Alister Cumming
Biographic Data
| ID | 5433957 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Alister Cumming |
| GIVEN NAMES | Alister |
| FAMILY NAME | Cumming |
| SIGNATURE | CUMMING A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Toronto |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 28 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 34 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 27 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1903 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Writing Development in Second Language Acquisition
Three reasons may explain why research on second language acquisition has focused primarily on the development of oral rather than written language (as evidenced by contributions to the present volumes and most other related inquiries).
Modeling expertise as variable options
Students' writing from sources for academic purposes
Design in four diagnostic language assessments
The studies documented in the four articles in this special issue uniquely exemplify principles of design-based research as follows: by taking innovative approaches to significant problems in the contexts of real educational practices; by addressing fundamental pedagogical and policy issues related to language, learning, and teaching; and, in the process, by refining their claims and assessment systems. I analyze and compare the four studies in v…
Do adult ESL learners’ and their teachers’ goals for improving grammar in writing correspond
Recent research has identified certain goals of adult second language (L2) learners and their teachers for writing instruction in English as a second language (ESL), yet questions remain as to whether students’ and teachers’ goals correspond in ways that achieve instructional objectives and facilitate L2 development. The present study compared L2 students’ goals for grammar improvement in academic writing with those of their teachers as students …
Multiple Dimensions of Academic Language and Literacy Development
Language, literacy, and culture intersect almost everywhere, of course. I analyze three phenomena where intersections occur between cognitive skills, personal attitudes, social practices, and macro-societal structures in ways that are salient, puzzling, and also illuminating about the multiple dimensions of learning literacy in situations of cultural and linguistic diversity: (a) heuristic search strategies involving language switching for choice…
Validation of Language Assessments
The validation of a language assessment involves, most simply, gathering compelling evidence that the assessment does what it claims to do. Expectations for effective validation, however, have become increasingly complex, sophisticated, and demanding in recent decades.
Language Assessment in Education
Over the past decade, many concerted policy efforts have aimed to change the status and functions of language assessment in school systems or higher education, redefining relationships among language tests, curriculum policies, and classroom teaching practices. Conventionally, formal language tests describe individual proficiency levels in reference to normative standards for purposes of certifying abilities; screening applicants for higher educa…
Assessing academic writing in foreign and second languages
Academic writing and education in foreign and second languages both have lengthy histories. Their histories have diverged but also intersected. Matsuda (2005), for example, described the convergence in policies that led to a distinctive discipline of ‘L2 writing’ in higher education in the U.S.A. during the latter part of the 20th century. Assessment is a key point of their mutual intersection. Approaches to language testing that involve writing …
What Needs to Be Developed to Facilitate Classroom‐Based Assessment
As assessment has become increasingly important, frequent, and consequential in all aspects of education, many experienced language educators find themselves needing to develop their knowledge and abilities in three areas in order to conduct classroom-based assessment effectively: (a) increasing their professional knowledge and abilities, (b) connecting classroom assessments to relevant policies; and (c) utilizing assessment to promote learning. …
Research for and Within Literacy Instruction in Secondary Schools
I review five books that have recently synthesized and/or presented new research to inform instruction for adolescents developing literacy in secondary schools. \nThe authors base their analyses on research into educational practices within school and community settings, rather than (as had been the case in decades past) deriving implications from scientific theories or academic disciplines. Each book demonstrates how literacy education entails i…
Theory in an Applied Field
The place of theory in TESOL is uncertain—in the association, in the field as a whole, and in the present journal. To set a context for discussion of key issues, and to initiate principled deliberation about them, I have created, for the Forum section of TESOL Quarterly, the following fictitious situation: a university task force, a memorandum in response to a report that might have been—but never was—written, and a character who could be a well-…
Differences in written discourse in independent and integrated prototype tasks for next generation Toefl
International handbook of educational policy
Nina Bascia, Alister Cumming, Amanda Datnow, Kenneth Leithwood and David Livingstone This Handbook presents contemporary and emergent trends in educational policy research, in over ?fty chapters written by nearly ninety leading researchers from a number of countries. It is organized into ?ve broad sections which capture many of the current dominant educational policy foci and at the same time situate current understandings historically, in terms …
A teacher-verification study of speaking and writing prototype tasks for a new Toefl
