) use in the Second/Foreign language (L2) classroom has long been a polemic issue in both academic and practitioner discourses. While some of the most frequently employed teaching methods over the past decades have suggested that target-language-only instruction is beneficial to language learning, much research has discredited monolingual (e.g. English-only) instruction by outlining the myriad benefits of bilingual pedagogies (Cook, 2001; Corcoran, 2011; Ng, 2012; Wei, 2011). Despite these findings, many monolingual instruction methods continue to prevail in second/foreign language (SL/FL) classrooms. Our research examines the underlying factors behind teachers’ decisions to use monolingual or bilingual instruction within two FL teaching/learning contexts: English as a Foreign Language in Brazil and Chinese as a Foreign Language in Canada. Interview data reveals clear parallels between contexts in the factors contributing to teacher decisions to use L1-only or a mix of L1 and L2 in their FL classrooms.
Jim Cummins, Rahat Naqvi, Burcu Yaman Ntelioglou, Jennifer Fannin, Mike Montanera, Jennifer Carey, & Alison Brooks School Improvement in a Multilingual Urban Context: The perspective of Students, Teachers Administrators and Parents
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This paper will present findings from a Collaborative Inquiry Project in an inner city elementary school. We will be sharing students’, teachers’, administrators’ and parents’ perspectives on better serving multilingual students in an inner city elementary school. At the time of the project this school had a large population of recently arrived Roma students, who were experiencing serious language, literacy and social challenges. Working collaboratively with elementary students as well as their parents and their teachers (mainstream and library teachers), the goal of this project was to employ research-based pedagogical strategies and parental involvement activities that aimed to support language and literacy learning and to foster parental and community engagement. More specifically, two collaborative projects were developed. The Multilingual and Multimodal Approach to Literacy Teaching and Learning Project focused on the ways in which drama and new technologies might facilitate the production of multilingual identity texts. The second project was entitled Parental Engagement in Multicultural Awareness. As part of this project, parents wrote stories based on their own life experiences and shared these stories with each other and with their own children and other students from the school. The implications of the pedagogical approaches we adopted, along with language planning and overall school improvement, will be discussed.
Diane Dekker Understanding the difficulties of dominant-language submersion in the Philippines through Cummins’ Interdependence Hypothesis: Insights for Canadian and North American schools
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Academic researchers typically investigate locally situated problems in order to provide classroom teachers with suggestions for improving instruction to better meet the needs of learners. Research conducted in Western contexts is often applied broadly around the globe, though not typically contextualized to fit other situations, which often results in unforeseen difficulties. One example of broad implementation of highly valued Western practices is immersion education, seen as a best practice for developing second language proficiency. The implementation of immersion methodologies in the Philippines has not produced the same results as those reported in Canada. Thus immersion education is often reclassified as submersion education in the literature, indicating a lack of specific second language immersion pedagogies. This paper will examine possible reasons for the outcomes of immersion education in the Philippines and how theory may be more practical for identifying local second language teaching practices. Several of Cummins’ theories contribute well to planning education approaches in developing contexts like the Philippines. In particular, the Interdependence Hypothesis and the BICS/CALP differentiation provide a strong framework from which to develop appropriate classroom practices while addressing positive identity development among learners, teachers and whole communities. Toronto teachers will benefit from understanding the educational system in the Philippines in order to better understand their Filipino immigrant students’ English language proficiency.
Allyson Eamer Promoting Bilingualism in the Elementary School Classroom
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This paper represents one teacher’s effort to promote the value of linguistic diversity in an elementary school classroom through an integrated program that covered provincial curriculum requirements for three different subject areas (Ministry of Education 2005, 2006, 2013). Given the well-documented need to maintain the first language (L1) while learning English (Cummins, 1980, 1989, 1994), and the mounting evidence of the cognitive benefits of bilingualism (Bialystok, 2001), the teacher (who is also the author of this paper) strived to promote pride in the ability to speak more than one language. The program was taught over a 4 week period in a classroom of 27 children, 21 of whom had a language other than English as their L1. A pre and post-program survey was conducted to gauge the extent to which bilingual and monolingual children valued bilingualism. The results, which were analyzed by the students themselves as part of the math curriculum requirements, indicated that bilingual students were less impacted by the program than were the monolingual students, with only slight differences in their responses to the two surveys. The monolingual students, on the other hand, showed significant increases in their understanding of the value of being able to speak two or more languages.
Hana El-Fiki The Role of First Language in Second Language and Literacy Development: Insights from Arabic/English Transitional School Programs
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Research has highlighted the centrality of students’ prior knowledge to their subsequent learning. In the development of second language (L2) and literacy skills, students’ first language (L1) is seen to provide a platform upon which they can rely in their learning. However, the use of target-language-only approaches to teaching is a common practice in the field. This paper highlights the role the L1 plays in the development of L2 and literacy skills for linguistically and culturally diverse school-aged learners. It is based on an Ontario school program evaluation project lead and supervised by professor Jim Cummins of the University of Toronto, in 2010. The program is an elementary-level transitional plan that meant to provide students with opportunities for literacy development in both English and Arabic while relying on their home language (Arabic). The evaluation aimed to assess students’ progress in English and Arabic literacy skills; the perceptions of various stakeholders of the program as being successful; and identify related challenges. I begin with an overview of the literature on the facilitative role L1 may serve in L2 teaching and learning; describe the projects’ assessment tools and procedures; then discuss the findings which confirm the additive aspects of bilingual education and multi-literacy. Finally, the paper presents implications to teachers, school administrators, teacher educators, parents and students.
Danielle Freitas Diverse learners in TESL programs: A case study of teacher learning
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Despite a growing number of diverse trainee teachers learning how to teach in pre-service teacher education programs, intensive introductory TESL training courses are still designed to instruct a “standard” type of trainee teacher. This research investigates how three diverse trainee teachers learned how to teach English during such a course in Southern Ontario, Canada. Using a qualitative holistic single-case study, this study explores the factors that mediated these trainee teachers’ learning process as well as the how these factors influenced one another, either facilitating and/or hindering trainee teachers’ success during the course. An integrated conceptual framework, formed by a sociocultural perspective of teacher learning, a holistic view of curriculum, and a transformative pedagogy, was employed as a lens through which these trainee teachers’ learning was more thoroughly understood. Findings include how trainee teachers’ past learning experiences and beliefs, their prior teaching experience, and their classroom learning and practice mediated their learning process as well as how these factors interacted, facilitating and/or hindering their success during the program. A more inclusive holistic TESL curriculum, oriented by a transformative pedagogy, which creates a personal space where teacher educator and trainee teachers negotiate their identities and generate knowledge, is suggested.
Antoinette Gagné, & Stephanie Soto Gordon Learning about Self and the World beyond: Canadian Teens in School-Based Cultural, Religious, and Social Justice Clubs
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Although there is considerable research on the impact of student involvement in school clubs (Kort-Butler& Hagewen, 2012; Knifsend & Graham, 2012; Bohnert, Fredricks, & Randall, 2010; Darling, Caldwell & Smith, 2005; McNeil, 1998), there is very little on the topic of involvement in cultural or religious and social justice clubs. One of the primary goals of school clubs is to facilitate social interactions among the students who join (Darling, Caldwell, & Smith, 2005). Fitzgerald-Gersten’s (1998) research highlights the value of cultural clubs as a strategy to break down barriers and to promote understanding between English language learners (ELLs) / immigrant students and mainstream students whereby they create a context which nurtures an exchange of social, academic, and cultural information. Our exploratory multiple case study focuses on the nature of adolescents’ experiences in cultural, religious or social justice clubs, and the effect of club participation on identity (Wenger, 1998) and intercultural citizenship development (Bennett, 1998; Byram, 2006 & 2011) in several Toronto area secondary schools. We will explore the nature of these empowering intercultural encounters and their related themes including relationship building across cultures, honoring one’s roots, dealing with discrimination, and social justice.
