- Jim Cummins (professor)
Dr. [http://home.oise.utoronto.ca/%7Ejcummins/cummins.htm Jim Cummins] is a professor at the
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of theUniversity of Toronto where he works onlanguage development and literacy development of learners ofEnglish as an additional language . In 1979 Cummins coined the acronyms "BICS" and "CALP" to refer to processes that help a teacher to qualify a student'slanguage ability.BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills)
BICS refers to the basic communicative fluency achieved by all normal native speakers of a language. It is cognitively undemanding and contentextual and is better understood as the language used by students in informal settings, say, on a playground or cafe. Research by Cummins as well as Virginia Collier suggest that it typically takes language learners 1-3 years to develop BICS if they have sufficient exposure to the second language.
CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency)
CALP refers to the ability to manipulate language using abstractions in a sophisticated manner. CALP is used while performing in an academic setting. CALP is the ability to think in and use a language as a tool for learning. Cummins' and Collier's research suggest that K-12 students need 5 to 7 years to acquire CALP in the second language if the learner has native language literacy. Learners who do not have strong native language literacy often need 7-10 years to acquire CALP in the second language.
Instructors of
Bilingual education al 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 level into a 'mainstream' class because they 'sound' like the other kids on the playground.
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.
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