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especially in relationship to the child's exploration of the environ
ment and the child's part in it, . certain ways of organizing
experience through language and participating and interacting with
people and things are necessary to success in school" (Halliday,
1978, p. 26).
Oiler (1979) believes that the acquisition of language proficiency
is more fundamental to the acquisition and storage of knowledge than
most linguists, psychologists, and educators realize. He hypothesizes
that what is measured by achievement tests is also measured by tests
of language proficiency.
While Cummins agrees with Oiler's premise of the underlying
relationship between language and achievement, Cummins divides
language proficiency into two educational constructs: language
which one uses to relate to others in everyday life, Basic Interpersonal
Communication Skills (BICS), and language which requires an understanding
of deeper meaning, Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP).
Cummins' studies (1980, 1981) indicate that students master BICS in
about 2 years after immersion in a new language environment, but that
5 to 7 years is required for mastery of CALP. Age of arrival
and length of residence are important factors in achieving language
proficiency at either the BICS or CALP level. While some tests of
language proficiency may test the global language proficiency, as Oiler
suggests, Cummins (1980) finds that most language proficiency tests used
in determining the entry and exit criteria for bilingual programs are
based on BICS rather than CALP. When students have been exited from
bilingual programs because they have achieved linguistic proficiency