ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with the comment because the author recognizes it as an indication of how numerous English learners (ELs) experience language overload when sitting in subject-specific classrooms. In the absence of preparation for working with students who speak languages other than English, some secondary schoolteachers proceed with the implicit assumption that all students can follow instruction in English, simply because they have been placed in their classroom. While some ELs may appear fluent in English when observed in social interaction with their peers, they experience difficulty when the teacher presents academic content either in a text or as a lecture. There are a variety of ways through which teachers can provide comprehensible input to students using multimodalities. Cummins characterizes this as a distinction between Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS), which students develop through interacting with their peers, and Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP), which students need to understand academic content.
