My Topic: Cummins' Theories

In my EDU 220 class, we've been discussing Jim Cummins, who's a theorist in English language acquisition. I've seen several of Cummins' theories in action in the class I'm completing my service learning hours in. One of the concepts that he's developed is the idea of Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (or BICS) and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (or CALP). BICS is the social language that a student acquires, or the "playground" language. This generally takes two to three years to acquire. On the other hand, CALP is the academic language that a student acquires in school. It generally takes five to seven years to acquire. 

I've seen both of these ideas in action in the classroom that I'm in. Every student is an English Language Learner, with varying degrees of English proficiency levels. Many are proficient in BICS, but struggle with CALP because it's much more difficult to acquire and understand. Oftentimes, the students draw on their native language to understand new concepts. One girl is very fluent in Spanish, and her mother doesn't speak any English. When I've worked with her, I've noticed that when she sees a picture of an object in her workbook, she'll say the object's name in Spanish and then will repeat it in English. This benefits both her and her peers who may be struggling. 

What this student does also follows another one of Cummins' theories, which is the Common Underlying Proficiency, or CUP, theory. This theory states that students will be able to understand a concept in a second language once it's developed in their first language. 

The teacher has spoken with me about Cummins' theories and how she watches them at work in her classroom. She spends a lot of time on academic vocabulary because she knows it will benefit her students if they can acquire it now. If she teaches a new word to the class, she will explain what it means to the class but makes sure that the students use that word instead of an easier substitute. She maintains a positive attitude, even when her students don't quite understand what she's teaching and when they don't want to understand. It's clear to see that she understands the importance of her students understanding academic vocabulary. 

Each of Cummins' theories go hand-in-hand, and it's very interesting watching them firsthand in the field. The students I work with don't understand or even know that the way they learn follows theories that have taken years to fully develop. They simply go about their school work without questioning it. I'm excited to have my own classroom so I can see Cummins' theories in work every day, and so I can see my students progress. 

References: Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive-academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, optimal age and some other matters. Working Papers in Bilingualism, 19, 197–205.

Cummins, J. (1991). Interdependence of first- and second-language proficiency in bilingual children. In E. Bialystok (Ed.), Language processing in bilingual children (p. 165–176). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Cummins, J. (1996). Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education.

Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power, and pedagogy: Bilingual children in the crossfire. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd.

Cummins, J. (2008). The role of culture in reading instruction. Presentation at the annual conference of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Language.