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Sheela does the following language related activities. Find which one of them is Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and which one of them is Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). a. Conversing with her friends and socializing with her friends in English. b. Taking notes in her Physics classroom and writing report of the experiments.

Sheela does the following language related activities. Find which one of them is Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) and which one of them is Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP). a. Conversing with her friends and socializing with her friends in English. b. Taking notes in her Physics classroom and writing report of the experiments. Correct Answer a is BICS and b is CALP

There are two major aspects of language proficiency that must be acquired by second language learners. Jim Cummins has identified these as Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), or conversational proficiency, and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), or academic proficiency.

Key Points 

BICS:

  • BICS stands for Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills. These language skills are needed in social situations.
  • It refers to the language that is necessary for day-to-day living, including conversations with friends, and informal interactions.
  • It is context embedded. Context embedded means that the conversation is often face-to-face, and offers many cues to the listener such as facial expressions, gestures, and concrete objects of reference. 
  • It is a cognitively undemanding language, i.e. it is easy to understand, deals with everyday language and occurrences, and uses a simple language structure. For example, Sheela is conversing and socializing with her friends in English.

CALP:

  • CALP stands for Cognitively Advanced Language Proficiency. It refers to the idea of developing second language skills that are essential for academic learning. 
  • CALP refers to formal academic learning. It includes listening, speaking, reading, and writing about subject area content material.
  • It is context-reduced. Context reduced is the language of the classroom in which there are fewer non-verbal cues and the language is more abstract.
  • It is a Cognitively demanding language that relates to abstract concepts, has specialized vocabulary, and uses a more complex language structure. For example,  Sheela is taking notes in her Physics classroom and writing report of the experiments.

Hence, it is clear that situation a is BICS and b is CALP.

Related Questions

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