Learning a language can be attributed to mastering a set of skills to use the language. Language is a skill subject different from content subjects like Mathematics, History or Geography.
Teaching of English or any other language predominantly rests on developing of four main skills mainly listening, speaking, reading and writing in the learners.
* The following are the four aims of teaching English according to Thompson and Wytt:
a) to understand spoken English (Listening).
b) to speak English (Speaking).
c) to understand written English (Reading).
d) to write English (Writing).
* The above four skills listening, speaking, reading and writing can be divided into Active and Passive or Productive and Receptive skills.
The following diagrammatic representation vividly depicts the classification of the skills
Though Listening and Reading seem to be passive outwardly, they are active which need lot of concentration.
Listening
Listening is the primary channel in language acquisition. It is an activity of paying attention to and trying to get the meaning from something we hear. We see some people using listening and hearing a synonyms but there is a clear distinction between the two.
Listening and Hearing
* Hearing is a physical process of receiving sounds. Enjoying music while doing some work comes under hearing.
* Listening on the other hand is a conscious mental process or an active cognitive process. Listening is conscious and focussed where as hearing is casual and general.
Listening - Definition
Listening is the ability to identify and understand what others are saying. This involves understanding a speaker’s accent or pronunciation, his grammar and his vocabulary and grasping his meaning. - Howatt and Dakin
Fathers of listening
James Brown, Ralph Nichols and Carl Weaver were the eminent linguists of 1940s who established, listening as a skill and are considered to be 'Fathers of listening'.
Sub- skills of Listening
The skill of listening may be classified into:
1. Listening for sound perception 2. Listening for comprehension.
1. Listening for Sound Perception
This involves:
* identifying sounds.
* segmenting (separating) sounds into meaningful groups.
* recognising stress and intonation patterns.
2. Listening for comprehension
This involves:
* Understanding the meanings of the words.
* Following commands or directions, requests given orally.
* Understanding questions, dialogues conversations.
* understanding narrations or descriptions.
* understanding the tone of the speaker.
Kinds of Listening:
Wohim and Coakely (1982) described five kinds of listening.
* Discriminative listening - listening to distinguish fact from opinion.
* Comprehensive listening - listening to understand a message.
* Critical listening - listening to evaluate and then accept or reject.
* Therapeutic listening - listening to understand the speaker's problems / feelings and help him.
* Appreciative listening - listening for enjoyment or to gain sensory impression.
Listening Tasks
* Use of minimal pairs (pairs of words which differ only in one sound).
E.g.: pat - bat The teacher says the words of these type and asks the children whether they are the same or different.
* Identification of the words with different stress patterns.
e.g.: 'conduct - con'duct
(noun) - (verb)
* The teacher gives commands and children follow them.
* Reading out the listening passage and asking a few questions to check if the students have listened and understood correctly.
* The teacher plays a tape containing a recorded speech and asks the students to listen to the tape keeping in view the questions already written on the black board.
Speaking
Language is primarily speech. French said ‘speech is the ground work; all the rest are built up from it’. This view is supported by Champion who said 'The first duty of the teacher is to teach students to speak English'. According to Celce Murcia speaking and listening are interdependent (or) intertwined conversational skills which are paramount in the development of language.
What is speaking?
Speaking is an orderly form of message. It can further be elaborated as:
"Arranging of thoughts and ideas in coherence and expressing in phonological terms". Message → words string together → orders - articulation
Types of Speaking
* Spoken English is part of communication i.e, oral communication. Oral communication implies communication through mouth. It includes individuals conversing with each other.
* A vivid picture of types of oral communication is furnished in the table given below.
Sub Skills of Speaking
The students should be taught to communicate effectively in formal, informal and semi-formal situations.
In order to enable the learners to speak effectively in any situation, the following sub-skills of speaking should be developed in them.
1. Asking questions and answering when others put questions.
2. Introducing themselves and others.
3. Talking about themselves to others
4. Describing people, places, objects and processes.
5. Making enquiries and giving complaints
6. Asking and giving directions and instructions
7. Arguing, Persuading and convincing others.
8. Participating in group discussions as an initiator, contributor, critic or reporter
9. Participating in debates
10. Announcing and compering an event.
Speaking Tasks / Techniques
The following are some tasks/ techniques which could be used in the class room to enable the learners to speak English.
* The best technique to learn to articulate meaningful sounds in a foreign or second language is to begin naming the familiar objects around us.
* A very enjoyable way of learning to say English words and sentences is through rhymes and chants. Children in the primary classes enjoy repeating rhymes.
* At a slightly advanced level, tongue twisters can be used to practise difficult English sounds, or sounds which learners can not articulate easily.
e.g.: She sells sea-shells on the sea shore.
This tongue twister helps the learners to contrast the (s) and (sh) sounds which are often pose a problem.
* Meaningful drills (repetition drill, substitution drill, completion drill etc.) provide ample opportunity for the learners to speak English with proper stress and intonation.
* Dialogues are helpful to attain speaking competence among the learners. These deal with the interactional aspect of speaking. Dialogues could be used to practise language functions like greeting, agreeing, disagreeing, asking for information, suggestions, apologies etc.
* Role play is a popular technique used in classes to teach speaking skills.
