Four Language Skills

The four skills of language (also known as the four skills of language learning) are a set of
four capabilities that allow an individual to comprehend and produce spoken language for proper and
effective interpersonal communication.
These skills are Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. In the context of first-language
acquisition, the four skills are most often acquired in the order of listening first, then speaking, then
possibly reading and writing. For this reason, these capabilities are often called LSRW skills.

Listening is the first language skill we acquire in our native language. It is what is known as a
receptive skill, or a passive skill, as it requires us to use our ears and our brains to comprehend
language as it is being spoken to us. It is the first of two natural language skills, which are required
by all natural spoken languages.
Types of Listening Skills
1. Conversational
Conversational listening simply involves comprehension and participation in conversation. It takes
place usually in discussions and debates.
2. Empathizing
This involves drawing out the speaker and sourcing out information in a supportive and helpful way.
This is achieved by imagining yourself in the other person's position. You try to understand what the
speaker is thinking, and trying to let them feel comfortable. You try to relate to their emotional
experiences.
3. Recreational listening
This is simply listening for pleasure or recreational purposes. The purpose, according to Adaji and
Ugwuanyi, "is to relate what you heard to other relevant issues."
4. Exploratory listening
This type of listening skill has to do with listening for new information. It deals with exposing yourself
to unfamiliar stories or items.
5. Critical listening
Critical listening is when you listen to determine facts from falsehood or any other inconsistence.
6. Synthesizing
This involves proactively guiding a conversation towards an objective. You listen and respond in a
way that suggests which ideas can be used and how they might be implemented. You may also
suggest new ideas that may be considered.
7. Analyzing
This is when you listen to seek out concrete information and try to disentangle fact from emotion.
You rely on analytical questions to understand the ideas behind the speakers presentation.

Speaking is the second language skill we acquire in our native language. It is what is known as a
productive skill, or an active skill, as it requires us to use our vocal tract and our brains to correctly
produce language through sound. It is the second of two natural language skills.

Reading is the third language skill we may acquire in our native language. As with listening, it is a
receptive, or passive skill, as it requires us to use our eyes and our brains to comprehend the written
equivalent of spoken language. It is one of the two artificial language skills, as not all natural spoken
languages have a writing system.

Techniques of Reading

The following techniques of reading have been given by some scholars:

1. SQ3R by Robinson (1961):
Survey:- You read the most significant elements of the chapter such as the title, the introductory
statement and the main headings. You then examine any illustrations and read the summary, where
there is one. The aim is to get a basic idea of the chapter.
Question:- Formulate questions from the survey. The questions should be formulated around the
main headings in the chapter.
Read:- This involves reading to find out answers to your questions.
Recite:- Recite answers to the questions that you raised earlier.

2. The Evoker by Pauk (1963):

This applies mostly to the reading of literature such as prose, poetry and drama. It has the following
meaning:
Explore:- Read the whole work to have a basic understanding of its message.
Vocabulary:- Take note of the main words and the unfamiliar ones. Do the same for places, people
and events. Then try to understand or get their meanings.
Oral Reading:- Read the work orally.
Key ideas:- This involves finding out the main ideas or themes behind the material. This is very
important because the message of any literary work cannot be separated from its theme.
Evaluation:- You should evaluate the contribution of the key words and sentences towards
formulating the main ideas or themes of the material.
Recapitulate:- You reread the work.

3. REAP by Eanet and Manzo (1976):

Read:- Read the work.
Encode:- This involves translating the read material into the student's language.
Annotate:- The student writes the message of the work.
Ponder:- This involves the student pondering or thinking over the message of the author.

4. SCQP by Oyetunde (1997):

Summarize:- This involves stopping at some points in reading the work to summarize what has
been read.
Clarify:- The student should clarify anything that is not clear. This could be achieved by re-reading
or simply discussing with others the parts that are not clear.
Question:- This involves trying to predict what sort of questions the teacher might ask in a test. The
student should write out the questions and try to answer them.
Predict:- Try to predict what will occur next in the text. Read further to confirm your predictions.

Writing is the fourth language skill we may acquire in our native language. As with speaking, it is a
productive, or active skill, as it requires us to use our hands and our brains to produce the written
symbols that represent our spoken language. Along with reading, it is one of the two artificial
language skills, as not all natural spoken languages have a writing system.
Skills Required To Write Well
According to Oyetunde (1991:49), the following skills are needed in order to write effectively and
efficiently:
1. Oral language background and experience.
2. The concept of print. This means understanding the graphic symbols needed to communicate.
3. The concept of letters.
4. Letter-sound relationships.
5. The concept of "wordiness".
6. The concept of sentence.
7. The concept of left to right.
8. Paragraphing.
When You Should Learn All Four Skills
You should learn all four skills if you want to have full access to the language as native speakers do.
 Knowing how to listen will help you:
 Comprehend natives when they speak
 Watch and understand movies, television, and online video
 Listen to the radio and podcasts
 Knowing how to speak will help you:
 Engage natives in conversation
 Address audiences
 Knowing how to read will help you:
 Read newspapers, books, and magazines
 Interpret in-country signs, alerts, and notices
 Knowing how to write will help you:
 Compose personal emails, letters, and text messages
 Write articles, essays, books, or other long-form texts.

