Development of Language Skills
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Development of Language Skills
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There are, in general, four language skills, each based upon the modality of emphasis. These are the Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing skills.
LISTENING SKILLS
- Listening is attending to oral English.
- Listening is necessary to develop the speaking skill.
- Listening prepares the students to understand the speech of the native speakers of English as they speak naturally in a normal speed and normal manner.
Hearing and Listening
'Hearing' is a physical process of receiving sounds, whereas 'listening' is a conscious mental process.
Listening Comprehension
Listening Comprehension is an activity of paying attention to and trying to get meaning from something we hear.
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TYPES OF LISTENING
Focused Listening
'Focused Listening' means to attend to what is heard, to process it, to understand it, to interpret it, to evaluate it and to respond to it, e.g., listening to a lecturer in the classroom
Casual Listening
It refers to listening without any purpose, e.g., listening to songs on radio, listening to someone while chatting with him.
PURPOSES OF LISTENING
The various purposes of listening have been identified as:
Listening to follow directions or instructions : When we listen to the instructions on how to cook a recipe or how to give first-aid to a person bitten by a snake etc, the objective is to understand the message and carry out the task
Listening for information : When we listen to the news bulletins, weather forecasts and announcements made in different places like railway station, airports or over the radio and television, the objective is to extract clearly stated information. Similarly, we listen to lectures and take down notes to record information.
Listening for enjoyment : Listening to a poem or a story or a play on the radio is generally for entertainment. If we can enjoy a radio play and appreciate its contents we can say that we have a high listening skill.
Listening to evaluate : Consider the commercial advertisements. We listen to them and check the authenticity of the information. Also, we compare them with parallel products and make a decision, whether to buy the particular brand or not. Listening to debates on various topics also may be taken as an example. Here the listener has a chance to evaluate the views of the speaker.
Listening to solve problems : This kind of listening needs the ability to analyze. Listening to riddles, quizzes may be cited as examples.
Listening to communicate : This is a two-way process. A good conversationalist is always a good listener. Taking part in conversations, group discussions, playing language games, speaking on the telephone can be cited as examples here.
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BARRIERS TO LISTENING
Listening is helped by a combination of factors involving the speaker, the listener and the environment. If an impediment is caused by any one factor, efficient listening cannot take place. The barriers can be:
(a) Speaker oriented
(b) Listener oriented
(c) External factors
(A) Speaker oriented barriers
It is very difficult for the listener to understand when the speaker 🔊
1. speaks too fast
2. speaks too loudly or too softly
3. has a different accent
4. speaks in a new dialect
5. uses new idioms and phrases (It is raining cats and dogs. Teaching is not my cup of tea etc.)
6. uses high frequency words
7. uses technical jargons, eg., mouse (of a computer)
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(B) Listener oriented barriers
The listener can't understand anything when
1. he has no interest
2. has no concentration
3. he is impatient
4. he has a negative attitude towards the speaker
5. he thinks faster or slower than the speaker
6. he is too rigid to change his opinions that differ from speaker
7. he is preoccupied with some other thing
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(C) External Barriers
The listener may not be able to understand
1. when the communication takes place at noisy public places like shopping malls, cinema halls, factories etc.
2. if technical disturbances affect the listening comprehension while listening to someone over a telephone or a radio programme
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KINDS OF LISTENING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES
1. A rudimentary but important form of listening comprehension exercise is the Use of the terms in English for class management. The teacher frequently uses instructions such as everybody sit down; Listen carefully; Answer; Again; and Repeat. When these are uttered with appropriate gestures, the students begin to understand them very soon.
2. While use of the class management terms is continued, introduce as part of your lesson Physical Response Activities. Commands would be given by the teacher and the students would give appropriate physical responses: Stand up; Walk to the window; Open the window. You as a teacher of English as a foreign/ second language can demonstrate the act intended to be carried out by the students initially.