Hello,

This is a very interesting discussion and I have a few tidbits to add.

First, I think Cummins' ideas about BICS and CALPS are a good way to
understand something of what acquiring a language entails and that there
are different varieties of one language. Conversational language is
different from academic language and BICS and CALP help people
understand this. We have all had students who had good academic skills
in English (reading and writing--CALP) but couldn't order lunch at
McDonald's (BICS); and we have had students who can rattle off a lunch
order for five at McDonald's (BICS) but don't know the first thing about
academic language (CALP).

This is why learner needs assessments are so important in adult English
language learning. If we are to make students' learning meaningful to
them, then we need to know what they want to accomplish with the English
language.

Second, I don't think that academic language must be acquired in the
native language first. This is best and easiest in many ways. But,
again, we have had students who have no academic language in their
native languages, but build an excellent academic language in English.
Many times learners learn grammatical terms, like verb, when they are
studying another language. I know I had no grammatical knowledge in
English, my native language, and only learned the parts of speech when I
studied Spanish. Later, becoming an ESL teacher, I was able to apply the
parts of speech to English. Language learning is not straight forward
and learning a concept in one's second language can increase knowledge
of one's native langauge.

Best,
Kirsten

Kirsten Schaetzel, Ph.D.
Center for Adult English Language Acquisition
Center for Applied Linguistics
4646 40th St. NW
Washington, DC 20016
Telephone:  202-355-1523
Fax:  202-362-3740 or 202-373-7204


-----Original Message-----
From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov
[mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of zazie
Sent: Saturday, January 19, 2008 2:19 AM
To: The Adult English Language Learners Discussion List
Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2082] Re: Charts, Cummins, etc.

Hi Andres,
I just have such a big problem with the whole Cummins hegemony...because
you see, it can only apply to selected groups.  If the learners in
question are Spanish-speaking, then most everywhere in the U.S.
there are people who can instruct them in Spanish, L1.
 For most others, maybe not. It's not just the Hmong and Mien who landed
in places like Portland OR and Seattle WA and other cities around 1980
that would lack the possibility of L1 grammar and writing instruction.
Even now, we have adult education centers with students from all over
the world, many of whom attended little or no school in their own
country, and therefore would not know a verb if it dropped on their
head.  Nor is there anyone around to explain it to them in their own
language.  (BTW, besides teaching low-level literacy ESL in adult
education, I have taught freshman English courses to American students
in community college: many of them would not recognize a verb if it
dropped on their heads, either.)

 But in addition to the problem of lack of teachers who know the L1, you
have the fact that adult students may resist being taught the grammar of
their own language, seeing it as a waste of precious time which they
want to use to learn necessary English. I can scarcely imagine if I had
gone into the classes I taught at an adult education center a few years
ago (mostly Mexican) and announced that we would spend hours learning
Spanish grammar before getting around to English.

 Certainly, if there are bus schedules and such available in the
students' language, they should have them.  But then, of course, they
won't see the need to learn to read a bus schedule in English.

 Really, most people who have grown to be working adults without
academic language skills in their own language are not going to acquire
them in the target language...except for the few who are naturally
gifted.  Most just want to get by.  However, that doesn't mean they
can't understand and use charts. 
Charts that are  related to things they know about or things they might
need to know on the job are a fun way to practice vocabulary; students
will be practicing an academic skill without realizing it. 

Jillian

--- "Muro, Andres" <amuro5 at epcc.edu> wrote:


> We do a lot of print literacy with low literacy L1 students. However, 

> we do native language literacy before we do L2 instruction. The person



> who has researched this subject the most is Jim Cummins.

> According to

> Cummins there are BICS (basic interpersonal communication skills) and 

> CALPS (cognitive academic language proficiency skills). The process to



> go from BICS to CALPS is from BICS to CALPS in L1.

> It is very difficult

> to go from BICS in L1 to CALPS in L2. However, it is easier to go from



> CALPS in L1 to CALPS in L2.

> 

> For example, say that you have an L1 student. It is nearly impossible 

> that the student will be able to recognize verbs in

> L2 if someone has

> not taught the student that a verb is an action word. Same goes with 

> nouns, adjectives, etc. However, once students have mastered the 

> concept of verbs, adjectives and nouns, etc. they will be able to 

> understand recognize them in a second language.

> 

> You can see this ability in math pretty well. Math is a cognitive 

> skill.

> Once mastered in one language it will be easily applied in other 

> languages. However, if you don't know math in L1, it will be twice as 

> tough to acquire math in L2.

> 

> In language learning the same applies. A person with

> L1 CALPS knows what

> verbs, nouns and adjectives are. They also know how a paragraph looks.

> They know that sentences include subjects, verbs and objects, what 

> complete sentences are and the differences between a paragraph and an 

> essay.

> 

> For reading charts and maps the same applies. Once a person knows how 

> to read a chart or map in L1, they will use the same skills with L2.

> 

> Assuming that you can get bus schedules in your community, they may be



> printed in two or more languages. You can get health brochures and 

> other stuff in various languages. You could help the students acquire 

> information in L1, and then ask them to perform the same skill in L2.

> 

> Andres

> 

> -----Original Message-----

> From: englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov 

> [mailto:englishlanguage-bounces at nifl.gov] On Behalf Of 

> elizabeth.andress at spps.org

> Sent: Tuesday, January 15, 2008 6:17 AM

> To: englishlanguage at nifl.gov

> Subject: [EnglishLanguage 2058] How to help low-literacy students 

> developchart-reading ability

> 

> Hello.  I teach a high-beginning ELL class, and am planning a 

> practitioner-research project this year that focuses on strengthening 

> the literacy skills of the low-literate Ss in the class, those with 

> little/no literacy experience in L1, who continue to demonstrate many 

> obstacles to navigating print documents, even though they have been 

> able to test into high-beginning.  I'm focusing particularly on the 

> reading skills needed to read information in charts (needed in real 

> life, necessary for success on the CASAS 81/82RX test).  I would 

> appreciate input on two questions:

> 

> - Where can I learn more about the cognitive constructs these Ss bring



> to this kind of literacy task?  I.e., what do we know about Ss who 

> haven't oriented to print in their growing up years, or had any 

> academic experience, and how they relate to information on a printed 

> page?

> 

> - What strategies have you used that have helped such Ss strengthen 

> their chart-reading abilities?

> 

> Thank you.

> 

> Liz Andress

> St. Paul, MN

> elizabeth.andress at spps.org

> 651-296-4826

> 

> 

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