Goals/Objectives:
1) To gain a grasp of the beginning terminology used in the study of second language writing and the applications and implications of the use of the various terms
2) To gain an understanding of some of the differences between first language writers and second language writers and how those differences might affect their writing
3) To gain an understanding of the difference between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) and
Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) and what this distinction means to the second language writing class
Questions/Main Ideas
(Please write these down as you think of them)
Notes:

Beginning Terminology

There are several problems with terms in the field of “Second Language Writing” and
“Second Language Acquisition”

Beginning Terminology

There are two other important distinctions that must be made:

A second language is typically an official or societally dominant language needed for education, employment, and other basic purposes.

It is often acquired by minority group members or immigrants who speak another language natively (at home).
Question?

Example?


Beginning Terminology

We can oppose this to a foreign language , which is one not widely used in the learners’ immediate social context.

It might be used for future travel or other cross-cultural communication situations, or studied as a curricular requirement or elective in school, but with no immediate or necessary

Question?

Example?
Question?

Example?
Question?

Example?
 practical application.

Beginning Terminology

Some other distinctions that can be made:

A library language is one which functions primarily as a tool for further learning through reading, especially when books or journals in a desired field of study are not commonly published in the learners’ native tongue.

Beginning Terminology

An auxiliary language is one which learners need to know for some official functions in their immediate political setting, or will need for purposes of wider communication, although their first language serves most other needs in their lives.

Beginning Terminology
 Other restricted or highly specialized functions for ‘second’ languages are designated language for specific purposes (such as French for Hotel Management , English for
Aviation Technology , etc.), and the learning of these typically focuses only on a narrow set of occupation-specific uses and functions. One such prominent area is English for
Academic Purposes (EAP) .

Beginning Terminology

Other terms that you will encounter may include:


TESL – Teaching English as a Second Language

TESOL – (which can mean two things)

1) Teaching English to speakers of other languages

2) Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc.
 Beginning Terminology

ESL – English as a Second Language

ESOL – English to speakers of other languages

LEP – Limited English proficient

ELL – English language learners

ENL – English as a new language

ELD – English language development
 Bilingual – speaks more than one language

Beginning Terminology

How do first and second language writers differ?
 Silva (1993), reviewing 72 studies comparing L1 and L2 writing, notes that “L2 writing is strategically , rhetorically and linguistically different in important ways from L1 writing”
 We’ll look at these ways later

Beginning Terminology

Canale and Swain (1980) claim that writers need, at least:

Grammatical competence
– a knowledge of grammar, vocabulary, and the language system

Discourse competence
– a knowledge of genre and rhetorical patterns that create them
 Beginning Terminology

Sociolinguistic competence
– the ability to use language appropriately in different contexts, understanding readers and adopting appropriate authorial attitudes

Strategic competence
– the ability to use a variety of communicative strategies

Beginning Terminology

Several researchers (Altman, 1980; Skehan, 1989; Larsen-Freemand & Long, 1991) have identified many different individual differences that influence L2 writing as well:

Age
 Motivation

Previous learning experiences
 Beginning Terminology

Language aptitude


General intelligence (IQ)

Gender
 Learning style preferences

Affective (emotional) factors (willingness to take risks, extroversion, anxiety, tolerance of ambiguity

Beginning Terminology

Normally, when we think of Second Language Writers, most people think of the more familiar group, traditional foreign or international students
 As Reid points out, “Many ESL teachers and most textbooks focus on international students , their language problems and language needs.”

Beginning Terminology
 Most of these students are highly literate and fluent in their native languages, come from relatively privileged and well-educated backgrounds, and have studied English extensively in
 a classroom setting
Question?

How do you think this affects their writing?

Beginning Terminology
 Reid designates these students as “ eye
” learners
 “They have learned English principally through their eyes, studying vocabulary, verb forms, and language rules”

As such, they are highly capable readers who “know, understand, and can explain English grammar”

Beginning Terminology
 On the other hand, because of “lack of experience, non-native English speaking teachers, and the culture shock that comes from being immersed in a foreign culture,” their listening, speaking, and writing skills are much more limited


Where do these students come from?

