What is a common mistake teachers make about BICS?

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Believing that achieving Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills (BICS) equates to total fluency is a common misconception among educators. BICS refers to the social language skills that students use for everyday communication in their peer interactions. These skills can develop relatively quickly, often within a couple of years in a new language, but they do not encompass the full spectrum of language proficiency. Total fluency includes both the social language required for basic communication and the Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) necessary for understanding complex academic concepts and language in a variety of contexts.

Teachers who mistakenly equate BICS with total fluency may overlook the need for instruction that develops CALP. This misunderstanding can lead to the false impression that students are fully proficient in a new language when they may still struggle with more demanding academic language tasks. Understanding the difference between BICS and CALP is essential for effectively supporting language learners in both social and academic settings.

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