- Fillmore explains that distinguishing between linguistic forms is crucial for learning language. She expands on Cummins’ argument that language is NOT a unidimensional skill. What are the two types of linguistic skills discussed and how are they distinguished from each other?
- What does Fillmore suggest needs to be done for struggling readers to avoid a Catch-22?
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Wong Fillmore: "English Language Development"
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The two types of linguistic skills discussed are “basic, interpersonal communication skills” (BICS) and “cognitive, academic language proficiency” (CALP). The former describes the vocabulary and syntax involved in casual, quotidian communication, whereas the latter denotes the skill set required to comprehend the more complex structure involved in formal, largely written communication. Wong Fillmore argues that successful development of CALP is contingent upon sufficient mastery of BICS, and the lack of a solid foundation in BICS in any language impedes subsequent mastery of CALP. This dilemma, frequently observed native speakers of English as well as in ESL students who immigrated to the United States before thoroughly learning their native languages, can be curbed in various ways. Wong Fillmore insists that students at a younger age should not be immediately confronted with the technicalities of reading – phonics drills, letter recognition, etc. – but instead, should be provided with “experiences that enrich the lives of all students” (9). Namely, Wong Fillmore advocates activities centered around reading aloud, so students may be exposed to the pleasures of reading in an aural sense and an intellectual one.
ReplyDeleteMoreover, she suggests that teachers devote class time to asking students analytical questions about various texts. Rather than assuming that the students are naturally capable of gleaning information from readings, teachers should ask questions about details embedded in the text to train students to search for such information. Over time, students will naturally absorb this method of engaging with reading materials.
The two types of linguistic skills that Lily Fillmore expands on from Cummins belief in a multidimensional language system are BICS (Basic, Interpersonal Communication Skills) and CALP (Cognitive, Academic Language Proficiency). These two skills are distinguished from each other by the type of honing involved in each communication type. BICS focuses on the aspect of communication that is “face-to-face” and “interpersonal,” which can be applied to interpreting the context of what is being said in order to determine the exact structure of words being used. CALP, on the other hand, is based on the actual structure of texts and sentences used rather than the social aspect of communication. In order to fully master the CALP aspect of linguistic skills, one should be strong and sufficient with BICS skills because it is the primary dimension of linguistics in literacy. Fillmore uses the example that foreign students trying to learn English as their second language often use certain phrases and sayings they hear from the teachers and peers before they actually learn the formalities of the English language.
ReplyDeleteFillmore suggests that in order to avoid a Catch-22, instructors should work on literacy by having the students learn it from books and the “print world” by focusing on reading books aloud and story-time. Fillmore also suggests that at the preschool ages, it is most effective to have the children learn literacy by engaging them in the books’ stories from having conversations about them to reenacting them with props as a play, and even to incorporate these stories into art activities such as music or drawings. Also, Fillmore approaches this idea by suggesting that if a student still has problems with literacy as they get older, the instructor should read to the student and promote open discussion about the text that was read aloud in order to expose the learner to the benefits of reading.
(answer to question 2): FIlmore seeks to remedy the Catch-22 in academic language by advising instructors to instill, through a proactive deconstructing of the text, the value and larger importance readings have in everyday life. Rather than what Filmore would see as the classical way of teaching, giving children work to do “independently”, she advocates an interpersonal relationship between the pupil and instructor. Here she cites the 1985 report of the Commission on Reading as evidence: “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children”(9). Children therefore grow exponentially through the auditory exercise rather than by solely “decoding” text. However, she believes engagement does not end here. Filmore, instead, believes that “what they do not need is an early start on believing that learning at school is drudgery and that the skills they learn in school are unconnected with anything else that is going on in their lives” (10). This method now goes beyond her call for the recognition of noun phrases, complex structures, and etcetera to be brought to light. She is suggests the motivation to learn is absent. To combat this, engagement in the text instead calls for the person to make connections in the context of the student’s life, drawing similarities to archaic words and so on. So, more than robotically sounding out syllables (taking away from the rhythm and music of words), she believes the Catch-22 can be solved through a deconstructing of the text that both engages the reader proactively and teaches the value of the work beyond the classroom.
