Stage three of second-language acquisition is developing and involves conversational English. What is the term for these skills?

Stage three of second-language acquisition is developing and involves conversational English. What is the term for these skills?

• A. CALP
• B. Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS)
• C. Interlanguage
• D. Silent Period

Answer: (B)

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) are the everyday social language you use in informal, real-life conversations. When a learner is in stage three of second-language development, they’re building this conversational English—talking with classmates, asking questions, making small talk, and telling simple stories. It’s the kind of language that’s usually learned through interaction and is supported by the surrounding context and nonverbal cues, so it’s considered context-embedded. This differs from CALP, which is the academic language needed for school tasks like reading and writing and understanding content without relying on immediate context. Interlanguage refers to the learner’s evolving internal rules as they experiment with the language, not a stage focused on everyday conversation. The Silent Period is the initial phase where learners observe and listen more than they speak as they process language. So, for these conversational English skills in the developing stage, the correct term is BICS.

Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) are the everyday social language you use in informal, real-life conversations. When a learner is in stage three of second-language development, they’re building this conversational English—talking with classmates, asking questions, making small talk, and telling simple stories. It’s the kind of language that’s usually learned through interaction and is supported by the surrounding context and nonverbal cues, so it’s considered context-embedded.

This differs from CALP, which is the academic language needed for school tasks like reading and writing and understanding content without relying on immediate context. Interlanguage refers to the learner’s evolving internal rules as they experiment with the language, not a stage focused on everyday conversation. The Silent Period is the initial phase where learners observe and listen more than they speak as they process language.

So, for these conversational English skills in the developing stage, the correct term is BICS.