Esther Geva Cross-linguistic Transfer in L2 Reading and its Implications
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Cross-language transfer has been a central theme in the study of L2 language and literacy development (Geva, in press). Definitions of L1-L2 transfer vary in the extent to which they emphasize innate vs. acquired, cognitive, and developmental aspects, and attention to facilitating or debilitating outcomes of L1-L2 similarities and differences. Basically, two cross-language transfer frameworks dominate the field – the Contrastive or typological framework (Lado, 1964), and the linguistic interdependence framework (Cummins, 1981). Most studies on L1-L2 transfer can be placed in one of these frameworks. In the presentation I will describe briefly the core features of each of the two frameworks and demonstrate how cross-language transfer and the relationship to literacy development have been conceptualized in a number of recently published studies of L2 literacy development. These studies were conducted in various educational contexts, and involve different language combinations and age groups. Conclusions will offer a comprehensive model that demonstrates the relevance of each of these two transfer frameworks, as well as the importance of considering development, cognition, and additional contextual factors for a better understanding of L2 literacy development.
Frances Giampapa Building Inclusive Communities for Change: Researching Multilingual, Multiliterate Identities in a Bristol Early Years Nursery School
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In the 21st century, the effects of globalization can be seen across the educational landscape of urban schools through the increase of linguistic & cultural diversity, which has resulted in both pedagogical challenges and opportunities. Within an educational climate of increased standardized testing for literacy attainment, schools are being challenged to rethink what forms of literacy to teach and the pedagogical options that are most appropriate for teaching a linguistically and culturally diverse student body (Early, 2007, Giampapa, 2010). There is an abundance of research across the literacy field (Blackledge, 2000; Cummins et al. 2005; Martin-Jones & Jones, 2000; Pahl & Rowsell, 2005; Street, 2000;) that have problematized the disjuncture between literacy practices that are valued in schools and the out-of-school literacies and identities that students and their families engage in. This paper will report on preliminary critical ethnographic research findings from a Reggio-Emilia inspired nursery school in Bristol. Drawing data from interviews, classroom observations and school documents, I will show how teachers and staff are making pedagogical and assessment choices that foregrounds EAL students’ creativity, their families’ linguistic and cultural resources to open up opportunities for learning within an inclusive educational community.
Cynthia Grant Jim Cummins’ Legacy in Schools: Promoting Practices in Support of Negotiating Identities
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Jim Cummins once said that, “human relationships are at the heart of schooling”. Cultural Proficiency is defined as an inside-out, transformational approach to social change, whereby courageous conversations and interactions between educators and all equity-seeking students can occur. Drawing from her dissertation, Grant explores the means by which young people ‘voice’ their preoccupations with their cultural identity through creative expressions, in particular, transformative moments in their own lives. Her case studies discuss the ways in which young people use creative expression in performance and poetry as a means of meaning-making and critical reflection dealing with the tensions associated with cultural mismatch. The investigation considers both the creative works and their life narratives in an interdisciplinary framework that unpacks how, through the creative process, matters of individual and cultural group identity are surfaced, examined and, possibly, reconciled. Through creative expression, young people may navigate the contradictory experiences of multiple worlds of home, school and peers (Phelan, Davidson & Yu, 1993), of discriminatory experience and/or the consequences of migration in a global landscape. It sheds light on the pedagogical possibilities for positive intervention as youth ‘negotiate identity’ in school settings and elsewhere.
Lesley Harbon, Robyn Moloney, & Ruth Fielding Expanding Inclusive Pedagogy to Embrace the ‘Intercultural Turn’: Preparing Pre-service Language
Since Cummins’ (1986) notion of “empowering inclusive pedagogies” highlighted integration of students’ background languages and cultures through the school curriculum, language teachers now acknowledge that classroom pedagogy is key to language teaching and learning success. In our research with pre-service language teachers we have examined classroom questioning techniques in a process we have termed “expanding inclusive pedagogies”. We propose that teachers of culturally and linguistically diverse students not only need to build students’ first language literacy, but also need to build their own questioning techniques resulting in all students becoming intercultural ‘investigators’ through inquiry. These processes result in students knowing more about first and second language and culture. Classrooms can become contexts where all students’ cultures and subjectivities become valued contributions to inquiry. The purpose of this presentation is to share findings arising from a project that explored teacher training in intercultural questioning and effects on student learning relating to how to construct themselves and others through discourses they use and encounter. Teachers examined examples of the I.R.E turn, exploring where classroom interaction patterns were either fostering or inhibiting the intercultural stance. Concurrent Verbal Reporting (Bowles, 2010) with pre-service teachers during training and reflective journaling shed light on whether and how the teachers were able to learn to construct an intercultural classroom discourse, thereby expanding inclusive pedagogies.
Sherry Hassanali Jim Cummins, Negotiating Identities and Peace Education at Thinkers Lodge
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“Human relationships are at the heart of schooling” (Jim Cummins) “Establishing peace is the work of educators” (Maria Montessori) The irrefutable wisdom of these two internationally renowned scholars, Jim Cummins and Maria Montessori are the foundations upon which the Thinkers Lodge Peace Institute Program is built. Now in its fourth year, the Thinkers Lodge Peace Institute Program (PIP) was inaugurated in 2011 and specializes in “teaching teachers” (and other educators) how to inspire students in their own classrooms, schools and communities to actively engage in the peace process. These Institutes, held on-site at Thinkers Lodge National Historic Site in Pugwash, Nova Scotia, are aimed at Graduate-level students (in-service teachers). Through holistic, critical deconstruction and exploration, students are challenged to understand the concept of peace by actively engaging in authentic, hands-on, reflective, participatory experiential learning. Using numerous modalities of learning, a multitude of proficiencies are “mastered”, thereby creating a new space for these teachers to become empowered change-agents who are then catalysts for significant, positive and peaceful social change. Sherry will share the success of this unique peace institute, which has now become part of the International Pugwash legacy that began in Nova Scotia with Cyrus Eaton, Bertrand Russell, Albert Einstein, and Joseph Rotblat in 1955.
Lilian Hatano, Atsuko Koishi, Junko Majima, Kazuko Nakajima, Daisuke Onuki Educating Minority Language Children in Japan
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This presentation consist of three topics. These include 1) reporting on a 5-year research project on Chinese and Vietnamese children in Japanese primary schools from the perspectives of JSL (Japanese as a second language) and heritage language education; 2) addressing the secondary school children of temporary workers from South America in two Brazilian schools in Japan. The authors used Identity Text approach in studying students’ attitudes toward the three languages and their writing skills: Portuguese (home language, for most of the students), Japanese (local language) and English (international language). In Brazilian schools, they use Portuguese as a medium of instruction and learn Japanese and English as school subjects; and 3) discussing the deaf education in Japan in connection with the contributions made by Jim Cummins through his two special lectures in Japan as well as his writings.
