The ideas of Jim Cummins (1979, 1981, 1996, 2000) have had a significant influence on research, theory and provision for pupils with English as an Additional Language (EAL). His recent work may be read on his website: http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/
Building on the work of Skutnabb-Kangas and Toukomaa in 1976, Cummins conceptualised the language and learning difficulties that pupils with EAL face in school as the gap between conversational fluency in a new language and academic language proficiency. He referred to conversational fluency as basic interpersonal communicative skills (BICS) and to the language needed for academic work as cognitive/academic language proficiency (CALP). According to Cummins, EAL pupils can become conversationally fluent and engage in routine classroom activities using clues in the immediate environment and context. Curriculum activities which are intellectually unfamiliar and abstract are more difficult to grasp and manage. However, what is unfamiliar may become routine, and BICS and CALP may shift as EAL pupils change and develop.
Cummins has observed that EAL pupils acquire conversational fluency within about two years of initial exposure to English but require at least five years to catch up with native English speakers in academic language proficiency. He has argued that failure to take account of the BICS/CALP gap has resulted in school assessment that is discriminatory to pupils with EAL. Cummins has also argued that EAL pupils should continue to learn academic concepts in their first, or 'home', languages because this has a positive impact on their English language and learning development. He has also pointed out the positive effects of bilingual education on EAL pupils' sense of identity and empowerment in the mainstream education system.
Related reading
Cummins, J (online) 'BICS and CALP explained': http://www.iteachilearn.com/cummins/bicscalp.html
Includes a critique of BICS and CALP, and a bibliography of related reading
Cummins, Jim.(1979) Linguistic Interdependence and the Educational Development of Bilingual Children In Review of Educational Research 49 (2)
Cummins, J. (1981) The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In California State Department of Education (Ed.), Schooling and language minority students: A theoretical framework. Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center, California State University, Los Angeles
Cummins, J. (1996) Negotiating identities: Education for empowerment in a diverse society. Los Angeles: California Association for Bilingual Education.
Cummins, J. (2000) Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Multilingual Matters
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. and Toukomaa, P. (1976) Teaching migrant children's mother tongue and learning the language of the host country in the context of the socio-cultural situation of the migrant family. Helsinki: The Finnish National Commission for UNESCO