Two Levels of Language Proficiency (BICS and CALP)

What is BICS & CALP?

These terms are commonly used in discussion of bilingual education and arise from the early work of Cummins (1984) in which he demonstrated his ideas about the two principal continua of 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 ).
According to Baker (2006) "BICS is said to occur when there are contextual supports and props for language delivery. Face-to-face `context embedded´ [boldface in original] situations provide, for example, non-verbal support to secure understanding. Actions with eyes and hands, instant feedback, cues and clues support verbal language. CALP, on the other hand, is said to occur in 'context reduced' [boldface in original] academic situations. Where higher order thinking skills (e.g. analysis, synthesis, evaluation) are required in the curriculum, language is `disembedded´ [boldface in original] from a meaningful, supportive context. Where language is `disembedded´ the situation is often referred to as `context reduced´ [boldface in original]." (Baker, 2006, p. 174)

What are some examples of BICS & CALP?

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)
The commonly used acronym BICS describes social, conversational language used for oral communication. Also described as social language, this type of communication offers many cues to the listener and is context-embedded language. Usually it takes about two years for students from different linguistic backgrounds to comprehend context-embedded social language readily.

English language learners can comprehend social language by:
• observing speakers' non-verbal behavior (gestures, facial expressions and eye actions);
• observing others' reactions;
• using voice cues such as phrasing, intonations, and stress;
• observing pictures, concrete objects, and other contextual cues which are present; and
• asking for statements to be repeated, and/or clarified.

Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)
CALP is the context-reduced language of the academic classroom. It takes five to seven years for English language learners to become proficient in the language of the classroom because:
• non-verbal clues are absent;
• there is less face-to-face interaction;
• academic language is often abstract;
• literacy demands are high (narrative and expository text and textbooks are written beyond the language proficiency of the students); and
• Cultural/linguistic knowledge is often needed to comprehend fully.
Info from: http://www.thecenterlibrary.org/cwis/cwisdocs/intro-ells.pdf

How can we determine if a task or exercise falls within the BICS or CALP continua?
CONTEXT-EMBEDDED LANGUAGE:
Language that is supported by contextual clues in the environment such as objects, props, manipulatives, pictures, graphs, charts and so forth helps the second language learner make meaning from the spoken or written world. Context-embedded language is also a result of students interacting with each other to get interpersonal clues to further construct meaning. A "here and now" context is a necessary ingredient if the input is going to be comprehensible.
CONTEXT-REDUCED LANGUAGE:
In decontextualized language there are few if any clues present to support the spoken or written words to help make the language comprehensible. Context-reduced language is abstract and the context is usually known only to the author. i.e., textbooks, a novel, a lecture, a CTBS test. Quadrant C and Quadrant D are context-reduced according to Jim Cummin's construct of proficiency.

Source: http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%20of%20bilash/bics%20calp.html