Sreemali Herath Field-Based Placement as a Space for Transformative Critical Inquiry in Pre- Service Teacher Education
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This presentation focuses on how pre-service English language teachers used their field-based placements as a space for transformative critical inquiry that changed their school communities. Cummins’ (2009) nested pedagogical orientations, depicts how a transformative approach to pedagogy goes beyond transmitting the curriculum and constructing knowledge, to enable students to gain insight into how knowledge intersects with power. Such an approach to pedagogy uses collaborative critical inquiry to enable students to analyze and understand the social realities of their own lives and of their communities. Drawing on data from a narrative case study conducted in post conflict Sri Lanka, this paper discusses how English language teacher candidates in three teacher education programs, took action to transform their school communities. Their actions ranged from dealing with issues related to poverty, social justice, intercultural awareness, and the aftermath of a war as it was felt in local schools. The teacher candidates implemented the projects with the collaboration of the wider school community. The presentation concludes with a discussion on how field-based placements in pre-service teacher education can provide a mediational space for prospective teachers to understand and analyze the social realities of their communities and take action to transform them.
Xu Hou Construction of Teaching Principles in the Context of Post-method Era of English Teaching in China
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The concept of “post-method” is an effort to challenge the traditional understanding of language teaching and learning that some methods must work more effectively than others. Post-method pedagogy maintains that English teaching and learning should be an open and complicated system consisting of multiple factors such as social, cultural, political, educational dimensions, thus no single method is perfect. However, de-construction of method is only an initial step; how to construct English teaching and learning processes in the post-method era is a more important issue. This research aims to construct teaching principles in the context of the post-method era of English Teaching in China, using both qualitative and quantitative methods. The research consists of three phases —Phase 1 is a quantitative research of a nation-wide-scale survey by means of teacher questionnaire and student questionnaire to form a general picture of English teaching in China; Phase 2 employs a qualitative method to construct teaching principles based on data analyses from Phase 1 to guide English teaching practice and Phase 3 is a practice of those teaching principles in Phase 2 and by means of teacher and student questionnaire, interview and teacher’s self-evaluation scheme, it is hoped to further improve the teaching principles.
Ju Huang, & Shijing Xu Language Diversity Issues Faced by Mongolian English Teachers
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Cummins (2012) proposes that literacy concepts in L1 and L2 are interdependent and “academic knowledge transfer across languages” (p. 29). Despite attention is given to minority language issues in China (Zhou, 2000), limited research has been conducted on the language diversity of Mongols in Northwest China. Two models of Bilingual Education are popular in Mongolian schools. In Model 1, the medium of instruction is Mongolian except science-related courses; In Model 2, the instructional language is Mandarin and students take the Mongolian literacy course. In both models, English is taught as a foreign language, which is not tested in ‘Gaokao’, the National Higher Education Entrance Examination. How to balance the development of minority language, English and Mandarin of minority students is a concern (Postiglione, 2009; Bai, 2008. Cummins (2000) argues that only a ‘transformative’ based pedagogy will be appropriate to develop language skills and high levels of academic achievement. Furthermore, providing support to bilingual English teachers is important to develop education quality in minority areas. Narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) will illuminate the ways in which we are able to better understand a Mongolian beginning English teacher’s lived experiences in a multilingual and multicultural context in Northwest China.
Janette Hughes & Laura Morrison Two Halves of a Whole: Exploring Bi-cultural Identity Using a Multiliteracies Pedagogy and Social Media to Improve Ells’ Language and Literacy Skills
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Our study examined the impact of using the social networking site [SNS] called Ning to aid in language acquisition and literacy development for adolescent English Language Learners [ELLs]. Using a mixed methods research approach of qualitative case study analysis and quantitative surveying, our research investigated the relationship between a multimodal pedagogy, including the Ning, and the development of ELLs’ identities, acculturation and subsequently, their English language and literacy skills. More specifically, the study answered the following research questions: (a) How does the use of a multiliteracies pedagogy and the Ning in the classroom potentially transform teaching and accelerate ELLs language-learning and the development of their literacy practices? (b) How are English Language Learners’ bi-cultural identities shaped and performed as they use multimedia and social networking tools in the classroom? Our study found a strong correlation between the development of a bi-cultural identity and social presence in the classroom and the development of an ELL’s language and literacy skills. Most notably, the study also found that social networking sites and the use of a multi-literacies pedagogy accelerated the aforementioned, as these allowed ELLs to express themselves and connect with peers faster than with traditional literacies where stronger reading, writing and speaking skills would have been required.
Frida Jonsdottir, & Kirstin Vilhjalmsdottir Celebrating Linguistic and Cultural Diversity of Young Children and Their Families Living in Reykjavik
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During the past few years Icelandic society has changed from being more and less homogenic into a country with significant cultural and racial diversity. Nineteen percent of the children in Reykjavík’s preschools have international dimensions in their lives and many of them speak two or more languages. The first multicultural policy for Preschools in Reykjavík was published 2001 and has since then developed and focused increasingly on celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity with a newly published policy on language and literacy where the goal is active bilingualism. Reykjavik City Library runs several multicultural projects where the goal is to promote awareness of the positive values of cultural and linguistic diversity in our society based on the IFLA Multicultural Library Manifesto. In our presentation we will focus on the main goals of the preschool’s policy and how projects based on celebrating linguistic and cultural diversity have been developed and brought into practice in cooperation of the Department of Education and Youth and The City Library. The main goal of our work is to work closely with teachers and NGO’s, developing ways to make every child and parent welcome into the preschool’s society by valuing different language- and cultural background.
Ahmed Kandil Diglossia and the Bilingual Mind
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The presenter will tackle two discrete areas that may seem wide apart, the first area is diglossia and the second concerns some of Dr. Jim Cummins’ contributions such as the threshold hypothesis (TH), the common underlying proficiency (CUP), and the distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) (Cummins & Mulcahy, 1978; Cummins 1996, 2000b, 2001). First, the presenter will shed light on the diglossia phenomenon and give some examples of diglossic languages. Then, he will present the above mentioned contributions of Dr. Jim Cummins. Finally, he will highlight an unchartered research area where researchers could investigate if diglossia may have a positive impact on the cognitive skills of speakers of diglossic languages in a way that is similar to the cognitive and academic advantages that balanced bilinguals have over monolinguals, as indicated by Dr. Jim Cummins’ threshold hypothesis (TH) and the common underlying proficiency (CUP) of bilinguals. Even though both concepts (i.e. the TH and CUP) were introduced by Dr. Cummins in a bilingual (versus diglossic) context, the presenter will delineate that these concepts do have a place of investigation in diglossic communities, e.g. in the Arab world.
Julie Kerekes, Alison Brooks, Yulia Smirnova, & Christopher Harwood Internationally Educated and Canadian Educated Teachers in the Greater Toronto Area: How employable are they?