ReplyDeleteThe two types of languages were the conversational, interaction-based language and academic, literacy-based language. The conversational language skill is easily learned through observing and imitating conversations that a child or student may hear in his/her immediate environment. The academic language is a little harder to learn because, after third grade, the academic language becomes more focused on comprehension instead of phonics. The fourth grade is when the literacy realm becomes a little more abstract and, therefore, a little harder to identify with if the child has not had exposure to the imagination-based world that much of literature pulls on. Therefore, it's important to differentiate when a child seems to demonstrate proficiency in conversational language and if he or she needs to improve in academic language.
ReplyDeleteFillmore argues that the only way to really get children out of the Catch-22 of seeing literacy as something that is too hard to learn and being proven right when they have to be put in remedial classes after falling too far behind is starting them with reading at an early age. In relation to the Vygotsky reading, it would seem like Fillmore is advocating that educators work to make sure that they are identifying a child's zone of proximal development and challenging the potential learning capabilities of the child before judging that he or she will not be able to catch up and giving them easier work. Also, getting a child used to the reading that draws more a child's critical thinking abilities in relation to a book or other forms of literature will help that student to succeed in learning academic language, so he/she also doesn't develop low self-esteem when comparing to other students. By having discussions about books at an early age, that helps the student to become acclimated with academic language by using the conversational language that he/she may be used to in order to apply it to the new form of language.
She said there are BICS, “basic, interpersonal communication skills,” and CALP, “cognitive, academic language proficiency.” The linguistic abilities that compose BICS depends on not only the actual meaning of words and structures they used but also depend on the context. But like Cummins argued, in order to deal with academic learning, people should acquire a second proficiency, CALP. The second proficiency depends on words and structures of sentences and texts. People cannot develop CALP without developing BICS. For example, people can misperceive themselves as proficient in academical reading and learning because they seems to understand ‘roughly.’ However, lacking the ability to comprehend the language itself and structures of sentences and texts, they are not proficient enough to deal with academic literacy.
ReplyDeleteFilmore recommended to ‘read aloud’ to children for the purpose of have children exposed to opportunities to get acquainted with books, the print world, and the language of literacy. Also, she said ‘reading aloud’ to students with struggling reading just because they couldn’t find the reason for practicing this skills will motivate them to learning to read on their own. In addition, she urged to have ‘instructional conversations’ with students who are having difficulty understanding text. The teacher should initiate seemingly ‘spontaneous’ conversation with students about how language is used in the texts they are reading, focusing on the relationship between structure and meaning and between form and function of words, phrases, clauses, and larger segments in texts, and encourage them to participate in the discussion.
Wong Fillmore, Lily “English Language Development”, question #1
ReplyDeleteIn the article, Wong Fillmore discusses two types on linguistic skills: BICS, or “basic, interpersonal communication skills” and CALP, or “cognitive, academic language proficiency”. While in order to understand and interpret BICS one has to know the context in which it is used, it is relatively easy to acquire and is often used as a social strategy by learners who have very little or limited language skills. A few simple expressions lead further to more complex ones until the student builds an extensive vocabulary.
For CALP, however, knowing the context is far from enough – it is about the knowledge of the language itself, the meaning of words, and “the structures of sentences and texts”. On the other hand, it is much harder to acquire CALP for those English language learners whose skills are underdeveloped in their first language. CALP is gradually developed by exposing students to cognitively demanding tasks, and that requires a proficient knowledge of BICS. Therefore, it cannot be acquired in merely social settings, and requires literacy and instructional experiences at school. Ms. Wong Fillmore explained it furthering her Powerpoint presentation – breaking down complex sentences into ‘digestable’ chunks and pausing to inquire from students about the meaning of “juicy sentences” allows them to offer their interpretation of the meaning, a well as educates them about structure.
