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The Four Main Skills

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The four main skills.

RECEPTIVE SKILLS:

5. READING
• A text that is usually longer than just a word or a sentence.
• It often contains a series of sentences, as in a letter or even a postcard.
• These sentences are connected to one another by grammar and vocabulary and /or knowledge of
the world.

COHERENCE AND COHESION

The boy was surprised because the girl was much faster at running than he was. Then he
found out that her mother had won a medal for running at the Olympic Games.

The second sentence gives us a possible reason why the girl was so good at running. But we can
only understand that if we know that Olympic runners are very good.
This means we need to use our knowledge of the world to see the connection between these two
sentences (COHERENCE)

The grammatical links between the sentences (COHESION) also help us see the Connection
between them.
For example, in the second example sentence “he” refers to “the boy” in the first sentence, and “her”
refers to “the girl”.

SUBSKILL
A part of the main skill.

Scanning: Reading for specific information.

To read a text quickly to pick out information. When we scan, we don´t read the whole text. We hurry
over most of it until we find the information we are interested in, e.g. when we look for a number in a
telephone directory.
Reading for a gist or skimming.
Reading quickly through a text to get a general idea of what is about. For example, you skim when
you look quickly through a book in a bookshop to decide if you want to buy it, or when you go quickly
through a reference book to decide which part will help you write an essay.

Reading for detail


If you read a letter from someone you love who you haven´t heard from a long time, you probably
read like this, getting the meaning out of every word.

Deducing meaning from context


To guess the meaning of an unknown word by using the information in situation and/or around the
word help.

Prediction
Ss link about the topic before they read or listen, they try to imagine what the topic will be or what
they are going to read about.

Practice.

a) Scanning e) Coherence
b) Deduction f) Relating the text to its context
c)Anticipation/prediction g) skimming
d) Cohesion h) inference.

 Looking at the text, lay out pictures, graphs, maps,etc. To help us decide what we think the
text is about. _________________________
 Reading quickly, not really looking for detailed information, reading for a gist of it.
_______________________
 Trying to discover what words such as “which” “he” “this” stand for. ___________
 Reading looking for specific information. ____________________
 Deciding on main topics in each paragraph. _______________________
 Getting information from the text that is only implied but not directly stated.
________________
 Guessing meaning from the text without understanding every single word.
_________________
 Deciding on main topics in each paragraph, ordering the paragraphs, analyzing the
organization of the text. _______________________________
RECEPTIVE SKILLS

6. LISTENING
Listening
Like reading, listening is a receptive skill. Listening involves making sense of the meaningful
(having meaning) sounds of language.

We do this by using context and our knowledge of language and the World. Some listening texts in
course books are authentic, i.e. they contain all the features of real spoken language.

Others are written especially for language learners

Listening subskills
• Listen for a gist
• Listen for specific information
• Listen for detail
• Listen for attitude (listen to see what attitude a speaker is expressing)
• Do extensive listening

Practice. Here is a conversation.

Yuko: What would you like your life to be like in 20 years´time?


Hiroko: I´d like it to be … I want to have a family .. You know, a husband, three
children, my…
Yuko: Would you be happy?
Hiroko: I´d be…I mean, yes. Yeah, sure, sure, of course. What about you?
Yuko: Erm, me, well, erm, er …Maybe I´d like to have a good … you know, to do a
really interesting job … with lots of pay, of course!

1. Find in the conversation examples of contractions, repetitions, hesitations and interruptions


____________

2. What do you think is the context of this conversation? _________

3. Which subskills- gist, detail, specific information or attitude – do the following questions about this
conversation focus on?
a. What is the conversation about? ______
b. What does Yuko want her life to be like in 20 year´s time? _____
c. How many children does Hiroko want? ______
d. Does Hiroko sound happy? _______
PRODUCTIVE SKILLS

7. Writing
Writing is one of the four language skills. It is also a Productive skill.
That means it involves communicating a message (something to say) by making signs on a page. To write we
need a message and someone to communicate it to.

We also need to be able to form letters and words, and to join these together to make words, sentences or a
series of sentences that link together to communicate that message.

Writing subskills
Writing involves several subskills. Some of these are related to accuracy, i.e using the correct forms of
language.

Writing accurately involves spelling, forming letters, writing legibly, punctuating correctly, using correct
layouts, choosing the right vocabulary, using grammar, joining sentences and using paragraphs correctly

Writing isn´t just about accuracy. It is also about having a message and communicating it successfully to other
people. To do this, we need to have enough ideas, organize them well and express them in an appropriate
style.

The table below is from a writing syllabus for primary-school children.


Decide which one focuses on accuracy or on communication.

 Using initial capital letters and full stops to indicate sentences.


Accuracy Communication
 Employing a range of connectives to express sequence (e.g. next, then)
Accuracy Communication
 Expressing your own experience by supplying labels for your own drawings.
Accuracy Communication
 Making simple greetings cards and invitations based on models.
Accuracy Communication

Stages of the writing process.

Writing also often involves going through a number of stages. When we write outside the classroom
we often go through these stages:

1. Braistorming (thinking of everything we can about the topic)

2. Making notes

3. Planning (organising our ideas)


4. Writing a draft (a piece of writing that is not yet finished, and may be changed)

5. Editing (correcting and improving the text)

6. Producing another draft.

7. Proof- reading (checking for mistakes in accuracy) or editing again.

Practice

Here are some suggestions for writing activities.

Do they focus on A accuracy or B communicating ideas?

1. Writing letters, e.g. A letter to a pen friend telling them about yourself.

2. Labeling pictures or objects, e.g. clothes, animals.

3. Completing a story, e.g. the teacher gives the Ss the beginning, middle or end of a story and asks
them to complete the missing part(s)

4. Copying words from a reading book into an exercise book.

5. Writing emails to another students in the school.

8. Speaking

• Speaking is a productive skill, like writing. It involves using speech to express meanings to other
people.
• Interaction is two – way communication that involves using language and body language to keep
our listener involved in what we are saying and to check that they understand our meaning.

Subskills
• Interactive strategies: making eye contact, using facial expressions, asking check questions (e.g.
“Do you understand?”), clarifying your meaning (e.g. “I mean…”, What I´m trying to say is…”),
confirming understanding (e.g. “mm”, “right”)

Fluency and Accuracy


• Fluency is speaking at a normal speed, without hesitation, repetition or self-correction, and with
smooth use of connected speech.
• Accuracy in speaking is the use of correct forms of grammar, vocabulary and pronunciation

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