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As part of a study on sociolinguistic factors influencing internationally educated professionals’ (IEPs’) employment trajectories in Ontario, this paper analyzes 23 interviews of internationally educated and Canadian-educated teachers (IETs and CETs). Bourdieu’s theory of symbolic capital (1989, 1991) and Kerekes et al.’s (2013) investigation of (dis)trust among IEPs inform the discussion of participants’ efforts to improve their opportunities. Participants reveal contrasting experiences, resultant ideologies, and emergent perspectives on living and working or seeking work in Canada. IETs’ challenges include: English language ability; (lack of) previous Canadian work experience; navigating the complexities of Canadian licensing and hiring processes; and their newcomer identities. The topic of (dis)trust emerged in descriptions of their previous belief that their professions were prioritised in the Canadian job market, and subsequent discovery that, in spite of having taken steps to improve their English language skills and upgrade their teacher qualifications after having immigrated, many remain unemployed. Findings reveal the negative impact that current immigration and employment policies and practices have on many IEPs, as well as contrasting perspectives of employed and unemployed IETs and CETs. The findings raise important implications for critical teacher education (Cummins in press), as a way of breaking the cycle of educational disadvantage.
Poh Wee Koh, Mark Sinke, Xi Chen, & Jim Cummins Examining the Bilingual Literacy Development of English Language Learners (Ells) Enrolled in an English- Mandarin Bilingual Program
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Research findings suggest that bilingual school programs facilitate development of both L1 and L2 of ELLs (e.g. August & Shanahan, 2006). This longitudinal study examined the development of linguistic abilities of ELLs enrolled in the Transitional Mandarin Bilingual Program initiated by the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board. Students in the program receive approximately equal amounts of instruction in English and Mandarin. Non-verbal ability, phonological awareness, oral language proficiency and word reading skills were measured in ELLs in the program (from Senior Kindergarten to Grade four) over a period of 3 years. Longitudinal comparisons showed that ELLs made significant improvements in all English skills measured as well as Mandarin character reading, morphological and syntactic skills. Analysis of covariance was used to assess the performance of participants as compared to a group of students of similar backgrounds who attend a monolingual English program and Chinese heritage classes, controlling for length of residence in Canada. Overall, participants’ performance was comparable to the comparison group on all English measures and most Mandarin measures, with the exception of Mandarin character reading, where the participants performed significantly better. Findings are discussed in terms of the benefits and suitability of dual-language programs in promoting L1 and L2 linguistic development.
Vasilia Kourtis-Kazoullis, Giannis Spantidakis & Aspa Chatzidaki From “Sister Classes” to Global “Communities of Learning” in the Greek Diaspora: Theory and Practice
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Jim’s Cummins theoretical frameworks have served as the foundation for programs of the Ministry of Education in Greece dealing with second language learning or have influenced them in some way through the involvement of academics (e.g. projects dealing with Immigrant and Repatriate students, Muslim students, Roma Students and Greek-language learners in the Diaspora). Since 1995 he has visited Greece many times where he has worked closely with academics and educators on issues of literacy development for culturally and linguistically diverse students. This paper will briefly outline this activity and will focus on one example of how Jim Cummins’ theoretical frameworks have been put to effect. Τhis paper will present an electronic learning environment designed to enable the teaching and learning of Greek language and history among pupils (K-12) who attend various forms of Greek-language education worldwide. This European Union-funded project is run by the Centre of Migration and Intercultural Studies of the University of Crete, and is supervised by the Greek Ministry of Education.
Ajit Kumar Mohanti & Minati Panda Moving from Bilingual to Multilingual Education in Linguistically Diverse Societies: Challenges and Issues
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As bilingual education (BE) gets appropriated in linguistically complex societies in form of Multilingual Education (MLE), its principles and explanatory tools (like ‘balanced bilingualism’, CALP-based cross-linguistic transfer and categorical distinctions between monolingual, bilingual and multilingual proficiency) need to be revisited with emerging insights from multilingual societies as in Asia and Africa. Recent programs of mother tongue based multilingual education for indigenous children in India, Nepal and other countries underscore the need for alternate views of the pedagogic principles for effective MLE. Intervention strategies in our MLE Plus program for tribal MT children in Odisha, India will be discussed to show that innovative pedagogic practices founded on children’s cultural knowledge and community engagement in oracy and literacy activities bring in new perspectives to understanding of the principles of MLE. We argue that effective classroom learning and development of multilingual proficiency in programs of MLE must go beyond some limitations of the theory and practice of BE and cease to be promoted as a marked model for education of the linguistic minorities only. Further, within-classroom linguistic diversity in complex sociolinguistic conditions calls for innovative applications of the principles of BE, redefining the relationship between child’s mother tongue and other languages in MLE.
Sunny Lau, Betty Kreuger, Bonita Juby-Smith, & Isabelle Desbiens The ABC’s of Children’s Rights: A Bilingual Critical Literacy Project With 3rd Graders
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The presentation describes a school-university research project in engaging third-graders in exploring the issue of children’s rights in their English and French second language classes. Committed to critical pedagogy (Kincheloe, 2008), the project aimed to foster students’ critical capacity in thought and in action. Through partnership with a university/community education project, students exchanged letters with Burmese migrant students in Thailand, and together with a range of other experiential learning activities, students came to understand what children’s rights are and appreciate the importance of justice, peace and compassion because not all children around the world are equally enjoying these rights. Through hybrid language practices (Manyak, 2001) and translanguaging (García, 2012), students were engaged in learning activities that mobilize their first and second language and cognitive resources in critical discussions of what fairness, social rights and responsibilities mean to them. Their inquiry resulted in the publication of their own abecedary about the conventions of children’s rights. The book launch offered them a platform to reach out to their community to raise people’s awareness of the issue. Preliminary findings show students’ increased sense of empathy and self-efficacy for social change, and level of bi-literacy engagement.
Samuel Lefever & Robert Berman Immigrant Secondary School Students In Iceland: Languages, Education and Socialization
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Immigrants in Iceland are less successful in secondary school than native Icelandic students, whereas in other Nordic countries such variance is not as pronounced. To help explain immigrant students’ overall lack of success in Icelandic secondary schools, the present study examines their perceptions and attitudes related to the languages they speak, to their academic success or lack thereof, to peer and family pressures and relationships, to employment opportunities and to future goals. We analyze rich information gleaned from in-depth interviews undertaken with 21 young Polish and Filipino adults, selected through snow-ball sampling, who currently attend secondary school in both urban and rural Iceland, as well as those recently graduated or dropped out.
Jia Li, & Jingjing Jiang Effects of Annotated Videos of Peer Example – Debates on English Language Learners Learning of Academic Vocabulary: An Intervention Study
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It typically takes five to seven years for English language learners to catch up to native-speaking peers in the aspect of academic language skills (e.g., Collier, 1987; Cummins, 1981a, 1981b). As a results, limited academic language skills can significantly affect ELLs’ ability to learn content area knowledge and their overall school success. We argue that technology including social media has a great potential in providing many possibilities for ELLs to improve their learning, given our recent studies with linguistically diverse urban students, which results indicate that ELLs are more interested in technology to learn literacy skills than their native English-speaking peers and they particularly preferred to use YouTube for learning, compared to using Facebook, Twitter and text messages (Li, Snow, Jiang and Edward, in press). This paper reports on an intervention study that was based on Word Generation, a literacy instruction model that enhances urban students’ academic vocabulary learning across content areas (Snow, 2008). Using annotated videos, our intervention aims to help students learn debate on a topic of their interest using academic words. The video clips of example debates of 8th graders provide a sort of virtual coach to their peers in grade 6, mostly ELLs with weaker literacy skills, to learn critical academic words in meaningful ways inside and outside the classroom via YouTube and Vimeo. The results showed that the intervention enhances students’ learning motivation and supports their mastery of the debate genre that ultimately enhance their learning of vocabulary. Video clips of debates will be demonstrated in the presentation, and instructional strategies will be discussed for integrating the intervention in the ESL classroom.
