Rethinking the Education of Multilingual Learners

Jim Cummins is Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto, Canada and has spent the past 40 years researching and working with multilingual learners across the world. His controversial theoretical distinction between conversational versus academic language proficiency is a key topic in pre-service and professional development related to the education of multilingual students who are learning the language of instruction.

Acknowledgements



Lily Wong Fillmore: Foreword



Series Editor’s Preface



Tove Skutnabb-Kangas: Preface



Part 1: Evolution of a Theoretical Framework: A Personal Account



Chapter 1. Core Ideas and Background Influences



Chapter 2. Resolving Contradictions: Cognitive Consequences of Bilingualism



Chapter 3. Linguistic Interdependence: Accounting for Patterns of Bilingual Academic Development



Chapter 4. Language Proficiency and Academic Achievement



Chapter 5. Power Relations in School: Constructing or Constricting Identities?



Chapter 6. Reversing Underachievement: An Integrated Framework



Part 2: Critical Analysis of Competing Theoretical Claims



Chapter 7. How Do We Assess the Legitimacy of Theoretical Constructs and Claims?



Chapter 8. Is ‘Academic Language’ a Legitimate Theoretical Construct?



Chapter 9. Are ‘Linguistic Interdependence’ and the ‘Common Underlying Proficiency’ Legitimate Theoretical Constructs?



Chapter 10. Unitary Translanguaging Theory and Crosslinguistic Translanguaging Theory: A Comparative Analysis



Part 3: Instructional Practice in Dialogue with Theoretical Concepts



Chapter 11. Teachers as Knowledge Generators: Learning from Inspirational Pedagogy



About the Author

References

Index