Developing Linguistic Skills & Communicative Competence in English

Posted on Feb 4, 2025 in Other civil servant exams

Unit 3: Development of Linguistic Skills

Communicative Competence in English

This essay examines the four fundamental language skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing. It explores the spoken and written aspects of language acquisition, emphasizing the importance of integrating these skills to develop communicative competence in English. The essay concludes by summarizing key findings and listing the bibliographic resources used.

The legal framework for foreign language learning is established by the Organic Law 2/2006 of Education (May 3rd), modified by the Organic Law for the Improvement in Educational Quality 8/2013 (December 9th). Section XII of its preamble states that “command of a second or third language has become a priority in education due to globalization.” The Order ECD/65/2015 (January 21st) links key competencies, content, and evaluation criteria in Primary Education. The Royal Decree 126/2014 (February 28th), Article 7, Objective F, mandates “basic communicative competence in at least one foreign language to enable expression and comprehension of simple messages for everyday situations.” The Order EDU/519/2014 (June 17th), modified by Order EDU 278/2016 (April 8th), establishes minimum content for Primary Education in Castilla y Leon.

1. Oral Skills

Oral language, typically acquired before writing, benefits from contextual support. Errors in spoken language are a positive sign of learning. Language acquisition is a creative process.

1.1. Oral Understanding (Listening Comprehension)

Effective communication requires a strong receptive base. Auditory material should be varied, comprehensible, graded in difficulty, and contextualized, including stories, instructions, discussions, songs, and films.

Learners should develop strategies like identifying the main idea (global understanding), extracting specific information (detailed understanding), and predicting content.
A listening activity comprises three stages: Pre-listening (setting the topic and keywords), While-listening (activities for extensive and intensive listening), and Post-listening (connecting content to personal experience).
Activities for distinguishing sound, stress, and intonation patterns include games (bingo, Simon Says), gap-fill exercises, error identification, finding differences, problem-solving, information extraction, and dictations.

1.2. Oral Expression (Speaking)

Fluency is the primary goal of oral production. At basic levels, fluency is less critical than linguistic competence; at advanced levels, discursive competence is key.

Materials should be varied and relevant to learners’ interests. Early stages focus on basic vocabulary (numbers, colors, body parts) and simple structures (greetings, routines, instructions). Repetition aids vocabulary acquisition.
Strategies for effective speaking include expressing grammatical structures logically and clearly.
The methodology involves Imitation (of the teacher’s model), Practice (for accurate structure learning), and Free Production (creative application of learned structures).
Activities should encourage communication and be interactive and level-appropriate. Controlled activities (drills, guided dialogues, questions) are suitable for practice, while information-gap exercises, role-playing, problem-solving, following instructions, describing experiences, communicative games, and singing promote free production.

2. Written Skills

Written language differs from oral language in its permanence, unique features, more formal grammatical structure, and emphasis on clear ideas. At higher levels, written texts can introduce new language.

2.1. Written Understanding (Reading Comprehension)

Reading comprehension is a complex, active process involving decoding meaning. Learners need strategies like skimming (general idea), scanning (specific information), detailed understanding, inferring implicit information (opinions, attitudes), and predicting content.

Materials should be age and level-appropriate, such as stories, letters, dialogues, and maps.
Tasks should be motivating and purposeful.
The procedure involves Pre-reading (motivating students and connecting the topic to their experiences), While-reading (extensive and intensive reading activities), and Post-reading (comprehension questions, summarizing, discussions).
Activities should be varied and appropriate, including spelling and word recognition (e.g., unscrambling letters, associating visual forms with words, finding specific information), and comprehension questions (identifying keywords, main idea, suggesting titles, true/false).

2.2. Written Expression (Writing)

Writing, though challenging, allows for self-paced production and revision. It is essential for language mastery, reinforces oral communication, and fulfills practical needs.

Materials should consider age and interests, including personal writing (lists, diaries), social writing (greetings, letters, instructions), and creative writing (songs, jokes, games).
Primary Education writing should be guided. Strategies include accurate writing of words and structures, contextually appropriate writing, and coherent writing.
Methodology emphasizes communicating ideas and feelings, purposeful writing, student-centered topics, and student involvement in correction. Stages include Copying (reinforcing spelling and structure), Controlled Practice (guided activities with connectors), and Production (guided organization of ideas, vocabulary, and structures).
Activities include spelling, word ordering, parallel writing, dictations, reading comprehension, grammar consolidation, summarizing, guided composition, and free composition.

3. Integrated Skills Activities

Teachers should design activities that integrate multiple skills. Varied groupings (pairs, groups) provide opportunities for skill development. Examples include project work, role-playing, and dictations.

4. Communicative Competence

Communicative competence is the ultimate goal of language teaching. It encompasses grammatical competence (correct language use), discursive competence (coherent text creation), sociolinguistic competence (appropriate language use in social contexts), and strategic competence (verbal and non-verbal communication strategies). Sociocultural competence (knowledge of cultural factors) complements these subcompetences.

5. Conclusion

The current educational system aims for communicative competence in English. This involves mastering the four skills (listening, speaking, reading, writing) through integrated instruction.

Bibliography

Council of Europe. (2003). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press.
Emmer, E.T. & Gerwels, M.C. (2002). Cooperative Learning in elementary classrooms: Teaching practices and lesson characteristics. The Elementary School Journal.
Gardner, H. (2001). Reformulated Intelligence. Multiple Intelligences in XXI Century. Buenos Aires: Paidós.
Harmer, J. (2008). The Practice of English Language Teaching (4th ed.). London: Longman.
Nunan, D. (2010). Language Teaching Methodology. University Press.