Jim Cummins (professor)

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 the University of Toronto where he works on language development and literacy development of learners of English 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's language 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 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 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.


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужен реферат?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Jim Cummins — may refer to:*Jim Cummins (professor), instructor at the University of Toronto *Jim Cummins (hockey), retired professional ice hockey player *Jim Cummins (reporter) *James Cumminsee also*Jim Cummings, U.S. voice actor *James Cummings… …   Wikipedia

  • Jim Cummins — (* 1949) ist ein kanadischer Pädagoge. Er ist Professor am Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto, Department of Curriculum, Teaching, and Learning sowie Canada Research Chair in Language Learning and Literacy… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Cummins (disambiguation) — Cummins, Inc. is a manufacturer of diesel and natural gas engines. Engines include: Cummins B Series engine Cummins C Series engine Cummins L Series engine Cummins M Series engine Cummins may also refer to: Contents 1 Places …   Wikipedia

  • List of educators — This is a list of educators. See also: Education, List of education topics.: External link: [http://tools.wikimedia.de/ daniel/WikiSense/CategoryTree.php? wikilang=en wikifam=.wikipedia.org m=a art=on userlang=en cat=Educators Educators category… …   Wikipedia

  • List of people from Michigan — A list of notable people from the U.S. state of Michigan. Bolding indicates places in Michigan. People from Michigan are sometimes referred to as Michiganders, Michiganians, or more rarely as Michiganites. Actors, entertainers and… …   Wikipedia

  • Biliteracy — is the state of being literate in two or more languages. To be biliterate has a stronger and more specified connotation than the claim of being simply bilingual. This is because the term literate indicates the subject is not only able to… …   Wikipedia

  • Bilingual education — involves teaching all subjects in school through two different languages in the United States, instruction occurs in English and a minority language, such as Spanish or Chinese, with varying amounts of each language used in accordance with the… …   Wikipedia

  • James Cummings — may refer to: * James Cummings (Canadian politician) Mayor of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada * Jim Cummings Voice Artist * James H. Cummings, politician from Tennessee, USA * Glen Cummings, James Glen Cummings, politician from Manitoba, Canada * Bart… …   Wikipedia

  • Deaths in October 2007 — Contents 1 October 2007 1.1 31 1.2 30 1.3 29 …   Wikipedia

  • Liste der Biografien/Cu — Biografien: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”