NAME Faraj M Aljarih
T&L 510
09/22/15
Assignment Group B
Synthesis 3
Draft 1
Word Count: 655
BICS and CALP
BICS and CALP are two concepts usually used in the field of bilingual education to refer to the basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS), and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP). BICS and CALP are used to describe minority students’ levels of language proficiency (Rolstad and MacSwan, 2008). Minority students’ teachers need to be aware of those concepts and distinguish between, in order to effectively provide effective assessment for those students.
Before proceeding to further discuss the basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS), and cognitive academic language proficiency (CALP), it may be helpful to
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In this regard, Cummins (2008) points out that minority students usually take two years to acquire the language needed for social interactions, while they take longer periods in order to become proficient in the use of that language and the ability to use it academic contexts. While learning a second language, students from language minority groups are usually evaluated on their ability to use the second language in social contexts, such as in conversations, while overlooking their skills and abilities in using academic language proficiently (Wiley & Rolstad, 2014). These types of assessment, when evaluating students’ social language skills only in isolation form their academic skills, become challenging when students do well on social activities but do not do the same in academic …show more content…
Assessing students in both areas without considering this distinction will be unfair for many ESL students, since they may still be in the process of development of one or both skills.
References
Baker, C. (2006). Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Cummins, J. (2008). BICS and CALP: Empirical and theoretical status of the distinction. In B.V. Street & N.H. Hornberger (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, Vol. 2 (pp. 71-83). New York, NY: Springer.
Rolstad, K., & MacSwan, J. (2008). BICS/CALP theory. In J. González (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Bilingual Education, Vol. 1 (pp. 62-65). Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
Wiley, T.G., & Rolstad, K. (2014). The Common Core State Standards and The Great Divide. International Multilingual Research Journal, 8(1),
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Due to the rise in immigration and the demographics of classrooms in America are changing. As a result, English Language Learners are becoming more common in schools. English Language Learners make up one of the largest demographics in the American Classroom (Flynn & Hill, 2005). These students have been observed to have a major achievement gap because many of these students are placed in mainstream classrooms with basic literacy skills. Many English Language Learners are born in the United States (Goldenberg, 2008). These students have only attended the school system in America. However, the achievement levels are nowhere near the level of their peers. According to Calderon, Slavin, and Sanchez (2011) “these students, who have been in U.S. schools since kindergarten, are still classified as limited English proficient when they reach middle or high school— suggesting strongly that preschool and elementary programs are not adequately addressing the needs of English learners.” The achievement gap between English Language Learners and native English speaking students is extremely high. English Language Learners tests scores are low. According to the 2007 National Assessment of Educational Progress, “fourth grade ELLs scored 36 points lower than their peers on the reading section of the test and 25 points below their peers in math. The results in eighth grade were worse with a difference of 42 points in reading and 37 points in math” (Goldenberg, 2008). The gap between ELLs and non-ELLs are three to eighteen points larger then students from low-income households.
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...ese students also felt that their academic abilities were judged on the basis of ethnic stereotypes. (Crosby, p. 136)
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Literacy is vital for reading and writing of all children, both hearing and deaf. Research has shown that having a strong L1 foundation, it can be applied in learning how to read and write in English. Advocates of bilingual bicultural education agree that the reading and writing skills that are acquired based on the strong foundation of their L1 develops the foundation of L2 (Evans, 2004; Puente et al, 2006). Researches conducted by Padden & Ramsey (2000) show that ASL fingerspelling skills are related to English literacy and vocabulary knowledge (Hile, 2009). One study done by Padden & Ramsey (2000), showed the fingerspelling tasks that were given to thirty-one deaf students in two groups (3rd-4th graders
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Dual language programs not only create bi-literacy and bilingualism for the students in the classrooms but it helps create an improved academic achievement overall for the students. Dual language is a type of bilingual education where students are taught different subjects like math, science, language arts, ...
From my experience, bilingual education was a disadvantage during my childhood. At the age of twelve, I was introduced into a bilingual classroom for the first time. The crowded classroom was a combination of seventh and eighth grade Spanish-speaking students, who ranged from the ages of twelve to fifteen. The idea of bilingual education was to help students who weren’t fluent in the English language. The main focus of bilingual education was to teach English and, at the same time, teach a very basic knowledge of the core curriculum subjects: Mathematics, Social Sciences, and Natural Sciences. Unfortunately, bilingual education had academic, psychological, and social disadvantages for me.
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