Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Jim Cummins
University of Toronto
The acronyms BICS and CALP refer to a distinction introduced by Cummins (1979) between
basic interpersonal communicative skills and cognitive academic language proficiency. The
distinction was intended to draw attention to the very different time periods typically required
by immigrant children to acquire conversational fluency in their second language as compared to
grade-appropriate academic proficiency in that language. Conversational fluency is often
acquired to a functional level within about two years of initial exposure to the second language
whereas at least five years is usually required to catch up to native speakers in academic
aspects of the second language (Collier, 1987; Klesmer, 1994; Cummins, 1981a). Failure to take
account of the BICS/CALP (conversational/academic) distinction has resulted in discriminatory
psychological assessment of bilingual students and premature exit from language support
programs (e.g. bilingual education in the United States) into mainstream classes (Cummins,
1984).
Skutnabb-Kangas and Toukomaa (1976) brought attention to the fact that Finnish immigrant
children in Sweden often appeared to educators to be fluent in both Finnish and Swedish but
still showed levels of verbal academic performance in both languages considerably below
minority students showed that teachers and psychologists often assumed that children who had
attained fluency in English had overcome all difficulties with English (Cummins, 1984). Yet these
assessment situations. Cummins (1981a) provided further evidence for the BICS/CALP
distinction in a reanalysis of data from the Toronto Board of Education. Despite teacher
of 5-7 years was required, on average, for immigrant students to approach grade norms in
highlighted the range of cognitive demands and contextual support involved in particular
elaboration and related to the theoretical distinctions of several other theorists (e.g. Bruner’s
[1975] communicative and analytic competence, Donaldson’s [1978] embedded and disembedded
language, and Olson’s [1977] utterance and text). The terms used by different investigators
have varied but the essential distinction refers to the extent to which the meaning being
The BICS/CALP distinction also served to qualify John Oller's (1979) claim that all individual
differences in language proficiency could be accounted for by just one underlying factor, which
he termed global language proficiency. Oller synthesized a considerable amount of data showing
strong correlations between performance on cloze tests of reading, standardized reading tests,
and measures of oral verbal ability (e.g. vocabulary measures). Cummins (1979, 1981b) pointed
out that not all aspects of language use or performance could be incorporated into one
dimension of global language proficiency. For example, if we take two monolingual English-
speaking siblings, a 12-year old child and a six-year old, there are enormous differences in these
children's ability to read and write English and in their knowledge of vocabulary, but minimal
differences in their phonology or basic fluency. The six-year old can understand virtually
everything that is likely to be said to her in everyday social contexts and she can use language
very effectively in these contexts, just as the 12-year old can. Similarly, as noted above, in
second language acquisition contexts, immigrant children typically manifest very different time
periods required to catch up to their peers in everyday face-to-face aspects of proficiency as
Critique
Early critiques of the conversational/academic distinction were advanced by Carole Edelsky and
her colleagues (Edelsky et al., 1983) and in a volume edited by Charlene Rivera (1984). Edelsky
(1990) later reiterated and reformulated her critique and other critiques were advanced by
language that ignores its location in social practices and power relations (Edelsky et al.,
CALP or academic language proficiency represents little more than “test-wiseness” - it is
an artifact of the inappropriate way in which it has been measured (Edelsky et al., 1983).
The notion of CALP promotes a “deficit theory” insofar as it attributes the academic
inappropriate schooling (Edelsky, 1990; Edelsky et al., 1983; Martin-Jones & Romaine, 1986).
In response to these critiques, Cummins (Cummins & Swain, 1983; Cummins, in press) pointed to
the elaborated sociopolitical framework within which the BICS/CALP distinction was placed
(Cummins, 1986, 1996) where underachievement among subordinated students was attributed to
coercive relations of power operating in the society at large and reflected in schooling
practices. He also invoked the work of Biber (1986) and Corson (1995) as evidence of the
linguistic reality of the distinction. Corson highlighted the enormous lexical differences
between typical conversational interactions in English as compared to academic or literacy-
related uses of English. Similarly, Biber’s analysis of more than one million words of English
speech and written text revealed underlying dimensions very consistent with the distinction
between conversational and academic aspects of language proficiency. Cummins also pointed out
that the construct of academic language proficiency does not in any way depend on test scores
as support for either its construct validity or relevance to education, as illustrated by the
Conclusion
The distinction between BICS and CALP has exerted a significant impact on a variety of
educational policies and practices in both North America and the United Kingdom (e.g. Cline &
language proficiency have contributed to the creation of academic difficulties among bilingual
students have been highlighted by the distinction. At a theoretical level, however, the
distinction is likely to remain controversial, reflecting the fact that there is no cross-
disciplinary consensus regarding the nature of language proficiency and its relationship to
academic achievement.