This study was undertaken, in conjunction with other studies eld-testing prototype tasks for a new TOEFL, to evaluate the content validity, perceived authenticity and educational appropriateness of these prototype tasks. We interviewed seven highly experienced instructors of English as a Second Language (ESL) at three universities, asking them to rate their students’ abilities in English and to review samples of their students’ performance to det…
ESL/EFL instructors' practices for writing assessment
A fundamental difference emerged between specific and general purposes for language assessment in the process of my interviewing 48 highly experienced instructors of ESL/EFL composition about their usual practices for writing assessment in courses in universities or immigrant settlement programs. The instructors worked in situations where English is either the majority language (Australia, Canada, New Zealand) or an international language (Hong K…
ESL/EFL instructors' practices for writing assessment
Theoretical Perspectives on Writing
The word “writing” refers not only to text in written script but also to the acts of thinking, composing, and encoding language into such text; these acts also necessarily entail discourse interactions within a socio-cultural context. Writing is text, is composing, and is social construction. This threefold distinction—between text analytic, composing process, and social constructivist views of writing—has served usefully to distinguish the major…
Issues and Prospects
This special issue of Language Learning departs from the journal's usual format to celebrate its achieving a full half-century of publication. This occasion is appropriately heralded and documented in J.C. Catford's "Historical Sketch," which immediately follows this Introduction, as well as in Alexander Guiora's "Epilogue," which closes the volume. The remaining articles similarly are written versions of presentations made at the Language Learni…
Learning to do research on language teaching and learning
The Formative Evaluation of Years 1 and 2 of a Pilot Multicultural/Antiracist Educational Leadership Program
This paper describes the evaluation approach, techniques, and instruments adopted during the first two years of a three-year multicultural/antiracist educational leadership program carried out in six different school boards in four Canadian provinces involving approximately 200 secondary students. The purpose of the evaluation during these first two years was primarily to assist the program coordinators, teachers, and students to plan effectively…
Concord in Interlanguage
Three positions on the acquisition of grammatical concord in second languages have been articulated in previous research, all advocating versions of an efficiency argument—that learners delete redundant elements such as plural morphemes either because of processing, developmental, or situational constraints. The present paper proposes an alternative but potentially complementary view, that priming effects may facilitate language learners' use of …
Alternatives in Tesol Research
Alister Cumming, Elaine Tarone, Andrew D. Cohen, Ulla Connor, Nina Spada, Nancy H. Hornberger, Alastair Pennycook, Elsa Auerbach, Alternatives in TESOL Research: Descriptive, Interpretive, and Ideological Orientations, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 673-703
Sociopolitical Aspects of ESL in Canada
Learning ESL literacy among Indo‐Canadian women
This paper reports findings from an action research project which set up a part‐time instructional programme for a small number of Punjabi‐speaking women immigrants to Canada then traced their uses of literacy and English in classroom and home settings over six months of instruction then four months later. Analyses of classroom and interview data indicate that participants' efforts to teach and acquire literacy in a second language focused on fiv…
Writing Expertise and Second-Language Proficiency
The second-language writing performance of 23 young adults on three composition tasks was assessed in relation to their writing expertise and second-language proficiency. Both factors accounted for large proportions of variance in the qualities of written texts and problem-solving behaviors in the second language. But the factors exerted independent effects, suggesting they are psychologically distinct. Writing expertise proved to relate to: qual…
Alternatives in Tesol Research
Alister Cumming, Elaine Tarone, Andrew D. Cohen, Ulla Connor, Nina Spada, Nancy H. Hornberger, Alastair Pennycook, Elsa Auerbach, Alternatives in TESOL Research: Descriptive, Interpretive, and Ideological Orientations, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 673-703
Learning ESL literacy among Indo‐Canadian women
This paper reports findings from an action research project which set up a part‐time instructional programme for a small number of Punjabi‐speaking women immigrants to Canada then traced their uses of literacy and English in classroom and home settings over six months of instruction then four months later. Analyses of classroom and interview data indicate that participants' efforts to teach and acquire literacy in a second language focused on fiv…
Multiple Dimensions of Academic Language and Literacy Development
Language, literacy, and culture intersect almost everywhere, of course. I analyze three phenomena where intersections occur between cognitive skills, personal attitudes, social practices, and macro-societal structures in ways that are salient, puzzling, and also illuminating about the multiple dimensions of learning literacy in situations of cultural and linguistic diversity: (a) heuristic search strategies involving language switching for choice…
Assessing academic writing in foreign and second languages
Academic writing and education in foreign and second languages both have lengthy histories. Their histories have diverged but also intersected. Matsuda (2005), for example, described the convergence in policies that led to a distinctive discipline of ‘L2 writing’ in higher education in the U.S.A. during the latter part of the 20th century. Assessment is a key point of their mutual intersection. Approaches to language testing that involve writing …