Jia Li & Ann LeSage How Academic Language Skills Intersect With Mathematics Performance? Empirical Evidence and Pedagogical Suggestions For English Language Learners
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The results from the first international Survey of Adult Skills have shown that Canadians aged 16 to 24 scored below the average in literacy (ranking 14 of 21) and numeracy (ranking 15 of 21) as compared to other participating countries (OECD, 2013). Meanwhile, 42% and 48% of students in Grades 3 and 6 in Ontario did not meet the provincial standard for reading and mathematics respectively, and many of these students are English language learners (EQAO, 2013). Educators believe that there is a possible correlation between language proficiency and mathematics achievement. Limited language skills can be barrier for students to understand instruction, effectively develop learning strategies and seek assistance. The distinction by Cummins (2000) about language skills between “basic interpersonal communicative skills” (BICS) and “cognitive academic language proficiency” (CALP) highlights the varyin amounts of cognitive demand and contextual support in learning tasks. More specifically, limited academic language skills can significantly affect students’ ability to understand word problems as well a encode and represent mathematical information, which in turn, can gravely impact their future success more advanced mathematics (e.g., Dowker, 2009; LeFevre et al., 2010; Kleemans, Segers & Verhoeven, 2011). This paper reviews empirical studies that investigate the relationship between ELLs’ mathematic and academic language skills. Pedagogical recommendations are made to address ELLs’ limited and specific language and literacy skills that may influence mathematical knowledge development.
Jia Li, Zheng Zhang & Kevin Mooney Transnational exploration of multiliteracies education: Canadian and Hong Kong university students in Faculties of Education connected through open educational resources
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Adopting the multiliteracies framework (New London Group, 1996), this presentation reports on a project that integrates new technologies and literacy into curriculum to “prepare students for successful civic participation in a global environment” (International Reading Association [IRA], 2009, n.p.) by establishing a new international partnership between the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) and the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). Over 80 Canadian and HK students participated in the project. Data are collected using a survey and discussions through an online platform and their class assignments using multimodal technologies. This presentation will address if the project is effective in 1) enhancing the Canadian and Hong Kong students’ skills in using, repurposing, and creating high quality OERs to transform multiliteracies education; and 2) creating a social networking platform for the students to share cross-cultural learning and teaching experience and cater to their diverse needs and interests in multiliteracies education. Pedagogical suggestions will be recommended.
Sunny Lau “I am what I speak”: Promoting Affirming Attitudes Towards Linguistic Diversity Using Language Portraits
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Research on adult education and teacher training (Ball, 2003; Busch, Jardine, & Tjoutuku, 2006; Kearney, 2003; Kinginger, 2004) shows that engaging adult learners or teachers in writing language biographies and/or language portraits helps them rediscover and valorise their linguistic resources, enhances their metacogntive skills in reflection of language acquisition and practices, and fosters a more positive attitude towards multilingualism. Recounting biographies on language practices that are necessarily tied to different power relations helps deepen participants’ understanding of the sociopolitical dimension of language learning and practices (Busch, Jardine, & Tjoutuku, 2006). This presentation describes an exploratory study with 27 student teachers to find out the extent to which language portraits (Prasad, 2010) — the mapping of one’s language and cultural make-up on a body template — help improve their self-understanding towards language and identities, and their critical reflection on their attitude towards linguistic diversity. While analysis is ongoing, preliminary findings will be presented and the potential of such a visual mode of language biography will be further discussed. Audience may have a chance to do their own language portrait if time permits.
Alice Meyers A Critical Review of Official Policies, Documents, Guidelines, Related to First Nations Language Education in Ontario
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Ontario is home to one-quarter of Canada’s Indigenous population (Glenn, 2011, p. 6), a demographic both younger and growing five times faster than the non-Indigenous population (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2009, p. 8), creating pressure on institutions to make education “accessible and relevant”(Battiste, 2008, p. 498). In 2004, Hill reported little support for First Nations (FN) language teachers in “adhering to provincial curriculum policy” (p. 16). A critical analysis of the Ministry of Education’s (2001) Native Languages Curriculum corroborates demands on teachers to “accommodate the distinctive features” of the language taught (p. 22). A review of this document, Ontario College of Teachers (2013) Native Language teacher certification, and language of instruction policies form the bulk of the poster. Also included, a critical analysis of issues such as a culturally appropriate FN language curriculum, recognizing a growing number of bi-‐‐ dialectal/bilingual speakers of First Nations English Dialects (Peltier, 2011, p. 128), a demographic sharing features with ‘emergent bilinguals’ in the U.S., where resources of linguistically diverse students remain undervalued, despite proven cognitive and economic advantages of ‘additive bilingualism’ (Cummins, 1989; Miramontes, Nadeau & Commins, 2011, p. 14). Incorporating plurilingualism (Piccardo, 2013) could benefit FN classrooms, sites for exerting language rights and building identity (McCarty, 2008, p.161).
Ai Mizuta Mandarin bilingual program debates: Who gets to be bilingual in 21st century Metro Vancouver?
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Despite the long history of Chinese immigration in British Columbia, it was not until recently that the school boards introduced early start Chinese bilingual programs in Metro Vancouver. However, the programs do not accept students whose first language is Mandarin. In fact, they only accept students from English speaking households. This paper examines the discourse of parents’ group that advocated for English speakers only program, public debates, as well as the program policies that exclude Chinese speakers from the program. These texts reveal the desirability of Mandarin language use as an added value for English speakers, creating an idealized bilingual Mandarin/English speaker whose mother tongue is English. However, at the same time, they carefully exclude from the proposed program any kindergarten age children whose mother tongue is Mandarin. The parents group even positions Mandarin speakers as the other to whom their children will speak, but outcasts from their program as those who should learn English only. This double tongued discourse that idealizes multilingualism for English speakers while simultaneously devaluing the multilingualism of ESL speakers has been a common discursive feature in the debates about heritage language education in Canada and the U.S (Cummins, 1996; Cummins & Danesi, 1990).
Dolana Mogadime Teacher Education Students Studying the Life And Work of Jim Cummins as a Bridge Toward Becoming Advocates for Social Change
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Novice Teacher Education students (in the early phase of their concurrent education program) need to understand the life and work of an educational advocate for social justice (Sachs, 2003). Jim Cummins is such a person. For the past 11 years I have taught courses in diversity and equity studies to mostly white undergraduate and graduate students in the Niagara Peninsula – who may not have had exposure to culturally diverse communities but will likely end up working within these settings, given the growing diversity among the Canadian population. To mediate that identified gap, the topics of my lectures often incorporate teacher’s life stories (and the personal/professional connections in teaching). The approach invites education students to delve into the meaning and importance of teacher agency among educators who work in diverse settings. By introducing Jim’s life and work, teacher education students can envision themselves as similarly taking up an interest in social inequality concerns (along new lines or those that consider multiracial and linguistically diverse students). I also share my own development as an educational researcher working on a project during my doctoral research that was informed by Jim’s work (Mogadime, 2011, 2012). Both Jim’s “Empowering minority students: an intervention framework” (Cummins, 2001) and the theory to practice approach it insists upon, highlight the productive possibilities for teachers interested in developing curriculum that will support diverse learners. As such Jim challenges teacher education students to become more socially aware of their responsibilities to develop engaging curriculum that supports the positive life chances of linguistically and culturally diverse learners.
