SOURCE 1
Cummins, James. "Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children." Review of Educational Research 49.2 (1979): 222-251.
In his article Linguistic Interdependence and the Education of Bilingual Children, James Cummins puts forth the thesis that an academically and cognitively beneficial form of bilingualism can be achieved only on the basis of adequately developed first language skills. Exploring the “development interdependence” (Cummins 222) hypothesis, Cummins talks about the interdependence between the competence for a second language on an individual’s competence for their first language, at the time when they are learning their second language. His “threshold” hypothesis puts forth the claim that there exist various threshold levels of linguistic competence an individual must reach in order to avoid to “cognitive disadvantages” and to achieve the “cognitive advantages” received by a bilingual individual. He goes on to elaborate on his idea of an integrated model of the educational outcome of bilingualism being “a function of... background, child input and educational treatment factors.” (Cummins 222). Exploring the impact of socio-cultural factors, school program factors and linguistic factors Cummins concludes that there is a need for a theoretical framework in order to encourage complete immersion and submersion into the language.
Cummins authorises his claims by providing vieiws of authoritative organizations such as the UNESCO. When referring to the perspectives of other authors, he always uses a positive tone and there are a limited number of places where he uses the method of coutering to forward his views. Hence, while Insurin and Altarriba provide a number of researches to forward their own views and draw a conclusion and Hornby mainly forwards as well as counters the views of other authors, Cummins, using a more positive approach works to get his point across to the audience. In his text, Cummins suggests that “recent "positive" studies...suggest that under some conditions, access to two languages in early childhood can accelerate aspects of cognitive growth” (Cummins 229) however, looking at Shinvanii’s illustration, it can be seen that although she has learnt Spanish, a second language since an early age, she still faced a “cognitive disadvantage”. However, as Cummins states “if a bilingual child attains only a very low level of competence in the second (or first) language, interaction with the environment through that language, both in terms of input and output, is likely to be impoverished.” (Cummins 230) and this is reflected in Shivanii’s case where although she is bilingual, in the sense that she could converse in two languages, English and Spanish however, since Spanish was not one of her first languages and she did not utilize her language skills to converse with people in the environment she had grown up with i.e. her kin, it could be said that her input and output in relation to the second language was “impoverished”. Hence, had she been as fluent in Sindhi as she was in Spanish and had learned it at school, along with Cummins’ “school program” factors, the “socio-cultural” factor he mentions would have come in to play as she would have practised this language at home with her family and thereby been at a “cognitive advantage”.
Comparing Cummins’ research to Hornby, it can be see that although Hornby enlists a number of researches and analyses them to convey his point across to his audience, Cummins adopts a method of enlisting three min factors which relate bilingualism and their effect on an individual and analyses them. Cummins’ analysis on the different factors affecting bilingualism contribute to my study as the debate on whether bilingual aids cognition is something that he explores under each of these factors and hence, acts as a significantly important source to my study.
Cummins, James. "Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children." Review of Educational Research 49.2 (1979): 222-251.
In his article Linguistic Interdependence and the Education of Bilingual Children, James Cummins puts forth the thesis that an academically and cognitively beneficial form of bilingualism can be achieved only on the basis of adequately developed first language skills. Exploring the “development interdependence” (Cummins 222) hypothesis, Cummins talks about the interdependence between the competence for a second language on an individual’s competence for their first language, at the time when they are learning their second language. His “threshold” hypothesis puts forth the claim that there exist various threshold levels of linguistic competence an individual must reach in order to avoid to “cognitive disadvantages” and to achieve the “cognitive advantages” received by a bilingual individual. He goes on to elaborate on his idea of an integrated model of the educational outcome of bilingualism being “a function of... background, child input and educational treatment factors.” (Cummins 222). Exploring the impact of socio-cultural factors, school program factors and linguistic factors Cummins concludes that there is a need for a theoretical framework in order to encourage complete immersion and submersion into the language.
Cummins authorises his claims by providing vieiws of authoritative organizations such as the UNESCO. When referring to the perspectives of other authors, he always uses a positive tone and there are a limited number of places where he uses the method of coutering to forward his views. Hence, while Insurin and Altarriba provide a number of researches to forward their own views and draw a conclusion and Hornby mainly forwards as well as counters the views of other authors, Cummins, using a more positive approach works to get his point across to the audience. In his text, Cummins suggests that “recent "positive" studies...suggest that under some conditions, access to two languages in early childhood can accelerate aspects of cognitive growth” (Cummins 229) however, looking at Shinvanii’s illustration, it can be seen that although she has learnt Spanish, a second language since an early age, she still faced a “cognitive disadvantage”. However, as Cummins states “if a bilingual child attains only a very low level of competence in the second (or first) language, interaction with the environment through that language, both in terms of input and output, is likely to be impoverished.” (Cummins 230) and this is reflected in Shivanii’s case where although she is bilingual, in the sense that she could converse in two languages, English and Spanish however, since Spanish was not one of her first languages and she did not utilize her language skills to converse with people in the environment she had grown up with i.e. her kin, it could be said that her input and output in relation to the second language was “impoverished”. Hence, had she been as fluent in Sindhi as she was in Spanish and had learned it at school, along with Cummins’ “school program” factors, the “socio-cultural” factor he mentions would have come in to play as she would have practised this language at home with her family and thereby been at a “cognitive advantage”.
Comparing Cummins’ research to Hornby, it can be see that although Hornby enlists a number of researches and analyses them to convey his point across to his audience, Cummins adopts a method of enlisting three min factors which relate bilingualism and their effect on an individual and analyses them. Cummins’ analysis on the different factors affecting bilingualism contribute to my study as the debate on whether bilingual aids cognition is something that he explores under each of these factors and hence, acts as a significantly important source to my study.