Cognitive academic language proficiency

Cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP) is a language-related term which refers to formal academic learning, as opposed to BICS. In schools today, the terms BICS and CALP are most frequently used to discuss the language proficiency levels of students who are in the process of acquiring a new language. These students typically develop proficiency in BICS well before they acquire a strong grasp of CALP or academic language. As a result, students may initially appear fully proficient and fluent, while still struggling with significant language gaps. Although the terms BICS and CALP and still widely used, Cummins has more recently used the terms conversational language and academic language. ^[1]

Instructors of bilingual educational environments, Cummins tells us, should be mindful that a student's apparent ability to interact at a high cognitive level on the 'street' does not necessarily imply the same cognitive or communications ability in the 'class'.

It is tempting for teachers and administrators to move students with a high BICS(Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills/Social Language Proficiency) level into a 'mainstream' class because they 'sound' like the other kids on the playground.

Jim Cummins insists that a more thorough assessment of the student's academic language abilities be performed before moving the student out of a 'sheltered' language development environment.

References

1. ^ Echevarria, Jana. (2007). Sheltered Content Instruction: Teaching English Language Learners with Diverse Abilities. Special Edition, p. 10