Marte Monsen A Critical View on the Norwegian Reading Test System in Light of Student Diversity
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Research into second language reading suggests that linguistic factors, as well as cultural and discursive factors, can predict the proficiency with which reading is mastered in the second language (Bialystok, 2001; Cummins, 1991; Grabe, 2009; Koda, 2004). Researchers have also highlighted the fact that standardized reading tests developed for majority students cause bias when they are used in the testing of students from linguistic or cultural minority backgrounds (August, Francis, Hsu, & Snow, 2006; Willis, 2008). Against this background, this paper discusses the current test system in Norwegian schools. The Norwegian reading tests have a range of functions, e.g. informing the national school authorities about Norwegian students’ reading competency and being a pedagogical tool for teachers. In many areas of Norway, the test results at each school are made public. Since the reading tests are mandatory with strict rules for exemption, even students with very little Norwegian training participate, many of them with poor results. This leads to bad publicity for areas where the majority of students have immigrant backgrounds. My research into the grade-eight teacher teams at three different schools also shows that teachers find it difficult to make use of the test results, since they don’t know what they indicate.
M. Kristina Montero, & Stephanie Ledger Examining How an Early Reading Instructional Intervention With Non- Literate and Semi-literate Adolescent Refuges Can Respond to the Cultural Needs of Non-dominant Populations
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Secondary school teachers who work with refugee youth must transform and extend their pedagogical repertoire to include a greater emphasis on literacy development, including foundational literacy skills (e.g. phonological awareness, print directionality, and alphabetic principle) (Dooley, 2009; Woods, 2009). Examining adolescent refugee students’ English language and reading development when their teacher adopted an early reading instructional framework, Montero, Newmaster, and Ledger (under review, 2013) documented an average reading level increase of 8.3 levels compared to 1.2 levels in a non-intervention group. Knowing how to read and write are required life skills to succeed in a society that privileges print-based literacy; however, focusing on adolescent refugee students’ early reading skills is insufficient because their needs run deeper and teachers’ responsibilities wider (Woods, 2009). To understand how reading level attainment can be understood alongside criticisms of pedagogy that deculturalize non-dominant populations (Spring, 2012), we analyze the classroom practices of a teacher who adopted an early reading instructional framework with her adolescent refugee students enrolled in an English Literacy Development program through the lenses of funds of knowledge (Moll, Amanti, Neff, & Gonzalez, 1992) and culturally responsive pedagogy (Gay, 2010). We will report on the observational data of classroom practices collected during the five- month early reading instructional intervention.
Rahat Naqvi, Aaron Mason & Sarah Soltesz Developing Metalinguistic Awareness within Emergent Spanish Bilingual Programs
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Historically, French Immersion pedagogy has impacted bilingual programs including strict segregation of learning by language and subject. Dual-language space that explicitly compares and contrasts languages has not been considered the best pedagogical practice, and translation or code switching is often seen as a threat to second language growth (Cummins, 2000). The proposed presentation examines one urban primary Spanish bilingual program, and highlights challenges faced in light of current research. It emphasizes the need to move away from the monolingual solitude assumption (Cummins, 1979; Cummins, 2005; O’Duibhir & Cummins, 2012; Garcia & Sylvan, 2011). Drawing upon developing theory on integrated models of language learning, ie. the strongly supported view of language-as-a-resource (Escamilla & Hopewell, 2009) and the counterbalanced approach to language learning (Lyster, 2011), we discuss the need to inform practice around evolving bilingual pedagogy and literacy acquisition. We highlight the learning potential associated with the theory of linguistic interdependence (Cummins, 2001), and recognize metalinguistic awareness as being central to the learning process (O’Duibhir & Cummins, 2012). Providing students with strategic mini-readings of dual language books, and displaying languages on the interactive whiteboard so that comparisons can be made as a class, develop students’ sophisticated metalinguistic awareness. This supports not only strong second language learning, but also enhances students’ knowledge of their first language.
Rahat Naqvi, Aaron Mason & Sarah Soltesz Developing Metalinguistic Awareness within Emergent Spanish Bilingual Programs
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Historically, French Immersion pedagogy has impacted bilingual programs including strict segregation of learning by language and subject. Dual-language space that explicitly compares and contrasts languages has not been considered the best pedagogical practice, and translation or code switching is often seen as a threat to second language growth (Cummins, 2000). The proposed presentation examines one urban primary Spanish bilingual program, and highlights challenges faced in light of current research. It emphasizes the need to move away from the monolingual solitude assumption (Cummins, 1979; Cummins, 2005; O’Duibhir & Cummins, 2012; Garcia & Sylvan, 2011). Drawing upon developing theory on integrated models of language learning, ie. the strongly supported view of language-as-a-resource (Escamilla & Hopewell, 2009) and the counterbalanced approach to language learning (Lyster, 2011), we discuss the need to inform practice around evolving bilingual pedagogy and literacy acquisition. We highlight the learning potential associated with the theory of linguistic interdependence (Cummins, 2001), and recognize metalinguistic awareness as being central to the learning process (O’Duibhir & Cummins, 2012). Providing students with strategic mini-readings of dual language books, and displaying languages on the interactive whiteboard so that comparisons can be made as a class, develop students’ sophisticated metalinguistic awareness. This supports not only strong second language learning, but also enhances students’ knowledge of their first language.
Maria Claudia Petrescu & Rena Helms-Park Successful Minority Language Retention: The Case of Three Canadian-born Romanian-English Bilingual Children
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Preserving immigrant children’s first language is important for the children’s overall personal and educational development (Cummins, 2000; Garcia, 2003). However, little is known about what factors lead to harmonious bilingual development (De Houwer, 2009). The present study investigates the conditions under which a first language (Romanian) can be maintained and the impact that L1 has on the children’s proficiency in the L2 (English) during preschool years. For the purposes of charting development or attrition, language proficiency was assessed in Romanian and English through separate measures of lexical (PPVT and Romanian-adapted PPVT), syntactic (picture-story based instruments), phonological (CTOPP and Romanian-based CTOPP) abilities, and more holistically through evaluations of the children’s communicative competence in everyday conversations. The results demonstrate that all three children continue to develop their minority language along with the majority language. However, the lack of schooling in Romanian leads to slow progress in terms of academic Romanian vocabulary and possibly in terms of Romanian narrative skills. Therefore, providing academic minority language exposure may enhance and maintain minority language. Two years of schooling in English narrows the gap between the children and their monolingual counterparts, with children mostly showing English language skills on par with those of the monolingual children.
Gail Prasad Looking beyond the Mirror through a Plurilingual Prism: A Comparative Study of the Creation of Plurilingual Identity Texts as a Research Methodology with Children in Toronto’s English and French Schools
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While there has been a mounting call for greater research over the last decade concerning culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) learners in Canadian schools, little comparative research has been conducted across English, French immersion and French-language minority school models. Inspired by the concept of Lahire of the “plural actor” (2011) and growth studies on plurilingualism in schools (Coste, 2005; Dagenais & Moore, 2008; Garcia, Barlett & Kleifgen 2007; Gerin- Lajoie , 2008; Moore, 2006; Zarate, Levy, & Kramsch , 2008), this study engages children as co- researchers of their plurilingualism. Through a 4-month intervention in 4 English and French schools in Toronto, students documented their plurilingual and multicultural experiences using a variety of multimodal methods including digital photography and iPads, reflexive drawing (Molinie, 2009), and collage (Butler- Kisber , 2010). In addition, students collaborated to create plurilingual “identity texts” Cummins & Early 2011). Arts-inspired methods were used to allow children to express their views without being limited to the language of schooling (Molinié, 2009; Auger, 2010), and to scaffold the co-construction of knowledge. This study aims to support an inclusive pedagogy for plurilingual learners across English and French schools (Ontario Ministry of Education, 2009).
