Cummins and Krashen on Language Acquisition

Learning Acquisition vs Language Learning

http://www.sdkrashen.com/content/articles/2013_siop_research_support_bclaims.pdf

There are opposing views in the field of language acquisition, The “Skill-Building” Hypothesis and The Comprehension Hypothesis. The Comprehension Hypothesis claims that language is acquired and literacy is developed in one way which is by understanding messages that we hear and read. According to this Hypothesis, language acquisition happens subconsciously, and it is not acquired by studying grammar rules or memorizing vocabulary lists.  The “Skill-Building” Hypothesis depends on conscious learning.  It holds that students first need to learn and master grammar, vocabulary and spelling skills before using them in real situations (Krashen, 2013).

Stephen Krashen, professor emeritus at the University of Southern California, and world renowned linguist, educational researcher and activist explains that there is overwhelming evidence that supports The Comprehension Hypothesis which holds that nearly all of our competence in language comes from understanding what we hear and read as opposed to what we speak and write.  However, our ability to speak and write is a result of receiving comprehensible input.   Studies have long shown that students who read more, have develop higher abilities in vocabulary, reading and writing.  Krashen emphasizes the effectiveness of student free voluntary reading. 

 

Jim Cummins, a world leader in the field of second language acquisition makes an important distinction between BICS and CALP in this video (Cummins, 2013) –  BICS stands for Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills are the basic language skills we use in everyday conversation.  CALP stands for Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency which is the language in academic sources such as text books.   BICS is the language that small children take to preschool and kindergarten.  It is the language they use ask questions and hold simple conversations with their friends and teachers.  Our goal as educators is to expand their conversational skill into the academic realm over the course of their education.   We want to expand from basic familiar high frequency vocabulary and basic grammatical expressions into the realm of lower frequency vocabulary, complex grammatical structures and academic language(Cummins, 2013).

Cummins notes that literacy is very much rule governed.  Discreet language skills such as – phonemic awareness, phonics and spelling are taught.  Decoding skills are taught using high frequency words.  Second language learners can pick up these skills as well as conversational skills relatively quickly - within two or three years.  However, they may still have large gaps in their knowledge of English when expanding into low frequency vocabulary, more complex grammatical structures not commonly used, discourse conventions.  Academic language acquisition  our ability to interpret produce increasingly complex  language of text books, passive voice, low frequency words that have Greek and Latin roots  language we don’t use in everyday conversation(Cummins, 2013).  

Teaching vocabulary and grammatical rules out of context is difficult for second language learners.  They need to be taught patterns in vocabulary such as Latin and Greek based roots, suffixes and prefixes along with the passive voice and the language in the content areas of math, social studies and science(Cummins, 2013).

To summarize, while conversational fluency and discreet language skills may take one to three years to acquire, academic proficiency will take at least five to seven years and sometimes longer.  Just because a student is speaking fluently they are far from showing it on a cognitive academic assessment.  The question of “Where do children find academic language?” must be asked and answered.  They find it in printed text, text books and in the classroom, so unless children are reading extensively they are not accessing the academic language they need to become successful in the classroom.  

View video at:      Jim Cummins explains the differnces between BICS and CALP

Cummins, D. J. (2013). Dr. Jim Cummins explains the differences between BICS and CALP. (T. A. Inc., Interviewer)

Krashen, S. (2013). Does SIOP Research Support SIOP Claims. International Journal of Foreing Language Teaching. 8(1), 11-24.

Background Knowledge & Comprehensible Input

Building Background

English learners who emigrate from other countries bring a variety of experiences that are very different from most students in the main stream classroom.  Even for those students who are born in the United States, culture may have an impact on reading comprehension.   

It has been a widely accepted idea that a learner’s “schemata,” or knowledge of the world, plays a part in understanding, learning and remembering facts and ideas.  For EL students there may be a disconnect between the concepts presented in class, which are written and designed around culture in the US, and their own cultural background. An effective teacher can present information in a way that students can understand keeping in mind their language development needs and any gaps in their educational experiences.   Building background is crucial in filling the gaps and helping students access grade-level content concepts  (Echevarría, Short, & Vogt, 3013).  

Comprehensible input

Communication must be made understandable through speech that is appropriate to students’ proficiency levels.  Slower speech (but natural speech) and more repetition may be needed for beginners.  Instructions for assignments and activities must be clear and presented step-by-step through modeling using visuals for each step if needed.  

Reading comprehension skills and writing skills are positively correlated with oral language proficiency in English.    (Echevarría, Short, & Vogt, 3013)

Echevarría, J., Short, D. J., & Vogt, M. (3013). Making Content Comprehensible for English Learners The SIOP Model. Boston: Pearson.