What Needs to Be Developed to Facilitate Classroom‐Based Assessment
As assessment has become increasingly important, frequent, and consequential in all aspects of education, many experienced language educators find themselves needing to develop their knowledge and abilities in three areas in order to conduct classroom-based assessment effectively: (a) increasing their professional knowledge and abilities, (b) connecting classroom assessments to relevant policies; and (c) utilizing assessment to promote learning. …
Research for and Within Literacy Instruction in Secondary Schools
I review five books that have recently synthesized and/or presented new research to inform instruction for adolescents developing literacy in secondary schools. \nThe authors base their analyses on research into educational practices within school and community settings, rather than (as had been the case in decades past) deriving implications from scientific theories or academic disciplines. Each book demonstrates how literacy education entails i…
Issues and Prospects
This special issue of Language Learning departs from the journal's usual format to celebrate its achieving a full half-century of publication. This occasion is appropriately heralded and documented in J.C. Catford's "Historical Sketch," which immediately follows this Introduction, as well as in Alexander Guiora's "Epilogue," which closes the volume. The remaining articles similarly are written versions of presentations made at the Language Learni…
The Story of Indra Bangsawan
Writing Expertise and Second-Language Proficiency
The second-language writing performance of 23 young adults on three composition tasks was assessed in relation to their writing expertise and second-language proficiency. Both factors accounted for large proportions of variance in the qualities of written texts and problem-solving behaviors in the second language. But the factors exerted independent effects, suggesting they are psychologically distinct. Writing expertise proved to relate to: qual…
Expertise in evaluating second language compositions
This study (1) assesses whether raters implicitly distinguish students' writing expertise and second language proficiency while evaluating ESL compositions holistically and (2) seeks to describe the decision-making behaviours used by experienced and inexperienced raters in this process. The performance of 7 novice and 6 expert ESL teachers was assessed while they evaluated 12 compositions written by adult students with differing levels of ESL pro…
Learning ESL literacy among Indo‐Canadian women
This paper reports findings from an action research project which set up a part‐time instructional programme for a small number of Punjabi‐speaking women immigrants to Canada then traced their uses of literacy and English in classroom and home settings over six months of instruction then four months later. Analyses of classroom and interview data indicate that participants' efforts to teach and acquire literacy in a second language focused on fiv…
Sociopolitical Aspects of ESL in Canada
Concord in Interlanguage
Three positions on the acquisition of grammatical concord in second languages have been articulated in previous research, all advocating versions of an efficiency argument—that learners delete redundant elements such as plural morphemes either because of processing, developmental, or situational constraints. The present paper proposes an alternative but potentially complementary view, that priming effects may facilitate language learners' use of …
Alternatives in Tesol Research
Alister Cumming, Elaine Tarone, Andrew D. Cohen, Ulla Connor, Nina Spada, Nancy H. Hornberger, Alastair Pennycook, Elsa Auerbach, Alternatives in TESOL Research: Descriptive, Interpretive, and Ideological Orientations, TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 28, No. 4 (Winter, 1994), pp. 673-703
The Formative Evaluation of Years 1 and 2 of a Pilot Multicultural/Antiracist Educational Leadership Program
This paper describes the evaluation approach, techniques, and instruments adopted during the first two years of a three-year multicultural/antiracist educational leadership program carried out in six different school boards in four Canadian provinces involving approximately 200 secondary students. The purpose of the evaluation during these first two years was primarily to assist the program coordinators, teachers, and students to plan effectively…
Learning to do research on language teaching and learning
Theoretical Perspectives on Writing
The word “writing” refers not only to text in written script but also to the acts of thinking, composing, and encoding language into such text; these acts also necessarily entail discourse interactions within a socio-cultural context. Writing is text, is composing, and is social construction. This threefold distinction—between text analytic, composing process, and social constructivist views of writing—has served usefully to distinguish the major…
Issues and Prospects
This special issue of Language Learning departs from the journal's usual format to celebrate its achieving a full half-century of publication. This occasion is appropriately heralded and documented in J.C. Catford's "Historical Sketch," which immediately follows this Introduction, as well as in Alexander Guiora's "Epilogue," which closes the volume. The remaining articles similarly are written versions of presentations made at the Language Learni…
ESL/EFL instructors' practices for writing assessment
A fundamental difference emerged between specific and general purposes for language assessment in the process of my interviewing 48 highly experienced instructors of ESL/EFL composition about their usual practices for writing assessment in courses in universities or immigrant settlement programs. The instructors worked in situations where English is either the majority language (Australia, Canada, New Zealand) or an international language (Hong K…
