Upon an ESOL student entering school, there is an element of culture shock. My article explains that there is time where the student needs to take in all around them and get accustomed to the culture.The article talks about Jim Cummin's theories that will help teachers visualize aspect of the language learning process. Two important theories teachers must be aware of is Basic Interpersonal Skills (BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). BICS is the social language that takes 2-3 years for a child to acquire. Teachers should provide many oral interactions and a context-embedded environment. CALP refers to developing the academic language in a context-reduced setting. This can take over 5 years to develop. Teachers need to provide multiple opportunities for ELLS to learn and provide many visuals and let them personalize the content being taught.
For more information here is the link to the article
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/2215543/KEY-CONCEPTS-IN-THE-THEORY-OF-SECOND-LANGAUGE-ACQUISITION
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Sam,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with what you stated about how upon entering school English learners experience a state of shock. I cannot imagine what these students must go through when entering not only a completely different culture, but one that has a complete different language than their own. Cummins theories prove to have been very successful with helping English learners second language acquisition. Of the two I believe that BICS is the most important because students must achieve a social language before they can achieve academic language.
Hey Sam!
ReplyDeleteI found the same article when I was researching. I too thought that it was very interesting and worth reading. BICS and CALP are important terms for people to understand. While CALP is important, I think that BICS is important for language learners to master first. Social language is necessary for daily life. Academic language will take a bit longer for learners to develop.
The site I found had BICS and CALP as well. In Block II, we were told that it was important, but I think that we couldn't fully understand it until working with students or seeing it first hand. I know that going to another school in another country, and being taught in Spanish or Criole, it would be near impossible for me to learn anything! Cummins theory has taught me a lot about the process for ESOL students. If BICS is not accomplished, there will be no CALP.
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