[2] Carolyn Edelsky was an early critic of the BICS/CALP distinction, arguing that academic language is measured inaccurately by relying on "test-wiseness".
[2] Cummins countered this by noting that academic language proficiency does not rely "on test scores as support for either its construct validity or relevance to education".
[2] Further, it is tempting for teachers and administrators to move students with a high BICS (Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills/Social Language Proficiency) level into a 'mainstream' class because they 'sound' like the other kids on the playground.
BICS refers primarily to context-bound, face-to-face communication, like the language first learned by toddlers and preschoolers, which is used in everyday social interaction.
CALP involves the "language of learning," which enables children to problem-solve, hypothesize, imagine, reason and project into situations with which they have no personal experience.