News Guest speaker in second language learning and literacy

The School of Education, NUI Galway held a Research Seminar Series (RSS) event, 'Rethinking Instructional Approaches in Second Language Immersion Programmes: Emerging Themes and Controversies' given by guest speaker, Professor Jim Cummins on Thursday, 10 December 2015.

Emeritus Professor Jim Cummins, Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto, Canada, is a noted world leader in second language learning and literacy development research.  He holds a Canada Research Chair and has been a recipient of the International Reading Association's Albert J. Harris award.

He also received an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters from the Bank Street College of Education in New York City. He has led or been involved in many research projects,including, in recent years, a large-scale SSHRC-funded project entitled "From Literacy to Multiliteracies: Designing Learning Environments for Knowledge Generation within the New Economy”, a project to validate
the Ontario Ministry of Education's Steps to English Proficiency assessment tool, and a research review on English Language Learners' academic trajectories.

Dr. Cummins has co-authored several books on literacies in education, and has seen his work translated into Japanese and Spanish.