BICS and CALPBICS and CALP

STEP T for ELLsSTEP T for ELLs

ProgramProgram

Types of Language

• BICS

Basic Interpersonal CommunicationSkills

• CALP

Cognitive Academic LanguageProficiency

(Cummins 1979)

BICS

• Conversational fluency

• “Surface” language skills oflistening and speaking which aretypically acquired quickly by mostELLs.

• 6 months – 2 years to develop

CALP

• ELLs’ ability to cope with academicdemands in content classes

• Listening, speaking, reading, andwriting about subject area contentmaterial

• 5-7 years to develop• Up to 9-10 years to develop if the ELL has no prior

schooling or little support for native languagedevelopment (Thomas & Collier, 1995)

Academic LanguageAcquisition

• Not only understanding contentarea vocabulary

• Includes other skills such as–Comparing

–Classifying

–Synthesizing

–Evaluating

– Inferring

BICS-CALP Venn

Group Work Activity

• Your trainer will give you a Venndiagram and cards with examplesof activities.

• Decide which activities fall underthe categories of BICS and CALP.

• Put the pieces in the correct placein the Venn diagram.

Importance of Context

• Context-embedded task:

Students have access to a range ofadditional visual and oral cues

• Context-reduced task:

Students have no other sources togain comprehension other thanlanguage

Context-reduced Tasks

• Most academic tasks are context-reduced

Such as lectures, reading textbooks, solving wordproblems

• More difficult for ELLs who are struggling withlanguage

• See the most difficult tasks that are context-reduced and cognitively demanding inQUADRANT D

Cummins Model

A

•Participating in an art class

•Playing a game in PE

•Playing with friends at recess

•Following directions after

watching them modeled

C

•Writing a list

•Talking on the telephone

•Copying from the board

•Filling in a worksheet

B

•Listening to a lecture with a

graphic organizer or

manipulatives

•Reading a textbook with graphics

– pictures, charts, maps

•Writing an essay after

discussion, reading, organizing

information on a graphic

organizer

•Participating in a lab experiment

D

•Listening to a lecture

•Reading a textbook

•Writing a persuasive essay

•Writing a lab report

•Solving a word problem in math

•Taking standardized tests

Cognitively Undemanding

Cognitively Demanding

Conte

xt-

em

bedded C

onte

xt-re

duced

Implications for Teachers

• Assess which activities in your class arecontext-reduced and cognitively demanding(Quadrant D)

• Try to contextualize instruction and allactivities for ELLs (Quadrant B)

• Don’t be fooled by ELLs who have goodconversational English! They may still needlots of help with CALP!

Using Funds of KnowledgeUsing Funds of Knowledgein a Secondary Socialin a Secondary Social

Studies CourseStudies Course

Lori M. EdmondsLori M. Edmonds

University of MarylandUniversity of Maryland

Baltimore CountyBaltimore County

STEP T for ELLsSTEP T for ELLs

Presentation OverviewPresentation Overview

•• What is the Funds of KnowledgeWhat is the Funds of Knowledge

Approach?Approach?

•• HowHow can it be used in a classroomcan it be used in a classroom

of diverse learners?of diverse learners?

•• Why is this approach important?Why is this approach important?

Funds of Knowledge ApproachFunds of Knowledge Approach

(Gonzalez, Moll, & (Gonzalez, Moll, & AmantiAmanti, 2005), 2005)

•• People have valuable knowledge that comesPeople have valuable knowledge that comes

from their life experiences.from their life experiences.

•• Students from diverse backgrounds are aStudents from diverse backgrounds are a

valuable resource in the social studiesvaluable resource in the social studies

classroom.classroom.

How Can a Social Studies TeacherHow Can a Social Studies Teacher

Use a Funds of KnowledgeUse a Funds of Knowledge

Approach?Approach?

•• Have students interview family membersHave students interview family membersconcerning their knowledge on soon-to-be-concerning their knowledge on soon-to-be-studied topics.studied topics.

•• Have students share experiences from theirHave students share experiences from theirnative cultures and use it to bridge thenative cultures and use it to bridge theinformation they are about to receive.information they are about to receive.

•• Incorporate their knowledge into the lessonIncorporate their knowledge into the lessonwherever possible.wherever possible.

Example• You are about to begin a unit on

American government and plan tobegin with talking about the role ofthe president.

1. Have students interview a family member abouttheir favorite president or national leader.

2. Call on students to share what they learned.Draw on the characteristics of that leader thatare valued.

3. During the lesson, refer back to the informationthe students shared as often as possible.

Discussion QuestionDiscussion Question

In what ways do you think givingIn what ways do you think giving

students access to diversestudents access to diverse

worldviews can help students toworldviews can help students to

work collaboratively in a work collaboratively in a globalizedglobalized

society?society?

BibliographyBibliography

Calloway, L. & Knapp, C. (1996) Using grounded theory to interpret interviews. Retrievedfrom the Web June 24, 2007. http://csis.pace.edu/~knapp/AIS95.htm

Cameron, D. (2001). Working with Spoken Discourse. Thousand Oaks, CA: SagePublications.

Crandall, J. (1998). Collaboration and cooperation: Teacher education for integrating bothlanguage and content instruction. Forum, 36(1), 2-13.

Dewey, J. (1938). Experience and education. New York: The Macmillan Company.

Hymes, D. (1974). Foundations in sociolinguistics: An ethnographic approach.Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press.

Moll, L. C. (1992). Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach toconnect homes and classrooms. Theory into Practice, 31 (2), 132-141.