Who is the theorist commonly credited with BICS, CALP, and CUP?

• A. Jim Cummins
• B. Stephen Krashen
• C. Noam Chomsky
• D. Lev Vygotsky

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is understanding how language proficiency is structured across everyday use and academic work, and the notion that there’s a common underlying proficiency that supports both. The person most closely associated with BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills), CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency), and the idea of a common underlying proficiency is Jim Cummins. BICS covers everyday, conversational language we use with friends and peers, which tends to develop quickly. CALP covers the language needed for understanding and producing academic work, which takes longer to develop. The common underlying proficiency idea suggests that underlying cognitive and linguistic abilities can transfer across languages and contexts, helping both social and academic language development.

Stephen Krashen is known for the input hypothesis and theories about language acquisition, Noam Chomsky for universal grammar, and Lev Vygotsky for sociocultural learning and the zone of proximal development. While these thinkers have influential ideas, they’re not the ones associated with BICS, CALP, and CUP.