Hanna Ragnarsdóttir Ethnic minority teachers in Icelandic schools: Opportunities and challenges
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The paper examines findings from interviews with ethnic minority teachers in preschools and compulsory schools in Iceland conducted in 2011-2013. The study applies a narrative approach, where the teachers reflect on their experiences of teaching and teacher education in Iceland and in their countries of origin. The theoretical framework includes writings on the development of multicultural learning communities (Banks, 2007; Nieto, 2010). Issues such as equal rights for participation, equal access and opportunities for teachers and students in school settings which are diverse in terms of ethnicities, languages and religions (Gundara, 2000; Reid & Santoro, 2006; Schmidt & Block, 2010) will be addressed. The lenses of critical multiculturalism (May, 1999) will be applied in order to understand power and conflict within these settings, and how obstacles for inclusion can be eliminated with new visions and structures for school communities. The findings indicate that although the teachers have faced various challenges in Iceland, related to first languages, Icelandic, educational experiences, pedagogical issues and prejudice, they have all had the opportunities to flourish in their schools. This study is part of a group project being carried out by members of the Diverse Teachers for Diverse Learners network with funding from the NordForsk Researchers Network.
Alan Russette A Case Study of Pedagogical Practices and Learning Environment in an Ontario Francophone Childcare Centre
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To attend Francophone elementary schools, non-Francophone children must demonstrate an acceptable proficiency in French. This leads parents to enroll their children in Francophone child care centres in order to become sufficiently proficient in French to pass the admission interview. This case study explores the learning environment in an Ontario Francophone child care centre where the majority of children were Anglophone. Relying on Cummins’ (1989) Minority Empowerment Framework and Lyster’s (2007) Counterbalanced Approach to Second Language Teaching, the study investigated how Franco-Ontarian culture and linguistic character are reinforced in this child care centre; how language instruction was integrated into activities; and what supports were in place to assist non-Francophone children. Over ten weeks, the researcher observed day-to-day practices employed by Early Childhood Educators in the centre and observed interactions between staff and the children. The researcher documented specific language-related events, and conducted interviews with the staff of the child care centre and one parent. The researcher found that the centre promoted a culture of acceptance, rather than strictly reinforcing Franco-Ontarian culture; the centre’s interpretation of Emergent Curriculum meshes well with Lyster’s (2007) Counterbalanced Approach; and that gestures, repetition, and praise were used with all the children, regardless of language background.
Hetty Roessingh Conversations And Sophisticated Vocabulary Input for Young ELLs
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K – 3 classroom practitioners generally do not provide sufficient sophisticated vocabulary input to advance the academic language proficiency of English language learners (ELLs). This leaves many ELLs linguistically vulnerable as they transition into upper elementary school years. This presentation focuses on teacher led academic conversations and their potential to enhance language learning in the mainstream class setting.
Jennifer Rowsell Being Cindy Sherman: Enacting Multiliteracies through Photography
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This presentation will feature data from a SSHRC Insight Development grant across international sites focusing specifically on a visual arts project that took place over 6 weeks in two high schools in the Niagara area. Based on the interpretative photographic methods of Cindy Sherman, the presentation looks at how teenagers mediate self and their lived experiences through visual effects. Drawing on multiliteracies and multimodal theory, I will analyze photographs as applying design principles to produce identity texts (Cummins, 2011). For my presentation, I will talk through the conceptual photographs and how they were done by youth in the style of Cindy Sherman because of her artistic ways of interpreting the roles and representations of women in society. The project spanned several weeks during the autumn of 2013, starting with sessions on Cindy Sherman by the visual arts teacher and a colleague. Data for the study include: pre- and post-interviews, researcher observational field notes, and documentary data (i.e., photographs and written reflections about the process and final products including an artist’s statement and student journals). For my presentation, I will examine visual and linguistic data as signaling different sorts of thinking processes and what these shifts in modes imply about teaching and learning practices.
Rogério Tenório de Azevedo New Literacies in Pro Evolution Soccer
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This paper argues how video games encourage the gamer to engage in new literacies practices. Based upon the findings of Gee (2003), Lankshear & Knobel (2011), and Squire (2011), we studied the soccer video game called Pro Evolution Soccer that virtualizes the most played sport in Brazil. We want to identify the literacies necessary to play and understand such game and to achieve this goal we allowed four students to play video games at a public school, where we observed how the gamers overcome the obstacles of the game. In preliminary conclusion we found that soccer video games demand immersion and engagement of the gamer and that soccer games carry out a range of principles such as cooperation, challenge, competition, and customization that can help teacher improve their teaching practices. Many of the learning principles that emerge from video gaming have relation could and should be applied to schools.
Mark Sinke “What’s this called in your language?” – Examining the Complex Negotiation of Identities in the English Language Classroom through Student Life Histories
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Experiences in the English-as-a-second language programs of the public education system are extremely complex and intricate encounters with direct implications for the academic and social trajectories of students from minority language backgrounds (Cummins, 2001). When young former refugees from Liberia were resettled in Canada and entered their new school environments, they immediately encountered an environment of assumptions and generalizations. Through the creation of life histories, these students related the complex and varied ways that they negotiated their placement in English language classes (despite being first language speakers of English), and their engagement with the social and educational context of Ontario public secondary schools. The relatively small sample of four Liberian students that shared their life histories in this project represents within themselves the extremely diverse backgrounds and experiences of the larger group of students that inhabit the ESL classroom. The complex ways that they negotiated their identification as either learners or experts in different contexts and in varied ways present educators with valuable insights into the mindsets and motivations of students in similar circumstances.
Geri Smyth Linguistic Diversity – Forgotten Resource for Teachers in Scotland
Clea Schmidt Language as an Asset, Language as a Barrier: Opportunities and Challenges for Internationally Educated Teachers (IETs)
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Critical action research undertaken with graduates of an academic and professional bridging program for IETs in Manitoba reveals a complex interplay of challenges and opportunities with respect to language for employment purposes. Data collected with IETs employed in full-time teaching positions suggests they have contributed to the education of diverse learners and enriched their school communities with a variety of plurilingual approaches. On the other hand, IETs still seeking permanent work have continued to face a number of barriers, including linguistic discrimination on the basis of perceived English proficiency, devaluing of heritage and international languages in the public school system, and challenges in acquiring French, which IETs have been told will make them more “marketable”. Cummins’ work on collaborative relations of power and multiliteracies guides the analysis, and implications for policies and programs are discussed.