When You Should Not Learn All Four Skills

There are two scenarios in which you may not want to develop all four major language skills:
 Your target language doesn’t allow for use of the four skills
 Your goals do not require all four skills.

Your Target Language Doesn’t Allow All Four Skills

Due to historical circumstances, certain languages are lacking the necessary conditions that allow
learners to effectively develop all four major language skills:
 If you are learning a language without a writing system, for example, then you will be
unable to learn to read or write that language. According to Ethnologue, out of 7,099 languages
alive today, only 3,866 have an equivalent writing system.
 If you are learning an extinct or dead language (like Latin or Ancient Greek), you cannot
learn to truly speak or listen to them as they were originally spoken, as there are no native
speakers alive today.

Your Goals Do Not Require All Four Skills

Depending on what you wish to accomplish with your target language, you may need to learn one or
two of the skills, rather than all four.
For example:
 Those who wish to listen and understand spoken language can learn through books, courses,
and lots and lots of both intensive and extensive listening to native audio. This is common
amongst conference interpreters.
 Those who wish to speak languages with complex writing systems can sidestep the need to read
and write by relying solely on romanization.
 Those who wish to read literature of a specific language can practice solely through books and
vocabulary lists, without ever needing to speak to a native.
 Those who wish to write in a foreign language can just practice making and imitating the
symbols. This is especially common amongst calligraphers.

The Use of Audio-Visuals

Audiovisual (AV) means possessing both a sound and a visual component, such as slide-
tape presentations, films, television programs, church services and live theater productions.

Audiovisual service providers frequently offer web streaming, video conferencing and live broadcast
services.

Computer-based audiovisual equipment is often used in education, with many schools and
universities installing projection equipment and using interactive whiteboard technology.

There are various types of audiovisual materials ranging from filmstrips, microforms, slides, projected
opaque materials, tape recording and flashcards. In the current digital world, audiovisual aids have
grown exponentially with several multimedia such as educational DVDs, PowerPoint, television
educational series, YouTube, and other online materials.

The goal of audio-visual aids is to enhance teacher's ability to present the lesson in simple, effective
and easy to understand for the students. Audiovisual material make learning more permanent since
students use more than one sense. It is important to create awareness for the state and federal
ministry of education as policy makers in secondary schools of the need to inculcate audiovisual
resource as main teaching pedagogy in curricula. The outcome is to promote the audiovisual material
in secondary schools because they lack the resource to produce them. The visual instruction makes
abstract ideas more concrete to the learners. This is to provide a basis for schools to understand the
important roles in encouraging and supporting the use of audiovisual resource. In addition, studies
have shown that there is significant difference between the use and non-use of audiovisual material
in teaching and learning

Advantages

In this modern world we use digital tools to improve the teaching-learning process. The most
common tool we use in classroom these days is PowerPoint slides, which makes the class more
interesting, dynamic and effective. Moreover it also helps to introduce new topics in easy way. The
use of audiovisual aids makes the students to remember the concept for longer period of time. They
convey the same meaning as words but it gives clear concepts thus help to bring effectiveness in
learning.
Integrating technology into the classroom help students to experience things virtually or vicariously.
Use of audio-visual aids help in maintaining discipline in the class since all the students' attention are
focused in learning.
Students learn when they are motivated and curious about something. Traditional verbal instructions
can be boring and painful for students. However, use of audio-visual provides intrinsic motivation to
students by peaking their curiosity and stimulating their interests in the subjects.
Disadvantages

One should have an idea that too much audio-visual material used at one time can result in boredom.
It is useful only if it is implemented effectively. Considering that each teaching learning situation
varies, so it is important to know that all concepts may not be learned effectively through
audiovisual. Most of the time the equipment like projector, speakers and headphone are bit costly
hence some of school cannot afford it. It needs a lot of time for teacher to prepare lesson to have
interactive classroom session. Also teacher's valuable time may be lost in gaining familiarity with new
equipment. Some students may feel reluctant to ask questions while film is playing and in small
rooms can be a physical barrier. In places where electricity is not available ie. in rural areas, it is not
feasible to use audio-visual aids that requires electricity.