A ground-breaking and topical commentary from a leading thinker within the field of multilingual education.

Over the past 40 years, Jim Cummins has proposed a number of highly influential theoretical concepts, including the threshold and interdependence hypotheses and the distinction between conversational fluency and academic language proficiency. In this book, he provides a personal account of how these ideas developed and he examines the credibility of critiques they have generated, using the criteria of empirical adequacy, logical coherence, and consequential validity.

These criteria of theoretical legitimacy are also applied to the evaluation of two different versions of translanguaging theory – Unitary Translanguaging Theory and Crosslinguistic Translanguaging Theory – in a way that significantly clarifies this controversial concept. 

In this book, Jim Cummins not only presents his ideas and writings, giving insights into their origins and evolution, but importantly, he answers his critics. The volume provides an up-to-date analysis of translanguaging, considering its strengths and its criticisms, and offers practical translanguaging ideas for classrooms and curriculum activities. This book is Jim Cummins’ finest contribution to the literature. * Colin Baker, Emeritus Professor, Bangor University, UK *
This evidence-based, nuanced and scholarly volume is Cummins at his best. Courteous and collegial, Cummins distinguishes between defensible complementary theory, and enthusiastic but conjectural false dichotomy. The single purpose is to guide educators towards how best multilingual students can learn and succeed if we are to ensure equity and social justice. * Kathleen Heugh, University of South Australia, Australia *
In this volume Cummins brings the reader along on an inspiring journey that spans over 40 years and offers a unique synthesis of a life-long dedication and contribution within the field of bi- and multilingual education. The journey starts with a retrospective look at Cummins’ revolutionary and frontier-pushing theoretical hypothesis on early research in bilingual development within education and ends with presentations of innovative and creative crosslinguistic and multilingual pedagogies. * Siv Björklund, Åbo Akademi University, Finland *

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.