2. What does Fillmore suggest needs to be done for struggling readers to avoid a Catch-22?
ReplyDeleteThe Catch-22 here describes a dilemma where “the linguistic forms and structures needed for true literacy can only be learned by reading, and attentive reading can only be carried out by someone who is already literate.” Ideally, in order to overcome this Catch-22, one should encourage children at young age to read, and this can be done by reading aloud to children. The author describes this activity as “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading,” because the children pick up connotations, emotions, and other context associated with the words, which encourages the children to connect between form and meaning of text. Even better, if parents added their own kind of explanations and asterisks, then the children all the more will be able to comprehend the text. However, for most socioeconomically deprived students, most of their parents do not have the time or leisure to read books aloud, less talk to them frequently, thus different measures have to be taken. Instead of mechanical drills that focus on vocabulary, grammar, and other formal aspects of English, the author suggests the teachers at school to make “instructional conversations” with the students. Fifteen minutes a day, one or two sentences from a curricular area of choice (should vary everyday), teachers could focus on “the relationship between structure and meaning and between form and function of words, phrases, clauses, and larger segments in texts,” in addition to providing students opportunities to participate in these discussion. Ideally, these discussions would seem spontaneous to the eye of the students, however, the sentences should be carefully preselected for informational density. This takes off pressure off the students and makes “language an abiding and continuing instructional concern but not the central focus in the curriculum.”
Wong Fillmore defines the "catch-22" of language development as the ironic process of students being denied the access to academic texts that will help them expand their understanding of the English language. The term "language development" (and its derivatives) is used frequently throughout her paper, in a distinctly different way than simply using the word "literacy". Wong Fillmore's entire theme is that students need to be taught not only the code of language, but also the ability to attach those decoded pieces of text to tangible meaning. Without the connection to real-life, applicable situations, students (especially those learning English as a second language) are in great danger of losing interest in the action of reading altogether.
ReplyDeleteHer solution is to provide students very early in life with those tangible results. Reading to students rather than cold repetition of alphabets and recognition, for example. Her idea is that if students are given a reason for reading, and are exposed to the engaging and enjoyable process that reading can be, they will be more able to grasp "academic English". Wong Fillmore argues that this deeper understanding and passion for language cannot be achieved through a simple coding-decoding approach to language learning.
I completely agree with this take on language instruction, and instruction in any topic. My experience with OMI students has successfully proven that while repetition may make a student proficient in one limited area, it neither makes them excited about the subject, nor does it teach them anything about the underlying principles of a problem. Tutoring a student in math, I had to actually move his pencil away from him so that we could conceptually discuss the problem: he would jump for it every time I said something that could be recklessly plugged in to the equation. After getting through to him though, he seemed genuinely excited about how the math worked, rather than just getting the right answer.
According to Fillmore the best way to prepare students for literacy in the early years is by providing them with opportunities to get acquainted with books. She also states that the most important activity for children to be successful at reading is reading aloud to children. In this way, young children become familiar with the vocabulary and structure use in the writing language, which differs from the one use in every day conversations, and because of this unfamiliarity, it becomes more difficult for them to understand. Reading aloud is also helpful for children that are already struggling with the written language because once they discover the worlds of experiences and information that are available in books; they can realize that is worth the time and effort of learning to read on their own. Fillmore also argues that the most effective method for students to acquire the structural knowledge necessary to comprehend the academic language use in text, it is through instruction conversations. In other words, they needed guided conversations where the teacher shows them how the language is used in the text they are reading. In this way, teachers help children to figure out the meaning of the text and to understand how the language works.
ReplyDeleteFillmore suggests that in order to avoid the Catch-22 is to have the students get acquainted with the books, the print world and the language of literacy. Fillmore explains that in the past literacy was first being taught in kindergarten, but now schools with students from poor and minority families are being taught while in pre-school, even if the students are not at an educational risk. She also suggests certain genres to catch the student’s attention so they are acquainted with the book. Therefore, students are more willing to read books and enjoy them, instead of dreading the fact of reading another book in school.
ReplyDeleteI enjoy the readings this week, because it mentioned some problems I encountered when I was learning English. English is my second language, and I have been learning it for more than ten years. Basically, I can communicate with others and understand the lecture without further linguistic support. However, I still cannot read and write academically and critically. I totally agree with Lily Wong that learning English is not an automatic process and true language proficiency is more complex than we assumed.
ReplyDeleteCummin argued that language is not a unidimensional skill. There are different settings of language for different settings of environment; and the most obvious one is spoken language (basic, interpersonal communication skills) and academic language (cognitive, academic language proficiency).