Elaine Schmidt Journey of Professional Learning: Supporting a Conceptual Shift in 50%-50% Bilingual Pedagogy
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The objectives of the popular 50%-50% additive bilingual programs in Western Canada include global citizenship and strong language and literacy skills acquired through engaging content; however traditional pedagogy such as the parallel monolingualism orientation impedes that potential. Through this longitudinal study on an English-Spanish Bilingual K-4 campus, the researcher seeks to identify both emerging pedagogical principles and, professional development needs of teachers as they explore a shift toward a cross-linguistic learning approach in this bilingual context. Based on the target of ‘improving practice in the company of peers’ (Willms, Friesen 8: Milton, 2009), teachers collaboratively designed for inquiry-based learning across languages, through several cycles of professional learning community inquiry. This paper draws on Cummins’ interdependence hypothesis and principle of cross-linguistic transfer (2001) to analyze teachers’ observations and experiences with students as they engaged in this holistic context. Data was triangulated through teacher focus group reflections, questionnaires, videos and student interviews. Results indicate that the shift toward dual-language inquiry tasks was highly engaging for students who demonstrated numerous examples of cross-linguistic transfer. Teachers’ reflections about this reconceptualised pedagogy included many observations and questions about the role of explicit language instruction, translanguaging, metalinguistic awareness and student interaction. Teachers also articulated how the professional collaborative learning process is critical for further developing the pedagogy.
Kirsten Shier & Jia Li Parental Involvement and English Language Learners’ Educational Success: An intervention using new technologies
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Research suggests that parental involvement is important for English language learners’ (ELLs) social and academic success. When parents are involved in their child’s education, students experience increased levels of attendance, and positive attitudes towards the challenges of learning language and literacy as well as their adaption at school. However research has shown that many school based, individual and logistical barriers prevent ELL parental involvement. The presentation proposes an innovative intervention that tackles these issues and effectively engage ELL parents in the school community and their Child’s education. This intervention, consists of an interactive classroom website, enabling video messages, translation tools, multiple points of parent-teacher contact, resources for home, and digital portfolios. It has a great potential to transform ELL parental involvement at school. Pedagogical suggestions will be discussed along with the demonstration of the intervention in details.
Hyunjung Shin, & Carmen McCrea Critical ESL teacher Education: Stories From Saskatchewan Classrooms
Discussions regarding linguistically and culturally diverse students have traditionally focused on schools in large urban settings. Yet, many schools in Saskatchewan, for example, are no longer the culturally and linguistically homogeneous places they were ten years ago. While enriching our schools and classrooms, this rapidly growing English Language Learners (ELLs) also challenge teachers, administrators, and school divisions to support them appropriately. In this presentation, by incorporating insights from Cummins’ studies on language, identity, and pedagogy for ELLs (e.g., 2000, 2001, 2006), we examine the unique literacy and language needs of ELLs in the context of Saskatchewan. More specifically, drawing upon critical incidents from our praxis as a university teacher educator, a secondary ESL teacher, and an adult ESL teacher, we discuss challenges we face daily in our professional practices and provide implications for critical ESL teacher education. For example, we examine how some ELLs may be positioned subordinately within the broader program due to their lack of literacy skills and how this positioning may be exacerbated by federal funding policies and institutionally adopted English-only policies (Simpson, 2011; Cummins, 2006). We consider implications of such positioning for critical K-12 teacher education to enhance the learning experiences of ELLs in Canadian schools.
Heejin Song Deconstructing Cultural Representations in a Korean EFL Education Television Program
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The paper addresses how the notion of English as an international language (EIL) is reflected, and how the culture of EIL is represented, in an English education television program in South Korea. The program is broadcasted on the English education channel run by the Korean government. This paper examines the cultural representations of EIL embedded in the television program through the lens of critical discourse analysis. The analysis of 26 episodes reveals that the program attempts to incorporate Korean English language learners’ voices, culture, interests, and current global issues in various forms. However, these cultural and linguistic representations and intercultural interactions reproduce unequal power relations that propagate the notion that the American English variety and Anglo-centred culture are the normative variety and normative culture of EIL. These findings lead to a discussion on the discourse of inequality embedded in EIL teaching and pedagogical suggestions for more critical intercultural English teaching practices.
Saskia Stille Articulating ‘the subject’ of language teaching and learning
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Language teaching and learning is connected to a politics of global location and broader social issues of race, migration, religion, gender, sexuality, and social class. Dichotomous understandings of students as either native or nonnative speakers ignore these interlocking and intersecting dimensions of experience. Engaging with these concerns, the purpose of this proposed presentation is to examine how powerful discursive conceptualizations of language, diversity, and social difference shape understandings of immigrant students in the Canadian educational context. Despite a significant body of research that articulates the role of identity in language learning processes (i.e. Cummins, 2001; Cummins & Early, 2011; Norton & Toohey, 2011), curriculum policies and classroom pedagogy often overlook the rich cultural and linguistic resources of students who speak a language other than English at home. Mapping the terrain of ‘the social’ in SLA research, I examine how discursive constructions of identity and language learning uphold monolingual, monocultural approaches to education, and marginalize newcomer students and students from non-dominant cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Drawing on examples from recent fieldwork involving teachers and students at the elementary level, I describe a plurilingual and culturally-sustaining approach to pedagogy that offers a more expansive view of students’ linguistic capabilities.
Miwa Takeuchi & Robin Coyle Multiliteracies Approach in Linguistically Diverse Mathematics Classrooms
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In recent years, there has been a growing body of research examining the issue of multilingual students’ access to high-quality instruction in mathematics classrooms. This presentation demonstrates the possibility of applying multiliteracies theory to teaching and learning in linguistically diverse mathematics classrooms. The multiliteracies theory particularly emphasizes two aspects of the semiotic resources in teaching and learning: (a) the multiplicity of languages that students bring into the classroom, and (b) the multiplicity of communication channels and media. This multiliteracies theory has been applied to classroom practices and has contributed to promoting diversity in language and communication modes (Cummins, 2009). This presentation, drawing from research conducted in both in-school and out-of-school contexts, demonstrates how multimodal resources mediate and enhance mathematics learning. The first context is linguistically diverse mathematics classrooms in an urban school in Canada. The teacher’s use of multiple languages and physical and symbolic tools, along with her affirmation of students’ identities as multimodal users were highlighted. The second context is mathematics practices among transnational families to get an out-of-school perspective. By identifying how multiplication is mediated by culturally-specific physical and symbolic tools, this presentation will highlight the significance of the multiliteracies approach in mathematics teaching and learning.
Shelley Taylor Listen to the Plurilinguals! ‘Hearing’ Students’ Background Knowledge and Letting It ‘Speak’ To Facilitate Their Progression Along Educational and Linguistic Paths
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This talk presents findings of a longitudinal case study involving Spanish-speaking students (Gr. 9-Year 1 of postsecondary studies). They received English and French-medium instruction (French immersion), and had the option of learning their heritage language and international languages as subjects in high school, yet their plurilingualism was largely veiled in the curriculum, materials and classroom language policies. This talk describes their plurilingual/pluricultural experiences, including disparate views held by varying social actors (the students, their parents, educators and community) about their linguistics repertoires; affordances for identity negotiation and L1-Ln acquisition provided to them; constraints their educators experienced, and the role (a lack of) affordances played in shaping their postsecondary paths. Data collected through classroom, home and community observations (Year 1), and surveys and interviews (Years 1-4), were analyzed for recurrent themes and key events. The findings support key tenets of Cummins’ (2009) framework of transformative multiliteracies pedagogy, which posits that: 1. students’ educational outcomes (including L1-Ln acquisition) depend, to a large extent, on whether their background knowledge is reflected in the curriculum, materials and classroom language policies, and spaces are provided for co-constructing knowledge and identity negotiation, and 2. power relations play a significant role in student achievement and agency.
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