Which term describes basic conversation skills that most students learn quickly?

• A. Calp
• B. Bics
• C. Interlanguage
• D. Language Acquisition

Answer: (B)

Basic social language skills learned quickly are BICS, which stands for Basic Interpersonal Communicative Skills. These are everyday conversational abilities used in familiar, real-world situations. They rely on context, gestures, tone, and shared understanding, so most learners pick them up with relatively little formal instruction—often within the first couple of years.

In contrast, the other terms describe different concepts. Calp (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency) refers to language used in school tasks—academic, decontextualized language that takes longer to master. Interlanguage is about the learner’s evolving internal system as they acquire the language, including common errors, not specifically about social conversation skills. Language Acquisition is the overall process of learning a language, not a label for a particular type of skill.