ESL/EFL instructors' practices for writing assessment
A teacher-verification study of speaking and writing prototype tasks for a new Toefl
This study was undertaken, in conjunction with other studies eld-testing prototype tasks for a new TOEFL, to evaluate the content validity, perceived authenticity and educational appropriateness of these prototype tasks. We interviewed seven highly experienced instructors of English as a Second Language (ESL) at three universities, asking them to rate their students’ abilities in English and to review samples of their students’ performance to det…
Differences in written discourse in independent and integrated prototype tasks for next generation Toefl
International handbook of educational policy
Nina Bascia, Alister Cumming, Amanda Datnow, Kenneth Leithwood and David Livingstone This Handbook presents contemporary and emergent trends in educational policy research, in over ?fty chapters written by nearly ninety leading researchers from a number of countries. It is organized into ?ve broad sections which capture many of the current dominant educational policy foci and at the same time situate current understandings historically, in terms …
Research for and Within Literacy Instruction in Secondary Schools
I review five books that have recently synthesized and/or presented new research to inform instruction for adolescents developing literacy in secondary schools. \nThe authors base their analyses on research into educational practices within school and community settings, rather than (as had been the case in decades past) deriving implications from scientific theories or academic disciplines. Each book demonstrates how literacy education entails i…
Theory in an Applied Field
The place of theory in TESOL is uncertain—in the association, in the field as a whole, and in the present journal. To set a context for discussion of key issues, and to initiate principled deliberation about them, I have created, for the Forum section of TESOL Quarterly, the following fictitious situation: a university task force, a memorandum in response to a report that might have been—but never was—written, and a character who could be a well-…
Language Assessment in Education
Over the past decade, many concerted policy efforts have aimed to change the status and functions of language assessment in school systems or higher education, redefining relationships among language tests, curriculum policies, and classroom teaching practices. Conventionally, formal language tests describe individual proficiency levels in reference to normative standards for purposes of certifying abilities; screening applicants for higher educa…
Assessing academic writing in foreign and second languages
Academic writing and education in foreign and second languages both have lengthy histories. Their histories have diverged but also intersected. Matsuda (2005), for example, described the convergence in policies that led to a distinctive discipline of ‘L2 writing’ in higher education in the U.S.A. during the latter part of the 20th century. Assessment is a key point of their mutual intersection. Approaches to language testing that involve writing …
What Needs to Be Developed to Facilitate Classroom‐Based Assessment
As assessment has become increasingly important, frequent, and consequential in all aspects of education, many experienced language educators find themselves needing to develop their knowledge and abilities in three areas in order to conduct classroom-based assessment effectively: (a) increasing their professional knowledge and abilities, (b) connecting classroom assessments to relevant policies; and (c) utilizing assessment to promote learning. …
Validation of Language Assessments
The validation of a language assessment involves, most simply, gathering compelling evidence that the assessment does what it claims to do. Expectations for effective validation, however, have become increasingly complex, sophisticated, and demanding in recent decades.
Multiple Dimensions of Academic Language and Literacy Development
Language, literacy, and culture intersect almost everywhere, of course. I analyze three phenomena where intersections occur between cognitive skills, personal attitudes, social practices, and macro-societal structures in ways that are salient, puzzling, and also illuminating about the multiple dimensions of learning literacy in situations of cultural and linguistic diversity: (a) heuristic search strategies involving language switching for choice…
Do adult ESL learners’ and their teachers’ goals for improving grammar in writing correspond
Recent research has identified certain goals of adult second language (L2) learners and their teachers for writing instruction in English as a second language (ESL), yet questions remain as to whether students’ and teachers’ goals correspond in ways that achieve instructional objectives and facilitate L2 development. The present study compared L2 students’ goals for grammar improvement in academic writing with those of their teachers as students …
Design in four diagnostic language assessments
The studies documented in the four articles in this special issue uniquely exemplify principles of design-based research as follows: by taking innovative approaches to significant problems in the contexts of real educational practices; by addressing fundamental pedagogical and policy issues related to language, learning, and teaching; and, in the process, by refining their claims and assessment systems. I analyze and compare the four studies in v…
Psychology (21 works) · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning (18 works) · Computer Science (17 works) · Mathematics education (17 works) · Linguistics (16 works) · Pedagogy (16 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Second Language Learning and Teaching (8 works) · Multilingual Education and Policy (7 works) · Discourse Analysis in Language Studies (6 works)