Academic Language Proficiency
Cummins (1979) introduced a distinction
between English spoken in classrooms and English spoken on the playground, which he called Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) and Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) respectively. Later, Cummins (1981) found that students require longer periods of time to acquire CALP; hence, he argued that classroom language instruction should focus on this area of learning English. The terms BICS and CALP, while still in use, essentially refer to social and academic use of English. Researchers have expanded upon this notion of academic English, e.g., Collier (1995), Scarcella (2002) and Gottlieb (2006), but we are still emerging in our understanding about this topic. The focus of research here is to expand our understanding of academic English language proficiency in the K-12 school context. Three goals motivate this research:
1. To clarify
and expand our understanding of academic English language proficiency;
2. To explore the relationship between academic English language proficiency and academic content proficiency; and
3. To model and better understand students’ progress in their acquisition of academic English language proficiency.
Completed Research
Take a look at the following study conducted by the Education Development Center, Inc. using WIDA member state data:
"Deepening Analysis of Large-Scale Assessment Data: Understanding the results for English language learners”
Research in Progress
The relationship between ELP as defined by WIDA proficiency levels and academic proficiency on state assessments
The nature of English language proficiency growth on ACCESS for ELLs®. What factors affect the shape of this growth?
Planned Research
Do patterns between items assessing Social & Instructional English language (WIDA Standard 1) and academic English language (WIDA Standards 2-5) differ on ACCESS for ELLs®? What does this tell us about academic language proficiency?
Background