When I learned English, I have difficulty learning vocabulary. First, different subjects had different specific vocabulary. As Filmore said, those English registers are rare used in our daily life, so I kept forgot them. Moreover, I had no idea about the background information of the vocabulary, so I could not connect to the readings. As the materials became complex and advance, it really discouraged me to study and catch up. I fail to learn how to read; thus, fail to learn knowledge through reading, and at the end to improve my English literacy.
That’s the main reason why I came to study in the U.S., an English speaking country. But ‘English literacy is not an automatic process even though I am immersing in the environment. I found my communication skill is improved, but my writing skill is still need more time to improve.
The Catch-22 Fillmore describes is that true literacy is accomplished from reading, and attentive reading is accomplished from a literate person. In order to combat this dilemma in early education, Fillmore strongly argues that they need opportunities to be acquainted with books and literacy. This can range from reading aloud to students, acting out plays from stories, and other creative ways that incorporate literacy into students' lives. For struggling students, Fillmore contests that if you introduce the purpose of reading, then the process of attaining literacy becomes much more powerful. Sometimes the students who struggle have low self-esteem, but reading to these students demonstrates the importance and worth of literacy. But what Fillmore feels is most important for these struggling students is to introduce them to books and literature not readily available to them. Essentially, Fillmore's remedy to the linguistic Catch-22 involves getting students incorporated and familiar with reading and literacy to a point where they recognize it through multiple facets of every day life, yet this requires effort and creativity from the instructor. But if at the end of the day young students understand the books and literature as meaningful, then the path towards literacy becomes easier to traverse.
ReplyDeleteThe two types of linguistic skills that Fillmore discusses about in the reading are literacy-based, academic language, which is mentioned as CALP and conversational, interaction language that is mentioned as BICS. These two linguistic skill are acquired differently because while the conversational, interaction based language can be learned through everyday conversations and interactions with other individuals which is what as a child we first learn, the academic, literacy-based language is a more rigorous and time consuming because it more so emphasizes comprehension which tend to become more abstract, year after year of schooling. CALP is therefore not straightforward in the sense that it takes a lot more effort to develop but it can be done by exposure to understanding through thought, experience, and the senses. However, Fillmore also states that without a strong, solid foundation of BICS linguistic skill, it will hinder the progress of the student because he/she does not know enough of the conversational language to fully comprehend and grasp the literacy, academic language. For example, when I was young I had a difficult time learning the English academic language because I was stripped from my native language. Like Fillmore states that students should not be bombarded with phonics, vocabulary, and such things because it will only make the learning process that much more difficult. On the other hand, students should be slowly transitioned into the academic language by read aloud, etc. I was not slowly transitioned to the academic language and for the first years, I struggled registering the language. However, if what Fillmore had been done, “Read aloud”, then I may have had more prominent success.
ReplyDeleteLiliana Zarate
Education 140 AC.
Fillmore describes the difference between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency. A simple explanation of this difference would be that BICS is the day-to-day level of discourse English speakers use, while CALP is the academic discourse present in schooling. She also states that CALP is dependent on BICS, yet students are judged on their CALP and are thus not as exposed to the necessary BICS. A good analogy here could be done with math. Most people understand basic arithmetic: counting, addition, multiplication, etc. However, less people know the more advance maths: calculus, linear algebra, etc. Still, the higher maths must begin with basic arithmetic; it is simply building the basic to a point where the subject can explain itself. Similarly, a better way to learn Academic English, is to learn basic English, until your English is able to build upon itself rather than build from teacher instruction/drilling.
ReplyDeleteFillmore points out that the reason why kids from higher socioeconomic backgrounds perform better in school is that their parents are likely to be well educated and thus expose their children to a greater amount of vocabulary and concepts. Kids less fortunate often have parents who either lack education or lack the time to share that education. Thus, since it is not so easy to remedy the lack of parents’ time, the great vocabulary must be obtained in other ways. This could be done with a better choice of readings, and a more analytical approach to reading. Teachers should identify and help students who merely decode literature, so that they may be able to grasp difficult concepts and build upon competence, rather than simply getting the rough facts.