THOUGHT AND 2ND LANGUAGE: A VYGOTSKIAN FRAMEWORK FOR UNDERSTANDING BICS AND CALP

Abstract

Language diversity has been a defining characteristic of U.S. public schools throughout their history, and this phenomenon shows no signs of slowing down. Over the 10 year period between 1994-1995 and 2004-2005, the number of students in US public schools classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) grew from roughly 3.2 to 5.1 million, an increase of 57% (National Clearinghouse for English Language Acquisition). Public schools are responsible for educating students from diverse linguistic backgrounds, and efforts to do so have often involved immersing these students in English-only programs at the expense of their primary language.