Robert Putnam: When Did Poor Kids Stop Being ‘Our Kids’?,

        There have been dramatic changes in American life just in the last quarter century as we place increasing value on individual independence.  In his 2000 book Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam, a researcher at Harvard University, notes declining civic ties among adults.  He notes that students in poverty growing up in the middle of last century had greater economic and social mobility than children in the same situations growing up today.  He suggests that we as a society have drifted away from the notion that “it takes a village,” and he writes about the increasing inequalities among America’s poor children.   

        According to the article in Education Week, Robert Putnam: When Did Poor Kids Stop Being ‘Our Kids’?, the wealthiest 25% of students were two to three times more likely than the poorest 25% to have an adult mentor outside of the family.  Mr. Putnam emphasizes the importance of informal relationships with adults who are outside of the students’ economic class who can serve as mentors, support students with their education, help students with the college application process, and guide students not only in career planning, but in life (Sparks, 2015).

A recent analysis of data of the National Educational Longitudinal Study finds that even top performing students in poverty have a difficult time getting ahead. Students in the poorest 25% of families who performed in the top one-third on national math achievement were slightly less likely to graduate college than low performing students in the wealthiest 25% of families (29% vs. 30%) (Sparks, 2015)

The book offers a few suggestions on ways educators can help rebuild poor students' social and educational supports, including:

·         Tailor school-based parent-involvement programs to specific skills and supports. For example, Mr. Putnam suggests that rather than simply asking parents to "read to your child every day," schools can provide coaching on specific skills, like questioning-and-response practices.

·         Build more community-school partnerships to provide health, social services, and enrichment activities for students in schools.

·         Ensure that students in poverty have access to both advanced courses and strong career training, even in high-poverty schools.

Sparks, S. D. (2015, March 9). Robert Putnam: When did poor kids stop being 'our kids'? Education Week.

Exploring the Educational Involvement of Parents of English Learners

The population of children from immigrant families is growing faster than any other group of children in the United States. According to the U.S. Department of Education, over five million school-age children are categorized as English Learners.   ELs are more likely to have parents with lower formal education levels than their non-EL counterparts and to come from low-income families (Vera et al., 2012). 

Parent educational involvement has been one of the most important predictors of school success.  Most research suggests that it has a great impact on the academic success of children of all ages.  When parents are involved, children tend to have higher attendance, higher achievement levels and more positive attitudes toward school.  This is true not only in the United States, but also internationally (Vera et al., 2012). 

Different types of parental involvement have different relationships to achievement.  In this study, the most common type of educational involvement among families of EL students involved monitoring homework and asking children about their school day. Helping their children to utilize community resources, such as tutoring at a public library, was found to be the least common type.  Also depending on some demographic factors such as English language fluency, educational background, ethnicity, some parents were more likely to be involved than others.  Overall school climate and parents’ perceptions of barriers were other predictors.  

Other barriers exist, such as a negative climate toward immigrant parents, individual barriers – lack of dominant language proficiency, logistical barriers – work responsibilities.  Furthermore, in other cultures and countries parental involvement may be very minimal depending on the country.  In some cultures it is disrespectful to probe about the teacher’s methods.  In some countries parents do not question the schools.  It is the schools job to educate children. 

Another barrier parents of ELs encounter, according to this study, is not understanding the U.S. school system.  They also feel they shouldn’t interfere with how teachers do their jobs. This barrier significantly correlated with parents reading less with their children.  One suggestion for an intervention is providing education for parents about how schools work in the U.S. and expectations about the involvement of parents in the United States (Vera et al., 2012).

 

It is less educated, Latino parents who may be at higher risk for not participating in certain types of parental involvement.  parents’ educational level was a significant predictor with respect to parental involvement in reading to their children. In other words, parents who are more literate, even in their native language, are more likely to participate in family literacy experiences than those who lack literacy skills.

Even though there is a plethora of research that supports the findings that parents who have high expectations for their children are also those with the most investment in their child’s educational achievement.  This includes have structure and routines in the home such as having a regular bedtime, restricting media, enforcing a regular homework routine etc. This may be an intervention to help educate parents about the benefits of having such routines. 

It is important to tailor interventions designed to increase parental involvement based on educational background and linguistic fluency.

The article mentions possible courses of action for engaging parents, one of them being a community building forum, but schools should not have the mind-set that they are going to “train” the parents.  It should not be a gathering in which teachers speak to the parents and then everyone goes home, rather parents tell their stories while teachers listen.  Families and teachers work together.

Vera, E. M., Israel, M. S., Coyle, L., Cross, J., Knight-Lynn, L., Moallem, I. & Goldberger, N., 

          (2012) Exploring the Educational Involvement of Parents of English Learners, School 

          Community Journal, 22(2), 183-202