Problems arise when teachers and administrators think that a child is proficient
in a language when they demonstrate good social English.
The language also becomes more cognitively demanding. New ideas, concepts and
language are presented to the students at the same time.
Jim Cummins also advances the theory that there is a common underlying
proficiency (CUP) between two languages. Skills, ideas and concepts students
learn in their first language will be transferred to the second language.
The popular belief that younger children have an advantage over adults in
developing bilingually is not necessarily true. Early acquisition of the speech
sound system of a language may result in a native-like pronunciation and the
impression of fluency, but older learners may have an advantage in terms of
increased metalinguistic awareness that enables them to learn the new language
more quickly. For the young child, bilingual development is taking place alongside
conceptual development and learning about the world. For older learners who
have greater knowledge and understanding, it is the learning of new labels for
objects, ideas and concepts already known.
As they learn the new language, second language learners incorporate the new
linguistic input into their existing model of the language. There are many
aspects of language that are common. For example all languages have ways of
denoting time, of indicating actions and actors. Languages do this with different
vocabularies and often with different grammars, but all languages are rule-
governed. Part of the process of language acquisition involves the discovery and
application of these rules. 'Interlanguage' is the term used to describe the
language that learners produce as they learn the second language. It is also used
to describe the evolving development of the learner's knowledge and use of the
second language as they become increasingly proficient. It will change as the
learner learns more and incorporates new linguistic knowledge into existing
knowledge. Error analysis appears to suggest that the majority of interlingual
errors are developmental and a sign of progress.
Learners and their learning strategies will change over time. A five year old will
have a different language learning profile and language learning strategies than
a fifteen year old. For bilingual learners, their first language knowledge will be
helpful in the acquisition of the second language. The extent of this help will be
dependent upon their proficiency in their first language, their age and other
factors.
BICS and CALP
These terms are commonly used in discussion of bilingual education. They arise
from the early work of Cummins (1984) in which he demonstrated his ideas
about second
language development in a simple matrix. BICS describes the development of
conversational fluency (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills) in the second
language, whereas CALP describes the use of language in decontextualized
academic situations ( Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency ).
Common Underlying Proficiency
Cummins (1984 and 2000) also argues for a common underlying proficiency or
interdependence hypothesis, in which cross-lingual proficiencies can promote
the development of cognitive, academic skills. Common underlying proficiency
refers to the interdependence of concepts, skills and linguistic knowledge found
in a central processing system. Cummins states that cognitive and literacy skills
established in the mother tongue or L1 will transfer across languages. This is
often presented visually as two icebergs representing the two languages which
overlap and share, underneath the water line, a common underlying proficiency
or operating system. Both languages are outwardly distinct but are supported by
shared concepts and knowledge derived from learning and experience and the
cognitive and linguistic abilities of the learner.
Threshold Hypothesis
The threshold hypothesis assumes that a child needs to achieve a certain level
of proficiency or competence in the first or second language to take advantage
of the benefits of bilingualism. A minimum threshold needs to be achieved if
there are to be any benefits from bilingualism, and this hypothesis posits that
if there is a low level of competence in both languages there may be negative
consequences. Sometimes this has been referred to as semi-lingualism, but this
term and description is not often used nowadays. It would seem that there
needs to be a minimum level of linguistic and conceptual knowledge in the first
language to successfully add a second and develop bilingually. At the upper
threshold, 'additive bilingualism' occurs when 'balanced bilinguals' have age
appropriate competence in both languages. This conceptualization of bilingualism
is often depicted as a steps in a ladder or floors in a house. This threshold
hypothesis cannot be defined in absolute terms, rather it is a theoretical
description, but it can help in explaining the development of bilingual learners.
It also supports the arguments for the benefits of additive bilingualism and
bilingual education.
There are several implications and benefits of additive bilingualism for teaching
and learning. For example, bilingual education may provide the greatest support
for bilingual learners in the development of their second or additional language.
It is important that new input is connected to the learner's previous knowledge,
including linguistic, conceptual and learned knowledge. It would seem that
additive bilingualism has positive consequences for learners' metalinguistic
development, learning of additional languages and more generally, for learners'
verbal cognitive operations. The threshold hypothesis also suggests that both
languages must be given an opportunity to develop if there is to be a long-term
positive impact. Additive bilingualism brings with it many positive attributes
that can enable learners' linguistic and academic development.