Beginning Terminology

2010/2011

Total # of International Students?
 723,277

Places of Origin?

1. China

2. India

3. South Korea

4. Canada

5. Taiwan
 Beginning Terminology

6. Saudi Arabia

7. Japan
157,558
103,895
73,351
27,546
24,818
22,704
21,290

8. Vietnam

9. Mexico

10. Turkey
14,888
13,713
12,184

This is an increase of 5.7% over the previous year

(From Open Doors – Institute of International Education)

Question?

Take a look at this population. How would you categorize them?

Beginning Terminology

There is another group that you need to become familiar with, however:

The are known in the literature as Generation 1.5
 Linda Harklau defines Generation 1.5 as students who “enter college while still in the

process of learning English”

Beginning Terminology
 They are “U.S.-educated English language learners”

Some of these students immigrated to the United States while they were in elementary school

Others arrived during high school

Still others were born in this country but grew up speaking a language other than English at home

Beginning Terminology
 Reid refers to these learners as “ ear
” learners

These students have learned English by being suddenly immersed in the language and the culture of the U.S.

Specifically, they have acquired English principally through their ears

Beginning Terminology

They listened, took in oral language (from teachers, TV, grocery clerks, friends, peers), and subconsciously began to form vocabulary, grammar, and syntax rules, learning English principally through oral trial and error
Question?

How do you think this affects their writing?

Beginning Terminology
 These students may be “Equipped with social skills in English” and thus “often appear in conversation to be native English speakers

They have relatively developed English oral fluency and listening skills

Beginning Terminology

They understand the slang, the pop music, the behaviors, and the “cool” clothes of the schools they attend

Their background knowledge of life in the U.S. is, in many cases, both broad and deep


They are familiar with class structures and expectations

Beginning Terminology

They have opinions on current controversies and issues

They recognize cultural references to television programs, cartoon humor, and advertising
 In a nutshell, these are students who have “ playground English ” and “ kitchen Spanish ”

Beginning Terminology

Despite having graduated from a US high school, however, Generation 1.5 students may not feel that they have a full command of English, having grown up speaking another language at home or in their community

Beginning Terminology

As a result, they are usually less skilled in the academic language associated with school achievement, especially in the area of writing, which requires “familiarity with complex linguistic structures and rhetorical styles that are not typically used in everyday social interactions”

So who are these students?

Beginning Terminology

Census figures suggest that there are about 10 million of these students in the United States between the ages of 5 and 17

Represents about 18.4 percent of this population

In California, 42.6 percent of school-aged children are members of households where
English is not the primary language
 Language Aptitude

Assuming two distinct populations, there is another distinction that we need to make

This was introduced by Cummins (1979)

Language Aptitude

Cummins sets up an opposition between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills
(BICS) and Cognitive/Academic Language Proficiency (CALP)

These are two quite distinct areas comprising language proficiency

Language Aptitude

BICS are those that are cognitively-undemanding and include known ideas, vocabulary and syntax
 They are the aspects of communication that are used daily in routine communicative exchanges (e.g., while dressing, eating, bathing, playing, etc.)


Language Aptitude

BICS skills represent the informal aspects of social talk as well as skills that do not require a high degree of cognition (e.g., naming objects and actions, referring to non-existence, disappearance, rejection, negation, and so forth)
 Language Aptitude

CALP skills, on the other hand, take much longer that BICS to develop

The experts say usually about 5-7 (or as long as 8) years

Language Aptitude

CALP skills are those that are necessary for literacy obtainment and academic success

CALP enables students to have academic, analytical conversation and to independently acquire factual information
 Language Aptitude

CALP is used to use information acquired to find relationships , make inferences , and draw conclusions

Cummins cautions that students should not be placed in learning situations in which an L2 is
 used just because they have adequate L2 BICS
Question?

Assuming that there really is a distinction between BICS and CALP, what does the distinction mean for L2 writing classrooms?

Summary/Minute Paper: