Bilingüismo

BICS/CALP

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Jim Cummins, professor in the University of Toronto, believed that there was a difference between social language (BICS) and academic related  language (CALP). BICS refers to the social language, often used in conversations. Social language is context embedded, since our comprehension is aided by context clues like facial expressions or body language. As it depends on a context the student does not need to master the language.

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Cummins states that children develop native speaker fluency  (BICS) within two years of immersion in the target language (1) whereas it takes between 5-7 years for a child to develop the academic language in the level of a native speaker. Cummins’ theory explains the school failure of immigrant children in school. The newly arrived students go into a period where they are unwilling to communicate. It is not until they start to communicate that they develop the BICS. These social interactions are usually context embedded, so children do not need to be proficient in the language. However CALP refers to academic language, which include proficient language skills in reading and writing. Teachers wrongly assume that immigrants who are capable of speaking in a second language are as well able to read and write with the same ease; unfortunately that is the reason why the number of immigrant failure is so high.

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Bibliography used:

(1)Collier, V.P. (1989) How Long? A synthesis of research on academic achievement in second language. TESOQuarterly, 23, 509-531. Retrieved December 15, 2016, from http://www.edb.utexas.edu/latino/bilingual_edu_page_research.html