Crafting a Comprehensive Response to Cultural and Linguistic Diversity:

A Perspective from the U.S. FORUM

Centre for International Mobility and CooperationHelsinki, Finland

26.1.2012

Nancy L. Commins, Ph.D.University of Turku 2011-2012 Fulbright

Scholar

Guiding Questions

• How can we build on the opportunities that linguistic and cultural diversity provide?

• What kinds of common understandings and principles are needed to guide our work?

• How can knowledge about learning through two languages enhance the way we structure educational policies and programs?

Big Ideas

• Issues of linguistic and cultural diversity are connected to larger issues of race, poverty and prejudice

• Instruction organized with the needs of second language learners in mind will benefit every student in the classroom.

• Chances for success improve when all the adults in a school (or system) share responsibility for the success of all students

• The degree to which this can happen is dependent on the vision and wisdom of school leaders

Reality of Linguistic & Cultural Diversity

• Learning through a second language is much more than just “learning a second language”

• It is more challenging to teach students who are learning through their second language

• When teachers and students come from different cultural and language backgrounds, there can be many misunderstandings in both directions.

Bottom Line

The goal of all educators should be to improve the academic achievement of EVERY child in the school. The question before every staff should be: “How can we best organize ourselves and our resources to meet the needs of ALL students?” Miramontes, Nadeau & Commins, 2011

Perspective Needed in the U.S.

Students who enter school speaking a language other than English are not broken.

THEY DO NOT NEED TO BE FIXED

RANGE OF PROGRAM STRUCTURES:

Programs for second language learners can be placed on a continuum, based on how much of the students’ primary language is used in instruction.

RANGE OF PROGRAM STRUCTURES IN THE U.S.

> All English Instruction> Primary Language Support

Content Reinforcement / No Literacy

> Primary Language InstructionLiteracy Only

> Full Primary Language Foundation Content & Literacy Instruction

Effectiveness?

Research shows that all of these program structures include instruction in English and all can produce academically proficient English speakers. HOWEVER

They vary in important ways

– The length of time it will take– The extent to which teachers will need to modify

their instruction to make the curriculum understandable to all students

– Students’ potential for lifetime bilingualism

How is academic competence best

developed in linguistically diverse

settings?

First and Second Language Acquisition:Common Underlying Proficiency

Surface Level

L1 L2Common

Underlying Proficiency

Adapted from Jim Cummins by John Hilliard, IRC

Learning through the Mother Tongue

Listening, observing, reading, and imitating, doing

Speaking, writing, artistic expression, physical movement, etc.

Deepen the Reservoir Strengthen the Pathways

Learning a Second Language Begins With Representing What is Already Known

L2

Adding to the Reservoir Through a Second Language

L2

L2

TRANSFER

Our Job As Educators

Fill the reservoir as deeply as possible Assure that students are gaining concepts and knowledge and practicing higher order thinking skills – no matter the context or the language used to do so

Students Need To Be Able To

Talk about Interact with

Act on Read about Write about

Connect to

Important Ideas

The figure at the end of the road represents academic bilingualism.

Emerging bilinguals are traveling on both pathways

Our role: Make sure students can get there.

Implication for Instruction:

Students benefit when teachers organize instruction to help them take what they know in one language and express it through the other.

Critical Understanding

If we organize for the whole school based on the understandings that guide instruction for ELLs the blue pathway

then every child, regardless of language background or proficiency, would benefit.Including highly literate native speakers of the dominant language!

Putting Linguistic & Cultural Diversity At The Center Of The Work

Teaching & Learning in Linguistically & Culturally Diverse Settings

Homogeneous Groups in L1

Homogeneous Groups in L2

Heterogeneous Groups

Exploring Bilingualism

Sociopolitical Context - Global Issues

Lessons in C1 Groups

Lessons In C2 Groups

Lessons in Integrated Groups

Direct Instruction on Equity and Intercultural Competence

Time to Practice Equity and Intercultural Competence

Developed by Nancy Commins, Silvia Latimer & Sheila Shannon

A Contribution to the Evolving Dialogue

Putting Linguistic & Cultural Diversity At The Center Of The Work

Engage in school-wide efforts in which all adults share in the decision making

& instructional responsibilities for all students.

Underlying Assumptions• Learning is a process of development that is both dynamic and

constructive.• The primary language, developed in the context of social interaction, is

fundamental to the thinking, learning, and identity of every individual.• Students’ first and second languages interact with each other. The

instructional opportunities students receive in each language will play a critical role in determining their levels of bilingualism and academic achievement in any language.

• Bilingualism is a cognitive, social, and economic asset for all people, and schools can play a significant role in helping students from English and non-English backgrounds develop full academic bilingualism.

• Individuals will need to function in a multicultural society. Students’ knowledge of their own culture as well as the culture of others is important not only to their school performance but to their overall success in life.

Miramontes, Nadeau and Commins (2011) 2nd Edition Teachers College PressRestructuring Schools For Linguistic Diversity: Linking Decision to Effective Programs

Miramontes, Nadeau and Commins (2011) 2nd Edition Teachers College PressRestructuring Schools For Linguistic Diversity: Linking Decision to Effective Programs

Underlying Assumptions• The sociopolitical context has a direct impact on

pedagogical decisions about education. Educators’ underlying attitudes toward students’ families, cultures, and languages shape their instructional approaches and can result in very different academic outcomes for students from differing backgrounds.

• Schools can make a positive and significant difference for students when educators account for the complex interaction of language, culture, and context, and decisions are made within a coherent theoretical framework.

• In all programs, there are ways to organize even limited resources to optimize student achievement. The most effective programs for linguistically diverse students result from a decision-making process that involves a total school community.

• These assumptions hold true for all students, set the vision for the entire school, and provide the foundation for Organizing Principles (see Chapter 2).

Miramontes, Nadeau and Commins (2011) 2nd Edition Teachers College PressRestructuring Schools For Linguistic Diversity: Linking Decision to Effective Programs

Organizing Principles• Active learning • The primary language foundation • Learning through two languages• Strategies and contexts for second language

development• Standards-based differentiated instruction • Instructional assessment• Sociocultural and political implications• Parents and community• Intercultural competence• School-wide process for decision making

Miramontes, Nadeau and Commins (2011) 2nd Edition Teachers College PressRestructuring Schools For Linguistic Diversity: Linking Decision to Effective Programs

Take A Moment To Reflect• How does this mindset interface with the

initiatives already in place in Finland?• How can these understandings be used

to improve outcomes for students?• How can these understandings be more

explicitly incorporated into educational policies and practices?

• What are the implications for research?

Possible Topics For Further Discussion

• The best way to move forward with these understandings in mind

• The most likely source of resistance to making change will come from….

• A place where immediate steps could be taken…..

• What you could do in your position to put these understandings into practice….

KIITOSDanke Thank you

شكرا Merci Gracias շնորհակալեմ

naleco@utu.fi