Language Acquisition

Language Acquisition

1. Processes

   • Transitioning from BICS to CALP
     • Contributor: Jim Cummins
     • Description: Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) refers to a person's conversational fluency. Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) refers to a person's understanding of a language beyond that used in conversation. BICS may be achieved in as little as 2 years, although CALP often takes 5-7 years to acquire.
     • Application: Teachers must learn to distinguish between BICS and CALP among ELs. Students who are conversationally fluent may not have the academic language proficiency necessary to perform well on assessments and engage in classwork. Teachers who observe students who have acquired BICS but not yet achieved CALP may mistakenly recommend the students for special education.
   • Stages of Language Acquisition
     • Contributors: Kristina Robertson & Karen Ford
     • Description: Six stages outline the process of acquiring an additional language
       • Stage 1- Pre-Production: The "silent period" when a person takes in a language but does not speak it. May last 6+ weeks.
         • Stage 2- Early Production: Person begins speaking with short words and sentences, and errors are common. Focus remains absorbing the language.
           • Stage 3- Speech Emergent: Speech becomes more frequent, but context clues and familiar topics remain important.
             • Stage 4- Beginning Fluency: Person is acquiring early conversational fluency but may struggle to express themselves in new contexts and with academic language.
               • Stage 5- Intermediate Fluency: Communication in second language is fluent and person demonstrates higher order thinking skills in the second language.
                 • Stage 6- Advanced Fluency: Person communicates fluently in all contexts and can maneuver in new contexts. There may be the occasional misuse of idiomatic expressions, but speaker is fluent and comfortable in second language.
     • Application: Teachers must recognize that the goal for EL students is Advanced Fluency. Teachers should implement strategies appropriate for the student's stage of fluency. The following gives example strategies by stage:
       • (1) Pre-Production: Emphasize listening with read-clouds and music
         • (2) Early Production: Ask yes/no, either/or questions
           • (3) Speech Emergent: Ask literal, short answer questions
             • (4) Beginning Fluency: Ask students to infer and justify
               • (5) Intermediate Fluency: Identify and model key academic vocabulary terms
                 • (6) Advanced Fluency: Ask students to identify antonyms and synonyms

2. Theories

   • Universal Grammar Theory
     • Contributor: Noam Chomsky
     • Description: States that all human grammar is founded upon common building blocks of expression. All languages have parts of speech (e.g. nouns, verbs, adjectives), they just utilize them differently.
     • Application: Teachers can utilize commonalities between an EL's native language and English to facilitate English acquisition. Recognizing the similarities among languages can help students and teachers bridge the language gap.
   • Input Hypothesis
     • Contributor: Stephen Krashen
     • Description: States that everyone acquires language in the same way- by understanding messages. This is also called "comprehensible input."
     • Application: Teachers must realize that approaches such as repeating phrases, talking louder, and practicing grammar drills do not facilitate understanding of the language (e.g. If the student did not understand the first time, speaking louder will not help). Instead, teachers can support comprehensible input by combining verbal/written language with visual and auditory cues
   • Critical Period Hypothesis
     • Contributor: Eric Lenneberg
     • Description: States that the completion of the process of lateralization (each side of the brain developing specialized functions) negatively affects language acquisition. Thus, it is best to learn a language before lateralization is complete. Lenneberg suggested this was between the ages of 2-puberty, but most recent research suggests between the ages of 2-5. Learners younger than 5 are considered native speakers in both languages.
     • Application: When facilitating English language acquisition, teachers should consider the age of ELs and take into account the age at which they began learning English. Based on this theory, it is more difficult for students who began learning at an older age to acquire the language, so teachers should be prepared to offer more supports to these students in order to promote equity for all learners.
   • Transferability Theory
     • Contributors: Several, information compiled by C. B. Balaban
     • Description: States that many skills and concepts are common across languages. Once sufficient vocabulary is acquired, skills and concepts from one language transfer to another. Also known as the Dual Iceberg model, because the different "surface features" of each language share a common base of underlying proficiency.
     • Application: EL students need to be explicitly taught the features that are different between their native language and English. It is important for teachers to recognize that critical and cultural literacy do NOT transfer between languages.

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