Language Learning Skills and Techniques

Posted on Mar 24, 2025 in Pedagogy

Language Skills

There are four key skills in language learning:

  • Oral skills: Speaking and listening
  • Written skills: Writing and reading
  • Productive skills: Speaking and writing
  • Receptive skills: Reading and listening

SLA/SLL

  • SLA (Second Language Acquisition): This is the process by which people learn a second language apart from their native language in a natural and unconscious way.
  • SLL (Second Language Learning): This is the process by which people consciously learn a second language, often focusing on grammar rules.

TPR (Total Physical Response)

Total Physical Response is a technique where a learner responds to language input with body motions, such as acting out a chant.

James Asher noted that children often respond with gestures before they speak.

Repetition Techniques

Choral Repetition: Getting students to repeat something all together.

  • It gives individual students confidence and can be fun.
  • Provide a clear model and use gestures to start at the same time.
  • It is highly motivational when students chant.
  • It works well with words, phrases, and short sentences.
  • Use back chaining to build up sentences from the end.

Half Chorus: Dividing the class in two. This can be used for dialogues.

Individual Repetition:

  • Give students a chance to speak on their own and check the success of choral repetition.
  • Nominate someone, and after they repeat, provide feedback.
  • Avoid pointing, use an open hand gesture instead.
  • Nominate in a random order to maintain attention.

Drills and Drilling

Nominating students one after the other is called a drill. When there is more than one thing to say and students choose, it is called a cue-response drill.

  • In a CRD, give a cue and then nominate a student to respond.
  • CRDs are especially useful for practicing questions and answers.

Controlled Practice

The goal is for students to use and think about specific language items as often as possible.

  • Controlled activities are typically used in lower levels.
  • As students advance, activities become freer and less teacher-controlled.

Sentence Activities

We can have students create and complete sentences in various ways:

  • Ex 1: Complete the sentences with the correct form of the verb in brackets.
  • Ex 2: Complete the following sentences with one word for each gap. The first letter is given.
  • Ex 3: Rewrite the following sentences using the word in brackets.

Sentence Pictures

Show students a picture and have them make as many sentences as they can, using target structures or vocabulary.

Dictation

  • Dictate short texts to students using target language items.
  • Have students dictate texts to one another.
  • Running Dictation: Students in groups send a representative to read a text line by line and relay it back to the group. The first group to finish wins.
  • Shouted Dictation: Students shout a sentence to a partner while everyone else is doing the same. It’s noisy but fun.

Dictogloss

  • This is not a traditional dictation where students write down every word.
  • Students hear a short text designed to illustrate specific language items.
  • They try to understand the text and reproduce it as accurately as possible.
  • Students compare their text with the original.

Matching Activities

Students match lists and cards to practice questions and answers, phrases, and sentences.

  • Ex: In an activity to practice questions with “how”, students match questions in column A with answers in column B.